The repository shall clearly specify the information that needs to be associated with specific Content Information at the time of its deposit.

This is necessary in order that there is a clear understanding of what needs to be acquired from the Producer.

Transfer requirements; producer-archive agreements; workflow plans to produce the AIP.

For most types of digital objects to be ingested, the repository should have written criteria, prepared by the repository on its own or in conjunction with other parties, that specify exactly what digital object(s) are transferred, what documentation is associated with the object(s), and any restrictions on access, whether technical, regulatory, or donor-imposed. These criteria document what information the repository and its designated communities may expect for digital object(s) upon deposit. The depositor may be a harvesting process created by the repository. The level of precision in these specifications will vary with the nature of the repository’s collection policy and its relationship with creators. For instance, repositories engaged in Web harvesting, or those that rescue digital materials long after their creators have abandoned them, cannot impose conditions on the creators of material, since they are not ‘depositors’ in the usual sense of the word. But Web harvesters can, for instance, decide which metadata elements from the HTTP transactions that captured a site are to be preserved along with the site’s files, and this still constitutes ‘information associated with the digital material’. They may also choose to record the information or decisions—whether taken by humans or by automated algorithms—that led to the site’s being captured. The repository can check what it receives from the producer based on the specifications.

As stated in the Collection Policy, APTrust preserves the content deposited by the member institutions in any digital file format, including image files, motion media, web archives, disk images, etc. There are no restrictions to the content types at this time. Deposited content should comply with the depositing institution’s own collection development and preservation policies. In general, APTrust is completely agnostic to what intellectual content its members deposit. However, APTrust requires that no sensitive or personally identifying information be deposited unless encrypted. This is also reflected in the Core Preservation Policy, section 2.

See the Definition of SIP, the Definition of AIP, and the Definition of DIP for more technical information.

The content includes appropriate representational metadata that facilitates hand-off and chain of custody as well as confirms ownership of the items contained within. Metadata specifications for the deposit are described in APTrust Bagging Requirements.

Consumers may request DIPs, which will contain an exact copy of the data/content originally provided in a SIP packaged according to the latest APTrust BagIt specification and format at the time of retrieval.