EIAH data model Semantic interoperability among distributed digital repositories Emad Khazraee Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and Saeed Moaddeli, Azadeh Sanjari and Shadi Shakeri Encyclopedia of Iranian Architectural History (EIAH), Tehran, Iran Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear image of the information architecture used in the Encyclopedia of Iranian Architectural History (EIAH) and to show how it was crafted to meet the need for accessibility, expressiveness and interoperability. Design/methodology/approach – In order to assess the level of interoperability in the system, two essential concepts of the system are identified and traced in every level of the three-layer information architecture. Federated repositories are studied for the level of accessibility that they can offer. Knowledge representation level, mediator level and the semantic portal are studied for expressiveness capabilities. Findings – EIAH information architecture is capable of establishing links among resources available in the information pools connected to the system by using EIAH metadata application profile (EMAP). Different modules in this architecture, which are localized for the Persian language, can work on similar environments for other languages, for example Arabic. Originality/value – EIAH is the first example of a digital encyclopedia for the history of Iranian architecture, which is basically different from other digital encyclopedias in the way that it offers information to users. EIAH is aimed at domain experts and provides them not with pre-written and quality articles but with a wide range of resources and documents relative to what they are seeking. Keywords Digital storage, Semantics, Information retrieval, Encyclopaedias, Architecture, Iran Paper type Case study 1. Introduction to EIAH Iran is the home of some of the oldest human settlements that date back ten millennia. Many of them have vanished, but there are approximately one million historic sites and buildings that have survived into our age. These sites and monuments are not only huge in number, but extremely diverse, due to the varied natural environment of Iran. The study of the history of Iranian architecture has formerly been limited to the western fringes of the central desert of Iran. Thus, these former studies reflect neither the environmental nor the ethnic diversity of Iran. This may be due to the vast diversity of these historic sites, as well as to limited access to scattered resources and documents within and outside Iran. Considerable redundant and overlapping work and studies have been carried out due to the absence of any integrated collaborating network. Most efforts to integrate different data centres were unsuccessful due to the lack of an infrastructure for information exchange and interoperability. As a result, there has been a recess in Iranian architectural studies. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0001-253X.htm AP 63,1 46 Received 14 January 2009 Revised 14 June 2010 Accepted 24 July 2010 Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives Vol. 63 No. 1, 2011 pp. 46-56 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0001-253X DOI 10.1108/00012531111103777