Managing digital cultural objects: analysis, discovery and retrieval

problems and pitfalls of working in such a complex landscape of standards, nor does he present a clear practical pathway that professionals can follow. Other contributions within the volume describe a variety of different interpretations of the term, some equating trustworthiness with adhering to the specifications of ISO 16363, some referring to the seven attributes of a Trusted Digital Repository (from the RLG and OCLC publication Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities) and others simply referring to their repository as a TDR. Some authors state that libraries and archives will be considered trustworthy by default. For example, in Chapter 4, Cassie Findlay says ‘As the state archives, we also found that a great deal of trust was assumed. We found that the curiosity from agency representatives or archives users with regard to how we managed and maintained the records and how this might affect their trustworthiness was very low to nonexistent.’ In Chapter 8, Steve Marks points out that ‘Good practice is good practice – whether you are running a certified TDR or not.’ Further discussion around the question of what a trustworthy digital repository actually is, whether certification is necessary and how we garner trust from our stakeholders, pulling together the viewpoints of the individual authors, would have been helpful. With regard to the second question around how they are implemented, the volume is more successful. The selected case studies certainly give a range of practical examples that others can learn from, particularly with regard to the challenges that may be encountered. There is strength in the fact that individual authors bring a different perspective and different experiences. However, tighter editorial control could have helped ensure greater consistency and more cohesion between the contributions. This book may not provide a simple answer to the question what is a trustworthy digital repository but it certainly provides a range of useful perspectives and the chance to read an interesting set of practical case studies. If you wish to learn from the experience of others who have tried to find solutions to some thorny implementation problems, then this book is certainly worth dipping into.