title: BECOMING A CERTIFIED TRUSTWORTHY DIGITAL REPOSITORY:  THE PORTICO EXPERIENCE
creators: Amy Kirchhoff Sheila Morrissey Eileen Fenton Stephanie Orphan
abstract: The scholarly community’s dependence on electronic
  resources is rapidly increasing and those electronic
  resources are increasingly preserved in digital
  repositories or other preservation services. Whether
  locally hosted at libraries, collaboratively hosted
  between institutions, or externally hosted by a third
  party, one method for these digital repositories to take to
  assure themselves and their communities of their
  soundness is to be audited and certified by impartial
  organizations. Such independent organizations with
  staff experienced in executing audits and certifications
  can represent the interests of the academic community.
  Such staff will have the time and skills required to
  perform a thorough review of the methodologies and
  policies of each digital repository.
  Over the course of 2009, the Center for Research
  Libraries (CRL) audited Portico, a third party
  preservation service. At the conclusion of the audit,
  CRL certified Portico as a trustworthy digital repository.
  The audit was a lengthy, productive experience for
  Portico. We share the experience here both to impart the
  depth of the audit and to inform other organizations of
  what steps might be involved should they choose to be
  audited and certified.