TDL Metadata

At A&M we are in the beginning stages of implementing Primo as a way of searching across our different library and archives collections—across the Voyager catalog (books), various article databases, DSpace institutional repository, and even Archon (which holds EAD finding aids for our archival collections). We will also be able to provide a Primo instance for just the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. This way, our patrons will be able to search for all of our materials (books, articles, digital images, finding aids, T&Ds)—but limit their search to items in Cushing.

Because of the way I have used Dublin Core (DC) in the past, I have always thought of it as just a way to describe digital objects. Hearing that Primo uses DC as the basic metadata schema to which other schemas are mapped—in order to allow searching across the various platforms using different metadata schemas—made me think of DC as having an additional value that I had not previously considered. The Open Archives Initiative’s Metadata Harvesting Protocol use of DC points to a similar value—what Clifford Lynch calls “the value of unqualified Dublin Core for lowest common denominator cross-domain resource discovery.” Although limitations of DC have been recognized, its use seems to be increasing—particularly with its use in Content Management systems (such as Content DM), institutional repository software (such as DSpace), Archon and Archivists Toolkit (both allow for creation of EAD finding aids and provide access to those aids), and through its key use in the Metadata Harvesting Protocol.

Keep in mind that I am an archivist who does digital projects–not a cataloger or a metadata specialist. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on all this, and whether you think the use of DC is expanding.

Mary Manning, Texas A&M University

As a new comer to digital libraries and metadata, I was counting on the digital thesis project to be a good way to get my feet wet. The library is now getting resistance from the graduate department about the use of Vireo and the need for digital thesis at all. This will greatly impact my plans for getting the items into the digital repository. I am looking for information to help me decide the best way to take a PDF file and create metadata so that is can be added to the digital thesis collection. Would it be easier to create simple metadata myself or to just enter the information in Vireo and let it create the metadata? Please send me any information, resources, or suggestions you might have for someone still trying to create metadata policy and get items into the repository.

Susan Elkins

Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe

by Jenn Riley and David Becker of the University of Indiana

http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/~jenlrile/metadatamap/

A colleague of mine recently shared this link with me and I thought it might be useful to the readers of this blog. It is a visual representation of the universe of metadata standards related to describing cultural heritage objects.  But it is more than that. It is also an analysis of 105 different metadata schemes “represent the most commonly known or discussed standards for cultural heritage metadata.” The analysis takes in to consideration four aspects: community, domain, function, and purpose. I particularly like the term definitions that appear in each corner. The accompanying Metadata Standard Glossary is also a great resource that provides brief descriptions of each of the included metadata standards and a link to further information about that standard.

Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is digital encoding of literary and linguistic texts.  TEI was created in 1987 to solve the problem of proliferating systems associated with literary digital projects during this period:                           

These systems seemed almost always to be incompatible, often poorly designed,  and multiplying at nearly the same rapid rate as the electronic text projects themselves. This situation was inhibiting the development of the full potential of computers to support humanistic inquiry by erecting barriers to access, creating new problems for preservation, making the sharing of data (and theories) difficult, and making the development of common tools impractical. http://www.tei-c.org/About/history.xml

At Texas A&M University, Dr. Amy Earhart from the English Department is working with Africana Resources Curator Rebecca Hankins on a project to digitize materials from the Alex Haley Collection. The materials will be scanned in DiSC (Digital Services), and the students in Professor Earhart’s “African Literature and Culture: Digital Diaspora” will encode the documents.

This is a great multi-disciplinary collaborative project, and we at DiSC and Cushing are excited about being able to help Professor Earhart and her class with their class project.

Mary Manning, Cushing Library and DiSC (Digital Services), Texas A&M