Archiving of the web is gradually increasing, and the number of both end users and knowledgeable practitioners are growing in concert. Communities of practice are coming into existence, and the rich literature described in this report is a testament to the vitality of this new field.

The preservation challenges are daunting, as are those relating to descriptive metadata to render a web resource discoverable. Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving was prepared in response to this need.

Can web harvesting tools automatically generate descriptive metadata that supports the discoverability of archived web resources? This report seeks to outline some of the answers.

This resource is intended to help digital archivists understand the priorities, techniques and culture of information technology so that they can be the most effective collaborators possible.