[OAI-implementers] Metadata in multiple languages?

[David Heath]

Hi,

I'm new here so I'll just say a little about myself. I'm researching the 
possibility of using OAI-PMH for internal (and maybe later external) 
content sharing for http://www.oneworld.net/, which is a news portal 
covering evironmental/human rights issues. I'm a freelance developer 
who's been working for OneWorld for several years.

I have a specific question, which is as follows:

I have some resources which have metadata available in multiple 
languages. I'd like to know what the recommended way to encode and 
transfer this metadata would be, and in particular whether it is 
possible with the standard oai_dc encoding. Some possibilities which I 
am considering:

1. are the different languages actually different "metadata records" and 
therefore should have a different identifier in the OAI header (I don't 
think so)?

2. should I include, for example, multiple dc:title elements and add an 
xml:lang attribute, e.g.:

<dc:title xml:lang="en">The Eiffel Tower</dc:title>
<dc:title xml:lang="fr">La Tour Eiffel</dc:title>

in this case, is the xml:lang attribute permitted by the XML Schema for 
oai_dc?

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Best regards

David Heath

-- 
David Heath
Freelance Software Developer
david at davidheath.org
http://davidheath.org/