The OAI-PMH static repository and static repository gateway

Although the OAI-PMH specification is focused on making it straightforward for data providers to expose metadata, practice shows that in certain significant situations deployment of OAI-PMH conformant repository software remains problematic. We report on research aimed at devising solutions to further lower the barrier to make metadata collections harvestable. We provide an in depth description of an approach in which a data provider makes a metadata collection available as an XML file with a specific format - an OAI static repository - which is made OAI-PMH harvestable through the intermediation of software - an OAI static repository gateway - operated by a third party. We describe the properties of both components, and provide insights in our experience with an experimental implementation of a gateway.