Metadata Standard for Digital Content Creation / Nafisah Ahmad

MTCP Library Visits and Attachment 2004
METADATA STANDARD FOR
DIGITAL CONTENT CREATION
Nafisah Ahmad
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia

Content
What is Metadata”
Why we need Metadata?
Metadata Functions
Types of Metadata
Metadata Standards
Metadata Questions and Answers
Dublin Core
Dublin Core Elements

What is Metadata?
“Meta” comes from Greek word
that denotes something of higher
or more fundamental nature
Metadata describes an information
resource

What is Metadata?
General simple definition
“Data about data”
“Structured data about data”
“Cataloguing information”
“Documentation about documents
and objects”

What is Metadata?
General simple definition
“Descriptive information about an
objects or resource”
“Explicitly structured data about a
knowledge resource or service”

What is Metadata?
Standard bibliographic information,
summaries, indexing terms and
abstracts are metadata.
Data about authenticity, availability
and accessibility, digital signatures,
copyrights, reproduction, etc.

What is Metadata?
The term refers to any data used to
aid the identification, description and
location of networked electronic
resources.
Many different metadata formats
exist, some quite simple in their
description, others quite complex
and rich.

What is Metadata?
MARC/AACR2 cataloguing is
metadata
Libraries have been in the metadata
business forever

Why we need metadata?

Why Metadata?
Metadata serves several functions:
Its act as a surrogate for a larger whole
Makes access to electronic/digital
resources more effective and precise
 by labeling its contents consistently
and adequately
 using norms, standard structure and
terminology
Metadata is important for both authors
and seekers of electronic information

Purposes
Resource discovery
Administrative control (management of
electronic record)
Managing intellectual property right
Cataloging
Collection integration
Preservation
Streamlining work practices

Different Functions for
Metadata
Discover
resources
Situate
geospatially
Describe
process
Certify
authenticity
Indicate
status
Mark content
structure
Identify
version
Manage
documents
Control IP
rights

Metadata Functions
Resource identification and location
Resource documentation
Resource selection, evaluation and
assessment
Improving the quantity and quality
of search results
metadata ensures that contents is not
misrepresented
Content reuse

Metadata Functions
Efficient content development and
archiving
Protecting intellectual property
rights
Electronic commerce to encode
price, terms of payment, etc.

5 Points About Metadata
Metadata will be everywhere
Metadata need context for appropriate
use
DC is the centre of most metadata activity
Internet search engines don’t use
metadata
Librarians are affected by metadata
development

Types of Metadata

Types of Metadata
Administrative
Descriptive
Access
Preservation
Technical
Use
Other

Types of Metadata
Type Definition Examples
Administrative Metadata used
in managing
and
administering
information
resources
Encompass a
variety of data
related to
viewing,
interpretation,
use,
management
of digital
objects
- Acquisition information
- Rights and reproduction
tracking
- Documentation and legal
access requirements
- Location information
- Selection criteria for
digitization
- Version control and
differentiation between
similar information objects
- Audit trails created by
recordkeeping systems

Types of Metadata
Descriptive Metadata used to
describe or
identify
information
resources
- Cataloguing records
- Finding aids
- Specialized indexes
- Hyper-linked relationship
- Annotation by users
- Metadata for record keeping
systems generated by record
creators
Preservation Metadata related
to the
preservation
management of
information
resources
- Documentation of physical
condition of resources
- Documentation of actions
taken to preserve physical and
digital versions of resources
e.g. data refreshing and
migration

Types of Metadata
Technical Metadata related
to how a system
function or
behave
- Hardware and software
documentation
- Digitization information
- Tracking of system response
times
- Authentication and security
data e.g. encryption keys,
passwords
Use Metadata related
to the level and
type of use of
information
resources
- Exhibit records
- User and user tracking
- Content re-use and multi-
versioning information

Metadata Standards
MARC
Z39.50 tag set
Dublin Core
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)
Government Information Locator
Service (GILS)
EAD (Encoded Archival Description)
Document Type Definition (DTD)
 Standard for encoding archival finding aids
using the Standard Generalized Markup
Languange (SGML)

