What Is PREMIS, and Why Should You Care About It?
f you’ve ever tried to make a digital file last longer than the device it was created on, you already understand why digital preservation matters. But how do we actually preserve digital objects? How do we make sure they’re usable, understandable, and retrievable ten, twenty, or even fifty years from now?
That’s where metadata comes in. And for digital preservation, one metadata standard stands at the center: PREMIS.
Let’s break down what PREMIS is, why it matters, and how it fits into the larger ecosystem of digital curation.
First Things First: What Is Metadata?
Metadata is just data about data. It’s the contextual information that helps users find, understand, manage, and access digital content. For example, a photograph's metadata might include when it was taken, who took it, what camera was used, and what the subject matter is.
According to the Digital Curation Centre, “metadata is the backbone of digital curation. Without it a digital resource may be irretrievable, unidentifiable or unusable.” For physical objects, we can still retrieve a book from the shelf even if we forget its exact size or color. But with digital objects, metadata is often the only path back to the object. If the metadata is missing, corrupt, or unclear, the object may be lost for good.
Types of Metadata
Metadata can be grouped based on what it’s meant to do:
Descriptive metadata helps users discover and identify resources (think: titles, subjects, creators).
Administrative metadata helps manage and track resources, including who has access, when they were created, and under what conditions.
Structural metadata explains how parts of a complex digital object relate to one another.
Technical metadata captures information about file formats, hardware, and software dependencies.
Preservation metadata supports long-term usability, integrity, and access.
Geospatial metadata (for maps and location-based data) helps describe location, coordinates, and mapping standards.
PREMIS sits squarely in the world of preservation metadata.
Where Metadata Meets Preservation: Introducing PREMIS
PREMIS stands for Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies. It is a metadata standard designed specifically to support the preservation of digital content. If you're involved in long-term access to digital materials, you need to at least know what PREMIS is.
PREMIS was created by a working group convened by OCLC and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and is now maintained by the Library of Congress. Its purpose is to define the core metadata elements that a preservation repository should maintain to ensure digital files remain accessible and understandable in the future.
Think of PREMIS as the backbone of your digital preservation efforts. It doesn't try to describe everything about a digital object—just the minimum amount of information needed to keep that object safe, authentic, and usable over time.
What Does PREMIS Actually Do?
PREMIS helps organizations:
Track provenance—who created or modified the object and when.
Record significant properties—features of an object that must be maintained (like formatting, fonts, or layout).
Identify inhibitors—like encryption or password protection that could limit future access.
Document rights—what you can legally do with the object.
These types of information are vital for future preservation actions. For example, if you’re migrating files from one format to another, you’ll need to know which properties must be preserved and what legal permissions you have to do so.
PREMIS also supports interoperability. It works alongside other standards like Dublin Core (for descriptive metadata) and MODS (for richer bibliographic description). That way, a preservation system can exchange data cleanly with other platforms.
The PREMIS Data Dictionary: What’s Inside?
PREMIS is defined in a document called the PREMIS Data Dictionary, which is over 280 pages long. Don’t worry—you don’t have to memorize it. But it’s helpful to know what it contains and how it’s structured.
At the heart of PREMIS are semantic units. These are similar to "elements" in other metadata schemas. Each semantic unit includes:
A name
A definition
Rationale for inclusion
Usage notes
Examples of values
PREMIS describes five core entities:
Objects: The digital files or bitstreams being preserved.
Events: Actions that affect those objects, such as migrations or validations.
Agents: People, organizations, or software that act on the objects.
Rights: Permissions and restrictions related to the object’s use.
Intellectual Entities: Conceptual works or collections that may be made up of multiple objects.
Each of these entities has specific metadata fields (semantic units) that can be filled in, depending on your preservation system and the level of detail you need.
Who Uses PREMIS?
In theory, anyone involved in digital preservation can use PREMIS. But in practice, its complexity and specificity mean it's most relevant for:
Digital repository managers who need to ensure that preservation metadata is captured, structured, and transferred correctly.
Digital preservation professionals designing or evaluating repository systems.
Developers creating or customizing software for digital curation.
Archivists and librarians doing digitization work who need to understand the importance of certain metadata fields, even if they are filled automatically by a system.
If you’re not directly involved in managing a repository, it’s still useful to know what PREMIS is. At the very least, you should understand how it supports long-term access and why it’s often baked into behind-the-scenes systems.
A Note on FAIR
PREMIS supports the FAIR principles, which aim to make digital content:
Findable: With rich metadata and unique identifiers
Accessible: Without requiring proprietary software
Interoperable: By using standard vocabularies
Reusable: By clearly stating license and rights information
Even if you’re not deeply technical, FAIR principles are a good framework for understanding why standards like PREMIS matter. They help ensure that what we’re building now will still make sense in the future.
What Should You Record Using PREMIS?
Even if you’re not setting up your own preservation repository, PREMIS encourages you to record the following kinds of information:
Inhibitors: Anything that might restrict access or use (like passwords or encryption).
Provenance: How the object was created, where it came from, and how it has changed over time.
Significant Properties: What matters most about the object—is it the content, the layout, the visual formatting?
Rights: Any licenses, copyright terms, or legal constraints on use.
These fields are essential for understanding how to preserve, manage, and potentially migrate digital content later on.
How PREMIS Fits in with Other Tools
Most off-the-shelf tools do not natively support PREMIS, but a few stand out for technical metadata generation:
DROID/PRONOM: For identifying file formats and checking integrity
JHOVE: For validating file formats and structures
NLNZ Metadata Extraction Tool: From the National Library of New Zealand, for extracting technical metadata from files
These tools can be integrated into digital preservation workflows to generate some of the technical and structural metadata that PREMIS calls for.
What Does It Mean to “Conform” to PREMIS?
PREMIS conformance doesn’t mean using every element. It means:
If you use a PREMIS semantic unit, you use its definition as written.
You can add local metadata, but it can’t conflict with PREMIS terms.
You follow the data constraints and usage guidelines laid out in the Data Dictionary.
You can apply stricter rules, but not looser ones.
This flexibility allows institutions to extend PREMIS for their specific needs while maintaining consistency with the standard.
Where PREMIS Can Take Us
PREMIS is not about discovery, and it is not a format registry. It focuses squarely on preservation metadata—the information needed to maintain, migrate, validate, and secure digital files for the long haul.
Initiatives like OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) build on this by helping institutions share and harvest metadata across platforms. While OAI-PMH is often used for descriptive metadata, it shows how structured metadata enables interoperability and broader access to cultural resources.
In Closing
PREMIS sits at the core of what it means to do digital preservation well. It’s not flashy. It’s not simple. But it is necessary.
If your job touches digitization, repository management, or any kind of digital stewardship, you don’t need to become a PREMIS expert overnight. But you should know what it is, where it fits, and how to ask the right questions.
And if you want to learn more, watch our recorded webinar that walks through real-world applications of PREMIS and metadata strategy in digital preservation. It includes examples, tools, and tips for LAM professionals who want to build more sustainable systems for their digital collections.
Watch the webinar here:
Need help translating PREMIS into your own documentation or workflows? Just ask. We’re happy to help make it make sense.
