ETERNAL RDC-Arq Digital Repository in Brazil awarded ISO 16363 certification

PTAB can announce that the ETERNAL RDC-Arq Digital Repository has been awarded global ISO 16363 certification.

After a great deal of preparatory work by the staff of CIASC and OAIS Cloud, which are partners in the archive, with the PTAB Audit Team, the Stage 2 audit took place in January 2024. This followed the extensive Stage 1 of the audit process. The full audit process is described in the overview.

Pre-assessment service available for ISO 16363

Pre-assessment is a way for you to find out quickly and easily what the weaknesses of your repository are in terms of digital preservation. This is essentially an ISO 16363 Stage 1 audit, to examine your documentation. There is no commitment to proceed any further with a full audit but it should lead to improvements in your ability to preserve your valuable digital holdings no matter whether you carry on to the full audit or not.

The application form is available here.

Surprising results from OAIS Quiz

The digital world is getting more complex and interrelated, and we are all dependent on it.

Those responsible for preserving our digital capital into the future, right now have mostly simple PDFs, audio, video and images. But soon the complex and interrelated objects  will be coming their way. Even for something seemingly as simple as a spreadsheet one must know not just the format but also what the columns mean and what their units are. Centigrade or Fahrenheit, meters, millimeters or inches – makes a big difference.

The OAIS Reference Model (ISO 14721) is one of the most important standards for digital preservation, but the average that people scored in a quiz on OAIS which I set up was 66%, which I found surprising.

Take the quiz yourself to test your knowledge of OAIS and the fundamentals of digital preservation, to see if you are ready for the future.

You can improve your knowledge by taking our OAIS course.

If you want to prove your archive is trustworthy then take the course on ISO 16363, then apply for certification. Which would you trust to look after your valuable digital assets, an  archive ISO certified by independent auditors, or one which the staff say is OK?

Both courses are live on-line with one of the authors of these standards, like myself, and can be arranged to suit your timetable.

We have been trialing this way of providing the courses, at a reduced price. The cost will increase after 1st Jan 2020 but we will honour the reduced price for any course ordered before that date.

Don’t risk losing your valuable digital data, take action now.

On-line personal training

Because of demand from countries around the world for an online course PTAB would like to announce, in the first instance, online courses for a 4-day High Level Course on ISO 16363 (the outline is here, which also covers OAIS) and a 2-day course solely on OAIS for beginners. Additional courses are also planned for Data Management Planning and Digital Signature preservation (particularly for legal and government legislative documents).

The dates can be flexible to suit the attendees as can the way in which the course is delivered, for example full days or half days, run on consecutive days or spread over over one or more weeks.

There are considerable advantages in doing the online course, particularly for institutions and smaller companies with limited funds for training:

  • Significant cost saving, particularly for public institutions and smaller companies with limited funding
  • The normal High Level Course on ISO16363 is typically £1500 – £1800 per person depending on the requirements of the client
  • There are no travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses
  • ZERO carbon footprint  –  ZERO jetlag
  • We can provide one to one or up to 20 people (scale of tuition fees listed below)
  • You do not have to be away from your office
  • The tutors are also the authors of the ISO standards we will be covering
  • You can choose the dates that are convenient for you, subject to availability at PTAB
  • The course can be split into two sessions if time constraints are a problem
  • The PTAB lecturer will fit in with your time zone
  • All training materials provided electronically

The special introductory schedule of fees for the Online Training Courses:

  • 4-Day High Level Course on ISO16363 for the more experienced digital repository managers
  • One to One                   £1000 per person
  • 2-5 Students                 £ 700 per person
  • 6-10 Students               £ 600 per person
  • 11-20 Students             £ 575 per person
  • 2-day Course on OAIS for beginners
  • One to One                   £ 500 per person
  • 2-5 Students                 £ 350 per person
  • 5-10 Students               £ 300 per person
  • 10-20 Students             £ 290 per person

USGPO receives ISO 16363 certification

The US Government Publishing Office Govinfo repository has been awarded global ISO 16363 certification by PTAB. This followed the extensive two stage ISO 16919/17021 audit process which is described in the overview of the audit process.

See the GPO website for more details, the GPO press release, and the PTAB record of the certification here.

PTAB first in the world to be accredited for ISO 16363 audit and certification

Much of our lives and our futures depend on digital information yet the “father of the internet” Vint Cerf worries about the coming “digital dark age”. How can we know who can be trusted with our digital future?

Now there is a way to do it in the same way we know which systems we can trust for food, environment, energy, namely through ISO certification by ISO accredited audit organisations. The standard in this case is ISO 16363, based on ISO 14721 which is better known as OAIS, the fundamental standard of digital preservation used throughout the world.

The first organisation in the world to receive accreditation for ISO 16363 for Trustworthy Digital Repositories is the Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorisation Body Ltd (PTAB), based in Dorset, UK.  PTAB is now listed in the Register of Certification Bodies of National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) under registration number TD 001 after the extensive accreditation process.

As a result, PTAB is authorized to audit digital repositories worldwide and, when appropriate, certify that they are trustworthy.

The PTAB international team members, each recognized for their expertise in digital preservation, authored ISO 16363 and many also authored ISO 14721 (OAIS), the fundamental standard for digital preservation.

For more information visit the website at http://www.iso16363.org/iso-certification/, email ptab-secretariat@iso16363.org or phone Dr David Giaretta, PTAB Director, on +447770326304.

PTAB’s accreditation (Accreditation number TD 001) can be confirmed at the NABCB website.