url question in mets document

From: Esha Datta <ed64_at_nyob> Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:53:09 -0400 To: CODE4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU

Hi,

I am working on a METS document and want to point to files using paths relative to the METS document.
I was wondering what the current best-practice is in this situation. Can file URLs be used in this context? e.g., 

<mets:techMD ID="techMD.ref3456_v3_ert01m_jhove">
   <mets:mdRef LOCTYPE="URL" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="./xsdf/techmd/ref3456_v3_ert01m_jhove.xml" MDTYPE="OTHER" OTHERMDTYPE="JHOVE"/>
  </mets:techMD>

Is it preferable to prefix the path with the "file://" URL scheme?
xlink:href="file:///./xsdf/techmd/ref3456_v3_ert01m_jhove.xml"

Is there a better approach?

Thank you for your feedback.

Esha

Esha Datta
Programmer/Analyst
NYU 