Standards are defined by their users. While we have done our best to obtain input from as wide a community of domain experts as possible, we do not expect this standard to provoke more than passing interest until it has been put to the test of actual cataloguing practice. For this reason, proper validation is a major component of the MASTER project plan. Each of the MASTER partner libraries is funded to test the MASTER standard by making at least three hundred shorter manuscript descriptions, and fifty longer descriptions, during the life of the project. Informally, all the library partners have indicated that they intend to make many more records than this. To facilitate this process,m the project will also develop specialized software for input of the descriptions, and provide training for the cataloguers who will use it. As descriptions are created, they will be mounted on the web in a prototype on-line union catalogue to test their consistency and the extent to which the goal of an integrated set of descriptions has been achieved.
The first phase of this implementation is to commence in October 1999, following on the preparation of the draft here described and the development of software for record input. This first phase will finish in February 2000, and will be followed by revision of the standard on the basis of the partners' experiences, revision of the associated software, and a second manuscript entry phase. During the final months of the project, we plan a series of dissemination workshops where each partner will introduce the standard and the systems developed in the project to other libraries and archives.
Further information about the project is available from its website at http://www.cta.dmu.ac.uk/projects/master/ or from the authors.