Open archives initiative. Protocol for metadata harvesting (OAI-PMH): descripción, funciones y aplicaciones de un protocolo

The authors describe the OAI-PMH protocol (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) used for the interchange of metadata on the internet. Analysed are questions such as the context in which the protocol was born –communities of scientific documents repositories– and how it has evolved and extended its reach to include any material in electronic format. Its architecture, based on the client/server model, is briefly described. Clients, which are called "archives",place Dublin Core metadata in the public domain in order for servers or service providers to retrieve this metadata and to build added value services for end users. Communication between archives and services takes place using the http protocol. Questions and replies are coded in xml. The authors conclude with a review of the main institutions that have implemented the protocol, user services based on it, and software tools that facilitate the creation of open archives.