Sufficiently simple to be used by content providers and understood by service users. Sufficiently precise to be interpreted and retrieved in a consistent way by computer software. There is no need to define a new standard, as there are several existing standards to choose from. Some standards which are specifically designed for a learning context, such as IEEE LOM, are judged to be too complex for practical NGfL use. The resulting EUN metadata scheme has 19 elements and some sub-elements.
Many fields are optional, even with the detailed level cataloguing.
A controlled vocabulary is to be used for certain fields, i.e. subjects, resource types and user level. Cataloguing conventions and standards are to be adopted for all fields. Not used Relation Not used Not used Approver Not used Not used Release Not used Not used Some optional fields may be mandatory for certain resource types, e.g. the Version field for software. Some elements may have sub-elements where required. For example, the Date field may include Date.