# Presentation: 800761

## R. James King
Naval Research Laboratory

- Naval Research Laboratory

- Metadata BasicsCENDI Copyright Task Group MeetingMarch 22, 2004

**Approved for Public Release****U.S.Government Work (17 USC §105)  Not copyrighted in the U.S.**

## Outline

- Definition (What is it?)
- Creation (How do we make it?)
- Access (How do we use it?)
- Implications (What if we don’t use it?)

## Communication Problem

- Diagram from Claude Shannon’s classic paper
- ‘*Communication in the presence of noise*’
- Proceedings of the IRE 37 (1): pp. 10-21 (Jan. 1949)

**Notes:**
Metadata is an integral part of the communication process for information
Semantic Web will place greater emphasis on machine-to-machine communication

## What is Metadata?

- ‘Information about Information’ or ‘data data’
- ‘Old’ Term: Bibliographic Data
- Three Types:
- Descriptive *(describing and identifying information resources)*
- Structural *(facilitates navigation and presentation of information resources)*
- Administrative *(facilitates both short-term and long-term management and processing of collections)*

**Notes:**
Metadata lets us find information. Imagine a file room with no discernable order in the labels on the cabinets, no discernible order in the labels on the drawers, and no discernible order in the labels on the file folders inside the drawers. Imagine your PC if you couldn't give files your own labels and the system assigned labels with a random number generator.

Metadata lets us understand important things about information packages. Imagine e-mail messages without names or identifications of senders, without names or identifications of addressees, and without dates of origination. Imagine office memoranda without the names of originators and intended receivers, without subject or reference headings, and without dates of origination.

## Descriptive Metadata

*Describing and identifying information resources*
- Sample Elements:
- unique identifiers (ISSN, DOI, ISBN, Law #)
- physical attributes (media, dimensions condition)
- bibliographic attributes (title, author/creator, language, keywords)

## Structural Metadata

*Navigation and presentation of information resources*
- Sample Elements:
- information about the internal structure of resources including page, section, chapter numbering, indexes, and table of contents
- describes relationship among materials *(photograph B was included in manuscript A) *
- binds the related files and scripts *(File A is the JPEG format of the archival image File B) *

## Administrative Metadata

*Management and processing of collections*
- Sample Elements:
- technical data on creation and quality control *(scanner model, resolution, bit depth, file format, compression)*
- rights management, access control and use requirements *(owner, copyright date, distribution limitations, license information)*
- preservation action information *(refresh cycles, migration, etc.) *

## Creating Metadata

- Data ‘Containers’
- Structured areas to hold the metadata
- Must be able to separate ‘fields’ for reuse and display
- Data ‘Syntax’
- Agreed-upon rules for input of data within fields
- ‘Authoritative’ set of terms to use within fields

## Common Metadata ‘Containers’

**Dublin Core**
- Set of elements to describe any object
- Basis of many digital library initiatives
**Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC)**
- Basis of most Library Catalogs; extensive and difficult
- Designed in 1960’s for transmission across 9 track tapes
**Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard (METS)**
- Designed for “*Open Archival Information System*” standard
- XML based
**Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS)**
- Library of Congress effort
- Easier to understand than MARC

## Common Metadata ‘Syntaxes’

**Anglo American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition (AACR2)**
- Three levels of cataloging (Standard, Enhanced, & Archival)
- Includes precise punctuation in rule set
**Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)**
- Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
- Mandated in 1994 for common access to geospatial data
**Government Information Locator Service (GILS)**
- Designed to ease access to government information
**Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)**
- SGML DTD
- Created for old, literary texts

## Metadata Access

- Persistent Identifiers
- Persistent Access Syntax
- Information Exchange
- Subject/Classification
- Security/Rights

## Persistent Identifiers

- ISSN *(1234-435X)*
- International Standard Serial Number
- ISBN *(1-56308-493-7)*
- International Standard Book Number
- DOI *(**10.1007/s00348-003-0647-4)*
- Digital Object Identifier
- SICI *(0015-6914(19960101)157:1<62:KTSW>2.0.TX;2-F)*
- Serial Item and Contribution Identifier

## Persistent Access Syntax

- Archival Resource Key (ARK)
- NLM and California DL
- _http://foobar.zaf.org/ark:/12025/654xz321__ _
- Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- Publisher focused
- _http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00348-003-0647-4_
- Handle by CNRI
- DTIC, DOI and dSpace using
- _http://hdl.handle.net/4263537/4090__ _
- OpenURL
- Developed for journal citations
- _http://www.server.com/openurl?issn=“1234-567X__” _

**Notes:**
Corp. for Nat’l Research Initiatives

## Information Exchange

- XML
- NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP)
- OpenURL
- Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
- Resource Description Format (RDF)
- Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
- Search/Retrieval Web (SRW) – Z39.50
- Crosswalks

## Subjects/Classification

- Precoordinate vs. Postcoordinate
- Common schemes:
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
- Education Resource Information Center (ERIC)
- Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

## Security / Rights

- Syntax:
- eXtensible Rights Markup Language (XrML)
- Exchange
- Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
- Shibboleth
- Liberty Alliance

## Issues

- Data granularity *(set, document, or entity level)*
- Metadata creation *(manual & automated)*
- Metadata quality control *(manual & automated)*
- Internal vs. external metadata storage
- Access and use constraints *(public, limited access; privacy, intellectual property, classified)*
- Metadata scheme interoperability *(Resource Description Framework, Crosswalks)*