OAIS Reference Model

Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), Blue Book. January 2002. CCSDS 650.0-B-1. Pages 1.1-2, 2.1-10. Available online at http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/wwwclassic/documents/pdf/CCSDS-650.0-B-1.pdf (accessed 18 April 2005).

The OAIS reference model was created by NASA and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems to implement agreed-upon standards between government and industry for long-term digital storage and preservation of computer information. While this model was created for space systems, it has an inherent terrestrial application: the long-term archiving of digital information. The term “open” refers to the fact that this standard was developed publicly, not that these archives are publicly accessible to anyone. It is a system for the deposit, management, retrieval, and dissemination of stored data, but it does not specify a recommended means for doing so.

The sections in the model I surveyed include the purpose and scope of OAIS, its objectives, the applicability of the model to other archives, and important concepts for understanding the model, from ingest to dissemination. It specifies what roles that producers, managers, and consumers play in the life of the information being preserved. OAIS requires that information objects be expressly labeled and described with some sort of means of identification, such as a metadata or cataloging record. Relationships between objects should be expressed through structural metadata; and file wrappers are encouraged. These wrappers are called packages, and are distinct in each of the three phases of the model: 1) ingest (submission information package), 2) management/storage (archival information package), and 3) retrieval and use (dissemination information package). This model will be the basis for the Archives of Traditional Music’s NEH grant Sound Directions which looks toward creating a system of interoperable audio repositories.