Professionals who are deeply involved in
the development and implementation of information
standards have contributed to this second version
of Introduction to Metadata: one comes from academia,
one from the cultural heritage information field,
and the third is a practicing
librarian.
Anne Gilliland, an internationally-recognized expert in
archival organization and preservation and electronic recordkeeping,
presents an overview of metadata, outlining types, functions,
attributes, and characteristics with examples from the "real
world." Her essay seeks to dispel common myths about
metadata, and to demonstrate its importance in the current
information universe. Tony Gill has worked for several years
in the UK and more recently in the US on making cultural
heritage information available on line; he is an authority
on Dublin Core and the Resource Description Framework, among
other things. Tony's essay focuses on metadata and standards
in the context of the World Wide Web, and outlines issues,
opportunities, and challenges associated with working in
this continually evolving information environment. Mary
Woodley, an experienced cataloger, bibliographer, and reference
librarian who is keenly aware of user searching behavior
and information retrieval issues, discusses both the importance
and the potential pitfalls of mapping different metadata
standards to facilitate interoperability, and identifies
some of the concomitant issues, benefits, and necessary
future steps.
Rather than including a single crosswalk as in the previous version,
we are now offering a "suite" of metadata crosswalks that
map different sets of metadata. We will continue to add to and revise
this section as developments arise in the development of metadata
schemas that are still evolving (e.g. Dublin Core Qualified, VRA
Core 3.0).
Metadata for the World Wide Web is still in its infancy, and will
surely continue to undergo a process of evolution. We hope that this
Web site will help those with a stake in the debate (everyone from
librarians to museum professionals to anyone who intends to make
information available via the Internet) to avoid mistakes and wasted
effort, and to make informed decisions about the information they
seek to record and disseminate.
Murtha Baca,
Head, Getty Standards Program
Note: The authors of this publication are well aware that
the noun "metadata" (like
the noun "data") is plural, and should take plural verb
forms. We have opted to treat it as a singular
noun, as in everyday speech, in order to avoid
awkward locutions.
