Metadata for Digital Collections

Lecture Notes -- Last updated 2008-02-03

Marcia Lei Zeng, Ph.D.

Day 1. Metadata Basics

Unit 1. Introduction

1. Metadata development overview (lecture notes html)

1.1 The word "metadata"
1.2 Pre-Internet era of metadata
1.3 The Internet arena and evolving metadata traditions

2. Metadata records (lecture notes html)

2.1 Embedded in a digital object
2.2 Stand-alone records displayed in databases
2.3 Record encoding (1) practice

3. Metadata types and functions (lecture notes html)

3.1 Metadata type taxonomies
3.2 Functions

Unit 2. Metadata Standards

4. Current operational and proposed metadata standards and implementation

4.1 Information resource description

4.1.1 Dublin Core (DC) and DC-related element sets (website: http://dublincore.org/)
(lecture notes ppt)

• The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (website: http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/)
• Other Elements and Element Refinements (website: http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/ )
• Examples (look at example 1 and 2 only)
  http://dublincore.org/documents/dc-citation-guidelines/
• *Encoding Guidelines (RDF/XML, XML, XHTML)

4.1.2 Value space I: Non-subject values such as language, date, and format (link to a list of online source)

• The DCMI Type Vocabulary (link to the vocabulary: http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-type-vocabulary/)
• [MIME] Internet Media Types
  http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/
  May be used as values for the Format element.
• ISO 639 - Codes for the representation of names of languages.
  http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/iso639a.html
  May be used as values for the Language element.

Templates for generating DC records

• DC-dot http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcdot/

Exercise 1. Information resource description

4.2 Bibliographic Description

4.2.1 MARC family (lecture notes ppt)

• *MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) (website: http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/)
  
• MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) (website: http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/)
  
  • Outline of Elements and Attributes in MODS Version 3.2
    http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods-outline.html
  • An example of MODS records for a book regular view | xml view
    
• *Encoding Schemes
  • MARCXML (website: http://www.loc.gov/marcxml)

4.2.2 Value space II. Name authority control (link to a list of authority files)

• The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
  http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/

*Exercise 2. Bibliographic description

4.3 Cultural Objects and Visual Resources

Lecture notes ppt

4.3.1 Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) (website: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/cdwa/index.html)

• Examples of CDWA records

4.3.2 VRA Core Categories

• Version 3.0 (http://www.vraweb.org/resources/datastandards/vracore3/index.html)
• Version 4.0 (website: http://www.vraweb.org/projects/vracore4/index.html)
• Examples of VRA Core 4.0 records
  (http://gort.ucsd.edu/escowles/vracore4/)

4.3.3 CCO (Cataloguing Cultural Objects) (http://www.vraweb.org/ccoweb/)

• CCO Cataloguing examples

4.3.4 Value space III: Using authority files for place names and subjects (Link to a list of online sources)

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
  http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/index.html
• The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
  http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/
• Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I)
  http://www.loc.gov/lexico/servlet/lexico?usr=pub-375:0&op=frames&db=TGM_I
• Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II)
  http://www.loc.gov/lexico/servlet/lexico?usr=pub-375:0&op=frames&db=TGM_II
• FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) Authority File
  http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/fast/
  Current search interface: http://fast.oclc.org/

Exercise 3. Cultural Objects

*Exercise 4. Visual Resources

4.4.4 Using software: Content DM (Using ContentDM (WORD))

4.5 Educational-purpose

4.5.1 Learning Object Metadata (LOM) (website: http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/index.html) (lecture notes ppt)

• IEEE 1484.12.1-2002, 15 July 2002 (http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/20020612-Final-LOM-Draft.html)
  • Examples of LOM records -- search "power point" or "java" and dislay records.
• Use this tool online: http://demo.licef.teluq.uquebec.ca/eRIB/
  • Please click on "Edit-Rights" under 6-Rights category to see the ODRL form.

4.5.2 Value space IV. Controlled lists

*Exercise 5. Learning Objects

Day 2. Advanced

Unit 3. Designing for Metadata Projects

5. Working with metadata for your digital collection

5.1. Initial decisions (lecture notes ppt)

5.2. Developing a metadata element set

Group work 1. Elements (postcards or bookmarks)

5.3 Value space decisions

• Using authority files for names, titles, and subjects (lecture notes html)
  • Link to a list of online sources: Taxonomies, Classification, Thesauri

Group work 2. Value space (postcards or bookmarks)

5.4. Application profiles

• Application profiles (lecture notes ppt)
• Selecting elements from different standards
  AVEL METADATA ELEMENT LIST: http://avel.library.uq.edu.au/technical.html#2
• Presenting an application profile, consult
  DC Government Application Profile: http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/09/17/gov-application-profile/
• Presenting an application profile based on an existing application profile, consult
  National Library of Medicine (NLM) Metadata Schema: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/metafilenew.html

Group work 3. Application profile (postcards or bookmarks)

5.5 Metadata interoperability

• Mapping between different formats (lecture notes ppt) (Link to a resource directory)

Group work 4. Mapping & Crosswalking (postcards and bookmarks)

• Metadata registries (lecture notes html)

6. Evaluation, quality analysis, and quality control

• Metadata Repositories for Interoperable/Shareable Metadata
  • 1. OAI-MHP. (lecture notes ppt)
    • The Open Archives Initiative -- Metadata Harvesting Protocol (OAI site: http://www.openarchives.org/)
  • 2. Quality Enhancement in Metadata Repositories (lecture notes ppt)
    
• Policies, procedures, and best practices (Link to a list of Best Practice Guides)

Group work 5. A specification for a complete element set (postcards or bookmarks)

Group work 6. Creating records using the proposed element sets

Unit 4. International Activities

7. Metadata activities and trends

• *Dublin Core Abstract Model (lecture notes ppt)
• *RDF -- Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification (specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/PR-rdf-syntax/) (lecture notes ppt)
• METS -- Metadata Encoding and Transmission Scheme (lecture notes ppt)
  (website: http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/)

8. Summary and Conclusion (lecture notes ppt)

* indicating the contents that may not be discussed in detail in the lectures.

©Marcia Zeng 2001-2008

mzeng at kent dot edu