Metadata Matters Webinar Series

What matters? Metadata! Shareable metadata, preservation metadata, data dictionaries, OAI-PMH, EAD, METS, MODS, Dublin Core, and everything in between. Whether you're a cataloger or digital librarian, an archivist or administrator, if metadata matters to you (and it should!), join CARLI’s Digital Collections Users’ Group as we explore metadata with a series of informative presentations and discussions on a variety of metadata-related topics.

This webinar series features presenters from CARLI libraries discussing metadata concepts and practices important to digital libraries, digitization projects, archiving, and digital preservation. These 1-hour sessions are perfect for people looking to get their feet wet with metadata creation or more experienced librarians wanting to get a better understanding of real-world practices and tools to streamline metadata workflow.

These presentations were recorded in Fall 2010.

An Introduction to the Open Archive Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)

Increasingly library users expect to be able to search for, obtain and reuse digital information resources held in widely distributed and physically disparate Web repositories. The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) allows libraries to share descriptions of their locally digitized resources efficiently and broadly. In this session, Tim Cole, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will describe how OAI-PMH works in theory and practice, drawing on nine years of experience with the protocol at UIUC. Recorded on September 28, 2010. ~54 mintues.

Webinar slides  (A subset of these slides were used during the presentation.)

Shareable Metadata

Metadata aggregations have shown that metadata designed for diverse local environments may fall short in providing the information needed for useful discovery in aggregations and the wider web environment. In this session, Sarah Shreeves, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will describe principles of shareable metadata and discuss how metadata providers can think about how to design their metadata so that it can be useful outside of its own environment. Recorded October 5, 2010. ~1 hour.

Webinar slides (A subset of these slides were used during the presentation.)

Metadata for Digital Audio Collections

Eben English, Loyola University, will cover how standard metadata schemas such as Dublin Core and METS can be applied to digital audio collections, as well as the embedded metadata fields in digital audio file formats such as WAV, BWF, and MP3. The session will also discuss how the unique characteristics of archival audio materials – such as oral histories, lectures, radio broadcasts, and musical performances – can best be represented by descriptive metadata schemas to enhance discoverability and access. Recorded on October 12, 2010. ~1 hour

Webinar slides

An Introduction to Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

Where is Encoded Archival Description (EAD) now? What will its future be? What kinds of tools are readily available for implementing and managing metadata about archival collections using EAD? What standards, established and emerging, pair with and complement EAD? Where does EAD fit into newer implementations of WWW technology? Chatham Ewing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will look at these and other questions and will seek to explore how archivists and librarians can become more aware of the array of issues related to collections, technology, and description. Recorded on October 19, 2010. ~55 minutes

Webinar slides

Panel Discussion: “What is a Metadata Librarian?”

A panel of librarians from various institutions will discuss the role of the metadata librarian in academic libraries.  Drawing from their own experiences, the panel will address topics including the training and skills needed, as well as the duties and challenges of the position.

Panel: Ellen Corrigan, Eastern Illinois University; Kristin Martin, University of Illinois at Chicago; Karen Miller, Northwestern University. Recorded on November 9, 2010. ~1 hour

Webinar slides

Marrying Local Metadata Needs with Accepted Standards: The Creation of a Data Dictionary at UIC Library

Peter Hepburn and Kristin Martin, University of Illinois at Chicago, will provide an overview of developing metadata standards for digital collections in CONTENTdm that take into consideration national, consortial, and local needs.  They will present the history and development of UIC’s CONTENTdm data dictionary, which expands upon and merges the CARLI consortial recommendations with local practice and provides systematic mapping of fields to Dublin Core for sharing. Recorded on November 16, 2010.  ~49 minutes

Webinar slides

Preservation Metadata

Claire Stewart, Northwestern University, will offer an introduction to preservation metadata principles and practices. Event tracking and other digital provenance issues will be discussed, along with a basic introduction to the PREMIS ("PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies") metadata standard. Examples from Northwestern's preliminary PREMIS implementations will be shared. Recorded on December 7. 2010. ~58 minutes

Webinar slides