Standards Watch

ISO/PDTR 15801, Information stored electronically – Recommendations for trustworthiness

Here is another interesting item in the current wave of important standards activities emanating from ISO, of potential interest to LITA members. According to the announcement that voting members received, “This Technical Report describes means by which it may be demonstrated, at any time, that the contents of a specific electronic object created or existing within a computer system has not changed since it was created within the system or imported into it.” Cindy Hepfer, ALA Voting Representative to NISO, adds some illustrative brief excerpts from the (copyrighted) introduction: “Increasingly, information that has been created, captured and stored electronically is used as evidence of business activities. Such evidence might be required in contract discussions, or in courts of law. This Technical Report defines recommended practices for electronic storage of business or other information in image form. As such, complying with its recommendations is of value to organizations even when the…