*** Apologies for cross-postings *** The Metadata Engine Project (METAe) - Newsletter now available. The second issue of the METAe Newsletter is now available from: http://meta-e.uibk.ac.at/newsletter/news.htm I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those readers who have contacted METAe since the first issue with words of encouragement and suggestions. I hope you will enjoy this issue of the METAe-news, which has a considerable amount of information about progress to date. In the News and Progress focus there is a detailed look at the progress to date and the technical developments achieved. There have been many significant results from this phase which are described in this report. From a technical point of view, however, the main output of the first phase has been the drafting of the requirement and specification papers. Günter Mühlberger, from the Project Co-ordination team at University of Innsbruck completes his explanation of the genesis of the idea that led to the Metadata Engine Project. We also present a short piece on the second project meeting at the University of Alicante, Spain. We showcase the expertise and involvement in METAe of two project partners. CCS Compact Computer Systeme are featured first with the involving history of the development of their technical expertise and products. The Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation also feature in this issue with a wonderful profile of their organisation, the library and archive. They also give details about their digitisation programme, even including information on the workflow and specifications. The newsletter also includes reports on meetings attended by METAe partners - as this issue does, with an article by Alexander Eggar reporting the MOA2 DTD workshop in New York, USA. We hope you will find this newsletter useful and informative. Any feedback can be directed to Simon Tanner, Editor of the METAe Newsletter at mailto:[log in to unmask] Best regards, Simon Tanner Senior Digitisation Consultant (HEDS) Higher Education Digitisation Service Web: http://heds.herts.ac.uk