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Metadata for your Digital Collections

Metadata for your Digital Collections . Jenn Riley Metadata Librarian IU Digital Library Program. Many definitions of metadata. “Data about data” “Structured information about an information resource of any media type or format.” (Caplan)

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Metadata for your Digital Collections

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  1. Metadata for your Digital Collections Jenn Riley Metadata Librarian IU Digital Library Program

  2. Many definitions of metadata • “Data about data” • “Structured information about an information resource of any media type or format.” (Caplan) • “Any data used to aid the identification, description and location of networked electronic resources.” (IFLA) • … INCOLSA Workshop

  3. Refining a definition • Other characteristics • Structure • Control • Origin • Machine-generated • Human-generated • In practice, the term often covers data and meta-metadata INCOLSA Workshop

  4. Some uses of metadata • By information specialists • Describing non-traditional materials • Cataloging Web sites • Navigating digital objects • Managing digital objects over the long term • Managing corporate assets • By novices • Preparing Web sites for search engines • Describing Eprints • Managing personal CD collections INCOLSA Workshop

  5. Metadata and cataloging • Depends on what you mean by: • metadata, and • cataloging! • But, in general: • Metadata is broader in scope than cataloging • Much metadata creation takes place outside of libraries • Good metadata practitioners use fundamental cataloging principles in non-MARC environments • Metadata created for many different types of materials • Metadata is NOT only for Internet resources! INCOLSA Workshop

  6. Metadata in digital library projects • Searching • Browsing • Display for users • Interoperability • Management of digital objects • Preservation • Navigation INCOLSA Workshop

  7. Some types of metadata INCOLSA Workshop

  8. How metadata is used INCOLSA Workshop

  9. Creating descriptive metadata • Digital library content management systems • ContentDM • ExLibris Digitool • Greenstone • Library catalogs • Spreadsheets & databases • XML INCOLSA Workshop

  10. Creating other types of metadata • Technical • Stored in content management system • Stored in separate Excel spreadsheet • Structural • Created and stored in content management system • METS XML • GIS • Using specialized software • Content markup • In XML INCOLSA Workshop

  11. Descriptive metadata • Purpose • Description • Discovery • Some common general schemas • Dublin Core (unqualified and qualified) • MARC • MARCXML • MODS • LOTS of domain-specific schemas INCOLSA Workshop

  12. Simple Dublin Core (DC) • 15-element set • National and international standard • 2001: Released as ANSI/NISO Z39.85 • 2003: Released as ISO 15836 • Maintained by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) • Other players • DC Usage Board • DCMI Communities • DCMI Task Groups INCOLSA Workshop

  13. DCMI mission • The mission of DCMI is to make it easier to find resources using the Internet through the following activities: • Developing metadata standards for discovery across domains, • Defining frameworks for the interoperation of metadata sets, and, • Facilitating the development of community- or disciplinary-specific metadata sets that are consistent with items 1 and 2 INCOLSA Workshop

  14. DC Principles • Original principles • “Core” across all knowledge domains • No element required • All elements repeatable • 1:1 principle • DC Abstract Model • “A reference against which particular DC encoding guidelines can be compared” model • Two schools of thought on its development • Clarifies model underlying the metadata standard • Overly complicates a standard intended to be simple INCOLSA Workshop

  15. None required Some elements recommend a content or value standard as a best practice Relation Source Subject Type Content/value standards for DC • Coverage • Date • Format • Language • Identifier INCOLSA Workshop

  16. Some limitations of DC • Can’t indicate a main title vs. other subordinate titles • No method for specifying creator roles • W3CDTF format can’t indicate date ranges or uncertainty • Can’t by itself provide robust record relationships INCOLSA Workshop

  17. Good times to use DC • Cross-collection searching • Cross-domain discovery • Metadata sharing • Describing some types of simple resources • Metadata creation by novices INCOLSA Workshop

  18. Qualified Dublin Core (QDC) • Adds some increased specificity to Unqualified Dublin Core • Same governance structure as DC • Same encodings as DC • Same content/value standards as DC • Listed in DMCI Terms • Additional principles • Extensibility • Dumb-down principle INCOLSA Workshop

  19. Types of DC qualifiers • Additional elements • Element refinements • Encoding schemes • Vocabulary encoding schemes • Syntax encoding schemes INCOLSA Workshop

  20. DC qualifier status • Recommended • Conforming • Obsolete • Registered INCOLSA Workshop

  21. Limitations of QDC • Widely misunderstood • No method for specifying creator roles • W3CDTF format can’t indicate date ranges or uncertainty • Split across 3 XML schemas • No encoding in XML (yet) officially endorsed by DCMI INCOLSA Workshop

  22. Best times to use QDC • More specificity needed than simple DC, but not a fundamentally different approach to description • Want to share DC with others, but need a few extensions for your local environment • Describing some types of simple resources • Metadata creation by novices INCOLSA Workshop

