The RightsDeclarationMD Extension Schema allows the documentation of minimal administrative metadata about the intellectual rights associated with a digital object or its parts, and is to be used as an extension to the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS). RightsDeclarationMD contains the following top level elements: 1. RightsDeclaration: intellectual property rights associated with digital asset or part of a digital asset; 2. RightsHolder: person or organization holding some intellectual property rights to a given digital asset or part of a digital asset; 3. Context: contains a description of specific circumstances associated with who has what permissions and constraints. RightsDeclarationMD also contains three attributes, "RIGHTSDECID", "RIGHTSCATEGORY" and "OTHERCATEGORYTYPE". "RIGHTSDECID provides a unique identifier for the right declaration described. "RIGHTSCATEGORY" specifies whether the resource is COPYRIGHTED, LICENSED, in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, CONTRACTUAL, or OTHER which can be more fully described in the "OTHERCATEGORYTYPE" attribute. Broad declaration of rights associated with digital asset which would provide the public notice to user community of the intellectual property rights associated with a given asset or part thereof. Further explanation of specific circumstances can be described within the Context element. RightsDeclarationTYPE has no attribute. Characteristics of person or institution holding some rights to a given digital asset or part thereof. Has two attributes "RIGHTSHOLDERID" used to uniquely identify the rights holder, and CONTEXTIDS which provides a way to specifically link one or more context situations as described within the CONTEXT element. Name of rights holder organization, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID Any comments necessary to explain, not covered elsewhere Information about the contact point for rights holder organization, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID. The contact point for a resource may be an agency or organization representing the rights holder rather than the rights holder per se. Each RightsHolderContactTYPE may contain a RightsHolderContactDesignation, RightsHolderContactAddress element, a RightsHolderContactPhone element, and a RightsHolderContactEmail element. Name or title of a contact person or institution holding rights to a given digital asset, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID. Mailing address of contact person or institution holding rights to a given digital asset, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID. Telephone number of contact person or institution holding rights to a given digital asset or part thereof, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID. The PHONETYPE attribute has enumerated values of "FAX", "BUSINESS", and "MOBILE". Email address of contact person or institution holding rights to a digital asset or part thereof, as identified by the RIGHTSHOLDERID. The "Context" element describes who has what permissions and contraints within a specific set of circumstances. "Context" includes four attributes, " CONTEXTID" an optional attribute which can be used to assign a unique identifier for the circumstance described, "RIGHTSHOLDERIDS", an optional attribute which provides a means to specifically list the unique identifiers of one or more RightsHolders who are involved in the Context scenario to be described, "CONTEXTCLASS", and "OTHERCONTEXTTYPE". By means of the required "CONTEXTCLASS" attribute, the group is defined to which a given context relates. Enumerated values for this attribute include "ACADEMIC USER", "GENERAL PUBLIC","REPOSITORY MGR", "MANAGED GRP", "INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATE", "OTHER". Local extensions to "OTHER" context classes can be described in the "OTHERCONTEXTTYPE" attribute, as desired. "Context" also contains three elements which further describe a specified context. The element "UserName" allows the naming of the typical user or group who would use the digital object within the described context. The kind of user being named can be described by means of the attribute "USERTYPE" which has values "INDIVIDUAL", "GROUP", "BOTH", or "UNDEFINED". The element "Permissions" describes a set of uses to which a digital object or part thereof can be put as defined by the rights holder in a given context. "Permissions" has nine attributes which describe the type of permissions including "DISCOVER", "DISPLAY", "COPY", "DUPLICATE", "MODIFY", "DELETE", "PRINT", "OTHER", and "OTHERPERMITTYPE" which allows the addition of local types of permissions not included in the general list. Any restrictions that need to be placed upon a set of permissions are described by the use of the "Constraints" element. The "Constraints" element contains a "ConstraintDescription" sub-element in which a narrative explanation can be given about the constraint. The "Constraints" element has an attribute "CONSTRAINTTYPE" which characterize the type of restrictions imposed upon the users within a given context. Enumerated values for the CONSTRAINTTYPE attributes include "QUALITY", "FORMAT", "UNIT", "WATERMARK", "PAYMENT", "COUNT", "ATTRIBUTION", "RE-USE", "TIME", "TRANSFERPERMISSIONS", "OTHER". Local extensions to "OTHER" can be described in the "OTHERCONSTRAINTTYPE" attribute, as desired.