Making metadata: a study of metadata creation for a mixed physical-digital collection

Metadata is an important way of creating order in emerging distributed digital library collections. This paper presents an analysis of ethnographic data gathered in a university library’s educational technology center as the staff develops metadata for a mixed physical-digital collection of visual resources. In particular, the paper explores issues associated with the application of standards, uncertain collection and metadata boundaries, distribution and responsibility, the types of description that arise in practice, and metadata temporality and scope. These issues help to characterize a problem space, and to explore the trade-offs collection maintainers must face when they create metadata for heterogeneous materials.

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