Have you all looked at enterprise metadata repository tools? Oracle and 
SAS have nice tools that could be extended to meet some of the 
requirements listed below.

Thanks,
Susan

-- 
Susan Teague Rector
Web Applications Manager
Library Information Systems, VCU Libraries
804.827.3554 | [log in to unmask]



Will Sexton wrote:
> In January of 2007 I sent a post to the Web4lib list titled "Metadata
> tools that scale."  At Duke we were seeking opinions about a software
> platform to capture metadata for digital collections and finding
> databases.  The responses to that inquiry suggested that what we were
> seeking didn't exist.
>
> About a year ago, an OCLC report on a survey of 18 member institutions,
> "RLG Programs Descriptive Metadata Practices Survey Results," supported
> that basic conclusion.  When asked about the tools that they used to
> "create, edit and store metadata descrptions" of digital and physical
> resources, a sizable majority responded "customized" or "homegrown" tool.
>
> Since my initial inquiry, we launched a new installation of our digital
> collections at http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/.  Yet we still
> lack a full-featured software platform for capturing descriptive metadata.
>
> We did our own informal survey of peer institutions building digital
> collections, which further reinforced that familiar conclusion -- there
> are lots of Excel spreadsheets, Access and FileMaker databases, etc., out
> there, but no available enterprise-level solution (and we're still happy
> to be wrong on this point).
>
> We also articulated a detailed series of specifications for a metadata
> tool.  The library has committed to hiring two programmers each to a
> two-year appointment for producing a tool that meets these specs.  I just
> posted on this list the job description, for which there are two openings.
>
> I have a longer version of this post on our digital collections blog
> (http://library.duke.edu/blogs/digital-collections/2008/10/10/a-metadata-tool-that-scales/),
> listing our specifications in more detail.  But here are some of the
> basics:
>
> * Digitization:  integrates with, or provides a module for, management of
> digitization workflow.
>
> * Description:  supports a collections-based data model; flexible metadata
> schema (for us, the "Duke Core", derived from qualified Dublin Core);
> authority lists; cardinality and required-field constraints; metametadata
> (i.e., flagging, notations and status indicators for individual items);
> access control; simple and intuitive use.
>
> * Publication:  exports METS documents as well as other common formats
> (CSV, etc.).
>
> * Asset Management:  must be compatible with an asset management policy.
>
> While the Duke specifications are particular to our internal needs, I
> think we captured a lot of what makes the need for a full-featured
> metadata tool felt around the field.  I have some ideas about how to go
> about implementing this set of specifications, but thought I'd see if the
> concept might spur discussion on CODE4LIB.  How would you approach this
> project?  Any thoughts on architecture, platform, data models,
> methodologies?
>
> Will
> --
> Will Sexton
> Metadata Analyst / Programmer
> Duke University Libraries
>