From: CLOCKSS Archive <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2018 14:59:14 +0000

Contact:
Craig Van Dyck
CLOCKSS Executive Director
[log in to unmask]
+1(973) 600-7397

How Does an Archive Guarantee “Forever”?

CLOCKSS Formalizes Long-Standing Commitments from Four Leading Universities
to Ensure Perpetual Preservation

5 November 2018. Researchers, librarians, and publishers look to CLOCKSS
and other long-term archives to guarantee that the scholarly record will
remain intact in a world where rapid change has become a constant. CLOCKSS
is taking steps now, as a strong and stable organization, to formalize its
Succession Plan and ensure the enduring survival of the scholarly content
it preserves.

Four of CLOCKSS’s twelve library nodes have agreed to continue to preserve
the digital content that is preserved in CLOCKSS, if the organization were
to cease to exist. In that unlikely event, Stanford Libraries (U.S.),
Humboldt University (Germany), the University of Edinburgh (U.K.), and the
University of Alberta Libraries (Canada) would take over the responsibility
and the organization for running the LOCKSS software across the CLOCKSS
content, to continue preservation for the future.

“The plan provides for continuity should CLOCKSS cease to be able to
fulfill its commitments. If such a time comes it is likely to be a period
of much wider uncertainty and significant change, and so the commitments
from these four leading and long-standing successor organizations provide a
strong foundation to ensure ongoing digital preservation,” said CLOCKSS
Executive Director Craig Van Dyck. He added, “The plan is the outcome of
CLOCKSS’s ongoing collaboration between librarians and publishers -- a
dialogue that continues to examine how best to address the community’s
needs.”

The CLOCKSS Board – including twelve leading academic libraries and twelve
leading academic publishers – has enthusiastically endorsed this plan,
which also has a broader community of support among its 260 participating
publishers and 300 supporting libraries.

“Stanford and the other successor libraries consider long-term planning
essential for a digital preservation service,” noted Mimi Calter, Deputy
University Librarian at Stanford University, and co-chair of the CLOCKSS
Board of Directors. “CLOCKSS is unique among preservation organizations in
announcing this proactive step, which will ensure that the scholarly record
will be preserved in perpetuity, and in its community-led governance.”

The CLOCKSS Succession Plan is part of its Trusted Repository Audit
Checklist (TRAC) certification by the Center for Research Libraries.

About CLOCKSS
A collaboration of the world’s leading academic publishers and research
libraries, CLOCKSS (www.clockss.org) provides a sustainable dark archive to
ensure the long-term survival of Web-based scholarly content.  CLOCKSS
(Controlled LOCKSS) employs a unique approach to archiving (Lots of Copies
Keep Stuff Safe) that was initiated by Stanford Libraries in 1999. Digital
content is stored in the CLOCKSS archive with no user access unless a
“trigger” event occurs. The LOCKSS technology regularly checks the validity
of the stored data and preserves it for the long term.

CLOCKSS operates 12 archive nodes at leading academic institutions
worldwide, preserving the authoritative versions of over 30 million digital
journal articles, 25,000 serials, and 75,000 book titles, and a growing
collection of supplementary materials and metadata information. So far 53
titles have been triggered and made available from the CLOCKSS Archive via
open access. A strong and secure organization, CLOCKSS is supported by 300
supporting libraries and 260 participating publishers.

###