ISO 11799:2003 specifies the characteristics of general-purpose repositories used for the long-term storage of archive and library materials. It covers the sitting and construction of the building and the installation and equipment to be used.

It applies to all archive and library materials held in general-purpose repositories, where mixed media may be stored together. It does not preclude the establishment of separate areas or compartments within individual repositories where the environment can be controlled to create conditions suiting the needs of specific archive materials.

It does not cover special requirements for the long-term storage of not or not fully paper-based documents such as parchment or vellum, photographic documents or machine-readable documents.

It also does not cover repository management procedures.