4.3.2 Mechanisms for monitoring its preservation environment


The repository shall have mechanisms in place for monitoring its preservation environment.

This is necessary so that the repository can react to changes and thereby ensure that the preserved information remains understandable and usable by the Designated Community, as exemplified by the associated Preservation Objectives.

Surveys of the Designated Community of the repository.

The repository should show that it has some active mechanism to ensure that the preserved information remains understandable and usable by the Designated Community, as exemplified by the associated Preservation Objectives, and that the repository has mechanisms in place for monitoring and notification when Representation Information (including formats) approaches obsolescence or is no longer viable. For most repositories, the concern will be with the Representation Information used to preserve information, which may include information on how to deal with a file format or software that can be used to render or process it. Sometimes the format needs to change because the repository can no longer deal with it. Sometimes the format is retained and the information about what software is needed to process it needs to change. If the mechanism depends on an external registry, the repository must demonstrate how it uses the information from that registry.

APTrust maintains active mechanisms for monitoring its preservation environment, consistent with its role as a bit-level digital preservation repository serving a defined professional Designated Community.

Format Identification and Collection Awareness

APTrust performs automated file-format identification on every file ingested into the repository via Siegfried. Format identification results, including MIME types where available, are recorded in the APTrust database at the file level and are viewable through the Web UI (Registry) and API. Object-level views allow members to see all formats contained within an object.

This systematic format identification provides APTrust and its members with ongoing visibility into the composition of repository holdings. While APTrust does not perform file format migration or normalization as part of its core service, maintaining structured format information enables awareness of format distribution and potential risk exposure across the repository.

Monitoring of the Technical and Storage Environment

APTrust actively monitors developments in cloud infrastructure, storage technologies, integrity mechanisms, and related standards that may affect the durability and reliability of bit-level preservation services. This monitoring includes participation in international, national, and regional digital preservation forums and working groups, including:

  • Digital Preservation Coalition (full member)
  • National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA)
  • iPRES and related conferences
  • Library of Congress Designing Storage Architectures meetings
  • AWS, Educause, and Internet2 conferences

Engagement in these communities provides early awareness of emerging threats, evolving standards, and technological developments relevant to digital preservation storage environments. Where appropriate, APTrust evaluates these developments for applicability to its infrastructure and service model.

APTrust also monitors and updates its software and hardware infrastructure as described in its Support and Maintenance and Infrastructure and Security Risk Management documentation.

Designated Community and Representation Information

APTrust’s Designated Community comprises Sustaining Members and their Associate Members, which are research libraries and cultural heritage institutions with professional expertise in digital stewardship and familiarity with preservation metadata, integrity checking, and packaging standards such as BagIt.

Because the Knowledge Base of the Designated Community includes professional capacity to manage representation information and format risk locally, responsibility for monitoring content-level representation information and determining when format migration or normalization is required resides with the depositing institution. Members are responsible for updating or redepositing content as needed to maintain understandability within their local preservation frameworks.

Community-Based Notification and Information Sharing

APTrust operates as a collaborative community of practice. Emerging preservation concerns identified by members are typically shared through established APTrust communication channels. This peer-based information exchange complements APTrust’s own monitoring activities and supports collective awareness of risks that may affect multiple institutions.

Policy Review and Oversight

APTrust’s Preservation Policy is reviewed and approved on a regular two-year cycle by the Advisory Committee and Governing Board, which are composed of representatives from Sustaining Member institutions. This governance structure ensures that monitoring activities, service scope, and preservation strategy remain aligned with the needs and evolving Knowledge Base of the Designated Community. Risk considerations are also periodically reviewed as part of broader organizational risk management processes.

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