Glossary:
| Term | Definition | Information |
| application profile | Metadata specification for describing a specific digital object type. | Commonly associated with the Dublin Core metadata standard. |
| cover sheet | A standardised sheet generated by the repository. | In the Framework, this refers to a different thing to a title sheet filled in by a content creator. |
| dataset | A collection of data. Can be of widely varying sizes and scope. | |
| eprint | Electronic copy of a text document. | |
| e-thesis | Electronic copy of an academic thesis. | |
| id tag | These tags are used to identify a digital object by storing information about the object in a very small file imbedded within the object. Common occurrences are the ID3 tags that MP3 files use. | |
| ingest / deposit | The process of work being placed into a repository for storage and future access. | |
| learning object | No agreed definition, but a learning object is a digital resource that can be used and re-used to support learning. | Will normally consist of more than one item. |
| lossless compression | Where a digital file is compressed in file size without losing any quality. | |
| mandate | Some institutions and funding bodies now mandate academic staff to deposit open access copies of the work in repositories or a similar environment. | |
| metadata | Data about data - in the repository context, information such as author, title, format and so on is metadata. | |
| open access / OA | The concept of research outputs being made unrestricted and freely accessible on the web. | |
| OpenDoar | Directory of (academic) Open Access Repositories. | http://www.opendoar.org/ |
| premis | A metadata scheme for capturing preservation information. | http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/ |
| repository | A repository is a place where data is stored and maintained. | |
| self-deposit | The act of an author or content creator depositing work in a repository on their own. | |
| splash page | Also known as a metadata page, or summary page. This is the page that contains information about a repository record, that links you to the files themselves. | |
| Subversion | A piece of software that allows version control of files. | http://subversion.tigris.org/ |
| taxonomy | A standardised set of descriptive terms that can be used to classify items. | Also known as a 'terminology'. |
| title sheet | An opening sheet or page used by a content creator give details about the work. | In the Framework, this refers to a different thing to a cover sheet generated by a repository. |
| user | A person who accesses any digital object contained within a repository. | |
| version | A 'version' is a digital object (in whatever format) that exists in time and place and has a context that can be described by the relationship it has to one or more other objects. | |
| version relationship | A ‘version relationship’ is an understanding or expression of how two or more objects relate to each other. | |
| watermark | A feint overlay or additional area that is embedded into an object, much like header and footers in word processed documents. |