MARC
Originated in the late 1960’s in
response to library automation
requirements
Primarily to allow exchange of
catalogue records
Confirms in structure ISO2709
Is not a single format but a family of
formats, all with a similar record
structure and similar method of
tagging data

MARC Format
4 components:
Record labels/Leader
Contains data elements that provide
information for the processing of the record.
Directory
Contains a series of entries that contain the
tag, length, and starting location of each
variable field within a record

MARC Format
Data fields
The tagged 01X-8XX fields
Record separator

MARC21 Format
Tag 856 (1999)
ELECTRONIC LOCATION AND
ACCESS (R)
 The information needed to locate and
access an electronic resource
 The field may be used in a bibliographic
record for a resource when that resource
or a subset of it is available electronically.

Is international project to develop
guidelines for the preparation and
interchange of electronic texts
Sponsored by:
 Association for the Computers in
Humanities
 Association for Computational
Linguistics
 Association for Literary and Linguistic
Computing

The TEI header component
accomplishes the metadata
functions
TEI defines both a core set of
elements and additional tag sets

TEI Header
Has four components:
File description
Encoding description
Text profile
Revision history

TEI Header
File description
 containing full bibliographic
description
Encoding description
 describing the relationship between
an electronic text and its sources

TEI Header
Text profile
 contains classificatory and
contextual information about the text
such as subject matter
Revision history
 allowing the encoder to provide the
history of changes made during the
development of the E-Text

Example of TEI Header
<teiHeader id="TR00412.hdr">
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt> <title type="main">The Cook's Guide:
or, Rare Receipts for Cookery,
1664</title>
<title type="sub">&subtitle;</title>
<author><persName
key="HWolley.neb">Wolley,
Hannah</persName></author>
<sponsor>Brown University</sponsor>
<funder>U.S. National Endowment for the
Humanities</funder>
</titleStmt>
<editionStmt>
<edition>%%%%% unreleased work-in-
progress %%%%%</edition>

Metadata Questions and
Answers

Who will create metadata?
Librarians
Metadata specialists
Subject-matter specialists
Resource creators

What are the roles of librarians?
Build a catalog of web resources
Integrate web resources with physical
resources
Target web resources of interest
Automate the creation of metadata
records
Maintain the currency of records
Apply authority control to web resources

What are the roles of libraries
related to metadata?
To deliver services to the user
Metadata can describe the services and
collection
Metadata allow user to discover
collection of interest
Metadata allow users to perform
searches across multiple collection
Librarians are affected by metadata
development

What are the roles of libraries
related to metadata?
To provide integrated environment
Interoperable metadata for each
environment
Common metadata set
Consistency of content

What type of digital
resources?
Home pages
Selected topics/services
Specific pages that provide an
actual online service to the public
Online or electronic publication

When will metadata be
created?
When the resource is created
Anytime after the resource is created

How will users create
metadata?
File editors
Metadata editing tools
 Manually
 Automatically

How will metadata be
stored?
Embedded in the resource
In searchable database or index
Both

How will metadata be
embedded in the resource?
HTML
XML
RDF
Other

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>About the ETC</TITLE>
<META NAME= "WebLiaison.Name"
CONTENT="Bragdon, Marc">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>About the Electronic Text Centre;/H1>
Electronic Text Centre is a multi-faceted electronic
publishing enterprise. The Centre prepares and
publishes electronic texts and images to
standards,...
</BODY>
</HTML>
HTML

<META NAME="DC.Title" CONTENT="Kita Yama
(Japan)">
<META NAME="DC.Identifier"
CONTENT="http://foo.bar.zaf/kertesz/kyama">
<META NAME="DC.Date" CONTENT="1968">
<META NAME="WebLiaison.Name"
CONTENT="Kertesz, Andre">
Stand alone metadata

