Metadata Standards

Metadata Standards Catherine Lai MUMT-611 MIR January 27, 2005

Presentation Outline • Definition of Metadata • Functions of Metadata • Types of Metadata • Examples of Metadata Standards • Conclusion and Outstanding Questions • Questions and Comments

Defining Metadata • Structured data about data • To identify, arrange, describe, and enhance access to an information object (screen shot of a partial Muse bibliographic record) • Data describing digital resources

Functions of Metadata • To describe the record content • what object contains or is about • To document the record context • who, what, why, where, how of creation • To preserve record’s structure • formal set of associations • To provide intellectual access points for users • To provide information in a physical reference

Types of Metadata

Examples of Metadata Standards • MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) • Dublin Core (DC) • Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) • Encoded Archival Description (EAD) • Visual Resource Association Core Categories (VRA Core) • Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) • Many others

MARC • Originated in 1966 • MAchine Readable Catalog • First comprehensive computerized metadata scheme • MARC --> USMARC & CAN/MARC (1980s) --> MARC 21 (1997) • Metadata standard for library catalogs • Maintained by the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at LC and the Standards and the Support Office at the National Library of Canada

Example of a MARC Record Fixed fields --> (Leader) -------------- computer generated index (Directory) -------------- Variable fields --> • Tag (3-digit number) • Indicator (1-digit number) • Subfield (preceded by the delimiter e.g. ‡n) (http://www.music.indiana.edu/tech_s/manuals/training/marc/record1.html)

MARC Tag Group • Numerically by function: (http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/default.shtm)

Example of a MARC Record (http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/default.shtm)

Dublin Core • Developed in 1995 for web resources • Set of 15 simple elements: Title Description Source Creator Type Relation Subject Format Language Publisher Identifier Coverage Contributor Date Rights • Support resource discovery (IR) on the web • General and Easy • Main usage currently embedded into HTML meta tags

Example of Dublin Core <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>A Poem</TITLE> <META NAME="DC.Title" CONTENT=”A Poem"> <META NAME="DC.Creator" CONTENT=”Lai, Catherine"> <META NAME="DC.Type" CONTENT="text"> <META NAME="DC.Date" CONTENT=”2005"> <META NAME="DC.Format" CONTENT="text/html"> <META NAME="DC.Identifier” CONTENT="http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~lai/poem.html"> </HEAD> <BODY><PRE> A poem line 1 A poem line 2. A poem line 3 A poem line 4.</PRE></BODY> </HTML>

TEI • Launched in 1987 • Guidelines for encoding machine-readable texts to the humanities and social sciences • “maximally expressive and minimally obsolescent” (www.tei-c.org) • Document structural hierarchy, divisions, and characteristic tags

Example of TEI Markup <q>She'll happen do better for him nor ony o' t' grand ladies.</q> And again, <q>If she ben't one o' th’ handsomest, she's noan faàl, and varry good-natured; and i' his een she's fair beautiful, onybody may see that.</q> I wrote to Moor House and to Cambridge immediately, to say what I had done: fully explaining also why I had thus acted. Diana and (http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/U5-eg.html)

Example of TEI Markup I wrote to Moor House and to Cambridge immediately, to say what I had done: fully explaining also why I had thus acted. Diana and <pb n='475'/> Mary approved the step unreservedly. Diana announced that she would just give me time to get over the honeymoon, and then she would come and see me. (http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/U5-eg.html)

Conclusion and Outstanding Questions • Little consensus on level of complexity of semantic structure • Need flexibility and scalability • Different disciplines for different formats • Need interoperability and accessibility

Questions & Comments

Metadata Standards