Metadata primer
This page describes the kinds of metadata that exists within an information package, where they should be placed in the information package, and how it is referenced in METS. A package contains metadata on the root level of the package, as well as on each representation on the representation level of the package.
Package metadata
Descriptive metadata
Descriptive metadata describes the intellectual object the package represents (typically an exemplar of a work). Descriptive metadata can be used to identify and retrieve the intellectual content of the package. It does not describe specific files.
| File location in SIP | Example files | METS-element |
|---|---|---|
/metadata/descriptive/ |
| dmdSec |
Preservation/Digital provenance metadata
Short definition from E-ARK CSIP:
Digital provenance metadata […] records digital preservation information, e.g. audit information covering a digital library object’s life-cycle1.
On the package level preservation and digital provenance metadata describes the origin of the package, where it come from and how it has come into being. Preservation metadata typically describes digital processes, actions and events, and the outcomes of these.
| File location in SIP | Example files | METS-element |
|---|---|---|
/representations/*/metadata/preservation/ |
| digiprovMD |
Representation metadata (per representation)
Source metadata
Short definition from E-ARK CSIP:
Source metadata […] records descriptive, technical or rights metadata for an analog source for a digital library object.1
Source metadata describes the object a representation is derived from. This is typically metadata about a physical information carrier (e.g. a book, a photography, a film reel) that has been digitized, and its state and condition at the time of digitization. Similarly it can be metadata about a digital object that has been used to derive a different digital object.
| File location in SIP | Example files | METS-element |
|---|---|---|
/representations/*/metadata/source/ |
| sourceMD |
Technical metadata
Short definition from E-ARK CSIP:
[Technical metadata describes] technical details of the data themselves2.
Technical metadata documents measurable, system generated technical properties of the digital files in a representation. Technical metadata describes what the digital files actually are, based on file analysis. Technical metadata is not descriptions of the intellectual content of those files, or what has been done to the file/process history.
| File location in SIP | Example files | METS-element |
|---|---|---|
/representations/*/metadata/technical/ |
| techMD |
Preservation/Digital provenance metadata
Short definition from E-ARK CSIP:
Digital provenance metadata […] records digital preservation information, e.g. audit information covering a digital library object’s life-cycle1.
On the representation level preservation and digital provenance metadata describes the origin of the files in a representation, where they come from and how they have come into being. Preservation metadata typically describes digitization processes, actions and events, and the outcomes of these.
| File location in SIP | Example files | METS-element |
|---|---|---|
/representations/*/metadata/preservation/ |
| digiprovMD |