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Introduction

This document specifies the meemoo Submission Information Package (SIP), which describes how data and metadata should be packaged when delivered to meemoo for ingest. As a digital archive for over 160 content partners, meemoo ingests and disseminates an ever-growing number of digital objects. These collections contain a wealth of content and information stored in various types of digital file formats. They are accompanied by metadata that is described in a variety of formats. Therefore, the current SIP specification was developed to standardize the delivery of (media) content and metadata by meemoo’s content partners and increase scalability and sustainability.

The meemoo SIP uses a three-level hierarchical directory structure (bag - package - representation) to aggregate and describe media assets, including video, audio, images, captions… A meemoo SIP is a valid BagIt bag that contains a valid E-ARK SIP.

At the lowest directory level, the representation level, these assets are described in aggregate as digital representations. One level higher, the package directory level, embodies the represented content or intellectual entity, such as the work that is being depicted. Finally, the bag directory level bundles everything together for transport.

Metadata can occur at every SIP level to add administrative, structural, descriptive, and preservation information about the data and its context. Examples are the author of a representation, the author of what the representation represents (i.e. the intellectual entity), or the creation date of a representation. Metadata are written down in XML files using the common vocabularies METS, DCMI Metadata Terms, and PREMIS.

The meemoo SIP specification itself cannot be used for actual ingest in the meemoo archive. Depending on the type of content, specific mappings are required for ingest. These mappings consist of additional requirements on top of the current meemoo SIP specification and are captured in the different content profiles. In summary, content that is delivered to meemoo for ingest must always be packaged in a meemoo SIP that adheres to a specific content profile.

How to Read this Specification

This document is primarily intended for the following audiences:

  • Archivists delivering media resources with accompanying metadata to meemoo for long-term preservation;
  • Service providers such as digitization companies that integrate with the ingest flow of meemoo;
  • Partners of meemoo publishing software tenders that aim at integrating with the meemoo ingest flow.

To fully understand the basics of this specification, it is advised to be familiar with the XML format, as well as the following standards and metadata schemas this specification adheres to:

Metadata elements from these standards are described throughout this specification using tables such as the one below.

Element/Attribute Metadata/element/XPath
Name Metadata element name
Description Metadata element description
Datatype Metadata element datatype
Vocabulary Vocabulary term 1
Vocabulary term 2
...
Cardinality Metadata element cardinality
Obligation MAY/SHOULD/MUST

Each table contains the following information about a metadata element:

  • whether the tag is an XML element or an XML attribute;
  • an XPath expression to select the relevant element from the relevant file;
  • the name of the metadata element;
  • a description of the metadata element (including relevant requirements about its value);
  • the expected datatype of the value for this metadata element (if applicable);
  • vocabularies of possible values (if applicable);
  • the cardinality of the metadata element, i.e. if and how many times the element is allowed to occur;
  • whether the metadata element may/should/must be used.

The cardinality is expressed with syntax from the Unified Modeling Language, outlined in the table below.

UML Syntax Cardinality
0..1 The element can either not occur or occur at most exactly once.
0..* The element can either not occur or can occur an unlimited number of times.
1..1 The element must occur exactly once.
1..* The element must occur at least once and can occur an unlimited number of times.
m..n At least m but no more than n instances.

Continue to Terminology.