Reviews major developments in the MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) format renamed MARC 21 for the twenty-first century, including a description of metadata schemes and cross-walks. Offers an assessment of how well MARC works for Arabic script materials; describes the degree to which MARC is used in Saudi Arabia; and considers prospects for the…

Describes the development of the OAIster system (Open Archives Initiative, University of Michigan, Digital Library Production Service) to harvest, store, transform digital object metadata into Digital Library eXtension Service (DLXS) Bibliographic Class format, build indexes and make the metadata searchable through an interface using the XPAT…

How should scarce resources available to produce metadata be deployed to support discovery in different contexts? How might metadata harvesting be exploited to support new interfaces and enhanced navigation among related resources in digital libraries? This article starts a conversation between metadata providers and service builders by describing…

Explores factors in the history of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) that have contributed to the positive response of the digital library and information community toward version 2 of the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. Factors include focus on a defined problem statement, an operational model in which strong leadership is balanced with…

The MetaScholar Initiative is a collaborative endeavor to explore the feasibility and utility of scholarly portal services developed in conjunction with Open Archives Initiative metadata harvesting technologies. This article describes two projects that the MetaScholar Initiative comprises, as well as accomplishments and findings to date. (AEF)

Discusses the introduction of the use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) in publishing electronic journals. Topics include standards, including DTDs (Document Type Definition), or document type definitions; aggregator requirements; SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language); benefits of XML for e-journals; XML metadata; the possibility of…

The Dublin Core (DC) Element Set and the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol have provided a solid foundation for the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) framework. More precision is needed in community-specific aspects of resource description than is offered by DC, and many of the potential participants in OLAC do not have the technical…

Details NASA's (National Aeronautics & Space Administration (USA)) involvement in defining and testing the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) and experience with adapting existing NASA distributed searching DLs (digital libraries) to use the OAI-PMH and metadata harvesting. Discusses some new digital…

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign undertook a project to test the efficacy of using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting to construct a search and discovery service focused on information resources in the domain of cultural heritage. Provides an overview of the Illinois project, with quantitative data about…

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting program presents a method by which metadata regarding archives and manuscripts can be shared and made more interoperable with metadata from other sources. Outlines a method for exposing hierarchical metadata from encoded archival description (EAD) files and assesses some…

Summarizes the elements of the Cornell-Yale digitization model and shows how Michigan State University (MSU) has expanded the model, focusing on a project to digitize the American Radicalism Collection of the MSU Libraries. Issues of selection, quality, integrity, longevity, and access are discussed. Sidebars present MSU digitizing procedures,…

Describes DocML, a Web-based digital library of university data that is used to build a system capable of preserving and managing student assignments. Topics include requirements for a digital library of university data; metadata and XML; three-tier architecture; user interface; searching; browsing; content delivery; and administrative issues.…

Discussion of digital library projects at Rutgers University focuses on publishing bibliographic databases on the Web to provide access to information sources not likely to be published elsewhere. Describes the reusable technology platform concept, bibliographic platform architecture, metadata approach, data entry, and managing the process.…

Incorporated in the National Library of Canada's (NLC) digital library initiatives are projects relating to digitization, collecting Canadian networked electronic publications, development of virtual catalogs, metadata creation, and preservation of digital resources. Issues relating to collaboration, access to digital collections and databases,…

This series of articles reviews the management of global change data and the role of librarians and information professionals. Topics include the Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS) thesaurus project, ConQuest Software, the Assisted Search for Knowledge (ASK) project, metadata, standards, and Directory Interchange Format and USMARC.…