ISO/IEC 19788以基于规则的方式规定了用于描述学习资源的元数据元素及其属性。这包括管理元数据元素标识和元数据属性规范的规则。 这些元数据元素用于形成学习资源的描述，即作为元数据学习资源（MLR）记录。 ISO/IEC 19788-5:2012使用ISO/IEC 19788-1中规定的框架，规定了各种教育、文化和语言环境中学习资源的教育方面。

ISO/IEC 19788 specifies, in a rule-based manner, metadata elements and their attributes for the description of learning resources. This includes the rules governing the identification of metadata elements and the specification of metadata attributes. These metadata elements are used to form the description of a learning resource, i.e. as a metadata learning resource (MLR) record. ISO/IEC 19788-5:2012 specifies, using the framework specified in ISO/IEC 19788-1, educational aspects of learning resources across various educational, cultural and linguistic settings.