DUBLIN CORE:BEYOND THE LIBRARYDavid HirschLIS 653-03 - Knowledge OrganizationDr. Selenay Aytac

Spring 2013

Introduction• Benefits of Dublin Core Metadata Element Set• Dublin Core Elements and Qualifiers• Uses of DC Outside the Library• Guidelines for DC Metadata Creation

Benefits of Dublin Core (DC)What is Dublin Core?Metadata standard of 15 elements, used for describing and cataloging electronic resources.

Result of 1995 workshop by Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in Dublin, Ohio.

Benefits?• Elements are optional.• Elements are repeatable.• Elements allow qualifiers for refinement.• DC can describe all types of resources, including new electronic

and digital data types.• DC can cover descriptive, structural and administrative metadata.

DUBLIN CORE ELEMENTSContent Elements • Title• Subject• Description• Type• Source• Relation• Coverage

Intellectual Property Elements• Creator• Publisher• Contributor• Rights

Instantiation Elements• Date• Format• Identifier• Language

Additional Elements• Audience• Provenance• RightsHolder

Dublin Core Record with Qualifiers

•D

ublin Core qualifiers can add refinem

ent and granularity to elem

ent descriptions.

•Like elem

ents, qualifiers are op

tion

al and rep

eatable.

This D

C record includes qualifiers for Identifier,

Description, and S

ubject elements.

Using DC: ExampleThe Walters Islamic Manuscript Digital ProjectWalters Art Museum, Baltimore Md.

Digitization project of art and calligraphy, 9-19th century

2 Metadata Entry Steps

1. Before digitization:Preliminary metadata entered into web-based database

2. After digitization:Cataloger adds more information. Authors, artists, scribes, dates, materials, languages, keywords…

Using DC: Example

Digital Video Repositories• Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository:

Ball State’s video collection, includes commencement speeches, WWII films. Descriptive records mapped into Dublin Core.http://libx.bsu.edu

• Folkstreams.net: documentary films of American folk culture. Mapped into Dublin Core.http://www.folkstreams.net

• Shannon County Film: original rolls of documentary film footage. MARC to Dublin Core crosswalk.http://library.missouristate.edu/projects/scf/index.html

Using DC: ExampleDigital Video Repositories (continued)• Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI):

Collections of film, television, video clips – used at lending library, theater screenings, student filmmakers’ work. Metadata records described directly with Dublin Core.http://www.acmi.net.au

• NJVid (New Jersey Digital Video Repository): Centralized video portal from educational institutions in NJ. Record descriptions in Dublin Core, MARC, and MODS.http://www.njvid.net

• Windows on Maine: Streaming videos on history of Maine. Union catalog, MARC to Dublin Core Crosswalk.http://windowsonmaine.library.umaine.edu

Using DC: Example

Dspace

Dspace is an open source digital asset management tool used worldwide by institutions “including public and private colleges and universities and a variety of non-profit corporations.” (Kurtz, 2009)http://www.dspace.org

Dublin Core’s elements and qualifiers are central to Dspace.

Guidelines for DC Metadata Creation

Guideline #1: “Resource description should beas complete as possible.”

Try your best to fill as much detail as you can, see what can be supplied that can’t be found when examining the resource. Leave element blank as a last resort.

Guideline #2: “Resource description should be consistent.” Consistency helps human users with information retrieval, reduces cognitive overload. Use controlled values when possible.

Coleman, 2005, p. 157

References• Bird, S., Simons, G. (2003). Extending Dublin Core metadata to support the description

and discovery of language resources. Computers and the Humanities, 37,375-388.

 • Bockrath, D., Case, C., Fetters, E.R., & Herr, H. (2010). Parchment to pixel: the Walters

Islamic manuscript digital project. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 29, 14-20. 

• Coleman, A. (2005). From cataloging to metadata: Dublin Core records for the library catalog. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 40, 151-181.

• Kurtz, M. (2009). Dublin Core, DSpace, and a brief Analysis of three university repositories. Information Technology and Libraries, 29, 40-46.

• Taylor, A. G. & Joudrey, D. N. (2009). The Organization of Information (3rd Ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited

 • Weagley, J., Gelches, E., & Park, J. (2010). Interoperability and metadata quality in

digital video repositories. Journal of Library Metadata, 10, 37-57. doi:10.1080/19386380903546984