The Australian Government Information Management Office Archive
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Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) Metadata Standard
Making it easier for services delivered by Australian Government agencies to be found by tagging resources with high quality AGLS metadata
Overview
The Government Online Strategy in 2001 emphasised minimum standards and enablers for online information and services. These standards and enablers remain relevant in the next phase of e-government. The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), Department of Finance and Deregulation is continuing to work with key agencies to promote good practice in implementing website standards across the public sector.
With increasing volumes of government information available online, government agencies need to ensure that users are able to retrieve all relevant resources in the most effective and efficient manner.
The AGLS Metadata Standard is a set of 19 descriptive elements which government agencies can use to improve the visibility and accessibility of their services and information over the Internet. It has been endorsed by all Australian governments and was issued as Australian Standard AS 5044 by Standards Australia in December 2002.
The National Archives of Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for the AGLS Metadata standard.
To further assist agencies in the creation of AGLS compliant metadata AGIMO has produced Better Practice Checklist 6 Use of Metadata for Web Resources which outlines a number of issues which agencies should consider when creating AGLS metadata online.
Examples of Better Practice
Together with the National Archives of Australia, the following examples of better practice in AGLS implementation have been identified.
To view the metadata in the following examples, select View - Source from the toolbar.
Australian Government:
- Child Support Agency
- Department of Treasury - Foreign Investment Review Board.
- Questacon
- High Court of Australia
Other Australian Governments:
Metadata is used for both searching and navigation in the Service Tasmania site. Service Tasmania delivers a number of services such as payments, and application for birth or marriage certificates.
Nominate a better practice example/provide comments on this page
Do you know of an example of better practice? If you wish to nominate an example, please forward the details to the Better Practice Team.
Contact details
Contact the AGIMO Better Practice Team with your comments or contributions.