FAIR and TRUST-Alignment

The INFRA-ART Spectral Library is committed to responsible and transparent data stewardship. Our data governance framework aligns with international standards to ensure the long-term usability, accessibility, and trustworthiness of the data we host—advancing cultural heritage science through open, FAIR-aligned infrastructure.

Alignment with the FAIR Principles

The INFRA-ART Spectral Library is committed to supporting the FAIR Principles — ensuring that all data are:

• • Findable through rich metadata and persistent identifiers;
• • Accessible via standardized, open protocols and clear access policies;
• • Interoperable through the use of community standards, controlled vocabularies, and structured metadata;
• • Reusable with detailed provenance information and clear licensing to support responsible reuse.

We design our data curation, documentation, and infrastructure strategies with FAIR compliance in mind, to maximize the discoverability, accessibility, and value of spectral data for our user community.

Commitment to the TRUST Principles

As part of our commitment to openness, stewardship, and community engagement, the INFRA-ART Spectral Library affirms its alignment with the TRUST Principles for digital repositories. These principles—Transparency, Responsibility, User Focus, Sustainability, and Technology—reflect the global best practices for the long-term preservation and usability of digital data. By aligning with the TRUST Principles, we aim to ensure that the INFRA-ART Spectral Library is a trustworthy, accessible, and enduring resource for the cultural heritage, conservation, and other scientific research communities.

We recognize that long-term stewardship of scientific data depends not only on technical infrastructure but also on clear governance, ethical responsibility, and responsive service to our user community. As such, our operations reflect the following commitments:

Transparency

We openly share our repository’s governance structure, data policies, and curation workflows. Information is publicly available in our:

• • Data Access Policy
• • Data Deposit Policy
• • Data Curation Policy
• • Data Preservation Policy

We regularly review and update this documentation to reflect current practices and evolving standards.

Responsibility

We take active responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and ethical management of the spectral data we host. Our team ensures compliance with legal and disciplinary norms, and assigns clear roles in data stewardship, curation, and user support.

User Focus

Our services are designed to meet the needs of the researchers, conservators, museum professionals, and institutions that rely on spectral data for cultural heritage analysis and interpretation. We support users by:

• • Providing intuitive search, navigation, and download options.
• • Ensuring datasets are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).
• • Offering user support via documentation, contact channels, and feedback forms.
• • Actively seeking input from our user community to improve tools, documentation, and services.

We view users not just as recipients of data but as active collaborators in shaping the repository.

Sustainability

We recognize that long-term access to high-quality data requires proactive planning and resource management. Our approach to sustainability includes:

• • Institutional support through the INFRA-ART project.
• • Strategic planning for funding, maintenance, and infrastructure renewal.
• • Use of open standards and non-proprietary formats to ensure long-term readability and interoperability.
• • Active participation in data-curation and preservation networks to enhance our workflows and align with community best practices.

Technology

Our technical infrastructure is built on modern, reliable, and community-supported platforms. We aim to:

• • Use interoperable technologies that support metadata harvesting, persistent identifiers, and standards-compliant data formats.
• • Continuously assess and upgrade our software and storage solutions in line with best practices in digital preservation and repository management.
• • Protect the integrity and security of data through backups, access controls, and monitoring.
• • Enable seamless integration with other digital research infrastructures, including linked data and semantic web frameworks.

We are committed to providing a stable, performant, and user-friendly technical environment that supports seamless access and responsible data reuse.

Alignment with EOSC Guidelines

As part of our commitment to open science and FAIR-best practices, the INFRA-ART Spectral Library aims to align with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Interoperability Framework. These alignments are both strategic and operational, reflecting real progress in both technical and semantic interoperability, metadata quality, and machine-actionability. Through participation in FAIR-IMPACT support actions, we have:

• • Developed an internal interoperability roadmap using the FAIRCORE4EOSC Compliance Toolkit.
• • Identified and prioritized improvements in metadata schemas, PIDs, API services, and documentation.
• • Enhanced machine-actionability and semantic interoperability in preparation for integration with EOSC services such as OpenAIRE.

These efforts collectively ensure that the INFRA-ART Spectral Library is not only FAIR-aligned in principle but also operationally compliant and interoperable by design—supporting a federated, machine-actionable, and trustworthy research data ecosystem.

Implementation of RDA Recommendations and Outputs

The INFRA-ART Spectral Library implements key outputs from the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Working Groups to support transparency, trust, and dataset reusability. Specific actions include:

• • Applying recommendations on repository transparency and metadata exposure, data granularity, and data discoverability.
• • Enhancing the machine-actionability of object-level data through FAIR mappings and semantic alignment via the FAIRMap4ART project (supported by the RDA-TIGER initiative), which operationalizes priorities from our interoperability roadmap.
• • Aligning repository practices with RDA guidance on persistent identifiers, citation, and data licensing to support traceability and proper attribution.
• • Supporting cross-domain reuse and advancing interoperability in heritage science/interdisciplinary research through alignment with RDA’s global standards.

Part of the FIDELIS Network of Trustworthy Digital Repositories (TDRs)

Starting with June 2025 the INFRA-ART Spectral Library is a provisional member of the FIDELIS Network of Trustworthy Digital Repositories—a growing European initiative dedicated to fostering collaboration, transparency, and trust in digital preservation. Participation in the FIDELIS Network of TDRs reinforces our position as a trusted, standards-aligned repository, and strengthens our governance through peer learning and shared evaluation frameworks. As part of this network, we contribute to a shared vision of:

• • Repository trustworthiness: through transparent governance and clear policies.
• • Community alignment: by adopting and promoting FAIR and TRUST-aligned practices.
• • Knowledge exchange: working alongside peer institutions to advance standards, tools, and assessment frameworks for sustainable, high-quality data services.

Why this Matters for Heritage Science Research

Spectral data is fundamental in conservation science and various other research fields. However, without FAIR-aligned governance, valuable datasets often remain siloed—difficult to find, access, or reuse. At INFRA-ART, we recognize that:

• • Improved data discoverability allows researchers to efficiently find and reuse datasets;
• • Transparent metadata and documentation foster trust, reproducibility, and responsible use;
• • Interoperability unlocks integration with AI tools, digital archives, and semantic web platforms—amplifying the value of each dataset.
• • Long-term preservation safeguards the value of datasets for future research and reuse.
• • Governed data sharing ensures alignment with open science policies and compliance with ethical and legal standards;

By aligning with the FAIR and TRUST principles, and embedding global best practices into our infrastructure and workflows, we’re not just upgrading our data management practices —we are building a trusted, sustainable digital ecosystem for heritage science.

Ongoing Review and Feedback

INFRA-ART is committed to continuous improvement. We review our policies and technical practices regularly and welcome feedback from users, and the broader research community. For questions, feedback, or more information on how the INFRA-ART Spectral Library implements the FAIR and TRUST Principles, please contact us at infraart@inoe.ro.

This Data preservation policy was last updated on 30 July 2025.