SUNScholar/Audit

This wiki page relates to the system build and maintenance of: http://scholar.sun.ac.za

Link

Use the following shortened link for this page:

• http://bit.ly/garpir

Introduction

An audit tries to answer several of the following questions from users.

• Can I trust that the information in this repository is accurate and authoritative?
• How can I be assured that the information I digitally store, will be available now and in the future?
• How can I be assured that my bibliography of electronic citations using the repository, will work today and in the future, on the internet?

Accounting Analogy

We are very aware of the accounting audit function. In the course of an enterprise conducting business, records of account are kept by clerics and bookkeepers which are then managed by accountants. Auditors inspect the work of the accountants to determine if the accounts satisfy generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). If they do, then they sign the financial statements.

A similar process could be involved in the audit of open access publishing systems. A possible definition of the process could be as follows:

"In the course of a University conducting research, publications are produced by researchers which are then deposited into a research repository by research librarians. The research collections in the repository are managed by research repository managers. Auditors inspect the work of the research repository managers to determine if the repository satisfies generally accepted repository practice (GARP). If it does, then they certify the repository for an agreed period of time."

GARP or Generally Accepted Repository Practice

Below are listed some sections that could form part of the audit and a draft GARP document, that would allow the audit to proceed in a generally accepted manner,

• Section 1: Policy
• Section 2: Preservation
• Section 3: Sustainability
• Section 4: Visibility
• Section 5: Security
• Section 6: Ingest
• Section 7: Customisation
• Section 8: Digitisation
• Section 9: Promotion
• Section 10: Legal
• Section 11: Community

Example reports

Below are links to what an audit report may look like. These are very brief and are NOT authoritative at ALL.

SUNScholar - 2012

http://scholar.sun.ac.za

UNAM Scholar - 2012

http://repository.unam.na

References

• What is an institutional repository?
• The Budapest Open Access Initiative after 10 years
• Practical guidelines for starting an institutional repository (IR)
• Generally Accepted Practice
• Preferred Practices for Historical Repositories
• Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories

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