Premis

Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS) is a framework and data model for recording preservation metadata about digital objects. It provides a structured, interoperable vocabulary for documenting the history, provenance, and technical characteristics of digital objects throughout their lifecycles. The goal is to support long-term preservation, authenticity, and accessibility by enabling consistent auditing and decision-making across repositories.

Core concepts: The PREMIS data model centers on three primary classes: Object, Event, and Agent. An Object represents a digital object and its representations; an Event records a preservation action or change affecting an Object (such as creation, ingestion, migration, transformation, validation, or fixity checks); an Agent is a person, organization, or software responsible for an Event. Elements and relationships link these classes and carry descriptive, technical, rights, and preservation metadata. The model is designed to be extensible and adaptable to different repository needs.

Metadata dictionary and implementations: The PREMIS Data Dictionary defines elements and controlled vocabularies used to encode preservation metadata. Implementations are commonly serialized as XML or RDF, enabling machine readability and interoperation with other preservation standards and repositories. PREMIS is frequently used in conjunction with other frameworks such as OAIS and metadata schemas to support provenance, authenticity, and policy enforcement.

History and adoption: PREMIS originated from the work of the PREMIS Editorial Committee, with support from the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the California Digital Library (CDL). It has become a widely adopted standard in digital preservation, used by libraries, archives, and digital repositories to document preservation actions, justify migrations, and support long-term access to digital materials.