Archivewhere

Archivewhere is a conceptual framework and platform designed to help locate, access, and preserve archived digital materials across multiple independent repositories. It emphasizes federated discovery, provenance, and long-term availability, enabling researchers, librarians, and the public to discover items held in disparate archives without requiring direct access to each repository.

Key features include a federated search index that queries participating archives, standardized metadata schemas to describe items and their preservation state, and persistent identifiers to track versions over time. It often relies on open protocols such as OAI-PMH or RESTful APIs for harvesting metadata, and supports cross-repository linking through stable URIs.

Governance and standards. Archivewhere projects are typically community-driven with governance by library consortia, archives, and standards bodies. It aligns with established metadata standards like Dublin Core, PREMIS for preservation metadata, and METS or IIIF for digital objects.

Implementation and use cases. In practice, archivewhere may be implemented as a federated search layer atop existing repositories, with an aggregator coordinating metadata harvests, a catalog for user interfaces, and an API for programmatic access. Used by national libraries, university archives, museums, and consortia seeking to improve interoperability and discoverability across digital collections.

Challenges and outlook. Challenges include metadata heterogeneity, scale, rights management, and ensuring long-term accessibility. The concept remains under discussion in the digital preservation community, with ongoing work to converge on common schemas and interoperable tooling.