The Center for Research Libraries has published the findings of its preservation audit, certifying Scholars Portal as a trustworthy digital repository for e-journal content. The audit, guided by CRL’s Certification Advisory Panel, assessed the Canadian repository’s compliance with criteria in the Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC ) checklist, rating the repository at a high level of compliance in all three categories of criteria: organizational infrastructure, digital object management, and technical infrastructure. The audit report identifies noteworthy features of Scholars Portal that should be of interest to its constituent research libraries.

While Scholars Portal maintains a wide variety of types of digital content, including still and moving images, and audio, geospatial, and statistical information, the CRL audit focused on the repository’s ability to manage licensed electronic journal titles, issues, and articles. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether that content is preserved by Scholars Portal in a way that conforms to accepted criteria for trusted digital repositories and meets the expectations of the OCUL community.   

CRL’s assessment involved a review of information provided by Scholars Portal, documentation and information available independently from open and third-party sources, and a site visit by CRL audit personnel, Marie Waltz and James Jacobs, to the University of Toronto. CRL certification entails ongoing monitoring and risk analysis on the audited repository, and is designed to support responsible and transparent stewardship of materials critical to research and teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.