Application of Preservation Metadata for Long-Term Accessibility of Digital Objects

摘要

In the process of digital preservation metadata management for long-term accessibility ofdigital objects has been an important discussion point internationally. However, there is a gapin the implementation of preservation metadata standards from theory to practice. Hithertolittle research has been conducted to show the application of preservation metadata andtherefore new case studies on both implementation and use of metadata standards inpreservation strategies is needed. The aim of this thesis is to study the extent of implementingstandard preservation metadata in the preservation practice at memory institutions.This study adopts a qualitative method based upon a pragmatic approach and uses the casestudy strategy. Metadata experts/specialists in three memory institutions (National Library ofEstonia, National Archives of Estonia and National Library of Wales) were interviewed usingsemi-structured interviews, accompanied by document analysis.Results of the study show that these memory institutions are recording a wide range ofmetadata in all categories: descriptive, structural as well as administrative metadata (includingthe rights, provenance, and technical metadata). They use metadata elements from a variety ofmetadata standards/schema to suit their practical purposes. However, the level of exploitationof preservation metadata standards differs in scale, data management practices as well asheterogeneity of metadata recorded. Metadata is recorded about different digital objects likebooks, WebPages, photographs, audio, video, and their files and bitstreams. The level ofimplementation of metadata for each object type varies between institutions. The applicationof the PREMIS metadata standard entities varies from institution to institution as it rangesfrom reviewing/analyzing stage to practical implementation. Significant differences have alsobeen seen between national libraries and archives in mission, process of ingest, influence oftheir traditional cataloguing practices and types of standards used for the development of theirmetadata specification. In managing the metadata on the digital preservation processesdifferent problems and challenges have been faced and investigated by these memoryinstitutions and further research should be carried out to study other aspects of metadataimplementation.