Metadata

Citation

Fourie, I. (2010), "Metadata", The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 762-763. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011082086

Metadata is a very welcome and useful supplement to the subject literature dealing with the description of documents and other sources of information. It is certainly a text I would recommend as prescribed or recommended reading for students in the field. On the back cover it is described as a “comprehensive primer for advanced undergraduate, graduate or continuing education courses on metadata in a range of key areas”. I fully share that opinion. The content is further enhanced by a companion web site hosted by the publisher offering lists of sources, quizzes and exercises. For those lecturers or instructors who prescribe Metadata as a textbook, there is also a digital library on a companion CD‐ROM available from the publisher.

The book is divided into four parts: fundamentals of metadata, metadata building blocks, metadata services and metadata outlook in research – thus offering a logical progression from the basics to issues for further consideration. Within these four parts there are eight chapters including an introductory chapter, a discussion on current standards such as Dublin Core, metadata for educational resources and metadata for multimedia objects. Chapter 3 concerns schemas including the structures and schemata, while Chapter 4 deals with schema and syntax. Chapter 5 explores a variety of issues on metadata records including conceptual models, levels of granularity, metadata sources and encoding metadata. Chapter 6 covers metadata services; Chapter 7 metadata quality measurement and improvement; Chapter 8 achieving interoperability and Chapter 9 explores the metadata research landscape regarding metadata architecture, metadata modeling and metadata semantics.

Two appendices are included, one on metadata standards and one on value coding schemes and content standards. Metadata concludes with a glossary, good index and extensive bibliography.

The content is well‐structured, with an abundance of illustrations to add clarity to difficult concepts and issues. Metadata certainly meets with all requirements of a comprehensive and informative textbook, and is therefore, highly recommended to faculty and students, as well as LIS professionals dealing with various issues of metadata.