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>University of New Brunswick Digital Imaging Centre </TITLE>
<META NAME="DC.Title" CONTENT="University of New Brunswick Digital Imaging Centre">
<META NAME="DC.Identifier"
CONTENT="http://dopey.hil.unb.ca/Imaging_docs/ImagingCentre.html">
<META NAME="DC.Date.Valid" CONTENT="2001/04/10">
<META NAME="DC.Description" CONTENT="The Digital Imaging Centre provides clients
with technologies and processes for the creation and management of digital resources
derived from various source media.">
<META NAME="DC.Subject" CONTENT="Digital Imaging Centre, Electronic Text Centre,
digital services, digital collections, digital resources">
<META NAME="WebLiaison.Name" CONTENT="Bragdon, Marc">
<META NAME="WebLiaison.Email" CONTENT="mbragdon@unb.ca">
<META NAME="Content.Name" CONTENT="">
<META NAME="Content.Email" CONTENT="">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
 <img src="./images/Imagelogo.gif">
 
Affiliated with the <a href="http://www.hil.unb.ca/Texts">Electronic Text Centre at the
University of New Brunswick Libraries</a>.
</center>
etc...
</BODY>
Metadata contained in resource (embedded in HTML source code)

DUBLIN CORE

Dublin Core Initiative
Started in 1994
Diverse communities – Library, Internet,
Others (museums, publishers)
Agreed upon simple resource description
element set
DC-1: 1995 : Dublin, Ohio
Interdisciplinary consensus evolves
Established the original list of elements (13)

Dublin Core
Being coordinated by OCLC and
NCSA (National Computational
Science Alliance)
Become a major global initiative for
the evolving electronic resources
An alternative to MARC as far as
electronic resource are concerned

Dublin Core
Simple yet effective set for describing a
wide range of network resources
Norms and qualifiers are being developed
to suit different application areas
Decision regarding DC are made in Dublin
Core workshops

Characteristics of
the Dublin Core
Comprises of 15 elements
All elements optional
All elements repeatable
All elements displayable in any order
Each element has a limited set of
qualifiers and attributes that may be
used to refine an elements

Characteristics of
the Dublin Core
Extensible
Refining the meaning of an element with
qualifiers
Adding additional elements where needed
Modular
International consensus
Multilingual (over 20 languages)

Principles of
the Dublin Core
The 15 elements are usable with or
without qualifiers
Qualifiers make elements more specific
Elements Refinements narrow meaning of
an elements, never extend
Encoding Schemes give context to
element value Adding additional elements
where needed

DUBLIN CORE
ELEMENTS

Dublin Core Metadata
Element Set
1. Title
2. Creator
3. Subject/Keywords
4. Description
5. Publisher
6. Contributor
7. Date
8. Resource Type
9. Format
10. Resource Identifier
11. Source
12. Language
13. Relation
14. Coverage
15. Rights Management

Dublin Core Metadata
Element Set
Content Intellectual Property Instantiation
• Title
• Subject
• Description
• Source
• Language
• Coverage
• Creator
• Publisher
• Contributor
• Rights
• Date
• Type
• Format
• Identifier

Each DC element is defined using a set of 10
attributes from the ISO/IEC 11179 (ISO11179)
standard for the description of data elements
 Name- the label assigned to the data element
 Identifier – the unique identifier assigned to the
data element
 Version – the version of the data element
 Registration authority – the entity authorised to
register the data element
 Language – the language in which the data
element is specified

Definition – a statement that clearly represents
the concept and essential nature of the data
element
Obligation – identifies if the data element is
required to always or sometimes be present
(contain a value)
Data type – indicates the type of data that can be
represented in the value of the data element
Maximum occurrence – indicates any limit to the
repeatability of the data element
Comment – a remark concerning the application
of the data element

Element: Title
 Name : Title
 Identifier/Label: Title
 Definition: A name given to the resource
 Comment: Typically, a Title will be by a name by which the
resource is formally known
 Mandatory ? : Yes
 Repeatable? : Yes
 Refinements :
 Schemes : None
Refinement Name Refinement Label
alternative Alternative
Definition
Any form of the title as a substitute or
alternative to the formal title of
the resource

Input Guidelines:

Element: Creator
 Name : Creator
 Identifier: Creator
 Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the
content of the resource
 Comment: Examples of a Creator include a person, an
organization, or a service. Typically, the name of a Creator
should be used to indicate the entity
 Mandatory ? : Yes, if available
 Refinements : None.

