This assessment was undertaken to determine whether or not Canadiana meets the commitments it has made with regard to the long-term preservation of digital data for its designated community and whether the repository complies with established criteria for trusted digital repositories. The assessment included two site visits, a review of the information independently gathered by CRL from published and unpublished sources, and examination of documents and documentation provided by Canadiana.org.

CRL conducted its audit with reference to:

• generally accepted best practices in the management of digital systems

• the interests of Canadiana’s designated community

• the practices and needs of scholarly researchers in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences in the United States and Canada

• the criteria included in Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist^[1]

• the criteria included in Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories (TDR) checklist (ISO standard 16363)^[2]

• the Open Archive Information System reference model^[3] (OAIS)

• other metrics developed by CRL through its analyses of digital repositories.

The primary metrics used by CRL are those specified in the Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification (TRAC) checklist. TRAC was developed by a joint task force created by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 2003 to develop criteria for use in identifying digital repositories capable of reliably storing, migrating, and providing long-term access to digital collections. TRAC represents best current practice and thinking about the organizational and technical infrastructure required for a digital repository to be considered trustworthy and thus worthy of investment by the research and research library communities.

CRL assessed Canadiana on each of the three categories of criteria specified in TRAC and has assigned a level of certification for each. The numeric rating (below) is based on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest level, and 1 being the minimum certifiable level. The minimal certification rating of 1 is assigned in instances where a repository has inconsistencies or deficiencies in areas that might lead to minor defects of a systemic or pervasive nature, but where no major flaws are evident.

The basis for assignment of these ratings is provided in Section B, Detailed Audit Findings, below.

Again, it should be noted that CRL certification of Canadiana applies specifically to the repository’s ability to preserve and manage digital content created by Canadiana itself and content created by others for whom submission information packages (SIPs) are created by Canadiana.org. CRL did not assess Canadiana procedures and processes for migrating or otherwise altering and preparing digital content for distribution via future platforms or devices.

[1] TRAC - http://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/trac_0.pdf

[2] ISO 16363 - http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/652x0m1.pdf

[3] OAIS - http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0m2.pdf