title: From Theory to Practice: The art and implementation of trustworthy digital repository certification
creators: Jessica Tieman David Walls
abstract: "In January 2015, GPO initiated a project to assess FDsys/govinfo against the ISO 16363 Trustworthy Digital Repository standard. As part of the assessment, GPO gathered evidence, documented procedures and policies, and confirmed adherence to best practices for digital preservation and sustainability for FDsys/govinfo. GPO became a participant in the National Digital Stewardship Residency program sponsored by Library of Congress and IMLS to perform an internal audit of FDsys/govinfo and explore the viability of securing certification under the ISO 16363 standard after an ISO 16919 accredited certification body became available.
  With the relative youth of the ISO 16919 standard, there have been many uncertainties across the digital preservation community about the viability of ISO 16363 certification processes, the availability of auditors, and even the objective value of obtaining such certification under the ISO standard. GPO has embraced a necessary artfulness in preparing for such a recently developed audit process. As the first Federal institution to purse ISO certification, GPO has encountered the challenges of the ambiguity surrounding ISO certification with innovative strategies to both stay entirely objective about its practices, and meet the highly intricate needs across the spectrum of its Designated Communities. In this manner, preparing for an ISO 16363 certification, an objective, formal process of evaluation, theoretically should not require an interpretive process; however, we will present a realistic overview of how thinking creatively while working closely with a standard can produce authoritative and trustworthy practices in order to define and meet the needs of the repository’s Designated Community."
keywords: boston