Metadata Management in a Heterogeneous Digital Library

Many institutions operating in the cultural heritage domain have already made their content accessible via the Internet. However, when organizations want to realize projects that integrate content from various institutions, they face the problem of how to make this content accessible in a coherent way. Since metadata plays a key role in such scenarios, a Metadata Management system that can handle heterogeneous metadata descriptions and be easily integrated into new or existing digital library architectures would be useful. We propose a Metadata Management system that uses Semantic Web technology to handle the problem of heterogeneity and on Web Service technology to achieve easy system integration. Our solution facilitates the development of integrated digital library systems, and lifting the burden of heterogeneous metadata management from application developers.