There are many factors, applications, and characteristics about the markup language itself that have made XML, “…the predominant mechanism for electronic data interchange between information systems…” (Adler, Cochrane, Morar, & Spector, 2006, p. 207). Some of these that will be further explored in this paper include the advantage of being an open source program, using XML to solve information searching and retrieving dilemmas on the Web, and the examination of XML both inside and outside of the library setting. Many information specialists are in favor of the open source extensible markup language XML as its purpose is to aid information systems in sharing structured data; however, this is still a fairly new technology and there are also criticisms of it in addition to the large amount of excitement and praise. The intent of this paper is to examine the ever-increasing role that XML as an open source entity plays in the field of library and information science, specifically in regards to information retrieval. This paper will mostly focus on the use of XML in libraries; however, due to the multi-system accessibility of XML, I will also explore a wide range of studies and criticism that fall outside of the library setting as well
