Preservation Policy

1. Items will be retained indefinitely.
2. IHU Repository will try to ensure continued readability and accessibility.
3. As media or file formats become obsolete, content will be migrated to newer media/formats.
4. The repository will maintain multiple copies of items for security, back-up, and preservation purposes, and will allow third parties to hold one or more copies for such purposes.
5. The original bit stream is retained for all items, in addition to any upgraded formats.
6. Items may not normally be removed from IHU Repository. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include:
   1. Proven copyright violation or plagiarism
   2. Legal requirements and proven violations
   3. National security
   4. Falsified research
7. In general, withdrawn items are not deleted but are removed from public view:
   1. Withdrawn items' URLs are maintained indefinitely.
   2. URLs will continue to point to 'tombstone' citations, to avoid broken links and to retain item histories.
   3. Items will only be deleted from the repository if there is a legal requirement to do so. Deletion means removal of the item itself, plus any metadata pertaining to the item. In this case, there will be no “tombstone” marker as is the case with withdrawn items.
8. Changes to deposited items are not permitted.
9. Errata and corrigenda lists may be included with the original record if required.
10. If necessary, an updated version may be deposited. The original URL will be linked to the latest version.
11. Items are allocated a checksum to facilitate the detection of alterations.
12. In the event of IHU Repository being closed down, the system will be recovered. However, there is a slight possibility that a small part of information will be lost.