integrity
n.
The quality of being whole and unaltered through loss, tampering, or corruption.
Notes
Integrity is a relative concept that assesses whether the essential nature of a record has changed. As a record ages, its ink may fade or bits of the paper may be chipped from edge without any significant loss of integrity. Contrawise, loss of a page from a record, especially one bearing authorizing signatures, has a significant impact on the record's integrity.
In the context of records, integrity relates to the potential loss of physical or intellectual elements after a record has been created. It is distinguished from completeness, which refers to the presence of all required physical and intellectual elements when the record is created.
Citations
Lynch 2000, p. 5 When we say that a digital object has 'integrity,' we mean that it has not been corrupted over time or in transit; in other words, that we have in hand the same set of sequences of bits that came into existence when the object was created.
UNESCO 2001 [archival integrity] A basic standard derived from the principle of provenance and the registry principle which requires that an archive/record group shall be preserved in its entirety without division, mutilation, alienation, unauthorized destruction or addition, except by accrual or replevin, in order to ensure its full evidential and informational value.
