OAI Icon
Open Archives Initiative
Protocol for Metadata Harvesting
Open Archives Initiative -> PMH
OAI-PMH Core Resources

  • OAI-PMH Version 2.0 Specification
    Describes the six OAI-PMH verbs, the XML schema for responses to verbs, and the underlying data model
  • Implementation Guidelines
    A supplement to the OAI-PMH Version 2.0 Specification that includes guidelines for implementers and guidelines for specific application domains.
  • Static Repository Specification
    Provides a simple approach for exposing relatively stable and small collections of metadata records through the OAI-PMH.

Interoperability through Metadata Exchange

The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a low-barrier mechanism for repository interoperability. Data Providers are repositories that expose structured metadata via OAI-PMH. Service Providers then make OAI-PMH service requests to harvest that metadata. OAI-PMH is a set of six verbs or services that are invoked within HTTP.