DIANE HILLMANN

Currently central data stores associated with institutional repositories and other metadata aggregations face a number of challenges: data is often stored in remote locations, in incompatible data formats, and with varying degrees of quality--this data must be aggregated, normalized, and integrated. Existing data is frequently highly variable in quality, often incomplete, and may not conform to existing standards... One of the primary functions of the entire Metadata Management infrastructure is the aggregation of metadata from both multiple providers of metadata and services providing normalization and enhancement of that metadata. The Metadata Repository (MR) component provides an essential central storage function for this aggregation of data.