We’ve encountered a situation in METS files that passes validation against the METS schema but perhaps shouldn’t:  METS files that contain duplicate FLocat elements.  In other words, multiple FLocat elements within a fileSec that refer to the same file.  For example:

<METS:fileSec>

<METS:fileGrp USE="archive" >

<METS:file GROUPID="G1" ID="TIF1" MIMETYPE="image/tiff">

<METS:FLocat LOCTYPE="OTHER" OTHERLOCTYPE="SYSTEM" xlink:href="1.tif" />

</METS:file>

<METS:file GROUPID="G1" ID="TIF1.2" MIMETYPE="image/tiff">

<METS:FLocat LOCTYPE="OTHER" OTHERLOCTYPE="SYSTEM" xlink:href="1.tif" />

</METS:file>

<METS:file GROUPID="G1" ID="TIF1.3" MIMETYPE="image/tiff">

<METS:FLocat LOCTYPE="OTHER" OTHERLOCTYPE="SYSTEM" xlink:href="1.tif" />

</METS:file>

</METS:fileGrp>

Shouldn’t this be considered invalid METS?