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Metadata Principle 1: Good metadata should
be appropriate to the materials in the collection, users of the collection,
and intended, current, and likely future use of the digital item.
There are a variety of published metadata schemes that can be used for digital
objects, websites, and e-resources. The book Metadata Fundamentals for All
Librarians (Priscilla Caplan, ALA Editions, 2002) describes more than fifteen
schemes used by educational, scientific, and cultural institutions. There will
often be more than one scheme that could be applied to the materials in a given
collection. The choice of scheme will reflect the level of resources the project
has to devote to metadata creation, the level of expertise of the metadata creators,
the expected use and users of the collection, and similar factors. Organizations
should consider the granularity of description, that is, whether to create descriptive
records at the collection level, at the item level, or both, in light of the
desired depth and scope of access to the materials. They should also consider
which schemes are commonly in use among similar organizations; using the same
metadata scheme will improve interoperability among collections.
The International Federation of Library Association site Digital Libraries:
Metadata Resources is a clearinghouse of metadata schemes. http://www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm
Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information (Murtha Baca, ed.)
is a good general introduction to metadata issues for cultural heritage institutions.
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/index.html
See also NISO's Understanding Metadata. http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf
The following is a selection of metadata schemes used by many cultural heritage
institutions.
| |
Metadata Scheme |
Description |
| 1 |
Dublin Core http://dublincore.org/
|
A simple generic element set applicable to a variety of digital
object types. Dublin Core has been adapted by a number of communities to
suit their own needs (such as the CIMI application profile for the museum
community), and incorporated into several domain-specific metadata schemes |
| 2 |
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) http://www.loc.gov/ead/ead2002.html
|
A set of rules for the representation of the intellectual
and physical parts of archival finding aids. Often expressed in XML or SGML
so that the information can be searched, retrieved, displayed, and exchanged. |
| 3 |
Learning Object Metadata |
Learning Object Metadata is used to describe educational resources
in course management systems and learning management systems. The main standard
is the IEEE Standard for Learning Object Metadata (1484.12.1-2002), also
called the LOM, which must be ordered from IEEE. http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/par1484-12-1.html
However, the LOM has been incorporated into a number of other standards,
including the IMS Global Learning Consortium's Meta-Data Specification which
is freely available from the IMS. http://www.imsglobal.org/specificationdownload.cfm
|
| 4 |
MARC21 http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/ |
A long established standard within the library community for
exchanging cataloging information. MARC supports the Anglo-American Cataloging
Rules and is maintained by the library community. Over the last several
years, MARC has been enhanced to support descriptive elements for electronic
resources. |
| 5 |
MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema)
http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods |
An XML schema for descriptive metadata compatible with the
MARC 21 bibliographic format. |
- The CIMI Guide to Best Practice for Museums using Dublin Core.
http://www.cimi.org/public_docs/meta_bestprac_v1_1_210400.pdf
GEM (Gateway to Educational Materials). http://www.thegateway.org/about/documentation/gem-2-element-set-and-profiles
Open Archives Initiative. http://www.openarchives.org/
Western States Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices.
http://www.cdpheritage.org/resource/metadata/wsdcmbp/index.html
- SAA. EAD Working Group. Encoded Archival Description Application Guidelines.
(SAA, 1999.) http://www.loc.gov/ead/
RLG. EAD Advisory Group. RLG Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival
Description (2002). http://www.rlg.org/rlgead/bpg.pdf
Online Archives of California. OAC Best Practice Guidelines for EAD, Version
2.0.
http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/guidelines/bpgead
The EAD Cookbook. http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/cookbookhelp.html
- IMS Meta-data Best Practice Guide for IEEE 1484.12.1-2002 Standard for Learning
Object Metadata. Version 1.3 Public Draft. http://www.imsglobal.org/metadata/mdv1p3pd/imsmd_bestv1p3pd.html
CanCore Guidelines for the Implementation of Learning Object Metadata (LOM)
2.0. http://www.cancore.ca/documents.html
- Library of Congress. Understanding MARC Bibliographic: Machine-Readable
Cataloging. 7th Edition. http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/umb/
MARC documentation: Extensive documentation is available at the LC site and
at OCLC. http://oclc.org/
- METS Implementation Registry. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/mets/registry/
METS profiles. A number of profiles were under development as of this writing;
when completed they will provide implementation guidelines and will be made
available at the METS website. http://www.loc.gov/mets
- MODS User Guidelines are available at http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-userguide.html
- Cataloguing Cultural Objects (VRA 2004). Comprehensive guidelines for describing
cultural works and their images. http://www.vraweb.org/CCOweb/
Source: adapted from 'A
Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections', published
by the National Information Standards Office, 2nd edition, 2004.
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