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I want to recommend a study on rights expression languages recently completed by Karen Coyle for the Library of Congress. It was commissioned by the Library's Network Development and MARC Standards Office to help establish a methodology for examining emerging rights languages -- as a contribution to the dialog on issues and tools for controlling digital rights. The study compares four major languages - MPEG21/5, ODRL, Creative Commons, and METSRights - plus a few others, and establishes a taxonomy of characteristics to consider when selecting a language for a particular application. The report is also useful to clarify thinking on directions that need to be pursued in new rights expression language developments over the next few years. Rights management in the digital arena is a fast moving target, as is exemplified by the recent changes in ownership of XrML. Coyle's report is accessible from the following site: www.loc.gov/standards. Sally McCallum ******************************************************** Sally H. McCallum, Chief, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540 USA [log in to unmask] (Fax: 1-202-707 0115) (Voice: 1-202-707 5119) ********************************************************