Metadata 101

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Metadata 101

• Eric Childress
• OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc.

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Outline

• Why metadata?
• Concepts to know
• Selected metadata standards
• Metadata transport standards
• Music-related efforts
• Questions and answers

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Metadata

• What is metadata?
• Data about data
• Or Structured Data about data
• Sound familiar?
• Lots of communities do metadata

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So whats the big fuss?

• The Web is large and growing quickly
• Many producers, many users on the Web
• Navigating networked resources is difficult
• Good description
• better access
• better control
• Control and access big business
• Convergence of interests collaboration in
  building standards (interoperability)

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Concepts to know

• Types of metadata
• Descriptive
• Structural
• Administrative

Title Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
1
File type jpg
2
Rights holder NGDB
3
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Concepts to know (cont.)

• Semantics
• Whats in a name?
• Syntax
• We gots grammar
• Interoperability
• Sharing...

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Concepts to know (cont.)

• Metadata objects can be
• Embedded in the resource
• Separate from the resource
• Both embedded and separate

M
M
M
M
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Concepts to know (cont.)

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
  / IFLA

Work
Expression
Will the Circle be Unbroken
Manifestation
Album
Item
Compact Disc
Individual copy
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Selected metadata standards

• ISBD AACR2
• Dublin Core (DC)
• Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) headers
• Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
• VRA Core Categories (VRA CC)
• http//www.oberlin.edu/art/vra/wc1.html
• Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
  (CSDGM, formerly FGDC) http//www.fgdc.gov/metadat
  a/contstan.html

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Dublin Core

• DC (Dublin Core)
• 15 elements for simple resource description
• Designed to support interoperability
• Translated into 26 languages
• Qualifiers under ballot

purl.org/dc
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Dublin Core (in HTML)
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Text Encoding Initiative

• SGML DTD designed to support literary text markup
  but has wider potential
• TEI standard has been influenced by both scholars
  and librarians
• TEI header (TEIH) can be used as a metadata
  object in its own right
• EAD community is considering using TEIH for
  single item metadata records

http//www.uic.edu/orgs/tei/
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TEI Header
from http//www.mun.ca/library/cat/catnet/metada
ta.htm
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Encoded Archival Description

• SGML DTD for archival finding aids
• Maintained by the Library of Congress
• Allows for simple or complex mark-up to support
  varying levels of indexing
• Well-suited for interweaving narrative with links
  to specific objects in a collection (either
  directly to the object or via a record).

http//www.loc.gov/ead/
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EAD structure
from http//lcweb.loc.gov/ead/tglib/tlover.html
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Metadata transport standards

• MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging)
• SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language)
• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
• XML (Extensible Markup Language)
• RDF (Resource Description Framework)

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Sample of RDF-XML
RDF see http//www.w3.org/rdf
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Music markup languages

• HyTime (Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring
  Language)
• SMDL (Standard Music Description Language)
• NIFF (Notational Interchange File Format)
• MNML (Music Notation Markup Language)
• SMF Lyric Meta Event Definition

see http//is.up.ac.za/mml/scope.htm
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INDECS

• interoperability of data in e-commerce systems
• Four societies representing creators and/or
  publishers in different sectors
• ALCS (UK, literary works, authors' society) MCOS
  on behalf of MCPS and PRS (UK, musical works,
  Composer/publisher societies)BILD-KUNST
  (Germany, visual arts, creators society)SACD
  (France, audiovisual and visual arts, creators
  society)
• Two organisations representing producers in
  different sectors
• IFPI (International/UK-based, sound recordings,
  trade association)EDItEUR (European/UK-based,
  book/serial/electronic publishers/libraries)
• One database compiler/provider
• MUZE UK (UK subsidiary with MUZE US parent)

http//www.indecs.org/
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Sample music resource projects

• Telematics for Libraries Europe
• http//www.echo.lu/libraries/en/music.html
• Variations Indiana University
• http//www.music.indiana.edu/variations/
• Canadian Music Centre
• http//www.culturenet.ca/cmc/
• National Gallery of the Spoken Word
• http//www.ngsw.org/

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Questions?

• Other resources
• IFLA http//www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm
• Dublin Core Library Interest Group mailing list
  http//www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/dc-libraries/
• The Journal of Internet Cataloging
  http//www.haworthpressinc.com8081/jic/
• OCLC Institute http//www.oclc.org/institute/
• OCLC CORC http//www.oclc.org/oclc/corc/