1. A Quick Introduction to Metadata Michael Day UKOLN: The UK Office for Library and Information Networking, University of Bath http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ m.day@ukoln.ac.uk Running a Public Library Website A workshop organised by UKOLN in association with EARL University of Bath, 15-16 November 1999

2. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19992 Presentation Outline Some definitions Metadata and the Web –RDF Resource discovery –Dublin Core –Information Gateways Other metadata implementations –Digital preservation

3. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19993 Metadata: definitions (1) Metadata = data about data “… the Internet-age term for structured data about data” - Joint NSF-EU Working Group on Metadata (1998) “… structured data about data that imposes order on a disordered information universe” - Carl Lagoze (Cornell University)

4. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19994 Metadata: definitions (2) “… machine understandable information about web resources or other things” - Tim Berners-Lee (World Wide Web Consortium) Roles: Provides information about resources Supports operations carried out on information objects

5. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19995 Metadata: uses Metadata can support many potential applications: Resource discovery Content ratings E-commerce Authentication Data management Intellectual property rights management Digital preservation

6. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19996 Metadata and the Web Metadata - the missing architectural component from the initial implementation of the Web Metadata - RDF PICS, TCN, MCF, DSig, DC,... Addressing URL Data format HTML Transport HTTP

7. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19997 RDF The Resource Description Framework: Part of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Metadata Activity Developing a common syntax for expressing assertions about information on the web –RDF Syntax Working Group –RDF data model and RDF/XML syntax –RDF Schema Working Group http://www.w3.org/Metadata/

8. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19998 Resource discovery Main approaches: –Robot-based Web index services (AltaVista, Lycos, etc.) –Utilising human intelligence to identify and evaluate Internet resources. –Links pages –Information gateways –The library cataloguing method, creating bibliographic records for Internet resources in library catalogues (InterCat)

9. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 19999 A metadata typology Simple Rich Adapted from: L. Dempsey and R. Heery, “Metadata: a current view of practice and issues”, Journal of Documentation, vol. 54, no.2, March 1998, pp. 145-172.

10. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199910 The Dublin Core Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI): An initiative to define a core set of metadata elements for resource discovery on the Internet 7 DC workshops –“... the broadest international, interdisciplinary effort in resource description on the Internet... the leading initiative for improving resource discovery on the Web” - Stu Weibel (OCLC) http://purl.oclc.org/dc

11. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199911 DC elements 15 Elements: Title Subject Description Creator Publisher Contributor Date Type Semantics defined in Internet RFC 2413 (1998); now superseded by DC version 1.1 Format Identifier Source Language Relation Coverage Rights

12. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199912 DC qualifiers DC-4 Workshop (Canberra): TYPE, SCHEME and LANGUAGE DC Data Model working group: Element Qualifiers - refine the semantics of a DC element Value Qualifiers - gives context to the element value by –indicating how to parse the value, e.g. an ISO 8601 date –indicating the use of controlled vocabularies, e.g. LCSH, DDC or LCNAF Value Components

13. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199913 DC syntax Guidelines and tools developed: “Encoding DC Metadata in HTML” (Internet-Draft) Data Model working group - “Guidance on expressing DC within the RDF” (working draft) Creation tools - e.g., DC-dot: Some examples... http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcdot/

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15. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199915 DC in HTML (1) Dorset Library Service

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17. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199917 DC in HTML (2) Bath and North East Somerset Library and Archives

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19. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199919 DC in RDF/XML <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.0/"> EARL, the Consortium for Public Library Networking EARL Consortium Text 4699 bytes en

20. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199920 In abbreviated syntax <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.0/"> <rdf:Description about="http://www.earl.org.uk/index.html" dc:Title="EARL, the Consortium for Public Library Networking" dc:Creator="EARL Consortium info@earl.org.uk" dc:Subject="earl, public libraries, uk, networking, consortium" dc:Publisher="EARL Consortium info@earl.org.uk" dc:Date="1999-10-20" dc:Type="Text" > <rdf:Bag rdf:_1="text/html" rdf:_2="4699 bytes" />

21. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199921 DC Implementations DC creation tools –DC-dot –Nordic Metadata Project - Template Metadata-aware indexing tools –DESIRE - Combine Conversion tools –Metadata Cross-walks –Nordic Metadata Project - d2m –Project BIBLINK Interoperability –AHDS Gateway

22. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199922 Information Gateways Roles of gateways: Selection –Gateways select resources according to some pre-defined criteria (e.g. subject area, some measure of quality) Creation of metadata –Gateways create simple resource descriptions that can be both searched and browsed

23. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199923 The eLib programme JISC funded: Selected gateways (SOSIG, EEVL, OMNI, Biz/ed, History, etc.) ROADS Resource Organisation and Discovery in Subject-based services –Developing Web-based tools for information gateways –Cross-searching (Whois++) –Content creation rules (cataloguing guidelines) http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/

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26. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199926 The RDN Resource Discovery Network Funded by JISC, ESRC and AHRB Co-operative network: –Independent service providers (hubs) –Resource Discovery Network Centre (RDNC) –Set service standards –Collection management policy –Develop strategic partnerships –Cross-searching across multiple hubs

27. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199927 Digital preservation A variety of preservation strategies are available - all are dependent upon the creation, capture and storage of metadata Recent initiatives include: –Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) –Research Libraries Group (RLG) Working Group on Preservation Issues of Metadata –Cedars project - funded by JISC under eLib, managed by Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) –Digital Services Project - National Library of Australia

28. Running a Public Library Website, University of Bath, 15-16 November 199928 UKOLN UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the higher education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath, where it is based. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/