CASPAR – Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval – is an Integrated Project co-financed by the European Union within the Sixth Framework Programme (Priority IST-2005-2.5.10, “Access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources”).

CASPAR intended (and succeeded) to:

  • Implement, extend, and validate the OAIS reference model (ISO:14721:2003)
  • Enhance the techniques for capturing Representation Information and other preservation related information for content objects
  • Design virtualisation services supporting long term digital resource preservation, despite changes in the underlying computing (hardware and software) and storage systems, and the Designated Communities.
  • Integrate digital rights management, authentication, and accreditation as standard features of CASPAR.
  • Research more sophisticated access to and use of preserved digital resources including intuitive query and browsing mechanisms
  • Develop case studies to validate the CASPAR approach to digital resource preservation across different user communities and assess the conditions for a successful replication.
  • Actively contribute to the relevant standardisation activities in areas addressed by CASPAR.
  • Raise awareness about the critical importance of digital preservation among the relevant user-communities and facilitate the emergence of a more diverse offer of systems and services for preservation of digital resources.