Week 4 Readings

Introduction to Metadata: Setting the Stage

Gilliland included many definitions and uses of metadata, expanding my previous understanding of the term. I previously defined metadata as information about a document that assisted in its organization and access. Her inclusion of preservation as a type of metadata conflicted with my definition because preservation notes don't really aid in accessing an item.

She writes that the variety of metadata schemas are "potentially bewildering." I agree. Is this myriad of choices desirable or would one standard expand access across languages, nations and formats? Will the best standard eventually evolve out of the slough of options? I have heard that the Semantic Web, through the use of XML, will provide a way of standardizing metadata for digital objects.

I found this very interesting: "One information object's metadata can simultaneously be another information object's data." I tried to think of an example of this. I came up with a citation at the bottom of an article. A citation (author, title, format, etc.) is metadata used as a finding aid.

Witten

I was puzzled by this sentence in section 2.2: "Most library users locate information by finding one relevant book on the shelves and then looking around for others in the same area." I do this myself, and it still seems relevant especially for children or those not savvy OPACs, but I think this idea of browsing is outdated. I think more and more patrons are using OPACs to use materials.

Witten continued: "Most readers ... remain blithely unaware that there is any way of finding related books other than browsing library shelves." This is an important issue for librarians. If patrons don't know OPACs exist, it is our responsibility to educate them about all types of finding aids and access points. Especially in an age of full-text searching online, patrons may not realize that lists of subject headings (both in a digital library and in an OPAC) can be very useful.

Border Crossings: Reflection on a Decade of Metadata Consensus Building

I am interested in Weibel's comments on user-created metadata and his assertion that "almost nobody will spend the time." Yet aren't many people today creating metadata of their own volition through sites like de.li.cious? Also, if it is true that people won't tag for free, then why do Wikipedia users spend millions of hours editing articles for free?

I like Weibel's call for collaboration and consensus in creating and standardizing digital metadata. He notes that during an OCLC workshop, librarians and computer scientists were not on the same page. I encounter this idea often. What can be done to bring these two groups of professionals closer in understanding?

Weibel discusses the option of using indexed metadata terms versus full-text indexing, pointing out that neither has triumphed over the other. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?