METS schema: An emerging digital library standard
Track:	Educational Technology
Location:	Homeroom
Date:	Tuesday, July 30
Time:	8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Campus:	UC Berkeley
Department:	Library Systems
Speaker:	Rick Beaubien	e-mail:	rbeaubie@library.berkeley.edu

Presentation Materials:

Rick Beaubien's PowerPoint presentation is available via anonymous ftp from sunsite.berkeley.edu:

ftp://sunsite.berkeley.edu/pub/mets/present/METSUCCSC.ppt

Presentation Abstract:

The METS schema is a proposed, XML-based community standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata pertaining to objects within a digital library. METS provides the means for:

• Specifying how the files and parts of files that constitute the content of a digital entity fit together into a coherent, hierarchically structured whole.
• Linking descriptive metadata with digital content
• Linking administrative metadata with digital content
• Linking behavior definitions and program code with digital content and with associated descriptive and administrative metadata
• Wrapping digital content, and associated descriptive and administrative metadata as binary data.

METS was designed to be useful as:

• A transfer syntax: standard for transmitting/exchanging digital entities.
• A functional syntax: basis for providing end users with the ability to view and navigate digital content and its associated metadata
• An archiving syntax: standard for archiving digital entities

The proposed METS standard is maintained in the Network Development and MARC Standards Office of the Library of Congress, and has been developed as an initiative of the Digital Library Federation. The California Digital Library and The General Library of the University of California at Berkeley both plan to adopt METS as a core standard in digital library development. METS-based projects are also in progress at Harvard, New York University, Library of Congress, University of Michigan, MIT, and University of Virginia.

The METS presentation will give an overview of its history and key provisions. Supporting materials for this presentation can be found at http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets.