ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015

Overview - ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015 (MLR records)

ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015 is part of the ISO/IEC 19788 family - the international standard for metadata for learning resources (MLR). Part 8 specifies data elements for MLR records, i.e., the standardized set of metadata elements used to describe a learning resource and resources directly related to it (authors, annotations, activities, metadata records, etc.). The standard defines the Data Element Specification (DES) model for MLR records and supports multilingual, application‑profile driven descriptions that can be stored in databases or exchanged via harvesting protocols.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Data Element Specifications (DES): Defines individual DES identifiers and attributes (examples in the standard include DES0100 Has Record, DES0200 Record Language, DES0300 Source Record ID, DES0700 Record Identifier, DES0800 Record Last Update, DES1500 Application Profile ID).
• Resource classes (RCs): Includes classes such as MLR Record, Mutable MLR Record, Contribution, and Application Profile to model record structure and lifecycle.
• Record lifecycle and provenance: Supports tracking of editing processes, contributors, last update timestamps and source/original record identifiers to manage provenance and versions.
• Multilingual and international identifiers: Uses IRIs (RFC 3987) and language codes (e.g., ISO 639-3) to support internationalized metadata and multilingual literals.
• Interoperability & exchange: Enables storage in traditional databases and exchange via harvesting mechanisms (e.g., OAI-PMH), and supports crosswalks to other metadata models.
• Application profiles & rule sets: Permits identification of application profiles and predefined rule sets to tailor metadata constraints for specific communities.

Applications - who uses ISO/IEC 19788-8

• Repository managers and libraries: Implement consistent MLR records for discoverability, provenance, and harvesting.
• Learning platform and LMS vendors: Standardize metadata for content integration, search, and content syndication.
• Educational publishers and content authors: Ensure metadata quality and multilingual support for resources and related contributors.
• Metadata specialists and archivists: Design application profiles, map (crosswalk) existing metadata to MLR, and manage versioning.
• Developers of harvesters and discovery services: Use defined DES and resource classes to enable interoperable metadata exchange and aggregation.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 19788‑1 (Framework) and other parts of ISO/IEC 19788 (Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9)
• OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) - harvesting interoperability
• RFC 3987 (IRIs) and ISO 639-3 (language codes) - internationalization and language handling

ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015 is practical for organizations seeking robust, interoperable metadata schemas for learning resources, supporting multilingual, versioned, and harvestable descriptions.