n. (abbr. PREMIS)an XML-based standard, including a data dictionary, for encoding preservation metadata for digital objectsPREMIS 2005, viiIn 2003 OCLC and RLG established Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS), an international working group. . . . ¶ The Data Dictionary defines and describes an implementable set of core preservation metadata with broad applicability to digital preservation repositories.Dappert and Enders 2010, 8PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) is one attempt at specifying the semantic units needed to support core preservation functions. Core preservation metadata is relevant to a wide range of digital preservation systems and contexts, and it is what “most working preservation repositories are likely to need to know” to preserve digital material over the long term. This includes administrative metadata, but also generic technical metadata that is shared by all content types.Lavoie and Gartner 2013, 12The international consensus achieved with the preservation metadata framework suggested opportunities to advance work in preservation metadata by defining a core set of implementable, broadly applicable preservation metadata elements, supported by a data dictionary providing guidelines and recommendations for populating and managing the elements. To address this task, OCLC and RLG convened a second working group: PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS). PREMIS was composed of more than 30 international experts in preservation metadata, drawn from libraries, museums, archives, government agencies, and the private sector. ¶ In 2005, the PREMIS working group published the 237-page Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report of the PREMIS Working Group (PREMIS, 2005). The report included the PREMIS Data Dictionary 1.0, a comprehensive guide to the core metadata needed to support long-term digital preservation. Subsequent to the release of the Data Dictionary, PREMIS released a set of XML schemas to support implementation and exchange of PREMIS-conformant preservation metadata.DPC 2015PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) is the international standard for metadata to support the preservation of digital objects and ensure their long-term usability. . . . ¶ The PREMIS Data Dictionary [citation] is organized around a data model consisting of five entities associated with the digital preservation process . . .DPC 2015Although the PREMIS Data Dictionary is not a formal standard, in the sense of being managed by a recognized standards agency, it has achieved the status of the accepted standard for preservation metadata in the digital preservation community.Roke and Tillman 2022, 181For example, one could use PREMIS, a preservation metadata standard, to describe the preservation actions taken on materials while also expressing its exhibition history using an entirely different vocabulary.PREMIS 2025The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata is the international standard for metadata to support the preservation of digital objects and ensure their long-term usability. Developed by an international team of experts, PREMIS is implemented in digital preservation projects around the world, and support for PREMIS is incorporated into a number of commercial and open-source digital preservation tools and systems.
Notes
Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies initially served as the name of the working group that developed the data dictionary but then was adopted as the name of the de facto standard. Originally an initiative of the Online Computer Library Center and the Research Libraries Group, the standard is now maintained by the Library of Congress.
