# /research/projects/pmwg/Copy Of background.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/pmwg/Copy Of background.htm

# Preservation Metadata for Digital Materials

## What is preservation metadata?

Preservation metadata:

- is the information necessary to carry out, document, and evaluate the processes that support the long-term retention and accessibility of digital materials.
- includes information ranging from a description of the hardware/software environment needed to render a particular class of digital object to a record of the migration of a digital object through successive formats over time.
- is an essential component of most digital archiving strategies.

## Why is it important?

Information in digital form is notoriously fragile, suffering from the twin perils of bit decay and technological obsolescence.

The threshold in a digital object's lifecycle beyond which the imperatives of preservation must be confronted arrives relatively early. In the extreme it can be concurrent with the object's creation.

Archiving practice has long recognized the importance of maintaining careful records of the preservation process.

Given the immediacy of preservation issues in the case of digital materials (compared to other mediums), the need for metadata to support digital preservation is not only indicated, but amplified.

The National Library of Australia, CEDARS, and OCLC, as well as others, have all developed preservation metadata schema to support their digital preservation initiatives.

## What's being done?

In March 2000, OCLC and RLG announced a cooperative effort to encourage the development of the infrastructure necessary to secure the long-term retention of digital materials.

A major focus of this cooperation is the identification of recommendations and best practices associated with the use of metadata in support of digital preservation.

In 2001-2002, OCLC and RLG convened an international working group of experts to develop a metadata framework to support the long-term retention of digital materials.

In 2003, a second working group was formed to address implementation strategies for preservation metadata.

Updated: 5 March 2003