Metadata

Metadata in Libraries
Basic Resources about Metadata
Metadata Services in the Office for Information Systems
Local Metadata Formats

Metadata In Libraries

Libraries use metadata, that is, structured information about resources, to support almost everything they do. For convenience, metadata formats and standards are often discussed in broad categories, but categories overlap and shift over time, and individual standards often address more than one category.

• Descriptive metadata
  Descriptive metadata identifies a resource and describes its intellectual content. Catalog records and finding aids are two examples of descriptive metadata. Descriptive metadata supports discovery, selection, acquisition and management of resources.
• Administrative metadata
  Administrative metadata includes information a repository needs to manage a resource, such as ownership and billing (if applicable). Administrative metadata is often locally defined rather than conforming to a shared standard.
• Technical metadata
  Technical metadata focuses on how a digital object was created, its format, format-specific technical characteristics, storage and location, etc. Accurate technical metadata helps a repository deliver digital content appropriately to users and to manage digital objects over time and keep them usable.
• Structural metadata
  Structural metadata documents the logical or physical organization of a digital object. Typically, it describes the relationships among individual files that together make up the object. For example, structural metadata tells how individual images of pages should be arranged to correspond to chapters of a book. It can also describe the logical structure within files, enabling users, for example, to move to different songs or scenes in audio or video.
• Preservation metadata
  Preservation metadata helps a repository keep digital objects usable over long periods of time. Almost any kind of metadata can play a role in preservation, but information about the technical characteristics and processing history of the object are crucial.
• Rights metadata
  Metadata documenting the rights holders, copyright status, permissions, agreements, terms and conditions, and licensing information associated with a resource.

Basic Resources about Metadata

• Best Practices for OAI Provider Implementations and Shareable Metadata
  (A joint initiative between the Digital Library Federation and the National Science Digital Library)
• Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information, Tony Gill, Anne J. Gilliland, Mary Woodley; edited by Murtha Baca.
• Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians, Priscilla Caplan. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2003. 0-8389-0847-0
• Metadata Made Simpler, by Gail Hodge

Metadata Services in the Office for Information Systems

The Office for Information Systems' support of Harvard libraries' creation and use of metadata goes beyond maintaining systems such as HOLLIS, OASIS, HGL and VIA. OIS staff monitor, analyze and provide input into metadata standards – both emerging and established. OIS works with libraries to

• Develop functional requirements for new systems and services
• Design metadata formats
• Establish guidelines and best practices
• Develop workflows and procedures
• Ensure effective exchange of metadata with partners inside and outside Harvard.

Contact (5-3724) in OIS with questions about metadata at Harvard.

Local Metadata Formats

In some cases, Harvard libraries need descriptive metadata that does not correspond to any standard in order to meet specialized local requirements. Some will be entirely new, while others require conversion from older local databases. OIS will work with libraries to define a local metadata format and develop conversion specifications where applicable. We try to adapt or align with existing standards, because we know that even local metadata may need to be shared in a common format in the future. Examples of local formats include those for the:

• Iranian Oral History [schema]
  Records describe personal accounts of individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s.
• Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature [schema]
  Catalog records represent oral heroic songs, conversations, and stories collected at a specific time and place, and the associated audio, manuscript, and/or typed transcription.
• MCZ Ernst Mayr Library Artwork Collection [schema]
  Records describe both the artwork and the taxonomic specimens depicted.
• VIA (Visual Image Access) [schema]
  VIA is a union catalog of visual resources at Harvard, focusing on artistic and cultural materials. Its metadata format, developed in the late 1990's and revised in 2003, draws on early versions of the VRA Core and CDWA.