Subject: Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: OCLC/RLG White Paper
NINCH-ANNOUNCE (david@ninch.org)
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 13:58:17 -0400
Message-Id: <v04210113b6fa42dd74f5@[192.100.21.23]> Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 13:58:17 -0400 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org> Subject: Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: OCLC/RLG White Paper
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
April 11, 2001
Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects:
A Review of the State of the Art
A White Paper by the OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata, 2001
http://www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation/presmeta_wp.pdf
This is a late announcement, but of an important document reviewing
the "state-of-the-art" of preservation metadata from several nations
as the first step in building consensus on good practice in
implementing metadata in support of digital preservation.
I include here the review by Roy Tennant from "Current Cites" and the
complete introduction from the publication.
David Green
===========
>Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 17:43:12 -0800 (PST)
>Sender: cites@library.berkeley.edu
>From: CITES Moderator <citeschk@library.berkeley.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <cites@library.berkeley.edu>
>Subject: Current Cites, March 2001, 12(3)
>
>
> Current Cites (Digital Library SunSITE)
> Volume 12, no. 3, March 2001
>
> Edited by Roy Tennant
>
> The Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720
> ISSN: 1060-2356
> http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2001/cc01.12.3.html
> Contributors: Charles W. Bailey, Jr., Jim Ronningen, Roy Tennant
>
>
<<SNIP>>
>
>OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata. Preservation Metadata for
>Digital Objects: A Review of the State of the Art A White Paper by the
>OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata, 2001
>(http://www.oclc.org/ digitalpreservation/presmeta_wp.pdf). - The title
>describes the goal of this white paper, and it does it quite well. Digital
>preservation is a global issue, and the membership and findings of this
>group reflect this global nature. Exemplars of metadata for the purpose of
>preserving digital objects are reviewed, including the Open Archival
>Information System (OAIS) reference model, and metadata element sets from
>the Research Libraries Group (RLG), the National Library of Australia,
>CURL Exemplars in Digital Archives (CEDARS), the Networked European
>Deposit Library (NEDLIB), and Harvard University. The white paper ends by
>identifying points of convergence between these metadata element sets, and
>enumerating issues requiring further discussion. - RT
===============================================================
I. Introduction
Metadata is routinely defined in accordance with its literal
interpretation: "data
about data". More usefully, Day (1998) observes that "metadata is
commonly understood
as an amplification of traditional bibliographic cataloguing
practices in an electronic
environment." In the context of digital information objects, metadata
can be assigned to
one of three functional categories (Wendler (1999)):
· Descriptive: facilitating resource discovery and identification
· Administrative: supporting resource management within a collection
· Structural: binding together the components of complex information objects
Of these three categories, descriptive metadata for electronic
resources has received
the most attention - most notably through the Dublin Core metadata
initiative. However,
increasing awareness of the challenges posed by digital preservation
- the long-term
retention of digital objects - has underscored metadata needs for
digital objects beyond
resource discovery.
Effective management of all but the crudest forms of digital
preservation is likely to
be facilitated by the creation, maintenance, and evolution of
detailed metadata in support
of the preservation process. For example, metadata could document the technical
processes associated with preservation, specify rights management
information, and
establish the authenticity of digital content. It can record the
chain of custody for a digital
object, and uniquely identify it both internally and externally in
relation to the archive in
which it resides. In short, the creation and deployment of
preservation metadata is likely
to be a key component of most digital preservation strategies.
Several initiatives have addressed the issue of preservation
metadata, with the result
that a variety of approaches to its use have emerged. These
approaches, developed
independently of one another and designed largely to meet particular
institutional or
project requirements, nevertheless share several common themes.
However, they also
differ on a number of key points. Consequently, the body of current
work in preservation
metadata does not reflect a consensus on best practices for the use
of metadata in support
of digital preservation.
Initiatives such as the Dublin Core have demonstrated the value of
consensus-building
on metadata issues. In this spirit, the OCLC/RLG Working Group on
Preservation Metadata was formed to initiate a consensus-building process in
preservation metadata. Comprised of key stakeholders from a variety
of institutional and
geographic backgrounds, the Working Group is charged with developing
a consensus on
best practices and common approaches to the use of metadata to
facilitate the long-term
retention of digital objects. Using existing work as the foundation
and starting point for
its discussion, the Working Group will develop a comprehensive
preservation metadata
framework, describe a set of "essential" preservation metadata
elements needed to
support the framework, examine implementation issues associated with
preservation
metadata, and create testbed/pilot applications. The Working Group
will conclude its work by releasing a set of recommendations
reflecting their consensus on best practices
and approaches to the use of metadata to support digital preservation
strategies.
This white paper represents the first step of the Working Group's
activity. Its scope
includes the following topics:
· definition and illustration of preservation metadata for digital objects
· high-level requirements for a broadly applicable, comprehensive preservation
metadata framework
· the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model, a potential
starting point for developing the preservation metadata framework
· review and synthesis of existing preservation metadata approaches
· identification of points of convergence/divergence among existing approaches
Collectively, these topics constitute both a summary of the "state of
the art" in
preservation metadata, and a starting point for the
consensus-building process in which
the members of the Working Group will participate.
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