Metadata
Metadata are (structured) data describing a resource, an entity, an object, or other data. Moreover they may help to retrieve, use, and maintain a resource, an entity, etc. Depending on the community the term metadata is used in different connotations. In the context of information science and libraries it refers to data which are used to describe electronic resources. However the trend is moving towards using the term metadata for data and catalogues in databases that describe non-electronic resources.
Metadata at the German National Library
The German National Library has observed and actively participated in the developments in the field of metadata in a very early stage. In the project META-LIB (1998 - 2002) the aim was to develop guidelines for the application of metadata - especially of the Dublin Core Set - for the indexing of originally digital and digitised resources in scientific libraries. The project part of German National Library had the task to develop and to test conventions of nationalbibliographic indexing of electronic resources by using Dublin Core metadata and also to consider authority data. After the end of the project in 2002, the German National Library integrated the work on metadata into the Office for Library Standards.
Applications
At present, the German National Library applies the following metadata standards:
National and international co-operation
On a national level, the German National Library actively takes part in the co-operation of the regional legal deposit libraries in collecting, cataloguing, and archiving of online publications, and in the development of the German science portal Vascoda. By developing new standards such as XMetaDiss and LMER, the German National Library brings its competence in the field of metadata into the general development and realisation of applications. Together with archives and museums, solutions are developed to merge different metadata standards. The integration of metadata applications into the development of cataloguing rules is one of the next tasks.
By its co-operation in national and international standardisation committees such as DIN, CEN, ISO and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), the German National Library actively participates in the development of international approved metadata standards. Numerous proposals have been brought into the work of the IFLA Working Group on Metadata. As an example of the practical implementation of the work on metadata on an international level, TEL (The European Library) can be named.
Metadata formats of the German National Library
MetaDiss und MetaPers (available only in German)
Format of the metadata set of the German National Library for
online university publications and the metadata set for
personal names (based on HTML)
XMetaDiss
Format of the metadata set of the German National Library for
online university publications (based on XML)
XMetaPers
Format of the metadata set for personal names (based on XML)
LMER
Long-term preservation metadata for electronic resources
MAB
Automated Library Exchange Format
MABxml (avbailable only in German)
XML Schema for the exact conversion of MAB2 data sets into an
XML structure
Sarah Hartmann
