Metadata Specialists Share Their Challenges, Defeats, and Triumphs

Metadata Specialists Share Their Challenges, Defeats, and Triumphs. Marissa Clifford. The Iris. October 17, 2016.
     "Metadata is a common thread that unites people with resources across the web—and colleagues across the cultural heritage field. When metadata is expertly matched to digital objects, it becomes almost invisible. But of course, metadata is created by people, with great care, time commitment, and sometimes pull-your-hair-out challenge."  At the Getty there are a number of people who work with metadata "to ensure access and sustainability in the (digital) world of cultural heritage—structuring, maintaining, correcting, and authoring it for many types of online resources." Some share their challenges, including:

• Laura Schroffel on digital preservation 
• Melissa Gill on GLAMs’ role in supporting researchers 
• Kelly Davis on the importance of data clean up
• Ruth Cuadra on embracing Linked Open Data
• Kelsey Garrison on embracing technological change 
• Teresa Soleau on providing access to digital material with metadata 
• Matthew Lincoln on making meaning from uncertainty 
• Jonathan Ward on bridging gaps between library staff and IT

Some notes from some of the challenges:

• The metadata process had to be re-thought when they started publishing digitally because the metadata machinery was specifically for print books. That proved mostly useless for their online publications so that started from scratch to find the best ways of sharing book metadata to increase discoverability. 
• "Despite all of the standards available, metadata remains MESSY. It is subject to changing standards, best practices, and implementations as well as local rules and requirements, catalogers’ judgement, and human error." 
• Another challenge with access is creating relevancy in the digital image repository 
• Changes are needed in skills and job roles to make metadata repositories truly useful. 
• "One of the potential benefits of linked open data is that gradually, institutional databases will be able speak to each other. But the learning curve is quite large, especially when it comes to integrating these new concepts with traditional LIS concepts in the work environment."

Digital Preservation Matters.