“Demonstrate understanding of basic principles and standards involved in organizing information such as classification and controlled vocabulary systems, cataloging systems, metadata schemas or other systems for making information accessible to a particular clientele.“
Introduction
Metadata is what helps us organize and retrieve digital information. Metadata can be understood as “data about data,” or the information attached to a particular resource or information item, such as a book, image, or other artifact, whether physical or digital. It can be used to describe what an item is about, what other items are connected to it, when and by whom it was accessed or modified, what software is needed to view it, and any other details that we choose to attach to it. Transcriptions of textual artifacts can also be attached to them as metadata. To organize information in such a way that it can be easily retrieved, information institutions need to have a standardized way to describe the information items in their collection. In the following essay, I will describe some of those standards.
Controlled Vocabularies
Controlled vocabularies are a standard set of terms to be used in a given database (Riley, 2017). When controlled vocabularies are used, it allows the creator and the retriever of a given information item to communicate more clearly with one another. A guide to the controlled vocabulary is made available on both sides and can be consulted to find the closest match to the term the person wants to use to describe the item. When there is a standard set of terms, this eliminates guesswork on the side of the searcher. They don’t have to figure out which synonym for a term might have been used, they can just pick the closest match from the approved list. Controlled vocabularies have been used before computers were used to organize information. Specifically labeled categories in a paper filing cabinet is one example of a controlled vocabulary. An example of a controlled vocabulary in widespread use today is the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), used to label books and other information items with specific terms for the subjects they cover.
Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is an example of a set of rules for describing archival materials. It can be used with any metadata scheme, and allows for archives to share information more easily because they are following the same set of standards (SAA, 2022).
Dublin Core
Dublin Core is an example of a metadata schema, or a standardized way to describe information about a particular object. Dublin Core was developed to be simple and universally applied to different kinds of information objects. It is widely used on the internet. Dublin Core has fifteen elements, or types of metadata fields that can be created. They are: contributor, coverage, creator, date, description, format, identifier, language, publisher, relation, rights, source, subject, title, and type. The Dublin Core website describes what kind of information is intended to go into each of these fields (DCMI, 2019). They can be used more than once, and different organizations can use more precise rules for what goes into each field as their needs require. Dublin Core can be encoded into XML, making it easy to integrate into webpages.
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a metadata schema developed specifically for archives. It was developed by the Society of American Archivists and is an XML markup language for archival finding aids (Riley, 2017). This means archivists can create a finding aid, which is a detailed description of a collection and list of what it contains, publish it on a website, and the XML markup will tell the computer what kind of content is described in each field. This makes it easier to send archival descriptions to different databases without changing the data.
Evidence Items
Evidence Item 1: Using Dublin Core Metadata for a Family Archive
My first item of evidence is a report and list of metadata records to describe a digitized scrapbook about my grandmother’s life. This was for the course INFO 281: Metadata. I created the metadata records using the Dublin Core metadata schema and used an online Dublin Core code generator to help me encode the records into XML format.
This item shows my ability to research a metadata schema that is unfamiliar to me and understand how to describe a record using a specific set of terms. It also shows that I understand that the metadata I should use to describe a record depends on what the record is intended to be used for, and that it is wise to make a plan for entering metadata with this in mind.
Evidence Item 2: Archival Metadata Using Encoded Archival Description
This item of evidence is a video screencast of a metadata project I did for the course INFO 281: Metadata. This project involved entering metadata for a collection of 19th-century family letters into a database using the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) schema.
This item also shows my ability to research a metadata schema that is unfamiliar to me. For this project, I located a collection management software that uses the EAD schema, experimented with it, and researched how to use it. I entered the metadata records in a demo version of the software and recorded them with screenshots. This demonstrates my ability to start using such a software and ask the questions that I need to ask to understand how it works. This video also demonstrates my ability to communicate verbally with others how metadata and collection management software can be used to make it easier to find information in a collection.
Evidence Item 3: Evaluating Iowa State Library’s Digital Collection
This item is a report I wrote for the course INFO 281: Metadata. Here I analyze the metadata used to describe items in the digital collections of Iowa State University. I also analyze the search, display and navigation features of the website, and whether it is easy for users to find what they are looking for. This shows my ability to identify specific improvements that need to be made to metadata, display and navigation features in a website for a collection management system.
Evidence Item 4: Digital Asset Management System for a Local History Museum
This item of evidence is a proposal for a digital asset management (DAM) system for a local history museum. I wrote this for the course INFO 282, Digital Asset Management. The paper describes the digital assets the museum wants to organize, a metadata model for describing the assets, the search interface, workflow for inputting digital assets and metadata into the database, digital preservation requirements, licensing and copyright concerns, and an evaluation of three different vendors of DAM software and whether they can meet the needs of the museum.
This shows that I understand how metadata fits into a larger system of organizing collections and making them accessible. It demonstrates my ability to create a metadata model to describe the types of resources that need to be described in a given collection.
Conclusion
Understanding standard methods for organizing information is key to helping users find the information they need. As an information professional, I will likely be involved in both cataloging and retrieving information, so I need to understand how it is organized. To stay up to date on these standards, I will follow publications by organizations such as ASIS&T, CMSWire, and the American Library Association.
References
Riley, J. (2017). Understanding metadata: What is metadata, and what is it for? National Information Standards Organization (NISO). https://groups.niso.org/higherlogic/ws/public/download/17446/Understanding%20Metadata.pdf
(2019, May 8). Dublin CoreTM Metadata Element Set, version 1.1: Reference description. DublinCore. https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/
SAA. Describing archives: A content standard (DACS). Society of American Archivists. (2022, November 30). https://www2.archivists.org/groups/technical-subcommittee-on-describing-archives-a-content-standard-dacs/describing-archives-a-content-standard-dacs-second-