The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has entered into a partnership with Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (CLOCKSS) to preserve its publications in case of catastrophe. The agreement guarantees that AIAA publications would be available to researchers and other parties in the event that AIAA’s ability to make the works available is catastrophically impaired.
CLOCKSS is an international, global archive governed by librarians and publishers. A geographically and geopolitically distributed network of redundant archive nodes located at 12 major research universities around the world, the archive safeguards members’ content and makes it available to researchers if a predetermined ‘trigger event’ makes it necessary to release the data. Trigger events include: the publisher ceasing business operations, a title no longer being offered by the publisher, an inability of the publisher to make back-issues of publications available, or the catastrophic failure of the publisher’s ability to make content available via electronic means. In the case of a trigger event, CLOCKKS then makes the content available free of charge to researchers and other parties.
By archiving with CLOCKSS, AIAA seeks to ensure that the scholarship in their publications will be available for a worldwide audience now and in the future in a manner that secures them for the long-term good of scholars.
