In order to be able to (re-)use digital content, interested users must be able to identify and locate relevant documents. This requires descriptive data, nowadays generally referred to as metadata. Technical standards for a scaleable deployment on a global scale are required if we want to achieve a critical mass of resources. In this paper, we present the current status of ongoing work in this area, with a particular emphasis on the IEEE LTSC Learning Object Metadata standard [IEEE, 2001] and related developments in the context of the ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop [ISSS, 2001].