METS: Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard Merrilee Proffitt Society of American Archivists August 2002
Metadata Matters 2 Overview Problem definition METS schema METS Initiative Summary
Metadata Matters 3 Overview Problem definition METS schema METS Initiative Summary
Metadata Matters 4 Digital (Library) Objects Digital Library Objects are… Reformatted to digital Born digital Simple Complex
Metadata Matters 5 Structural metadata Maps physical files (digital assets) to logical items (complex digital objects) Scanned print material A/V material Multimedia presentations
Metadata Matters 6 Other Metadata All types of digital objects have other (non-structural) metadata descriptive MARC, DC, MODS, etc. administrative rights technical format details Standards exist or emerging for these
Metadata Matters 7 Overview Problem definition METS schema METS Initiative Summary
Metadata Matters 8 METS Scope Supports Structural metadata complex reformatted or born digital objects Metadata wrapper framework descriptive, administrative, structural, etc. structural required others use namespaces to reference extension schemas
Metadata Matters 9 METS Scope Data transfer syntax between applications between institutions Driver for applications page turner audio player multimedia presentation
Metadata Matters 10 Ebind/MOA2 Electronic Binding Project (Ebind) 1996 modeled structural metadata Making Of America II project Developed November 1997-January 2000 Funded by DLF and NEH, participants Cornell, NYPL, Penn State, Stanford, Berkeley Designed for scanned archival collections XML DTD defining explicit descriptive, administrative and structural metadata
Metadata Matters 11 MOA2 February 2001 DLF workshop on structural metadata Harvard, LC, MOA2 participants, others Outcome: METS definition emphasis on structural metadata, archiving and sharing wider scope of participants, content types change to namespace-qualified XML schema, framework architecture
Metadata Matters 12 METSHeader Administrative metadata File Inventory Structure map Descriptive metadata Behavioral metadata METS metadata buckets optional required optional
Metadata Matters 13 METS metadata XML extension schemas descriptive metadata Dublin Core, MARC, MODS, etc. administrative/technical metadata NISO image technical metadata LC schemas for A/V technical metadata Rights metadata (XrML, ODRL)
Metadata Matters 14 Metadata Reference (mdRef): A link to external descriptive metadata. The type of link (URN, handle, etc.) is included as an attribute, as is the metadata type. Metadata Wrapper (mdWrap): Included descriptive metadata, as either binary data (Base64 encoded) or in XML using namespace mechanism. The metadata type is specified as an attribute. Wrap or reference
Metadata Matters 15 Technical Metadata (techMD): technical metadata regarding content files IP Rights Metadata (rightsMD): rights metadata regarding content files or primary source material Source Metadata (sourceMD): provenance information for content files. Preservation Metadata (preservationMD): metadata to assist in preservation of digital content All sections use generic metadata reference and wrapper subelements. METS Administrative Metadata Section
Metadata Matters 16 File Group (fileGrp): provides mechanism for hierarchically subdividing physical files, for example by type File (file): provides a pointer to an external file or includes file content internally by Base64 encoding METS File Inventory
Metadata Matters 17 The Structural Map provides a tree structure describing the original document. Each division (div) element is a node in that tree, and can identify content files associated with that division by a METS Pointer (mptr) or a File Pointer (fptr) METS Structural Map
Metadata Matters 18 SMIL (W3C), MPEG-7 (ISO) RDF (W3C) Related (alternate) standards
Metadata Matters 19 METS and OAIS framework
Metadata Matters 20 METS and OAIS framework Submission Information Package (SIP) METS as transfer syntax Dissemination Information Package (DIP) METS as transfer syntax METS as input to display applications Archival Information Package (AIP) METS stored internally in an archive
Metadata Matters 21 Overview Problem definition METS schema METS Initiative Summary
Metadata Matters 22 METS Initiative Establishment of an editorial board with an editor-in-chief Complete the first version of the schema, ensure support for other digital library work Encourage field testing of METS and gather feedback Tools Extension schemas
Metadata Matters 23 Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office provides hosting for developing the standard Website Listserv
Metadata Matters 24 Digital Library Federation/RLG Work coordinators Funding Administrative support
Metadata Matters 25 Overview Problem definition METS schema METS Initiative Summary
Metadata Matters 26 METS summary Descriptive/technical/administrative metadata not defined internally points to external standard schemas Dublin Core, MARC, NISO imaging, etc. set of best practice schemas being identified
Metadata Matters 27 METS summary Structural metadata defined internally and required SMIL-lite simple support for multimedia, audio/visual SMIL may replace eventually
Metadata Matters 28 METS summary Current users include UC Berkeley (archival collections) Harvard (scanned print publications, e-journals) Library of Congress (audio/visual collections) EU MetaE project (historic newspapers) Michigan State (oral history collections) Univ of Virginia (FEDORA digital objects) MIT (DSpace) RLG (RLG Cultural Materials) more daily...
Metadata Matters 29 METS summary Tools under development for metadata capture transformation transfer dissemination/display Profiles necessary for interoperation Which extension schemas used? How structure maps are organized…
Metadata Matters 30 METS summary Current status version 1.0 (zeta) released in February; version 1.0 released July editorial board established LC standards office for maintenance agency RLG underwriting help with documentation and training, seek funding to host editorial board and to continue other efforts
Metadata Matters 31 METS summary METS is not all things to all people… Designed for local institutional application support Solving an immediate local problem Common to many institutions Flexible framework supports many institutional situations Profiling necessary to interoperate For OAIS packages For shared tools For other kinds of interoperation (e.g. cross repository search)
Metadata Matters 32 For More Information… METS homepage: (includes information about the METS listserv) Merrilee Proffitt,