1. A semantic infrastructure system for classifying an information asset comprising: a processor configured to execute: a facet storage module storing a plurality of facets, each facet having a set of classification terms, the classification terms including associated asset retention and disposition properties; a facet selection and display engine having facet operators representing predefined relationships between classification terms in one facet and classification terms in another facet based on established valid term combinations, the facet selection and display engine to receive term selections and to determine valid terms for display from the facet storage module for each facet based on the received term selections in accordance with the facet operators, the facet selection and display engine automatically associating the asset retention and disposition properties with the information asset in accordance with the term selection; a metadata instance to store the term selections until asset classification is complete; and an integration module to map the stored metadata instance to an externally supported metadata format.