Input Guidelines:
 Follow the well-established cataloguing rules. eg : AACR2, DAC or
CCO.
 Enter multiple creators in order in which they appear on the resource or
in order of their importance.
 Use separate Creator elements to enter multiple creators. If not, clearly
separate each entry by a semicolon and a space within an element.
 For secondary authors, editors, etc may be entered using the
DC.Contributor element.
 Determine the correct form of the name when possible. Consult/refer to
Libarry of Congress Authorities (http://authorities.loc.gov) or other
bibliographic utilities (eg: OCLC, RLIN, ULAN, etc, when possible)
 Examples:
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-
Webb, Wellington E.
Mahathir bin Mohamad, Tun, 1925-
Unesco (do not enter as U.N.E.S.C.O. or United Nations Organization….)
National Library of Malaysia? Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia? PNM?
Personal name
Group or
Organization Names

Input Guidelines:
 Enter personal names in inverted form in most cases : Last Name, First
name, Middle name or initial. Follow authority list or enter it as it would
be in the country of origin.
 Birth and/or death dates, if known should be added.
 If a group or organization name includes subordinate units, the name
may be shortened by eliminating some of the hierarchical parts not
consider necessary for uniquely identifying the body in question.
Eg:
CIA as Creator : referring to Library of Congress Authorities, it should
be entered as : United States. Central Intelligence Agency instead of
putting the full hierarchical name (“United States. National Security
Council. Central Intelligence Agency”)
 Optional : The function of a creator may be included in parentheses after
the name.
Eg: Adams, Ansel (photographer)
 If the creator is unknown, leave the element blank.

Element: Subject
 Name : Subject and Keyword
 Identifier: Subject
 Definition: The topic of the content of the resource
 Comment: Typically, a subject will be expressed as
keywords, key phrases or classification codes that
describe a topic of the resource. Recommended best
practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or
formal classification scheme
 Mandatory ? : Yes
 Refinements : None.

Element: Description
 Name : Description
 Identifier: Description
 Definition: An account of the content of
the resource
 Comment: Description may include but is
not limited to: an abstract, table of
contents, reference to a graphical
representation of content or a free-text
account of the content

Element: Publisher
 Name : Publisher
 Identifier: Publisher
 Definition: An entity responsible for
making the resource available
 Comment: Examples of a Publisher
include a person, an organization, or a
service. Typically, the name of a Publisher
should be used to indicate the entity

Element: Contributor
 Name : Contributor
 Identifier: Contributor
 Definition: An entity responsible for
making contributions to the content of the
resource
 Comment: Examples of a Contributor
include a person, an organization, or a
service. Typically, the name of a
Contributor should be used to indicate the
entity

Element: Date
 Name : Date
 Identifier: Date
 Definition: A date associated with an event
in the life cycle of the resource
 Comment: Typically, the Date will be associated
with the creation or availability of the resource.
Recommended best practice for encoding the
date value is defined in a profile of ISO 8601
[W3CDTF] and follows the YY-MM-DD format

Element: Type
 Name : Resource type
 Identifier: Type
 Definition: The nature or genre of the
 Comment: Type includes terms describing
general categories, functions, genres, or
aggregation levels for contents. Recommended
best practice is to select a value from a controlled
vocabulary (e.g. the working draft list of Dublin
Core Types [DCT1]) To describe the physical or
digital manifestation of the resource, use the
FORMAT element

Element: Format
 Name : Format
 Identifier: Format
 Definition: The physical or digital
manifestation of the resource
 Comment: Typically, Format may include the
media-type or dimensions of the resource.
Format may be used to determined the software,
hardware or other equipment needed to display
or operate the resource. Examples of dimensions
include size and duration. Recommended best
practice is to select a value from a controlled
vocabulary (e.g. the list of Internet Media Types
[MIME] defining computer media formats)

