Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-to-do-it Manual

More and more libraries, archives, and museums are creating online collections of digitized resources. Where can those charged with organizing these new collections turn for guidance on the actual practice of metadata design and creation? To Metadata for Digital Collections: a how-to-do-it manual. This practical, hands-on volume will make it easy for readers to acquire the knowledge and skills they need, whether they use the book on the job or in a classroom. Author Steven Miller introduces readers to fundamental concepts and practices in a style accessible to beginners and LIS students, as well as experienced practitioners with little metadata training. He also takes account of the widespread use of digital collection management systems such as CONTENTdm. Rather than surveying a large number of metadata schemes, Miller covers only three of the schemes most commonly used in general digital resource description, namely, Dublin Core, MODS, and VRA. By limiting himself, Miller is able to address the chosen schemes in greater depth. He is also able to include numerous practical examples that clarify common application issues and challenges. He provides practical guidance on applying each of the Dublin Core elements, taking special care to clarify those most commonly misunderstood. The book includes a step-by-step guide on how to design and document a metadata scheme for local institutional needs and for specific digital collection projects. The text also serves well as an introduction to broader metadata topics, including XML encoding, mapping between different schemes, metadata interoperability and record sharing, OAI harvesting, and the emerging environment of Linked Data and the Semantic Web, explaining their relevance to current practitioners and students. Each chapter offers a set of exercises, with suggestions for instructors. A companion website includes additional practical and reference resources.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to Metadata for Digital Collections 1.1. What Is Metadata? 1.2. What Is a Digital Collection? 1.3. What Does Metadata Do? 1.4. Types of Metadata 1.5. Metadata Standards 1.6. Creating a Digital Collection 1.7. Metadata for Digital Collections 1.7.1. Designing and Documenting a Metadata Scheme 1.7.2. Creating Metadata for Digital Objects 1.7.3. Metadata Sharing, Harvesting, and Aggregating 1.8. Summary References 2. Introduction to Resource Description and Dublin Core 2.1. Resource Description Fundamentals 2.1.1. Resource Description 2.1.1.1. Resources 2.1.1.2. Metadata Descriptions and Records 2.1.1.3. Granularity of Description 2.1.1.4. Element Repeatability 2.1.1.5. Element Functionality 2.1.2. Local versus Standard, Shareable Element Sets 2.1.3. Describing Digital versus Original Resources 2.1.3.1. The One-to-One Principle 2.1.3.2. Content versus Carrier 2.1.3.3. Problems with the One-to-One Principle in Practice 2.1.3.4. Practical Options for Maintaining One-to-One 2.1.4. Descriptive versus Administrative Metadata 2.1.5. The Need for Research 2.2. Introduction to the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set 2.2.1. Simple (Unqualified) Dublin Core 2.2.2. Qualified Dublin Core 2.2.3. Creation and Use of Dublin Core Metadata 2.2.4. The Dublin Core Elements in Practice 2.3. Summary References 3. Resource Identification and Responsibility Elements 3.1. Basic Resource Identification Elements 3.1.1. Titles 3.1.2. Dublin Core Title 3.1.3. Identifiers 3.1.4. Dublin Core Identifier 3.1.5. Dates 3.1.6. Dublin Core Date 3.1.7. Languages 3.1.8. Dublin Core Language 3.1.9. Resource Attributes Not Readily Accommodated in Dublin Core 3.2. Name, Responsibility, and Intellectual Property Elements 3.2.1. Names and Roles of Agents Responsible for Resources 3.2.2. Dublin Core Creator and Contributor 3.2.3. Publishers and Publication 3.2.4. Dublin Core Publisher 3.2.5. Rights, Ownership, and Restrictions on Access 3.2.6. Dublin Core Rights 3.3. Summary References 4. Resource Content and Relationship Elements 4.1. Resource Content and Carrier Elements 4.1.1. Content Types and Genres 4.1.2. Dublin Core Type 4.1.3. Formats and Physical Description 4.1.4. Dublin Core Format 4.2. Subject Content Elements 4.2.1. Subjects 4.2.1.1. Subject Analysis, Representation, and Retrieval 4.2.1.2. Analyzing and Identifying Subject Content 4.2.1.3. Aboutness, Ofness, Isness, and Facets 4.2.1.4. Exhaustivity: Number of Subject Terms 4.2.1.5. Specificity: Specific versus General Subject Terms 4.2.1.6. Subject Analysis and Indexing of Images 4.2.2. Dublin Core Subject 4.2.3. Dublin Core Coverage 4.2.4. Descriptions, Abstracts, and Tables of Contents 4.2.5. Dublin Core Description 4.3. Resource Relationship Elements 4.3.1. Relationships among Different Resources 4.3.2. Dublin Core Relation and Source 4.4. Dublin Core Full Record Examples 4.5. Mapping Local Elements to Dublin Core 4.6. Summary References 5. Controlled Vocabularies for Improved Resource Discovery 5.1. Improving Resource Discovery 5.2. Types of Controlled Vocabularies 5.2.1. Lists 5.2.2. Synonym Rings 5.2.3. Authority Files 