Overview
ISO/IEC TS 22424-2:2020 - Digital publishing - EPUB3 preservation - Part 2: Metadata requirements specifies the metadata elements and packaging practices needed to support long-term preservation of EPUB publications. Targeting EPUB 3 and 3.0.1, the technical specification helps repositories and OAIS-style archives ingest EPUB publications in a way that supports future access, migration and provenance tracking. The document focuses on mandatory and recommended preservation metadata and their encoding (with emphasis on METS containers) without changing EPUB standards themselves.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope & versions: Applies to EPUB 3 and EPUB 3.0.1 (earlier EPUB 2 and draft EPUB 3.1 not covered; future versions to be considered).
- Packaging metadata: Requirements for SIP (Submission Information Package) metadata including package creator/submitter, package status and identifiers.
- Identifiers: Work/publication identifiers, package identifiers, core media resource IDs, foreign resource IDs and identifiers for metadata records.
- Dates and provenance: Creation/modification dates for SIPs, EPUB publications and metadata records to support provenance.
- Administrative metadata: Technical metadata (file formats and versions), checksums and digital signatures, rights metadata (including preservation-related rights), structural metadata and preservation metadata.
- Preservation focus: Guidance aimed at enabling migration-based preservation workflows (metadata needed to plan, record and verify format migrations). Emulation is noted but not fully specified; a PREMIS-style description for emulation environments is suggested as an example.
- METS encoding: Concentrates on METS as the container encoding standard for SIPs while allowing other container formats where appropriate.
Applications and who should use it
- Digital archivists and repository managers: to design ingest workflows, create SIPs that meet preservation requirements and ensure long-term access to EPUB content.
- Librarians and metadata specialists: to map bibliographic, technical and preservation metadata (including PREMIS elements) into repository systems.
- Publishers and content producers: to prepare EPUB submissions for deposit in archives, ensuring required identifiers, rights metadata and checksums are present.
- Software developers & system integrators: implementing ingest/export tools, METS packaging, checksum verification, digital signature handling and migration tracking.
Practical uses include preparing archive-ready EPUB packages, validating metadata completeness during ingest, supporting migration planning and maintaining provenance for preserved EPUBs.
Related standards
- ISO/IEC TS 22424-1 (EPUB archivability)
- METS (container encoding for SIPs)
- PREMIS (preservation event and rights metadata)
- EPUB specifications (W3C)
- PRONOM and other format registries for format identification and migration planning
Keywords: EPUB3 preservation, metadata requirements, ISO/IEC TS 22424-2:2020, SIP, METS, OAIS, preservation metadata, PREMIS, checksums, digital signatures.