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Hi Ian In my own (multimedia) repository I would be very chary of making anything compulsory except title at point of ingest (and even that might have to be concocted in some circumstances!). For example, I recently created metadata for some coins. The default configuration had dc:creator required, and I had to put rubbish in until I could change the repository configuration. Dc:type and dc:format could potentially be compulsory, but these are generally derivable from the object anyway, and can be an obstacle if a single record is being created by a non-specialist. Particularly when supporting learning and teaching, a range of different materials will be submitted and obvious metadata for one type of material will be completely meaningless for another. For harvesting, I'd see title plus a link back to either the object or to the record in the originating repository as being essential (to my surprise, not all implementations include this second element, including default installs of some open-source software). Regarding the possibility to import a deposit from an external repository, I guess some convention within the community around dc:rights would be helpful - something which would be both human- and machine-readable. But I have to say I havent given consideration to that before today. Hope these thoughts help. Michael ******************************************** Michael Emly Collection Management Services Team Leader Leeds University Library tel. +44 (0)113 343 6444 email: [log in to unmask] Postal address: Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:41:24 +0000 From: Ian Stuart <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Required and Desirable metadata in a repository [This is primarily a question for those involved in repositories for e-prints, but others may have interesting views] Within your own Repository, what [primarily metadata] fields are *Required* and what are *Desired*? If you were advising a fellow Institution about setting up a repository, what fields would you advise as *Required* and what are *Recommended*? If you were to harvest[1] from a repository, what fields would you consider essential, and what would you consider helpful? Following on from that: if you were to harvest the Depot (or even the Intute Repository Search), how would you hope to identify[2] deposits that could be imported into your own Institutional Repository [1] This is where I come in: The depot will have a transfer service, but what to transfer? [2] I've had loads of thoughts on this one, and they all seem to spiral and knit and knot and hide their threads, and not actually conclude in any meaningful way.... for me. -- Ian Stuart. Developer for The Depot, EDINA, The University of Edinburgh. http://edina.ac.uk/