5.2.4. Taxonomies and Classification Schemes 5.2.5. Thesauri 5.2.6. Subject Heading Lists 5.3. Using Established Vocabularies 5.4. Creating Your Own Vocabularies 5.5. Summary References 6. XML-Encoded Metadata 6.1. XML Metadata Basics 6.1.1. Introduction to Metadata Encoding and XML 6.1.2. XML Syntax: Elements and Attributes 6.1.3. Well-Formed versus Valid XML 6.1.4. XML Namespaces and Metadata Modularity 6.1.5. Creating Metadata in XML 6.2. XML Metadata Record Examples 6.2.1. Dublin Core in XML 6.2.2. MODS XML 6.3. Anatomy of an XML Metadata Record 6.4. Summary References 7. MODS: The Metadata Object Description Schema 7.1. Introduction and Overview 7.1.1. MODS Implementation Projects 7.1.2. MODS Documentation 7.1.3. MODS XML Structure 7.1.3.1. Container Elements and Subelements 7.1.3.2. Element Attributes 7.1.4. Flexibility in MODS Level of Detail and Granularity 7.2. MODS Elements: An Overview with Examples 7.2.1. TitleInfo 7.2.2. Name 7.2.3. TypeOfResource 7.2.4. Genre 7.2.5. OriginInfo 7.2.6. Language 7.2.7. PhysicalDescription 7.2.8. Abstract 7.2.9. TableOfContents 7.2.10. TargetAudience 7.2.11. Note 7.2.12. Subject 7.2.13. Classification 7.2.14. RelatedItem 7.2.15. Identifier 7.2.16. Location 7.2.17. AccessCondition 7.2.18. Part 7.2.19. Extension 7.2.20. RecordInfo 7.3. MODS Records 7.3.1. Complete MODS Record Example 7.3.2. Creating MODS XML Records 7.3.3. Displaying and Transforming MODS XML Records 7.3.4. Qualified Dublin Core and MODS Record Comparison 7.4. Mapping from Dublin Core to MODS 7.4.1. Automated Mapping from Simple Dublin Core to Simple MODS 7.4.2. Human Mapping from Qualified Dublin Core to Richer MODS 7.5. Summary References 8. VRA Core: The Visual Resources Association Core Categories 8.1. Introduction and Overview 8.1.1. Metadata for Museum Objects 8.1.2. Metadata Standards for Museum Objects 8.2. VRA 3.0 Overview 8.3. VRA 3.0 Record Examples 8.4. VRA 4.0 Overview 8.5. VRA 4.0 Record Examples 8.6. Summary References 9. Metadata Interoperability, Shareability, and Quality 9.1. Interoperability 9.2. Short- and Long-Term Metadata Viability 9.3. Metadata Sharing, Harvesting, and Aggregating 9.4. OAI Metadata Harvesting 9.5. Metadata Mapping and Crosswalks 9.6. Metadata Conversion and Processing 9.7. Example of Metadata Harvesting, Processing, and Aggregating 9.8. Good Quality and Shareable Metadata 9.9. Assessing Metadata Quality 9.10. Five Ways to Improve Your Metadata Quality and Interoperability 9.11. Summary References 10. Designing and Documenting a Metadata Scheme 10.1. Metadata Scheme Design and Documentation 10.1.1. Introduction 10.1.2. Analyze Context, Content, and Users, and Determine Functional Requirements 10.1.3. Select and Develop an Element Set 10.1.3.1. General/Cross-Collection Metadata Scheme Design 10.1.3.2. Collection-Specific Metadata Scheme Design 10.1.3.3. Factors in Choice of Metadata Element Set 10.1.4. Establish Element and Database Specifications 10.1.5. Establish Controlled Vocabularies and Encoding Schemes 10.1.6. Develop Content Guidelines 10.1.7. Document the Scheme 10.2. Metadata Design Examples 10.2.1. General Application Profile Examples 10.2.1.1. Collaborative Digitization Program Dublin Core Metadata Documentation 10.2.1.2. OhioLINK Dublin Core Metadata Documentation 10.2.1.3. Indiana Memory Dublin Core Metadata Documentation 10.2.1.4. DLF/Aquifer MODS Metadata Documentation 10.2.2. Collection-Specific Application Profile Examples 10.2.2.1. University of Washington’s Architecture Collection Metadata Documentation 10.2.2.1. University of Washington’s Musical Instruments Collection Metadata Documentation 10.2.2.1. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s Transportation Collection Metadata Documentation 10.2.3. CONTENTdm Examples 10.3. Summary References 11. Metadata, Linked Data, and the Semantic Web 11.1. What Are Linked Data and the Semantic Web and Why Care about Them? 11.2. Linked Open Data and the Resource Description Framework 11.2.1. Statements, Properties, Values, and RDF Triples 11.2.2. URIs: Uniform Resource Identifiers 11.2.3. Literals, Strings, and Things 11.2.4. The Power of Linking and Querying in the Linked Data Cloud 11.2.5. RDF/XML 11.3. Linked Data and Digital Collections 11.4. Dublin Core: From a Core Metadata Element Set for the Web to a Core Vocabulary for Linked Data 11.4.1. The DCMI Abstract Model (DCAM) 11.4.2. Dublin Core Application Profiles 11.5. Metadata Registries 11.6. What Does All of This Have to Do with Me? 11.7. Summary References

About the Author :
Stephen J. Miller is based at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA.

Review :
"...an extremely useful book for everyone currently or potentially involved in the creation of metadata: those with little to no experience in using non-MARC metadata, who either need to do so now or who would simply like to remain current with developments in the field; those who need a ready-reference work for a particular metadata scheme; and students of cataloguing and metadata." "Books that encourage librarians to explore the full scope of their metadata heritage are to be welcomed and I encourage digital collections managers to read this one."