OAIS Reference Model

What is the OAIS Reference Model?

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model is an international conceptual framework, standardized as ISO 14721, that defines the responsibilities, functions and information structures required to preserve digital information over the long term and make it accessible to a designated community. It provides a common foundation for designing, evaluating and comparing digital preservation repositories without prescribing a specific technology or software product.

Key Features

• Defined Preservation Functions: Describes six functional entities: Ingest, Archival Storage, Data Management, Administration, Preservation Planning and Access.

• Information Package Structure: Defines three information package types: Submission Information Package (SIP), Archival Information Package (AIP) and Dissemination Information Package (DIP).

• Preservation Metadata: Addresses the information needed to understand, manage and preserve digital content, including its provenance, context and integrity.

• Designated Community: Emphasizes that preserved information must remain understandable to an identified group of users with an appropriate knowledge base.

• Long-Term Preservation Planning: Provides a framework for addressing technological changes, format obsolescence and evolving information access requirements.

• Technology-Neutral Framework: Defines conceptual functions and responsibilities that can be implemented through different technical architectures and preservation systems.

Benefits

• Structured Digital Preservation: Provides a consistent framework for organizing preservation activities, responsibilities and information flows.

• Improved Long-Term Accessibility: Helps organizations plan for continued access to digital information as technologies and formats change.

• Better Preservation Metadata Management: Establishes a conceptual basis for maintaining information needed to interpret and preserve digital objects.

• Clearer Preservation Responsibilities: Helps define the roles of information producers, archive operators, management and consumers.

• Improved System Evaluation: Provides a common reference for comparing digital preservation architectures, capabilities and approaches.

• Support for Interoperability: Encourages consistent terminology and information structures that can support information exchange between preservation systems.

Conclusion

The OAIS Reference Model provides a common framework for planning and evaluating systems that preserve digital information over the long term. By defining preservation functions, information packages and organizational responsibilities, it helps archives and other organizations address technological change, maintain information context and support continued access. It is a reference model rather than a software solution or certification, so organizations must still implement appropriate technologies, policies and preservation controls.