Selected Reference Documents, Web Sites, and Readings
Compiled by Steven
University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee School of Information Studies
Updated June 1, 2011
Meta + Data = Data about data: structured statements (properties and values) that give information about information and knowledge resources, information that may be used to organize, describe, find, access, index, collocate, structure, navigate, preserve, and manage those resources. Metadata is logically separate from the resource it is about, even when embedded within the resource. "Descriptive Metadata" consists of data elements and values for resource description and discovery (access, retrieval): data elements that connect users to information resources in a structured, controlled way.
Introductions to Metadata for Cultural Heritage Applications
Typology of Metadata Standards
Diagram created by Steven J. Miller
The first four parts of this typology have been taken and adapted from various sources in recent metadata literature, including the following, among others:
- Gilliland, Anne J. "Setting the Stage." In Baca, Murtha (editor). Introduction to Metadata. Second [Revised] Edition. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2008. Page 3. Also available online in Version 3.0: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/setting.html
- Zeng, Marcia Lei & Jian Qin. Metadata. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2008. Page 15.
- Elings, Mary W. and Günter Waibel. "Metadata for All: Descriptive Standards and Metadata Sharing across Libraries, Archives and Museums.” First Monday 12:3 (March 2007). http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_3/elings/index.html
- Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials. RLG, 2005. Pages 3-5. http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/culturalmaterials/RLG_desc_metadata.pdf
- Karim Boughida, "CDWA Lite for Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO): A New XML Schema for the Cultural Heritage Community," in Humanities, Computers and Cultural Heritage: Proceedings of the XVI International Conference of the Association for History and Computing: 14–17 (September 2005) (Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005). Available at http://www.knaw.nl/publicaties/pdf/20051064.pdf
I have added the fifth category in response to RDA's identification of ISBD punctuation as a presentation standard which can be separated from the bibliographic elements and content rules. The examples given above are a mix of formal international or national standards and informal local standards.
For a more comprehensive graphical overview of
Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe by Jenn Riley: http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/~jenlrile/metadatamap/
Metadata Standards and Resources
1. General Metadata Resources
2. Metadata Structure Standards (Element Sets or Schemes/Schemas)
Catalogablog [Current news and announcements related to cataloging and metadata]
Coyle's Information [Karen Coyle's blog]
International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies (IJMSO)
Journal of Library Metadata
Metadata Blog [ALCTS Metadata Interest Group]
MetadataLibrarians e-mail discussion list
Metadata Matters [Dianne Hillmann's blog]
Planet Cataloging [Compilation from various blogs on cataloging and metadata]
Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe by Jenn Riley
CDWA: Categories for the Description of Works of Art3. Metadata Value Standards (Controlled Vocabularies; Syntax Encoding Schemes)
DCMI: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative DDI: Data Documentation Initiative
EAD: Encoded Archival Description
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
INDECS: INteroperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems
LOM: IEEE Learning Object Metadata
MARC 21: Machine Readable Cataloging
MODS: Metadata Object Description Schema
MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group
ONIX for Books (ONline Information eXchange)
RDA (Resource Description and Access) Vocabularies
TEI: Text Encoding Initiative VRA: Visual Resources Association Core Categories
AAT: Art & Architecture Thesaurus4. Metadata Encoding, Exchange, Format, and Interoperability