Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification

[3] In 1996 the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems established a task force that developed OAIS, a high-level model for the operation of archives.

[8] The team behind TRAC, led by Robin Dale and Bruce Ambacher, conceived of the trustworthiness of the TRAC-certified repositories as not only providing for well-sourced and well-formatted records and metadata, but transparent managerial procedures and sustainable, long-term structural support.

[9] The TRAC creators conceived of four core principles that underpin the checklist's criteria for a trusted digital repository (TDR): documentation (evidence), transparency, adequacy and measurability.

TRAC expanded upon the previous definition of a TDR that had been developed from the seminal 1996 PDI report that first called for audit and certification of digital repositories.

They demonstrated that understandings of trustworthiness vary across disciplines, and the 2007 TRAC checklist did not address or fully weigh the impact of differences within designated communities in perceptions of trust.

In 2012, ISO 16363 expanded upon and superseded the 2007 TRAC checklist by adding more detailed criteria, as well as providing a new standard for bodies seeking to be certified to perform certification.

Other systems include:[13] Because of the time and resources required by the certification process, information professionals have also developed other models for trustworthiness assessment of digital repositories.