This paper describes the scalable e-archiving repository system developed in the context of the E-ARK project. The system is built using a stack of widely used technologies that are known from areas such as search engine development, information retrieval and data-intensive computing, enabling efficient storage and processing of large volumes of data. The E-ARK Integrated Platform Reference Implementation Prototype takes advantage of these technologies and implements an OAIS-oriented repository system for creating, archiving, and accessing data as information packages. The system consists of software components including an efficient file handling infrastructure, a configurable and scalable ingest system, a powerful full-text-based search server, and a distributed repository providing file-level random access. This paper gives an overview of the architecture and technical components that have been used to build the prototype. Furthermore, the paper provides experimental results and gives directions for future work.

Security is critical to repository trustworthiness. Recent international standards for Trustworthy Digital Repositories (TDRs) all specify some sort of security criteria that are necessary to adhere to in order to attain TDR status. However, little is known about how those who are responsible for addressing these criteria actually regard the concept of security. This study centers on digital repository staff members’ perceptions of security, including their perceptions of security criteria in standards for TDRs. This paper discusses findings from surveys and semi-structured interviews with staff from repositories that have recently acquired the nestor seal of approval. We found that participants considered the principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability as relevant to their notions of security. We also found that participants considered the security criteria required to acquire the nestor seal of approval as both sufficient and appropriate for addressing their repositories’ needs. Implications for better understanding the security of digital repositories are discussed as well as directions for future research.