PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of managing records in a cloud computing environment and compare these with existing archiving models, exemplified by the open archival information system (OAIS) reference model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors compare the functional entities in OAIS with a layered model of cloud computing, in which services are abstracted and shared between layers.FindingsIt is concluded that there are a number of areas where OAIS does not integrate well with cloud computing systems. Based on the findings, a new layered model for a cloud archiving system is defined using the concepts and information types from the OAIS reference model. The proposed model allows the sharing of functionality and information objects by making them available as services to higher layers. The model covers the entire document lifecycle, making archive functionality such as preservation planning possible at an early stage and helping to simplify records transfer.Research limitations/implicationsThe model provides a simple, OAIS compatible approach to representing how digital objects and necessary metadata can be transferred from content creation systems to archives systems.Originality/valueWhereas a lot of research has been done on the technical aspects of cloud storage, there is a lack of focus on how to comprehensively integrate records transfer and preservation in cloud systems. This paper fills in some of the gaps.

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is currently designing and implementing a registry for managing its ofslcial element and qualifier definitions over time and in multiple languages. Three aspects of this registry must be versioned: the schema descriptive of elements and qualifiers itself, which may be accessed by software or Web agents; sets of elements and qualifiers as wholes, of which some software vendors require stable snapshots as targets for development; and individual elements and qualifiers, which in their life cycles may change in meaning or approval status. Each such event must be uniquely identifiable in a persistent way, and translations must point to the precise sources on which they were based. Versioning a metadata language such as Dublin Core over time is a balancing act between an error-tolerant fuzziness and a desire for archival precision. This is consistent with the philosophy of a metadata pidgin that aims at universal interoperability while recognizing the limits of the goal itseg Registries as dictionaries of metadataMetadata is a key aspect in the design of digital libraries. Very broadly, metadata is "(structured) data about data." In specific application areas, this may include data for describing resources, controlling access to intellectual property, specifying terms and conditions of use for Internet commerce, rating the quality or suitability of contents for particular audiences, and managing access to archived contents over the long term. Maintaining digital library services that are interoperable, reliable, and future-proof will require an infrastructure for documenting metadata terms as they are defined and change over time.Metadata terms are defined and published in "schemas," and schemas may fulfill a wide variety of functions. Schemas defined by standardization committees and published for general use are called "namespaces," and namespaces translated into languages other than the (usually English) original are "translated namespaces." At the other extreme, schemas that use terms from existing namespaces and combine or customize those terms for a particular application are called "application profiles." Like the Web itself, Web-based metadata schemas are a relatively new phenomenon, so this simple typology may complexify over time.In this paper, software systems that provide human-and machine-readable access to these various types of schema are called "metadata registries." Structured documentation on schemas will be important for software developers, content providers, and end users, and access to machinereadable schemas will be crucial for the smooth operation of automated Web applications and software agents. A joint NSF and European Union Working Group on Metadata recently predicted the emergence of an ecology of registries -"An ecology of registries will emerge that reflects a diverGty of organizational motives, market forces, and user requirements. A distributed model for registries will reflect this diversity by supporting cooperation at multiple levelsglobal, regiona...

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