ISO 11506:2017

ISO 11506:2017 specifies techniques for archiving electronic data to ensure their long-term integrity, accessibility, usability, readability and reliability, in order to protect the evidential value of the data. In ISO 11506:2017, long term is considered to be a period of time lasting more than a century (see ISO 18911). Black-and-white microforms processed with liquid chemicals are used in ISO 11506:2017 because the result is always an irreversible record and because of the proven quality of microforms as a long-term preservation media. ISO 11506:2017 also specifies procedures for the parallel recording, by a single production unit, of COM and COLD output from the same data. It applies to many different types of electronic data, such as text and two-dimensional graphic data which can be represented as a black-and-white image. It is not applicable to the following: - animated images or sounds; - three-dimensional images; - images in shades of grey or in colour; - X-ray images. Neither is ISO 11506:2017 applicable to microforms created from dry thermal processes, since they offer insufficient guarantees in terms of irreversibility and longevity.