  23. MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) • Format for the records in library catalogs • Used for library metadata since 1960s • Adopted as national standard in 1971 • Adopted as international standard in 1973 • Maintained by: • Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress • Standards and the Support Office at the National Library of Canada INCOLSA Workshop

  24. More about MARC • Actually a family of MARC standards throughout the world • U.S. & Canada use MARC21 • Structured as a binary interchange format • ANSI/NISO Z39.2 • ISO 2709 • Field names • Numeric fields • Alphabetic subfields INCOLSA Workshop

  25. Content/value standards for MARC • None required by the format itself • But US record creation practice relies heavily on: • AACR2r • ISBD • LCNAF • LCSH INCOLSA Workshop

  26. Limitations of MARC • Use of all its potential is time-consuming • OPACs don’t make full use of all possible data • OPACs virtually the only systems to use MARC data • Requires highly-trained staff to create • Local practice differs greatly INCOLSA Workshop

  27. Good times to use MARC • Integration with other records in OPAC • Resources are like those traditionally found in library catalogs • Maximum compatibility with other libraries is needed • Have expert catalogers for metadata creation INCOLSA Workshop

  28. MARC in XML (MARCXML) • Copies the exact structure of MARC21 in an XML syntax • Numeric fields • Alphabetic subfields • Implicit assumption that content/value standards are the same as in MARC INCOLSA Workshop

  29. Limitations of MARCXML • Not appropriate for direct data entry • Extremely verbose syntax • Full content validation requires tools external to XML Schema conformance INCOLSA Workshop

  30. Best times to use MARCXML • As a transition format between a MARC record and another XML-encoded metadata format • Materials lend themselves to library-type description • Need more robustness than DC offers • Want XML representation to store within larger digital object but need lossless conversion to MARC INCOLSA Workshop

  31. Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) • Developed and managed by the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office • For encoding bibliographic information • Influenced by MARC, but not equivalent • Usable for any format of materials • First released for trial use June 2002 • MODS 3.2 released late 2006 INCOLSA Workshop

  32. MODS differences from MARC • MODS is “MARC-like” but intended to be simpler • Textual tag names • Encoded in XML • Some specific changes • Some regrouping of elements • Removes some elements • Adds some elements INCOLSA Workshop

  33. Content/value standards for MODS • Many elements indicate a given content/value standard should be used • Generally follows MARC/AACR2/ISBD conventions • But not all enforced by the MODS XML schema • Authority attribute available on many elements INCOLSA Workshop

  34. Limitations of MODS • No lossless round-trip conversion from and to MARC • Still largely implemented by library community only • Some semantics of MARC lost INCOLSA Workshop

  35. Good times to use MODS • Materials lend themselves to library-type description • Want to reach both library and non-library audiences • Need more robustness than DC offers • Want XML representation to store within larger digital object INCOLSA Workshop

  36. Visual Resources Association (VRA) Core • From Visual Resources Association • Separates Work from Image • Library focus • Inspiration from Dublin Core • Version 3.0 released on 2002 • Version 4.0 currently in Beta INCOLSA Workshop

  37. Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) Lite • Reduced version of the Categories for the Description of Works of Art (512 categories) • From J. Paul Getty Trust • Museum focus • Conceived for record sharing INCOLSA Workshop

  38. Structure standards for learning materials • Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) • From the U.S. Department of Education • Based on Qualified Dublin Core • Adds elements for instructional level, instructional method, etc. • “GEM's goal is to improve the organization and accessibility of the substantial collections of materials that are already available on various federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites.”* • IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) • Elements for technical and descriptive metadata about learning resources * From <http://www.thegateway.org/about/documentation/schemas> INCOLSA Workshop

  39. Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) • TEI in Libraries • For encoding full texts of documents • Literary texts • Letters • …etc. • Requires specialized search engine • Delivery requires specialized software or offline conversion to HTML INCOLSA Workshop

  40. Encoded Archival Description (EAD) • Maintained by the Society for American Archivists EAD Working Group • Markup language for archival finding aids • Designed to accommodate multi-level description • Requires specialized search engine • Delivery requires specialized software or offline conversion to HTML • EAD 1.0 released in 1998 • EAD2002 finalized in December 2002 INCOLSA Workshop

  41. Levels of control • Data structure standards (e.g., MARC) • Data content standards (e.g., AACR2r) • Encoding schemes • Vocabulary • Syntax • High-level models (e.g., FRBR) • Very few metadata standards include a counterpart to the AACR “chief source of information” INCOLSA Workshop

  42. Some data content standards • Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2) • Scheduled to be replaced by RDA in 2009 • Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) • Replaces APPM • Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) • First content standard explicitly designed for these materials INCOLSA Workshop

  43. When there’s no data content standard… INCOLSA Workshop

  44. TGM I TGM II TGN GeoNet AAT LCSH LCNAF DCMI Type MIME Types …etc. Vocabulary encoding schemes INCOLSA Workshop

  45. Syntax encoding schemes • ISO8601 • W3CDTF • URI • AACR2r • …etc. INCOLSA Workshop

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