APTrust is pleased to announce the publication of our new Preservation Storage Criteria, now available on the APTrust website. These criteria provide a clear, community-informed framework for evaluating current and future preservation storage providers in support of APTrust’s long-term stewardship mission.

The criteria formalize expectations that many members have long articulated: strong security, demonstrable integrity, operational transparency, and trust in the vendors entrusted with stewarding preserved content. At the same time, they reflect practical considerations around sustainability, scalability, and integration with institutional systems.

Why Preservation Storage Criteria?

As APTrust continues to diversify and evolve its preservation storage options, it has become increasingly important to articulate shared requirements consistently and transparently. Recent experience integrating new storage providers underscored the value of having clearly documented criteria to identify potential risks early, avoid delays, and ensure alignment with community expectations and organizational priorities.

By publishing these criteria, APTrust aims to:

• Improve transparency around how preservation storage decisions are made
• Strengthen accountability with current and future storage providers
• Ensure that preservation storage remains trustworthy, resilient, and sustainable over time

A Community-Guided Process

The Preservation Storage Criteria are the result of a deliberate, multi-phase process grounded in member participation and feedback.

Task force formation and scoping

In mid-2025, APTrust convened a task force of staff and member representatives to guide the work. The group clarified goals, timelines, and responsibilities, ensuring shared ownership from the outset.

Criteria curation and refinement

APTrust staff conducted an initial review of existing digital preservation storage criteria frameworks, removing requirements already addressed by APTrust services and incorporating relevant elements from complementary resources, including security-focused questionnaires. From this work, a curated list of candidate criteria emerged, with particular attention to identifying truly non-negotiable requirements.

Prioritization using MoSCoW

The task force then participated in a structured MoSCoW prioritization exercise, categorizing requirements as Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, or Won’t Have. This approach helped distinguish baseline preservation requirements from enhancements and future-facing capabilities, while documenting the rationale behind each prioritization decision.

Member engagement at the Fall Meeting

Additional feedback was gathered through a facilitated session at the Fall 2025 Member Meeting. Members reinforced the importance of security, transparency, and resilience, while also surfacing secondary priorities such as documentation, integration, and environmental sustainability.

Synthesis and adoption

APTrust staff synthesized all feedback into a final, comprehensive set of criteria and presented them to the community for review and approval. The resulting document reflects both shared values and operational realities across the membership.

What the Criteria Cover

At a high level, the Preservation Storage Criteria emphasize:

• Security and confidentiality, including encryption in transit and at rest
• Integrity and fixity, with regular verification and clear reporting
• Resilience and recovery, including provider accountability and notification
• Transparency, such as audit logs and geographic awareness of storage locations
• Trustworthiness, grounded in vendor reputation and peer adoption

The criteria also outline enhanced capabilities and future considerations, such as single sign-on integration, sustainability reporting, automation, and external system integration.

Looking Ahead

These criteria are not static. They provide a shared baseline for evaluating preservation storage today, while leaving room for growth as technologies, risks, and community expectations evolve. APTrust will revisit and refine them over time, in continued partnership with members.

We encourage all members to review the full Preservation Storage Criteria and reach out with questions or feedback. As always, thank you for your continued engagement and stewardship of the digital record.

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