Metadata, Second Edition

Marcia Lei Zeng

Jian Qin

ALA Member

$75.60

Price

$84.00

Item Number

978-1-55570-965-5

Published

2016

Publisher

ALA Neal-Schuman

Pages

584

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Height

Format

Softcover

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Description
Table of Contents
About the authors
Reviews

Named a 2017 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

Metadata remains the solution for describing the explosively growing, complex world of digital information, and continues to be of paramount importance for information professionals. Providing a solid grounding in the variety and interrelationships among different metadata types, Zeng and Qin's thorough revision of their benchmark text offers a comprehensive look at the metadata schemas that exist in the world of library and information science and beyond, as well as the contexts in which they operate. Cementing its value as both an LIS text and a handy reference for professionals already in the field, this book

lays out the fundamentals of metadata, including principles of metadata, structures of metadata vocabularies, and metadata descriptions;
surveys metadata standards and their applications in distinct domains and for various communities of metadata practice;
examines metadata building blocks, from modeling to defining properties, and from designing application profiles to implementing value vocabularies;
describes important concepts as resource identification, metadata as linked data, consumption of metadata, interoperability, and quality measurement; and
offers an updated glossary to help readers navigate metadata's complex terms in easy-to-understand definitions.

An online resource of web extras, packed with exercises, quizzes, and links to additional materials, completes this definitive primer on metadata.

Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use.

List of Illustrations
Preface

Part I: Fundamentals of Metadata

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1   Background
1.2   Definitions
1.3   A Brief History
1.4   Types and Functions
1.5   Standards
1.6   Principles
1.7   Examples of Metadata Descriptions

Suggested Readings
Exercises

Chapter 2: Understanding Metadata Vocabularies

2.1   Metadata Element Sets

2.1.1   Components and Structures—An Overview
2.1.2   Flat Structure
2.1.3   Nested Structure

2.2   Application Profiles

2.2.1   The Concept of Application Profile
2.2.2   Examples of APs Consisting of Elements Drawn from Other Schemas
2.2.3   Sources of Reusable Elements

2.3   Ontologies as Metadata Vocabularies

2.3.1   Background
2.3.2   Modular Structure
2.3.3   Friend of a Friend (FOAF)
2.3.4   Schema.org

2.4   RDF Vocabularies for Metadata Terms

2.4.1   An Introduction to RDF (Resource Description Framework)
2.4.2   DCMI Metadata Terms
2.4.3   Metadata Descriptions: From "Records" to "Statements"

Suggested Readings
Exercise

Chapter 3: Creating Metadata Descriptions

3.1    Requirements for Metadata
3.2   Basic Unit of Metadata

3.2.1   Metadata Statement, Description, and Description Set
3.2.2   Relationships between Resources

3.3   Knowing the Difference
3.4   Levels of Granularity

3.4.1   Describing Individual Items that Constitute a Collection: Item-level Description
3.4.2   Describing the Entirety of a Collection: Collection-Level Description
3.4.3   Dataset Level Metadata
3.4.4   Resource Decomposition

3.5   Metadata Sources

3.5.1   Manual Generation of Metadata
3.5.2   Automatic Generation of Metadata
3.5.3   Combination of Manual and Automatic Methods
3.5.4   Harvested Metadata
3.5.5   Converted Metadata
3.5.6   User-Contributed Metadata through Social Media

3.6   Metadata Storage

3.6.1   Internal Storage
3.6.2   External Storage

3.7   Expressing Metadata

3.7.1   HTML
3.7.2    XML
3.7.3    RDF/XML and Other RDF Serialization Formats

3.8 Linkage, Wrapper, Display, and Parallel Metadata

3.8.1    Linking between Descriptions for Different Resources
3.8.2    Wrapping
3.8.3    Encoding for Display
3.8.4    Encoding for Bilingual Metadata Statements