Element: Identifier
 Name : Resource Identifier
 Identifier: Identifier
 Definition: An unambiguous reference to the
resource within a given context
 Comment: best practice is to identify the
resource by means of a string or number
conforming to a formal identification system.
Example formal identification systems include
the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) (including
the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the Digital
Object Identifier (DOI) and the ISBN

Element: Source
 Name : Source
 Identifier: Source
 Definition: A reference to a resource from
which the present resource is derived
 Comment: The present resource may be derived
from the Source resource in whole or in part.
Recommended best practice is to reference the
resource by means of a string or number
conforming to a formal identification system

Element: Language
 Name : Language
 Identifier: Language
 Definition: A language of the intellectual
 Comment: Recommended best practice for the
values of the language element is defined by RFC
1766 [RFC1766] which includes a two letter
Language Code (taken from the ISO 639 standard
[ISO639], followed optionally, by a two letter
Country Code (taken from the ISO 3166 standard
[ISO3166], E.g. ‘en’ for English, ‘fr’ for French or
‘en-uk’ for English used in the United States

Element: Relation
 Name : Relation
 Identifier: Relation
 Definition: A reference to a related
resource
 Comment: Recommended best practice is to
reference the resource by means of a string or
number conforming to a formal identification
system

Element: Coverage
 Name : Coverage
 Identifier: Coverage
 Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource
 Comment: Coverage will typically include spatial location ( a
place name or geographical coordinates), temporal period ( a
period label, date, or range date) or jurisdiction (such as a
named administrative entity). Recommended best practice is to
select a value from a controlled vocabulary (e.g. the Thesaurus
of Geographical Names [TTGN] and that, where appropriate,
named places or time periods be used in preference to numeric
identifiers such as sets of coordinates or the date range
 Mandatory ? : No. Currently recommended only for use in
describing maps, gglobe and cartographic resources or when
place and time period cannot be adequately expressed using the
Subject element.

Element: Coverage
 Refinements
 Schemes

Element: Rights
 Name/Label : Rights Management
 Identifier: Rights
 Definition: Information about rights held in and over the
resource
 Comment: Typically, a Rights element will contain a right
management statement for the resource, or reference a
service providing such as information. Rights information
often encompasses IPR, Copyright, and various Property
Rights. If Rights element is absent, no assumptions can be
made about the status of these and other rights with
respects to the resource
 Mandatory ? : Yes, if available
 Refinements : No
 Schemes : None

Input Guidelines:
 Enter multiple rights in order of their importance. Use separate Rights
Management elements to enter multiple rights or clearly separate each
entry by a semucolon and a space within an element
 Enter a textual statement and/or a URL pointing to a use and access
rights statement for digital resources on the Internet
 This statement can be a general copyright element for the institution, for
the whole collection, or a specific statement for each resource.
 The statement may be general, providing contact information, or
specific, including the name of the copyright holder.
 Make sure that the rights tatement corresponds to the digital resource;
for example, link to a copyright statement for the digital resource instead
of the original resource.
 Examples :
http://www.college.edu/copyright.html - URL for a complete statement
or..
PNM is the copyright holder of this document. For permission to
reproduce and/or republish, please contact Publishing Division, at 03-
26871700 ext 4279.
or..
This newsletter is produced by the National Library of Malaysia. To
receive a free copy, kindly consult with …..

Element: Qualifier
Element: Title
 Qualifiers that refine Title:
 Alternative
 Name: alternative
 Label: Alternative
 Definition: Any form of the title used as a
substitute or alternative to the formal title of
the resource
 Comment: This qualifier can include Title
abbreviations as well as translations

Dublin Core -Common Attributes
 Version 1.1
 Registration Authority: Dublin Core
Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
 Language: en
 Obligation: Optional
 Data type: Character string
 Maximum occurrence: Unlimited

METADATA EDITING TOOL

Useful Websites on Metadata
 Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
 Digital Libraries: Metadata Resources

Metadata Standard for Digital Content Creation / Nafisah Ahmad

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