Metadata Development for the SANREM Knowledge Base

Conrad HeatwoleBiological Systems Engineering

Virginia Tech

Overall goal …

Provide a structure for organizing, storing, and disseminating materials generated by SANREM – past and future Organize existing resources Provide consistency in cataloging Provide a stable archive Support easier and broader dissemination of

SANREM knowledge

Bridging project objectives

Develop a metadata template for SANREM Catalog resources from SANREM I & II phases Develop instruction guide for metadata entry

Metadata design goals

Long-term value Portable Searchable

Standard data elements Standardized vocabulary

Metadata

Common metadata… Title Authors Year published Publisher Keywords Summary/abstract URL

….

SANREM specific… Landscape system Project location Language Alternative title Format Type of resource Project ID

.…

Developing Metadata template

Started with “Dublin Core” Standardized structure and nomenclature for

elements: Title, Creator, … Developed initially for common HTML coding Provides longevity to this database

Added SANREM-specific elements Followed Dublin Core notation

Defined “controlled vocabularies” Landscape systems Keywords

SANREM phase I & II resources

Over 900 files … over 2 gigabytes Process

Review and select materials to catalog Enter metadata Review and cross-check entries

Results: Over 400 items selected and entered Resources stored in the database when

available

Project team

PIs: Conrad Heatwole Margaret Merrill (Librarian) Brian Benham Gene Yagow

Staff: Melissa Obenhaus (library cataloger) 2 Undergraduate students Graduate student

SANREM I & II resources cataloged

Journal Articles (68 records) SANREM Conference Presentations (54 records) Book Chapters (62 records) Books (32 records) Research Briefs (36 records) Proceedings (4 records) Working Papers (29 records) Annual Reports (5 records) Conference Papers (45 records) Conference Presentations (96 records) Theses and Dissertations (6 records) Research Reports (14 records)

Status

Metadata structure defined Input program developed Search/access page developed

SANREM I & II materials cataloged Metadata guide developed (Ver.1)

… Need feedback for refinement