Curation & Preservation Levels: CoreTrustSeal Discussion Paper

Google doc for public feedback: CoreTrustSeal-CurationPreservationLevels-DiscussionPaper_v02_00_Public-Version

Applying the appropriate levels of curation and preservation to digital objects maximises the return on investment in data assets over time. Successful curation and long-term preservation services depend on a repository having the rights and taking the responsibility to provide an effective organisational infrastructure, digital object management and technical/security environment. Clearly communicating the levels of curation a repository offers is an essential part of seeking certification against the CoreTrustSeal Requirements 2023-2025. To be in scope for CoreTrustSeal applicants must take responsibility for active long-term digital preservation for a defined (‘designated’) community of users. As the issues of curation, preservation and certification are receiving more attention from a wider range of actors, the need for clearer specification of preservation levels has become clear. The CoreTrustSeal Board sees this as an important issue for the data management community, for defining which applicants are in-scope for certification, and as a step toward the improved definition of all data and metadata services, including those that do not offer active preservation. 

Version 1.0 of this discussion paper was published during the 2022 revision of the CoreTrustSeal Requirements. Community feedback was received via direct comments on the public version of the document, via social media and email, as well as in the form of responses from the UK Data Service, the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and the EOSC Association’s Long-Term Digital Preservation Task Force. Appendix A summarizes the comments received. This version (2.0) addresses the feedback and is made available for further community discussion and comment as we progress towards consensus.

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