University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2008
Abstract
Collection-level metadata has the potential to provide important information about the features and purpose of individual collections. This paper reports on a content analysis of collection records in an aggregation of cultural heritage collections. The findings show that the free-text Description field often provides more accurate and complete representation of subjects and object types than the specified fields. Properties such as importance, uniqueness, comprehensiveness, provenance, and creator are articulated, as well as other vital contextual information about the intentions of a collector and the value of a collection, as a whole, for scholarly users. The results demonstrate that the semantically rich free-text Description field is essential to understanding the context of collections in large aggregations and can serve as a source of data for enhancing and customizing controlled vocabularies.
Publication Title
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications
Language (ISO)
English
Sponsorship
IMLS NLG Research and Demonstration grant LG-06-07-0020-07
Keywords
descriptive metadata, collection-level metadata, Dublin Core Application Profile, federated digital collections, collection properties, IMLS digital collections and content project
Recommended Citation
Zavalina, Oksana; Carole L. Palmer; Amy S. Jackson; and Myung-Ja Han. "Assessing Descriptive Substance in Free-Text Collection-Level Metadata." Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications (2008). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ulls_fsp/73
