Hello, I am pleased to announce that the package I have been developing has been accepted into the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation under the name "GNU Metadata Exchange Utilities". This package began as the IWF Metadata Harvester, which I worked on as part of a government-sponsored employment program at the IWF Wissen und Media gGmbH (formerly Institute for Scientific Film) in Germany. After my contract ended, I began a new project called the LDF Metadata Exchange Utilities using the code from the IWF Metadata Harvester. This was possible because the IWF generously allowed me to publish my code and documentation under the GNU General Public License and the GNU Free Documentation license, respectively. Since the package has been accepted into the GNU Project, I have renamed it as above. This is a major step forward for the project. As part of the GNU Project, it has a much greater chance of attracting users and developers. When the time comes, it may even be included in GNU/Linux distributions. I am now looking for a library, museum, archive, other institution, or group of institutions to support my work on the GNU Metadata Exchange Utilities. Since it will use only Free Software unencumbered by restrictive licenses, it would be ideally suited for a cooperative project involving multiple institutions. My current plans are to implement support for XML using the `libxml' library and support for free database software, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and nosql. The dependencies on Microsoft software present in the IWF Metadata Harvester will not be included in the GNU Metadata Exchange Utilities, unless I've implemented the same functionality for free systems. I also intend to implement one or more ways of providing data, as well as harvesting it. While OAI and Z39.50 are widely used by libraries, they are lesser known outside of this field. I believe that a completely free system for providing and accessing data using these families of standards and protocols would be very useful for individuals and institutions in many different fields. I do require employment in order to continue my work on this project and would be grateful for any help or suggestions. Any comments or questions regarding the package would also be very welcome. Thank you, Laurence Finston