Current Developments and Future Trends for the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting

Abstract

The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
\nhas been widely adopted since its initial release in 2001. Initially developed
\nas a means to federate access to diverse e-print archives through
\nmetadata harvesting and aggregation, the protocol has demonstrated its
\npotential usefulness to a broad range of communities. Two years out from
\nthe release of the stable production version of the protocol (2.0), there are
\nmany interesting developments within the OAI community. Communities
\nof interest have begun to use the protocol to aggregate metadata relative
\nto their needs. The development of a registry of OAI data providers with
\nbrowsing and searching capabilities as well as accessibility to machine processing
\nis helping to provide a scalable solution to the question of who is
\nproviding what via the OAI protocol. Work is progressing on the technical
\ninfrastructure for extending the OAI protocol beyond the traditional
\nharvesting structure. However, serious challenges, particularly for service
\nproviders, still exist. This article provides an overview of the current OAI
\nenvironment and speculates on future directions for the protocol and OAI
\ncommunity.