A Checklist and a Case for Documenting PREMIS-METS Decisions in a METS Profile

Shared metadata practices foster preservation and interoperability in several ways. They facilitate inter-repository exchange, the development of reusable metadata tools, and repository self-assessments and audits. Despite the benefits of shared practices, there has been little convergence on best practices for a widely used metadata strategy, PREMIS in METS. This paper proposes documenting PREMIS-METS decisions in METS profiles as a beneficial internal practice and an efficient way of sharing and comparing metadata strategies, thereby facilitating best practices. The paper then introduces a tool to help implementers document PREMIS-METS decisions in a METS profile. This tool is a checklist of 13 key PREMIS-METS issues that a repository should consider documenting in their METS profiles. Each of the 13 issues is illustrated with examples from METS profiles currently registered with the Library of Congress