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Introduction to Metadata:Introduction to Metadata:The Role of the Metadata EditorThe Role of the Metadata Editor

Institutional Repository Workshop 1-3 April 2009

Marguerite Nel

Metadata editor

marguerite.nel@up.ac.za

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Metadata Editing

• Metadata creation is one of the core activities of collecting and memory institutions

• Quality metadata creation is just as important as the care, preservation, display, and dissemination of collections

• Adequate planning and resources must be devoted to this ongoing, mission-critical activity

Getty Standards Program, "Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information," Version 3.0,

http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/ intrometadata/index.html

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General Input Guidelines for Metadata

• PunctuationAvoid ending punctuation unless it is part of the content of the resource

• AbbreviationsCommon or accepted designations of functions are allowed e.g. “St.” for “Saint”, “ed.” for “editor” if abbreviated on the item. Don’t use abbreviations when it will make the record unclear. In case of doubt, spell out the abbreviation

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General Input Guidelines (cont.)

• Capitalization• Capitalize the first word of a title and proper names (place,

personal and organization names) • Capitalize content in the description element according to

normal rules of writing • Acronyms should be entered in capital letters

• Initial articles• Omit initial articles at the beginning of the title such as: the, a,

an, le, la, los, el, der, die, das, etc.• Character encoding

• Have a clear understanding of how the database handles nonstandard characters and diacritics (such as ü, é, ñ, etc.) and input them so that they display and retrieve effectively

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General Input Guidelines (cont.)

• Author names- Punctuation and spaces

Examples: Jordaan, Donrich W. Smith, J.E. Maree, Kobus, 1951-

- Several entries for the same authorRemember:Consistency and commonsenseAACR2 rules

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Controlled Vocabularies

• Not required, but recommended• Can improve retrieval• Facilitate cataloguing consistency• Can interoperate collection with other collections• Library of Congress Subject Headings

Examples:Livestock -- Diseases -- AfricaEarly childhood education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal

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Statistical Purposes

• Add initials and year in description.provenance metadata field

Example:mn2009

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Hands-on Demonstration

• How to create a template• Metadata editing

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Templates

• Use where the same values for every item in a collection repeat e.g. author, subjects, technical metadata, etc.

• Automatically populate an item in the collection

• Separate templates for each collection in DSpace

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Metadata Editing

• Verify information in all metadata fields- correct fields- spelling mistakes- capital letters- punctuation

• Authority control- verify author in Author list- Authority form

• Add value- keywords- subject headings (LCSH)

• Add initials for statistical purposes

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Conclusion

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Exercises