The PREMIS Editorial Committee has released PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, Version 2.0. A draft XML schema, which will be reviewed for a month before being released in final form, is also available.
Here's an excerpt from the press release:
This document is a revision of Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final report of the PREMIS Working Group, issued in May 2005. The PREMIS Data Dictionary and its supporting documentation is a comprehensive, practical resource for implementing preservation metadata in digital archiving systems. Preservation metadata is defined as information that preservation repositories need to know to support digital materials over the long term.
This document is a specification that emphasizes metadata that may be implemented in a wide range of repositories, supported by guidelines for creation, management and use, and oriented toward automated workflows. It is technically neutral in that no assumptions are made about preservation technologies, strategies, syntaxes, or metadata storage and management. Members of the PREMIS Editorial Committee revised the original data dictionary based on comments and experience from implementers and potential implementers since its release. The Editorial Committee kept the preservation community informed about issues being discussed, solicited comments on proposed revisions, and consulted outside experts where appropriate. . . .
Major changes in this revision include:
- Expanded rights metadata
- More extensive significant properties and preservation level information
- Mechanism for extensibility for a number of metadata units