3.9 Combining Metadata Descriptions and Linking Resources

3.9.1    METS
3.9.2    RDF/XML
3.9.3    Aggregation

Suggested Readings
Advanced Readings
Exercises

Part II: Metadata Vocabulary Building Blocks

Chapter 4: Metadata Structures and Semantics

4.1    Modeling for Metadata

4.1.1    Entity-Relationship Modeling
4.1.2    Ontological Modeling
4.1.3    Encapsulated and Modularized Approach

4.2    Enumerating Metadata Terms

4.2.1    Communicating about the Functional Requirements
4.2.2    Identifying Desired Elements

4.3    Element Set Specification

4.3.1    Basic Components
4.3.2    Presentation
4.3.3    Principles for an Element Set to Follow
4.3.4    Methodologies for Working from an Existing Element Set
4.3.5    Testing the Element Set

4.4    Value Spaces and Value Vocabularies

4.4.1    Value Spaces That Should Follow Standardized Syntax Encoding Rules
4.4.2    Value Spaces That Require Standardized Vocabulary Encoding Schemes
4.4.3    Value Spaces That Require Predefined Lists of Terms

4.5    Crosswalks

4.5.1 Methods Used in Crosswalking
4.5.2 Aligning Elements with Indicators of Matching Degrees

4.6 Best Practice Guides and Other Content Guidelines

4.6.1    Best Practice Guides
4.6.2    Standard-Specific Guidelines
4.6.3    Community-Oriented Best Practice Guides
4.6.4    Data Content Standards

4.7.    Conclusion

Suggested Readings
Exercises

Chapter 5: Metadata Schemas

5.1    Background
5.2    Resource Identification
5.3    Namespaces
5.4    Schema Encoding

5.4.1    Relational Schema
5.4.2    XML Schema
5.4.3   Schema Encoding in Mixed Namespaces

5.5    Encoding Examples of Metadata Standards

5.5.1    Dublin Core Encoding Schemas
5.5.2    EAD 2002 XML Schema
5.5.3    DLESE Metadata Framework XML Schemas

5.6    Summary

Marcia Lei Zeng

Marcia Lei Zeng is Professor of Information Science at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where she teaches knowledge organization systems (KOS), metadata, Linked Data, and cultural heritage informatics. Her primary research interests include KOS, Linked Data, metadata, smart data and big data, database quality control, semantic technologies, and digital humanities. Her scholarly publications consist of more than 100 papers and six books, as well as over 200 national and international conference presentations, invited lectures, and keynote speeches. Her research projects have received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), OCLC, Ohio Board of Regents, Fulbright, and other esteemed academic and scientific foundations. Dr. Zeng has chaired or served on numerous committees, working groups, and executive boards for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Special Libraries Association (SLA), Association of Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), the US National Information Standards Organization (NISO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO), and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Dr. Zeng holds a PhD from the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jian Qin

Jian Qin is Professor at the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University. Recipent of the 2020 LITA/OCLC Kilgour Research Award, her research interest areas include metadata, knowledge modeling and organization, ontologies, and scientific communication. Her research was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health/National Center for General Medical Science, Sloan Foundation/Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).She has published widely in scholarly journals and presented her research at national and international conferences, is the co-author of the book Metadata, and co-editor for several special journal issues on knowledge discovery in databases and knowledge representation. She has served on numerous committees in the Association of Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), DCMI, and other professional communities and is a Distinguished Member of ASIS&T. She holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Western University and a PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"The second edition of this book represents much more than a serviceable update to the first edition, published in 2008. Zeng (Kent State Univ.) and Qin (Syracuse Univ.) have significantly revised their thinking about metadata construction, application, usability, and sustainability. As a result, the current edition of this seminal resource represents a radical and necessary shift to a richer, more comprehensive analysis of metadata and its uses ... A core reference work for all professionals and advanced students interested in the subject of metadata."
— CHOICE

"This is an impressive, well-written textbook for readers studying metadata. In a field that is steadily growing and changing, readers must keep abreast of the new material that appears in this edition, and not rely solely on the previous edition to inform their thinking. It is by no means an easy transition, though the authors have tried hard to include the relevant background that puts today's ideas in context. They have succeeded in making a complex subject understandable as well as anticipating future developments."
— Technicalities