ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015 provides data elements for the description of MLR records: sets of data elements describing a learning resource [and resources directly related to that learning resource, e.g. persons (authors, contributors), annotations, learning activities, metadata records, etc.]. It can also be used to keep track of the record editing process including global metadata author identification, last record update, and application profile used for the description of a learning resource.

These elements can later be combined with other descriptive elements from other parts of ISO/IEC 19788 or other standards to provide the description of a learning resource and of related entities needed for that description.

ISO/IEC 19788-8:2015 enables the storage of learning resource description in the traditional database approach and the exchange of descriptions through harvesting mechanisms.