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This article provides an introductory overview of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard, better known as METS. It will be of most use to librarians and technical staff who are encountering METS for the first time. The article contains a brief history of the development of METS, a primer covering the basic structure and content of METS documents, and a discussion of several issues relevant to the implementation and continuing development of METS including object models, extension schemata, and application profiles.

As educational technology becomes pervasive, demand will grow for library content to be incorporated into courseware. Among the barriers impeding interoperability between libraries and educational tools is the difference in specifications commonly used for the exchange of digital objects and metadata. Among libraries, Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) is a new but increasingly popular standard; the IMS content‐package (IMS‐CP) plays a parallel role in educational technology. This article describes how METS‐encoded library content can be converted into digital objects for IMS‐compliant systems through an XSLT‐based crosswalk. The conceptual models behind METS and IMS‐CP are compared, the design and limitations of an XSLT‐based translation are described, and the crosswalks are related to other techniques to enhance interoperability.

Recounts the 8th International Dublin Core Metadata Workshop held in Ottawa, Canada, October 4‐6, 2000. It provides overviews of the working group process, and developments within the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). NISO standardization, Dublin Core qualifiers, application profiles, administrative metadata, agent qualifiers, DC‐Education, DC‐Registries, DC‐Citation progress, and Extensible Open RDF Toolkit were main discussion topics of this workshop. This article also describes future goals of the DCMI, including additional qualifiers, multi‐lingual issues, and documentation policies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the breadth of the challenges and issues facing institutional repositories in academic libraries, based on a survey of academic librarians. Particularly, this study covers the challenges and barriers related to data management facing institutional repositories.

The study uses a survey method to identify the relative significance of major challenges facing institutional repositories across six dimensions, including: data, metadata, technological requirements, user needs, ethical concerns and administrative challenges.

The results of the survey reveal that academic librarians identify limited resources, including insufficient budget and staff, as the major factor preventing the development and/or deployment of services in institutional repositories. The study also highlights crucial challenges in different dimensions of institutional repositories, including the sheer amount of data, institutional support for metadata creation and the sensitivity of data.

This study is one of a few studies that comprehensively identified the variety of challenges that institutional repositories face in operating academic libraries with a focus on data management in institutional repositories. In this study, 37 types of challenges were identified in six dimensions of institutional repositories. More importantly, the significance of those challenges was assessed from the perspective of academic librarians involved in institutional repository services.

To report on initial work carried out on a Metadata Options Appraisal undertaken for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in the context of plans to create and manage complex digital objects called Interpretive Journeys, PDA‐based multimedia guides to Park tours. Design/methodology/approach – After some initial work, a phased approach was adopted. In Phase I (reported here), metadata schema for managing structurally complex digital objects were researched to provide a range of appropriate options. Their characteristics were then matched against the Park's general requirements as determined through discussions with staff and an examination of relevant documentation. Findings – It was determined that the METS metadata schema met Park requirements for managing Interpretive Journeys at a general level and could be used both, to inform the development of the planned Digital Asset Management System (an early priority), and to act as the main basis of a framework for determining a detailed metadata solution for the Park. Research limitations/implications – Further work is required in Phase II to determine the detailed metadata requirement for the Park. Practical implications – A useful guide to dealing with a range of management and metadata issues associated with managing complex digital objects, and to managing projects where guidance on metadata requirements is needed before the objects to be described are available. Originality/value – This paper offers an introduction to the management and metadata issues raised by Interpretive Journeys and digital composites of similar complexity, and an indication of how METS addresses these at a general level.

One purpose of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) is to deal with the multiplication of metadata types in recent years, and especially metadata that deal with non‐paper materials, including audiovisual sources and their digital representations. In that sense, it is a kind of meta‐metadata. But is it needed? Market forces may decide.

This paper aims to propose an entity-based scientific metadata schema, i.e. Scientific Knowledge Object (SKO) Types. During the past 50 years, many metadata schemas have been developed in a variety of disciplines. However, current scientific metadata schemas focus on describing data, but not entities. They are descriptive, but few of them are structural and administrative.

To describe entities in scientific knowledge, the theory of SKO Types is proposed. SKO Types is an entity-based theory for representing and linking SKOs. It defines entities, relationships between entities and attributes of each entity in the scientific domain.

In scientific knowledge management, SKO Types serves as the basis for relating entities, entity components, aggregated entities, relationships and attributes to various tasks, e.g. linked entity, rhetorical structuring, strategic reading, semantic annotating, etc., that users may perform when consulting ubiquitous SKOs.

SKO Types can be widely applied in various digital libraries and scientific knowledge management systems, while for the existing legacy of scientific publications and their associated metadata schemas.

Good project plans include technical specifications, plans of work, budgets and schedules that are consistent with project goals. Text digitisation presents many variables and many choices, so there is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution to recommend. This article presents a simple‐to‐use questionnaire as a tool for project managers to translate their vision of text digitisation into a series of functional requirements optimised for their collections and users. These requirements can then be used to develop specifications, draft workflows, and select appropriate staff, services and equipment.

Accessibility metadata has been a recurring theme in recent efforts aimed at promoting accessibility of information and communication technology solutions to all, regardless of their disabilities, cultural differences, language, etc. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of accessibility metadata in improving knowledge discovery and access in digital library environments, discuss developments in creating accessibility terms for resource description, and attempt to relate those developments to the overall purpose of universal design to finally recommend points for improvement.

This is an exploratory study based on review of selected literature and documentations made available by metadata projects. Search for related literature was made using Google Scholar, EBSCO, and Web of Science Databases using terms and combination of terms such as “universal design and metadata,” “accessibility metadata,” “inclusive design,” and “metadata and digital libraries.” Some documentation on metadata projects were obtained through e-mail correspondences.

The overall discussion shows that accessibility metadata can be instrumental in exposing accessible resources to search engines and in augmenting library resource discovery tools for the benefit of users with disabilities. Accessibility metadata would help users to quickly discover materials that fit their needs. However, the notion of indexing resources by their accessibility attributes remains an area that needs further exploration.

The paper gives emphasis to the importance of metadata research in universal design endeavors. It also provides recommendations for practical applications that would improve accessibility in digital library environments.