Welcome subscribers to the PREMIS Implementers’ Group (PIG) list!

The PIG list is a discussion forum for anyone interested in the PREMIS Data Dictionary 1.0 and in particular, implementation of the Data Dictionary in digital archiving systems. Please feel free to post any comments or questions you might have on these topics to the list. We will initiate some discussion threads soon to get a dialog rolling, but of course feel free to start your own thread anytime.

We’d like to make you aware of other PREMIS resources in addition to this discussion list:

PREMIS Maintenance Activity Web site: http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/

This is the future Web home of the PREMIS Maintenance Activity, once it is organized. The PREMIS XML schemas are already located here.

PREMIS Working Group Web site: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/pmwg/

All of the PREMIS Working Group’s final products, including the survey report and the Data Dictionary, can be downloaded here.

PIG-Pen: PREMIS Implementers’ Group Wiki: http://pigpen.lib.uchicago.edu:8888/pigpen

A wiki for use by the PREMIS Implementers’ Group. It requires authorization:

User name: linus

Password: lucy

Access to the wiki is limited to PIG list subscribers only. Obviously this is not a water-tight restriction, but we’d appreciate it if you would not share the authorization information any more than is necessary. The wiki is up and available, but is dormant for the time being until we get underway and develop a plan for its use. More information on this to follow.

Some clarification of who “we” are: for the time being, the Data Dictionary and related activities will be managed by Priscilla Caplan of FCLA and Rebecca Guenther of LC (former co-chairs of the working group that produced the Data Dictionary), as well as Brian Lavoie of OCLC and Robin Dale of RLG (former liaisons to the working group from the sponsoring organizations). We are currently working on organizing a formal PREMIS maintenance activity, which will be open to any institution willing to participate in the maintenance and future revisions of the Data Dictionary. We will release details to this list soon.

Preservation metadata is a key component of effective digital preservation strategies. We hope that the PREMIS Data Dictionary, and future work based on the Data Dictionary, will contribute toward a shared understanding of how metadata can be created, managed, and used in support of digital preservation.

Regards,

Priscilla, Rebecca, Brian, and Robin