Digital Preservation Coalition publishes ‘OAIS Introductory Guide (2nd Edition)’ Technology Watch Report

Press release (excerpts)

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to announce publication of the OAIS Introductory Guide (2nd Edition) Technology Watch Report. Written by Brian Lavoie of OCLC Research, and published in association with Charles Beagrie Ltd., the latest report in the Technology Watch series looks back on the development, features, and impact of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model, one of the core standards of digital preservation.

Research Scientist at OCLC, Brian observes that perhaps “the most important achievement of the OAIS in this history is that it has become almost universally accepted as the lingua franca of digital preservation”

Emphasising its flexibility and conceptual nature, the report describes the OAIS, its core principles and functional elements, as well as the information model which support long-term preservation, access and understandability of data – highlighting the in-built level of abstraction which makes it such a widely applicable foundation resource for digital preservation.

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Abstract

Originally developed as part of a broader effort to develop formal standards for the long-term storage of digital data generated from space missions, the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) has since formed the foundation of numerous architectures, standards, and protocols, influencing system design, metadata requirements, certification, and other issues central to digital preservation. This Technology Watch Report traces the history, salient features, and impact of the OAIS reference model. It is suitable both as a gentle introduction to OAIS for those new to the reference model, or as a resource for practitioners wishing to reacquaint themselves with the basics of the model and subsequent developments. The report concludes with a brief discussion of OAIS’s key benefits and limitations, drawn from the model’s legacy of more than adecade of use in the digital preservation community.