Quality management is an essential part in creating a trustworthy digital archive. The German network of expertise in Digital long-term preservation (nestor), in cooperation with the German Institute for Standards (DIN), has undertaken a small study to analyse systematically the relevance and usage of quality management standards for long-term preservation and to filter out the specific standardisation need for digital archives. This paper summarises the results of the study. It gives an overview on the differences in understanding the task “quality management” within different organisations and how they carry out appropriate measures, such as documentation, transparency, adequacy, and measureability in order to demonstrate the trustworthiness of their digital archive.
Sponsored by the German Ministry of Education and Research with funding of 800.000 EURO, the German Network of Expertise in long-term storage of digital resources (
Purpose: Overview on certification of institutional repositories as a means to support Open Access in Germany and description of the DINI Certificate 2006 developed by DINI, the German Initiative for Networked Information.Design/methodology/approach: The DINI Certificate for Document and Publication Repositories shows potential users and authors of digital documents that a certain level of quality in operating the repository is guaranteed and that this distinguishes it from common institutional web servers. The Certificate can also be used as an instrument to support Open Access.Findings: Repository certification will not be the main factor in achieving open access to academic information globally, but it can support the spread of institutional repositories and enhance visibility of the "Institutional Repository"-service.
Research limitations/implications:The DINI Certificate as a "soft" certificate aims towards interoperability of digital repositories, the coaching idea prevails. It does not provide an exhaustive auditing tool for trusted digital long term preservation archives.
Practical implications:The DINI Certificate for Document and Publication Repositories pushed the development of institutional repositories in Germany according to certain organisational and technical standards and contributes to the interoperability amongst digital repositories worldwide.Originality/value: This paper describes a unique approach that has been implemented in Germany and could be transferred to other countries and communities.
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