Digital provenance metadata – PREMIS

Digital provenance metadata may contain information about any preservation-related actions taken on the various files that comprise a digital object - for example, actions taken after initial digitization, such as transformation or migration. In the case of born-digital materials, it may also include metadata about the files’ creation. In short, digital provenance should be used to record information that enables both archival or library staff and scholars to understand what modifications have been made to a digital object and/or its constituent parts throughout its lifecycle. This information can then be used to assess how those processes might have altered or compromised the object’s ability to accurately represent the original item. For instance, one might record master-derivative relationships and the processes by which those derivatives were created. Digital provenance metadata may also include information about the migration or transformation of a file from its original digitization format (e.g., OCR, TEI) to its current form as a digital object (e.g., JPEG2000). Digital provenance metadata can be expressed according to current digital provenance description standards, such as PREMIS, or using a locally developed XML schema.

<mets:md USE="PROVENANCE" ID="md-001" CREATED="2025-02-12T23:04:00">
  <mets:mdWrap MDTYPE="PREMIS">
    <mets:xmlData>
      <premis:event version="3.0"
          xmlns:premis="http://www.loc.gov/premis/v3"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.loc.gov/premis/v3
            https://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/v3/premis-v3-0.xsd">
        <premis:eventIdentifier>
          <premis:eventIdentifierType>Validation</premis:eventIdentifierType>
          <premis:eventIdentifierValue>Ingest_Validation_01</premis:eventIdentifierValue>
        </premis:eventIdentifier>
        <premis:eventType>Validation</premis:eventType>
        <premis:eventDateTime>2025-02-12T08:00:03</premis:eventDateTime>
        <premis:eventDetailInformation>
          <premis:eventDetail>ValidationResults</premis:eventDetail>
        </premis:eventDetailInformation>
        <premis:eventOutcomeInformation>
          <premis:eventOutcome>Pass</premis:eventOutcome>
          <premis:eventOutcomeDetail>
            <premis:eventOutcomeDetailExtension>
              <ingestValidation ID="FILE_epi01m.tiff">
                <JhoveOutput>File is of format: TIFF. The file is well-formed. The file is valid.</JhoveOutput>
                <IngestValidatorOutput>The computed checksum matches the original checksum for
                  file[file:90990250/90990250.pdf]</IngestValidatorOutput>
                <IngestValidatorOutput>Original file ID: FILE_epi01m.tiff has been changed to
                  FILE_07108e3e-5fd1-11da-b211-19e7a5cf4814</IngestValidatorOutput>
                <IngestValidatorOutput>Original file name eip01m.tiff has been changed to
                  FILE_07108e3e-5fd1-11da-b211-19e7a5cf4814.pdf</IngestValidatorOutput>
              </ingestValidation>
            </premis:eventOutcomeDetailExtension>
          </premis:eventOutcomeDetail>
        </premis:eventOutcomeInformation>
        <premis:linkingAgentIdentifier>
          <premis:linkingAgentIdentifierType>"Software"</premis:linkingAgentIdentifierType>
          <premis:linkingAgentIdentifierValue>"JHove"</premis:linkingAgentIdentifierValue>
        </premis:linkingAgentIdentifier>
        <premis:linkingAgentIdentifier>
          <premis:linkingAgentIdentifierType>"Software"</premis:linkingAgentIdentifierType>
          <premis:linkingAgentIdentifierValue>"SDR_Ingest_Validator"</premis:linkingAgentIdentifierValue>
        </premis:linkingAgentIdentifier>
      </premis:event>
    </mets:xmlData>
  </mets:mdWrap>
</mets:md>

Examples for implementing PREMIS can be found on the PREMIS website