CDL Digital Object Standards available online

[Roy Tennant]

California Digital Library standards documents
August 15, 2001

The California Digital Library (CDL) has recently adopted several 
guidelines for the use of standards in its collections and services. 
Notable among them are guidelines for the creation and encoding of 
digital objects, and best practices for the encoding of finding aids 
using the encoded archival description standard. The documents may be 
found at the CDL publications page at 
http://www.cdlib.org/about/publications/.

* CDL Digital Object Standard: Metadata, Content and Encoding states 
the minimum standards for encoding digital objects to be added to CDL 
collections.  The document explains the CDL's adoption of an XML DTD 
based upon a DTD originally created for the Making of America II 
project - as a means to encode administrative, structural, and 
descriptive metadata for the objects.

* Digital Image Format Standards is a companion document which names 
CDL standards for the creation of digital image surrogates of primary 
source materials. The documents were written by CDL's advisory 
working group on Strategic Technology, Architecture and Standards, 
consisting of digital library experts, faculty, and researchers from 
throughout the University of California System, and were reviewed 
widely by CDL partners and experts from the field Together the two 
pieces replace the earlier CDL Digital Image Collection Standards 
from 1999.

* The Online Archive of California Best Practices Guidelines Version 
1.0: Encoding New Finding Aids Using Encoded Archival Description, 
establishes a number of requirements for the consistent creation of 
encoded finding aids for the Online Archive of California (OAC). The 
OAC is a statewide digital resource that includes a single, 
searchable database of more than 5,000 finding aids to the contents 
of primary resource collections throughout California. In many cases 
digital surrogates for the primary source materials are linked from 
the finding aids. Over 45 California-based cultural institutions 
contribute materials to the OAC. In addition to these 
institution-based collections there are virtual collections including 
California Heritage Collection, the American Heritage Virtual 
Archive, the Japanese-American Relocation Digital Archive, and the 
Museums in the OAC collection. An expansion of OAC titled California 
Cultures is commencing this Fall. The OAC website is available at 
http://oac.cdlib.org/.