Fixity
Use checksums and recurring verification to detect unexpected alteration, corruption, or loss.
Digital Preservation, Repository Continuity & Format Migration Policy
Preserve more than files. Preserve the ability to understand them.
The JR Institute intends to protect scholarly records against corruption, loss, technological obsolescence, platform failure, organizational change, and disaster through deliberate preservation and continuity planning.
Developing Framework
This page presents a planned public standard. Final storage architecture, preservation partners, recovery objectives, audit procedures, format registries, succession arrangements, and continuity funding should be established before repository launch.
Policy Purpose
Digital permanence is an active responsibility, not a promise made once.
Storage media fail, formats become unreadable, software disappears, links break, vendors close, and institutions reorganize.
Preservation requires repeated verification, distributed copies, usable metadata, migration planning, and the ability to transfer the collection without losing its meaning.
Core Principles
Integrity, redundancy, readability, exportability, recoverability, and continuity.
Redundant Copies
Maintain multiple copies across separate systems, locations, credentials, and failure domains.
Format Sustainability
Prefer durable, documented formats and monitor dependence on obsolete software or hardware.
Preservation Metadata
Record provenance, rights, fixity, events, dependencies, versions, and migration history.
Platform Independence
Preserve exportable content and metadata so the archive can move without losing identifiers or relationships.
Continuity Planning
Prepare for outages, disasters, vendor failure, institutional restructuring, and repository closure.
Scope
This policy is intended to apply to repository files, metadata, identifiers, databases, software, logs, checksums, access-control records, documentation, configuration, correspondence, and other materials required to preserve scholarly records.
Storage Architecture and Redundant Copies
Preservation copies should be distributed across separate systems and locations so that one failure, compromise, disaster, or administrative error cannot destroy the complete record.
- Separate production storage from preservation copies
- Maintain geographically separated replicas where practical
- Use independent credentials and administrative boundaries
- Protect copies from ransomware and unauthorized deletion
- Document ownership, location, encryption, and recovery procedures
Checksums, Fixity Monitoring, and Integrity Events
Files should receive cryptographic checksums at or before preservation deposit.
Fixity should be tested on a recurring schedule, and mismatches should trigger documented review, comparison with trusted copies, repair, and preservation-event recording.
A backup confirms that another copy exists. Fixity confirms whether that copy still matches the record the repository intended to preserve.
Format Identification and Obsolescence Risk
The repository should identify file formats, versions, technical dependencies, compression, encryption, and software needed for interpretation.
Formats should be reviewed for openness, documentation, adoption, validation, complexity, embedded dependencies, and known obsolescence risk.
Format Migration, Normalization, and Emulation
At-risk files may be migrated to more sustainable formats, normalized at deposit, or preserved with software, virtual machines, containers, documentation, or emulation environments.
Original files should ordinarily remain preserved alongside migrated versions, with documented tools, dates, validation results, and known changes.
Preservation Metadata and Provenance
Preservation records should document origin, custody, identifiers, rights, checksums, technical characteristics, dependencies, storage events, migrations, repairs, restrictions, and relationships among versions.
Metadata should be exportable and understandable outside the original repository software.
Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Service Restoration
Repository continuity plans should define recovery priorities, responsible personnel, communication procedures, backup frequency, restoration testing, and acceptable data-loss and service-interruption objectives.
Recovery tests should verify that files, metadata, identifiers, permissions, and relationships can be restored together.
Platform Independence and Full Repository Export
The Institute should maintain the ability to export all repository content, metadata, identifiers, relationships, rights information, and preservation history in documented formats.
Contracts and technical design should avoid unnecessary vendor lock-in or dependence on inaccessible proprietary components.
Succession, Transfer, Merger, and Repository Closure
The Institute should identify potential successor custodians and the conditions under which collections, identifiers, metadata, preservation funds, and responsibilities may transfer.
Closure planning should preserve public notice, identifier resolution, access conditions, rights, provenance, and records of withdrawn or restricted materials.
Preservation Audit, Risk Review, and Policy Maintenance
Preservation controls should be reviewed through documented inventories, fixity reports, restore tests, format-risk assessments, security review, continuity exercises, and corrective-action tracking.
Material changes in storage, repository software, vendors, organizational structure, or funding should trigger preservation-impact review.
Framework date: July 2026
Preservation Lifecycle
Ingest, verify, replicate, monitor, migrate, recover, and transfer.
- Ingest and identify. Capture files, formats, metadata, rights, dependencies, and checksums.
- Replicate and separate. Create multiple protected copies across distinct failure domains.
- Monitor. Test fixity, storage health, format risk, links, and identifier resolution.
- Migrate or emulate. Preserve readability while retaining originals and documenting every transformation.
- Recover or transfer. Restore complete records after disruption and maintain continuity through platform or institutional change.
Preservation or Continuity Questions
Ask about formats, fixity, backups, migration, recovery, export, or repository succession.
Inquiries may concern endangered formats, preservation copies, checksums, storage failures, repository migration, disaster recovery, continuity, or long-term transfer of custody.
Submit a Preservation Inquiry
Identify the collection, record type, format, system, risk, timeline, and available technical documentation.
Contact the Institute