Research Guides (LibGuides): Professional Development Resources for Technical Services: Metadata

Metadata Resources

Metadata Guidelines and Examples

Best Practices for Creating Sharable Metadata
Created by OCLC with a focus on Dublin Core Terms and OCLC's content management system CONTENTdm
Dartmouth College Library MODS Documentation
Guidelines for using MODS while following RDA
Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving
Recommendations, from OCLC Research's Web Archiving Metadata Working Group, tailored to the unique characteristics of archived websites
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) Learning Resources
Includes links to a Metadata Basics page and a guide for users of DCMI metadata terms
Indiana Memory Digital Public Library of America (IMDPLA) Metadata Guide
Documentation highlighting requirements and recommendations for metadata to be harvested by Indiana Memory and/or DPLA
Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources
Best practices guide created by the Trans Metadata Collective
Metadata Guidelines for Digital Collections
Created by Emory Libraries, these guidelines include a set of core elements and a crosswalk to established metadata standards
Metadata Requirements for 3D Data
Book chapter pre-print with recommendations for metadata based on the five-stage digital asset lifecycle
OCLC's Reimagine Descriptive Workflows
Equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, including publications and presentations, for resource description
Smithsonian 3D Metadata Model
A 2018 draft of the model which includes an overview, matrix of elements, and visuals
User Experience Guide for Displaying Accessibility Metadata 1.0
Proposal for a shared framework for presenting publication accessibility metadata in a user-friendly manner.
VRA Core Cataloging Examples
Sample records

Metadata Standards Examples

Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA)
Guidelines for the description of art, architecture, and other cultural works
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) Metadata Terms
Dublin Core is widely used in digital collections platforms
Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS)
For a variety of purposes, but particularly for library applications
Visual Resources Association Core (VRA Core)
Useful for the description of images and works of art and culture

Metadata Crosswalk Examples

Multiple Metadata Standards Crosswalk
From the Getty, this document shows overlapping elements in several standards (including MARC)
Mappings between MODS and other standards
MARC to Dublin Core

Subject Headings and Other Authorized Terms

Please see the Vocabularies page for help with terms to describe subjects, people, formats, places, etc.

General Information on Metadata and Linked Data

Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia - Anti-Racist Description Resources
Includes metadata recommendations
Basics of Metadata YouTube video
Brief, but clear explanation by Kathryn Lybarger
Introduction to Metadata
Third edition of the e-book edited by Murtha Baca and published by the Getty Research Institute
Library Linked Data in the Cloud
OCLC's experiments with new models of resource description
Linked Open Data Cloud Diagram
Metadata in the Third Dimension presentation by Juliet Hardesty
Video on progress (as of 2018) on work to create best practices for metadata describing three dimensional representations in digital collections
Understanding Metadata: What is Metadata, and What is it For?: a Primer
A National Information Standards Organization (NISO) publication written by Jenn Riley
Using Metadata to Describe Digital Content
Module in the DPLA Public Library Partnership Project curriculum

Reference Books

Carlson, Scott, et al. Linked Data for the Perplexed Librarian, American Library Association, 2020.

Miller, Steven J. Metadata for Digital Collections : A How-To-Do-It Manual. Neal-Schuman, 2011. (and a companion website)

Zeng, Marcia Lei, and Jian Qin. Metadata. Third ed., ALA Neal-Schuman, 2022.

Professional Development Resources for Technical Services