The document discusses different digital asset management systems and their suitability for storing and providing access to digital collections. It evaluates systems like ContentDM, Greenstone, Fedora, eXist and XTF according to criteria such as data types supported, metadata standards, search and interface capabilities, costs and customization requirements. eXist is highlighted as an open source XML database that stores data as XML and allows export of metadata for future migrations. The use of METS, Dublin Core and other standards for structural and descriptive metadata is also discussed. Faceted browsing, metadata workflows and the benefits of using XForms for metadata entry are additional topics covered.

1. Establishing Metadata Practices Chris Burns Winona Salesky

6. Evaluation Matrix Software ContentDM Greenstone Fedora eXist XTF Data Types EAD Finding Aids No No Yes Yes Yes TEI (full text) No TEI, poor full text handling No TEI, full text stored as plain text Yes Yes Yes Descriptive Metadata Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Preservation Metadata No No Yes Yes Yes Structural Metadata- METS Outputs Mets Outputs Mets Yes Yes Yes Other formats (Sound, video, PDF, etc) Limited Unclear Yes Yes Limited Costs Purchase Price Annual fee Open source & Free Open source & Free Open source & Free Open source & Free Staff Time Some time for customization, but is essentially an out-of- the-box system that runs as is Some time for customization, but is essentially an out-of- the-box system that runs as is Lots of customization needed. High learning curve. Lots of Customization depending on system needs. Unclear. Software “Add-Ons” Some versions come with JPEG200, and OCR None Possible integration with a “METS navigator” and Xforms Integration with METS navigator and Xforms Integration with Fedora

7. Evaluation Matrix Cont. Software ContentDM Greenstone Fedora eXist XTF Searching Simple Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Advanced Yes (fielded searching and full text) Yes (customizable field searching and full text) Yes (May be customizable) Yes - customizable Yes – customizable Implementation Comes ready to go, can be customized Comes ready to go, can be customized Unclear Must be written Comes ready to go, can be customized Dynamic Browsing Yes, can browse on indexed terms ? Unclear Yes Unclear User Interface Customizable Somewhat Somewhat Yes Fully customizable Fully customizable Browse Options Somewhat Customizable Titles, subjects. Others Unclear Fully customizable Unclear Preservation Speed of deployment 2-3 months 2-3 months 12-14 months 6-8 months Unclear Proprietary Yes No No No No Ability to Extract Data for future Migrations A variety of export methods for descriptive metadata only. Yes. METS record with Greenstone metadata format for technical, relative links to images Yes, METS record Yes, METS record Yes, METS record

22. Structural Metadata Creation