LOCKSS

LOCKSS ("Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe") is a distributed Digital preservation approach and open-source system originating at Stanford University Libraries. Participating institutions keep local copies of licensed or collected content and compare Checksums so damaged copies can be repaired from peers.

Idea

The slogan captures a core archival intuition: no single disk or vendor should be a single point of failure. Related programmes (e.g. CLOCKSS) adapt the model for scholarly publishers.

See also

• Checksum
• Institutional repository
• Digital preservation

Sources

• Official LOCKSS programme documentation.
• Library-science overviews of distributed preservation.