Bringing Self-assessment Home: Repository Profiling and Key Lines of Enquiry within DRAMBORA

Abstract

As repositories of various shapes and sizes continue to appear across the digital preservation landscape, means are urgently required to facilitate their evaluation. In what remains an immature discipline there are seldom any assurances of the viability of individual preservation infrastructures, and a pragmatic, risk-averse approach is critically important. The Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA) provides repository administrators with a flexible self- audit methodology and online tool, facilitating the validation of their objectives and methods and the management of intrinsic and extrinsic threats. This article introduces DRAMBORA, outlining its respective strengths and describing where it fits into a wider evaluation context.