Metadata: An overview with examples

Presented at the Missouri Digitization Conference 2002
Columbia, Missouri
February 12, 2002

Wendy A. Sistrunk
Catalog Librarian
University of Missouri--Kansas City
Miller Nichols Library, 5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
e-mail: sistrunkw@umkc.edu

What is Metadata? / Types of Metadata Schema / MARC / MPEG-7 / EAD / DublinCore / Innovative Interfaces MetaSource / Bibliography

What is Metadata?

“Data about data”

“Metadata not only identifies and describes an information object; it also documents how that object behaves, its function and use, its relationship to other information objects, and how it should be managed” (Baca)

All information objects have three features:

- Content
- Context
- Structure

Metadata is commonly divided into three types:

DESCRIPTIVE - that which describes the object, relating to what the object contains or is about
ADMINISTRATIVE - that which indicates the who, what, where, how aspects associated with the object’s creation and preservation
STRUCTURAL - that which relates to the formal set of associations within or among individual information objects, i.e., how a system functions

Why is Metadata important?

- Increased accessibility
- Retention of context
- Expanding use
- Multi-versioning
- Legal issues
- Preservation
- System improvement and economics

What is Metadata? / Types of Metadata Schema / MARC / MPEG-7 / EAD / DublinCore / Innovative Interfaces MetaSource / Bibliography

Types of Metadata Schema

- MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging)
- Dublin Core
- MPEG-7
- EAD (Encoded Archival Description)
- RDF (Resource Description Framework)
- Etc.

MARC
The MARC formats are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form.

MARC Tags:

(008) Fixed fields
02x Reference number (ISBN, ISSN, manufacturer’s no.)
041 Language code
1xx Main entry (author, composer, corporate name)
24x Title
260 Publication info.
300 Physical description
4xx Series
5xx Notes (general, summaries, contents, access, etc.)
6xx Subjects
7xx Added entries (additional authors, titles, relational works)
856 Electronic location and access

Example of a MARC Bibliographic Record:

001 47809907
008 010820m1996uuuumouaco s 000 0 eng dnamIa
040 UMK|cUMK
245 00 Club Kaycee|h[computer file] :|bjazz sites & sounds from the Sound Archives & music collections of the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri--Kansas City.
260 Kansas City, Mo. :|bUniversity of Missouri--Kansas City,|cc1996-
500 Title from title screen; as viewed on Aug. 20, 2001.
520 Information about the jazz music and musicians in Kansas City.
538 Mode of access: World Wide Web via the Internet. System requirements for audio: RealAudioTM Player or Player Plus.
650 0 Jazz|zMissouri|zKansas City.
650 0 Jazz|zKansas|zKansas City.
700 1 Haddix, Chuck.|4aut
710 2 University of Missouri--Kansas City.|bMarr Sound Archives.
856 41 |zAccess University of Missouri--Kansas City Web site|uhttp:// www.umkc.edu/orgs/kcjazz/

MPEG-7

- Formally named “Multimedia Content Description Interface”
- Developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)
- A standard for describing the multimedia content data using eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
- Offers a standardized set of descriptors, a set of description schemes, a language to specify description schemes (Description Definition Language), and one or more ways to encode descriptions

EAD

The EAD Document Type Definition (DTD) is a standard for encoding archival finding aids using the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).

Basically consist of two segments:
1) a segment that provides information about the finding aid itself (its title, compiler, compilation date, etc.)
2) a segment that provides information about a body of archival materials (a collection, a record group, a fonds, or a series)

EAD record tags:

<ead>
<eadheader>
<frontmatter>
<archdesc>
<did>
<add>
<admininfo.>
<arrangement>
<bioghist>
<controlaccess>
<dao> and <daogrp>
<note>
<odd>
<organization>
<scopecontent>
<dsc>
[etc.]

Dublin Core

The Dublin Core is a metadata element set intended to facilitate discovery of electronic resources and was originally conceived for author-generated description of Web resources.

The characteristics of the Dublin Core that distinguish it as a prominent candidate for description of electronic resources include Simplicity; Semantic Interoperability; International Consensus; Extensibility; and Metadata Modularity on the Web.

Dublin Core Metadata Elements:

Identifier
Language
Creator
Title
Publisher
Date
Source
Format
Description
Contributor
Subject
Rights
Relation

Example of a Dublin Core record:

Identifier 47809907
Language en
Title Club Kaycee
Publisher University of Missouri—Kansas City
Date 1996
Source RCA LPV-511
Format Internet resource
Description Information about the jazz music and musicians in Kansas City.
Contributor Haddix, Chuck, author
Contributor Middleton, Scott, engineer
Relation IsPartOf University of Missouri—Kansas City University Libraries web site
Subject Jazz – Kansas City
Rights University of Missouri—Kansas City, copyright holder

What is Metadata? / Types of Metadata Schema / MARC / MPEG-7 / EAD / DublinCore / Innovative Interfaces MetaSource / Bibliography



Innovative Interfaces MetaSource

A suite of tools that allows libraries to manage their digital collections.

Made up of three components:
- Millennium Media Management
- XML Harvester
- Metadata Builder

Millennium Media Management
- Creates and stores media objects such as images, sound files, and audio files
- Also includes a Copyright and Access component to handle the licensing and copyright issues of digital collections

XML Harvester
- Gathers XML records from any server
- Parses and creates records on the Innovative system

Metadata Builder
- Stores XML in the metadata scheme of choice

What UMKC uses:

- MARC
- EAD
- Dublin Core (selectively)
- Investigating MetaSource



Bibliography:

Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information, edited by Murtha Baca. <http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/intrometadata/> [Accessed 02 February 2007]

Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed., 1998 revision. Chicago: American Library Association, c1998.

MARC <http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/marcdocz.html> [Accessed 02 February 2007]

Dublin Core <http://purl.org/DC/> [Accessed 02 February 2007]

MPEG-7 <http://xml.coverpages.org/mpeg7.html/> [Accessed 02 February 2007]

Innovative Interfaces MetaSource <http://www.iii.com/html/products/p_image.shtml> [Accessed 02 February 2007]

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