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MD FAQs@SUL/AIR

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Metadata at Stanford University Libraries/Academic Information Resources

1. What is metadata?
2. What's so new about metadata? Haven't libraries been creating metadata for a long time?
3. So, what types of metadata are there?
4. Why was a Metadata Unit created within the Cataloging Dept. in SUL/AIR's Technical Services?
5. Is SUL/AIR using any national or international standards for metadata creation?
6. SUL/AIR uses the MARC21 record for transmitting descriptive metadata for "traditional" library resources like hard copy books and journals. What will be used for the digital resources?
7. What kinds of digital collections will be going into the SUL/AIR Dark Cave archive?

1. What is metadata?

   The common explanation for metadata is that it is data about data - a simple, but relatively unhelpful concept. The best description that I've found states that "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." ^[1]
   
   

2. What's so new about metadata? Haven't libraries been creating metadata for a long time?

   No, metadata is not a new concept - to people working in libraries anyway, particularly those who do traditional "cataloging", but

   It is now usually applied to digital collections (e.g., video, audio, image and data files) rather than the traditional physical collections (e.g., print, microformats, video tapes). It now refers not only to "bibliographic" or "discovery" data , but also data necessary for managing / housing / storing / inventorying / retrieving the data, and preserving it for future use.

3. So, what types of metadata are there?

   While there are a number of ways of describing the various kinds of metadata, most people would probably agree to the following three types of metadata: structural/technical, administrative, and discovery. For a more detailed description of what kinds of metadata fall within each of these categories, please see "Assessing Metadata Needs for SUL/AIR Digital Collections".
   
   

4. Why was a Metadata Unit created within the Cataloging Dept. in SUL/AIR's Technical Services?

   Not all research libraries provide metadata services for their digital collections - at least not yet. And, if metadata services are provided, they are not necessarily organized in the same way that SUL/AIR has chosen to do so. There is a method to the madness, however, which you might be able to divine by reviewing "Strategy for Providing Metadata Services to the SUL/AIR Digital Library Program from within the Cataloging Dept. of SUL/AIR Technical Services".
   
   

5. Is SUL/AIR using any national or international standards for metadata creation?

   While the world of metadata standards is still in a whirlwind of constant flux, the Metadata Unit is in the process of defining which standards should be used for the creation and migration of digital resources into the SUL/AIR Digital Archive to better facilitate cross collection searching and retrieval. Although the list of standards will change as more formats are added to the SUL/AIR digital library, currently the non-MARC standards that we are using are:

   • Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (for generic descriptive MD across formats)
   • SCORM (for course related resources)
   • MIX: NISO Metadata for Images in XML Schema
   • Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

   
   

6. SUL/AIR uses the MARC21 record for transmitting descriptive metadata for "traditional" library resources like hard copy books and journals. What will be used for the digital resources?

   SUL/AIR will be using the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) for moving all of the different kinds of metadata into the digital archive. METS is an XML based protocal that allows us either to wrap the metadata that is newly created when a digital resource is born, or reference metadata that already exists in a MARC or Dublin Core record, thus allowing us to leverage efforts already expended as well as disk storage space for our metadata and content.
   
   

7. What kinds of digital collections will be going into the SUL/AIR Dark Cave archive?

   SUL/AIR selectors have been collecting digital resources to add to the Libraries resources for a number of years. Some of those being considered for archiving are described on the SUL/AIR Digital Collections to be Archived.
   
   

¹ "Setting the Stage", Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland, Introduction to metadata: pathways to digital information, edited by Murtha Baca, Getty Information Institute, version 2, 2000, http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/intrometadata/index.html

Last modified: July 10, 2008