Workflows and Metadata Quality

Slide 1: Workflows and Metadata Quality: Presentation to U&CR Committee 03 Nov 2005 John Robertson Centre for Digital Library Research University of Strathclyde

Slide 2: A word of introduction • Development of work in thesis : – MWI • Extended examination of metadata quality and workflow in context of e-prints and learning objects – Mandate • Development of a toolkit to support digital asset management in an FE setting – Stargate • Will evaluate the use of Static Repositories to expose publisher’s metadata to the wider Information Environment

Slide 3: Overview • New contexts for description • Metadata workflow • Metadata quality • Organisational implications

Slide 4: New contexts for description • Expanding range of resources – institutional assets… – In particular I looked at the management of student-created digital materials in the DIDET project • Different types of metadata to support different information needs and information-seeking behaviour – Descriptive – Administrative – Rights – Preservation – Educational descriptions – Structural (for complex objects)

Slide 5: Metadata workflow (I) • Analysing the new contexts – Institutional Repositories – Learning Object Repositories – Other assets • Agents – Archivists – Academics – Educational technologists – Website and systems support staff – Departmental bibliographic databases – Administrative and secretarial staff – Students

Slide 6: Metadata workflow (II) • Designing a workflow – What assets are to be managed? – What points of access are required to the information (locally and elsewhere)? • What standards are going to be in use? • What metadata needs to be stored and what needs to be manipulated for exporting into different contexts? – Who should do what? • No longer just the cataloguer… • Different skill sets required • Different resources available • Balancing demands on staff

Slide 7: Metadata quality (I) • Metadata quality is understood and valued in the library world, but what does metadata quality look like in these new contexts? – Different standards – Different sources – Variability – Interoperability • Fitness for purpose – Choices and compromises – Assessing quality – New requirements

Slide 8: Metadata quality (II) • The metrics of metadata quality… – accuracy – consistency – completeness – sufficiency – timeliness – persistence – reliability – verification – documentation

Slide 9: Organisational implications • The information landscape: – Developing infrastructure – Opportunities for co-ordination – Funding for development projects – Institutions often haven’t yet begun to invest – Outside of e-prints most developments are outside of library settings • What therefore is the library’s role? • How do information specialists participate in collaborative ventures? • Is there a re-emerging need for subjects specialists? • How do libraries provide seamless access? – Interoperating metadata and its limits • Is student generated metadata useful?