Metadata in ARL Libraries

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Metadata in ARL Libraries

• Jin Ma
• Catalog/Metadata LibrarianNewman Library, Baruch
  College
• The City University of New York
• ALCTS CCS
• Cataloging Norms Interest Group
• ALA Midwinter, Denver
• January 24, 2009

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Background

• The purpose of the project
• SPEC survey, collaborative effort with the staff
  at ARL, Lee Anne George, SPEC Kits Series Editor
• Spring 2007, 123 ARL member libraries, 68 (55)
  responses
• Metadata SPEC Kit 298, July 2007

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Starting Date of Metadata Creation
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Metadata Related Projects/Initiatives
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Types of Digital Resources
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Metadata Standards
MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) 61 91EAD
(Encoded Archival Description) 56 84 Dublin
Core 52 78 Qualified Dublin Core 45
67 TEI Headers (Text Encoding Initiative) 37
55 Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS)
28 42 Visual Resources Association (VRA) Core
Categories 24 36 FGDC Content Standard for
Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) 10
15 IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) 5
8 Categories for the Description of Works of
Art (CDWA) 4 6 MPEG Multimedia Metadata 4
6 ICPSR Data Document Initiative (DDI) 3
5 ONIX (Online Information Exchange) 2
3 GILS (Global Information Locator Service) 2
3 Instructional Management Systems (IMS) IMS
Learning Resource Meta-data Specification 2
3 Other 20 30
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Metadata Standards
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Controlled Vocabularies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) 63
96 LC Name Authority File 58 88 Art and
Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) 42 64 LC
Thesaurus for Graphical Materials I Subject
Terms (TGM I) 31 47 LC Thesaurus for
Graphical Materials II Genre and Physical
Characteristic Terms (TGM II) 27 41 Getty
Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) 24
36 Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) 20
30 Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) 18
27 Geographic Names Information Service (GNIS)
16 24 National Agricultural Library Thesaurus
(NALT) 4 6 UNESCO Thesaurus 2 3 Other
20 30
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Software or Tools for Metadata Creation and
Editing
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Digital Content Management Systems
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Metadata Sharing and Management
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Metadata Quality Control
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Organizational Changes
Redefined librarian position(s) to include
metadata activities 36 62 Created a new
metadata librarian position 26
45 Incorporated metadata services into existing
department(s) /unit(s) without making any name
change 21 36 Incorporated metadata services
into existing department /unit and renamed the
department/unit 13 22 Created a separate
metadata services department/unit 7
12 Metadata activities are distributed across
the institution 31 53 We are now in the
planning stages for reorganizing to accommodate
metadata 5 9 Other 8 14
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Metadata Librarian Positions
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Department/Unit Name Changes
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Metadata Creators
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Total Number of Individuals (Full-time)
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Total Number of Individuals (Part-time)
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Total FTE (both full- and part-time)
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Metadata Librarian Qualifications
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Metadata Librarian Qualifications (cont.)
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Metadata Staff Training
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Metadata Conferences and Workshops
American Library Association Annual Conference
51 81 American Library Association Midwinter
Meeting 46 73 OCLC workshops 31
49 Digital Library Federation Forums 21
33 Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 20
32 ALCTS Regional Institute 15
24 Metadata Applications and Standards
workshop 14 22 METS Opening Day 13
21 Society of American Archivist conferences
and workshops 10 16 Metadata and Digital Library
Development workshop 8 13 LITA Regional
Institute or National Conference 8 13 Open
Repositories 4 6 Other 38 60
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Characteristics of the Metadata World

• Changing user needs and evolving information
  environment
• New models of data generation and distribution
• Decentralized metadata activities and
  organizational structure
• ILS - gt Disintegrated library systems
• Paradigm shift from metadata creation to
  metadata management

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Decentralized Metadata Activities

• Cataloging Department, Technical Services,
  Special Collections, Archives, Subject
  Librarians, Digital Initiatives
• Reorganizing to accommodate metadata activities
• Developing policies and guidelines
• Implementing appropriate workflow

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The Role of Metadata Librarian

• What is a metadata librarian?
• Where to place metadata librarian? Technical
  services, special collections/archives, IT,
  digital initiatives program
• What are the core competencies? Cataloging
  background, IT competencies, communication
  skills
• Work collaboratively with other staff

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Catalogers and Technical Services

• The Cataloging Department does not seem to
  embrace creating metadata for digital projects.
  Metadata responsibilities have been distributed
  to Digital Initiatives and Archives departments.
  
• We distribute metadata creation to catalogers
  who specialize in those formats.
• The metadata librarian reports to Technical
  Services but is also a member of the Digital
  Library Center Program.

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Metadata Standards, Tools, and Interoperability

• The proliferation of emerging metadata standards
• A wide range of tools, software, and platforms
• Interoperability becomes the most critical issue
• Comments
• the lack of system-wide infrastructure
• the difficulty of interoperating existing
  online collections with new ones on new
  platforms
• the cost and difficulty of creating consistent
  metadata across multiple formats and
  implementation systems

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Metadata Management

• Project-based metadata creation large scale of
  metadata generation
• Identifying metadata relationships and processes
  organization-wide
• Promoting sharing and reuse of metadata resources

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Many Thanks to

• Lee Anne George, Editor, SPEC Kit Series and
  other ARL staff
• Responding libraries