Valuable scientific and cultural information assets are created, stored, managed, and accessed digitally, but the threat of losing them over the long term is high. Digital media are brittle and short lived. Hardware and software technology continues to evolve at a rapid rate. Changes in organisations and their cultural and financial priorities add risk to continued accessibility and long-term preservation of digital assets. Unlike print-based materials, digital assets cannot survive significant gaps in preservation care.
This resource provides an introduction to the different types of metadata, which is regarded as the essential step to secure long-term accessibility of digital resources. Originally published in the quarterly volume of ISQ (Information Standards Quarterly) the excerpt is a useful beginners guide covering de-facto standards such a METS, PREMIS, which have well-defined community processes for maintaining and updating them.