Dear Member of the Distributed Auditing Group,
I am writing to let you know that the effort we began in
2008 to share information about LOCKSS, Portico, and other digital repositories
has evolved. This year CRL is undertaking an in-depth assessment of two
repositories: Portico and HathiTrust. We are doing so to foster greater
understanding of and, where justified, confidence in, these digital
repositories. This will enable libraries to realize the fullest return on
their investment in digital scholarly resources and digital preservation
services.
Portico has agreed to cooperate with the CRL audit, with the
goal of certification as a trustworthy digital repository. HathiTrust has
also asked CRL to undertake an assessment of its program against the TRAC
criteria. Meanwhile, CRL is working with LOCKSS to assess the
capabilities of LOCKSS for harvesting and archiving digitized newspaper content
and pertinent metadata.
To guide these assessments we have formed a Certification Advisory
Panel. Its members are:
Martha Brogan (Chair)
Director of Collection Development
& Management
University of Pennsylvania
Winston Atkins
Preservation Officer
Duke University
Bart Harloe
Director of Libraries
St. Lawrence University
William Parod
Senior Repository Developer
Northwestern University Libraries
Anne Pottier
Associate University Librarian
McMaster University
Oya Y. Rieger
Associate University Librarian for
Information Technologies
Cornell University
Perry Willett
Digital Preservation Services Manager
California Digital Library
We plan to report our findings at a workshop for CRL members
in November. Meanwhile, I want to thank you for participating in our
initial discussions. I hope you will agree that this is a positive
development.
Best regards,
Bernie
Bernard F. Reilly
President
Center for Research Libraries
6050 South Kenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637-2804
USA
voice: 773-955-4545, ext 334
fax:
773-955-4339
cell:
708-837-0796
The Center for Research Libraries is an
international partnership of over 240 universities, colleges and independent
research libraries. CRL supports advanced research and learning in the
humanities, sciences and social sciences by ensuring the survival and accessibility
of source materials vital to those disciplines.