LibGuides: Metadata Basics: Resources & Tools

Selected Resources

Print resources available at UT Libraries or nearby libraries.

Metadata by Jian Qin; Marcia Lei Zeng
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ISBN: 9780838948750
Publication Date: 2022-01-18
"This benchmark text is back in a new edition thoroughly updated to incorporate developments and changes in metadata and related domains. Zeng and Qin provide a solid grounding in the variety and interrelationships among different metadata types, offering a comprehensive look at the metadata schemas that exist in the world of library and information science and beyond"-- Provided by publisher.
Metadata for Digital Collections by Steven Jack Miller
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ISBN: 9780838947487
Publication Date: 2022-07-06
"This authoritative manual introduces readers to fundamental concepts and practices in a style accessible to beginners and LIS students as well as experienced practitioners with little formal metadata training"-- Provided by publisher.
Knowledge justice disrupting library and information science through critical race theory by Sofia Y. Leung and Jorge R. López-McKnight
ISBN: 9780262363198
Publication Date: 2021
"Contributors analyze and re-envision the field and profession of library and information science from the perspective of critical race theory"-- Provided by publisher
Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums: How to Clean, Link and Publish Your Metadata by Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh
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ISBN: 1783300388
Publication Date: 2014
This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Libraries, archives and museums are facing up to the challenge of providing access to fast growing collections whilst managing cuts to budgets. Key to this is the creation, linking and publishing of good quality metadata as Linked Data that will allow their collections to be discovered, accessed and disseminated in a sustainable manner. This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation.

Basics of Metadata by Kathryn Lybarger and Kopana Terry

Introductory video on the fundamentals of metadata that answers common questions and provides many examples.

Beyond MARC: Metadata Standards for Digital Resources by Bruce Fulton

Lecture on XML metadata standards, including Dublin Core, METS, MODS, EAD, PREMIS, and ONIX with demonstrations of OAI-PMH metadata harvesting.

Reference

Understanding Metadata by Jenn Riley (2017)
Definitive metadata primer recently published by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).
Glossary of Metadata Standards by Jenn Riley (2010)
Glossary of metadata standards in pamphlet form which complements "Seeing Standards."

Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe by Jenn Riley
This visualization presents 105 of the most commonly used or discussed standards for cultural heritage institutions.

Best Practices

Current Literature

If you would like to move beyond the basics, consult these library & information science, computer science, and business databases for a wealth of current literature on metadata.

ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Updated frequently. The product has two parts:
- The ACM Full-Text collection. The full-text of ACM publications.
- The ACM Guide to Computing Literature. Described as, “the most comprehensive bibliographic database in existence today focused exclusively on the field of computing."
See here for summary information on full-text and indexed materials, with more detail here.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Updated monthly. A scholarly business database providing a collection of bibliographic and full text content in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Indexing and abstracts for scholarly business journals back to 1886 are included.

Searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals. Contains detailed author profiles for the 20,000 most-cited authors in the database.

Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, and SWOT analyses.
Information Science & Technology Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Updated regularly. Information Science & Technology Abstracts (ISTA) coverage includes classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management, search engines, printed and electronic information sources, the information industry, scholarly communication, and electronic publishing. ISTA indexes journal articles from more than 450 publications plus books, research reports, and conference proceedings and patents.
INSPEC This link opens in a new window
Updated weekly. Indexes the research literature of physics; electrical engineering and electronics; & computers and control. Offers over 15 million records and strong international coverage. The archive portion, which was formerly separate, is now integrated with the current file.
Library & Information Science Source This link opens in a new window
Encompasses subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval and information management. Includes full text for more than 460 key library and information science periodicals published internationally with an emphasis on publications from the United States. Includes selected state library journals, books, book reviews, conference proceedings, library school theses and dissertations, and pamphlets.
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) This link opens in a new window
Updated regularly. Provides indexing for more than 600 periodicals, plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s.
Science and Technology This link opens in a new window
Updated regularly. Contains over 800 leading full text journals covering relevant aspects of the scientific and technical community. Topics include aeronautics, astrophysics, biology, chemistry, computer technology, geology, aviation, physics, archaeology, marine sciences and materials science. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 1,700 publications.

If you are involved in metadata creation or management, you may also need to know more about copyright and licensing, or various platforms and tools available in UT Libraries' Data Lab.

Copyright Crash Course
The Copyright Crash Course will help you learn about how ownership of copyrighted materials works, what is fair use, alternatives to fair use, and when and how to get permission to use someone else's materials.
Data Lab
This LibGuide includes descriptions of and useful resources for the various data analysis and visualization software available in the PCL Data Lab.

Services available at UT Libraries and on campus.

Scholarly Communication Services
Scholarly Communication Services provides resources and expertise surrounding the scholarly publication cycle – from initial stages of data management planning through the dissemination and archiving of scholarly works.
Research Data Services
Research Data Services aims is to connect researchers with the appropriate tools, resources, and expertise required for dealing with data at every phase of research, from the earliest planning stages through to archiving and publication.
Data Lab
The Data Lab is located in the Scholars Commons on the entry level of the Perry-Castañeda Library and open to all current UT staff, faculty, and students.
Texas ScholarWorks (TSW)
Texas ScholarWorks is the digital repository that provides open access to the scholarly work created at UT Austin.
Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC)
TACC provides resources such as high-performance computing, scientific visualization, and data storage systems for UT Austin, UT System, TACC Partner, and Texas higher education users.

Selected Tools

BioPortal
BioPortal provides an extensive repository of biomedical ontologies and affiliated tools.
Dublin Core Generator
Available in a simple and advanced version, the Dublin Core Generator is a tool for generating Dublin Core code in XML, HTML, or XHTML.
FAIRsharing.org
A curated, informative and educational resource on data and metadata standards, inter-related to databases and data policies. Developed and maintained by a team at the University of Oxford, UK.
Linked Open Vocabularies (LOV)
LOV is a searchable repository of vocabularies and ontologies used to describe many different disciplines and domains.
MarcEdit
MarcEdit is a metadata editing software suite for manipulating MARC records.
Morpho
Morpho allows for easy creation of EML metadata.
OpenRefine
OpenRefine is a powerful tool for cleaning, transforming, and enriching messy data.
oXygen XML Editor
oXygen is a software tool for creating and editing XML files, and is commonly used to encode EAD documents.
RDA Metadata Standards Catalog
A collaborative, open directory of metadata standards maintained by the Research Data Alliance.

UTL readme.txt
A simple yet effective template provides detailed recommendations for how to describe and cite your data