ISO/IEC 19788-3:2011

Overview

ISO/IEC 19788-3:2011 - Information technology - Learning, education and training - Metadata for learning resources - Part 3: Basic application profile - defines a recommended application profile for describing learning resources. It builds on the ISO/IEC 19788 framework and the Dublin Core element set (ISO/IEC 19788-2) to specify how core metadata elements should be used, constrained and ordered to improve interoperability across catalogs, repositories and learning systems.

Key topics and requirements

• Application profile: Provides a structured, entry-level MLR (Metadata for Learning Resources) profile (MLR Basic Application Profile) that implementers can adopt or refine for local needs.
• Core data elements: Uses Dublin Core–based elements such as title, creator, subject, description, publisher, contributor, date, type, format, identifier, source, language, relation, coverage, rights.
• Attribute constraints: Specifies mandatory/optional status, presence indicators, repeatability, and order constraints for each element to aid consistent implementation.
• Predefined rule sets & vocabularies: References standardized rules (for example, ISO 8601 for date formats and ISO 639 for language codes) to ensure consistent encoding of values and support machine processing.
• Interoperability focus: Emphasizes consistent use of element formats and vocabularies to enable reliable search, discovery, harvesting and federated queries across repositories.

Practical applications

• Improve discoverability of learning resources in institutional repositories, digital libraries and LMS catalogs by standardizing metadata content and structure.
• Enable cross-repository search and harvesting by ensuring common date formats (ISO 8601), language codes (ISO 639) and unique identifiers (DOI, URL, UUID).
• Provide a baseline profile for metadata librarians, repository architects and developers to map, export or transform existing metadata to an internationally recognized format.
• Serve as a best-practice starter profile that communities can extend with technical, educational or rights metadata as needed.

Who should use this standard

• Metadata librarians and cataloguers in educational institutions
• Repository managers and digital library platform developers
• LMS and content platform integrators implementing metadata exchange or harvesting
• Standards adopters seeking baseline interoperability for learning objects and educational resources

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 19788-1 (Framework) and ISO/IEC 19788-2 (Dublin Core elements) - foundational parts of the MLR family
• ISO 8601 (date/time representation) and ISO 639 (language codes) - normative references for value encoding
• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) and IEEE LOM - related metadata models often cross-walked with MLR

Keywords: ISO/IEC 19788-3, metadata for learning resources, MLR, application profile, Dublin Core, interoperability, ISO 8601, metadata standards.