In 2015, the Smithsonian engaged AVP to assess their DAMS digital preservation procedures and infrastructure against standards and guidelines, including ISO 14721, ISO 16363, and the National Digital Stewardship Alliance’s Levels of Preservation. These references provide metrics for the functional, fiscal, policy, documentation, procedural, and operational aspects of a digital preservation environment.
The resulting deliverables summarized the current state of preservation operations, identified and analyzed risks and gaps, and provided corresponding recommendations and guidelines.
In 2016, the Smithsonian brought AVP back to look at operationalizing digital preservation across 19 museums, nine research centers, and a zoo. Focusing on digitized and born-digital collections as well as research data generated at the Institution, the goals of the assessment were to articulate risks to digital content, identify stewardship gaps, and provide recommendations to help the Institution reach its goal of ensuring the preservation of all digital resources of value.
