Show me the data: the pilot UK Research Data Registry

The UK Research Data (Metadata) Registry pilot project is implementing a prototype registry for the UK's research data assets, enabling the holdings of subject-based data centres and institutional data repositories alike to be searched from a single location. The purpose of the prototype is to prove the concept of the registry and uncover challenges that will need to be addressed if and when the registry is developed into a sustainable service. The prototype is being tested using metadata records harvested from nine UK data centres and the data repositories of nine UK universities

Discovery Tools and Local Metadata Requirements in Academic Libraries

As the second decade of the twenty-first century commences, academic librarians who work to promote collection access must not only contend with a vast array of content available in a wide range of formats, but they must also ensure that new technologies developed to accommodate user search behaviors yield satisfactory outcomes. Next generation discovery tools are designed to streamline the search process and facilitate better search results by incorporating metadata from proprietary and local collections, then by providing relevancy-ranked results. This paper investigates the implications of discovery tool use for accessing materials housed in institutional repositories and special collections, in particular, how the discovery of these materials depends on local metadata creation practices. This paper surveys current research pertaining to metadata quality issues that may put unique local collections at risk for being overlooked in meta-search relevancy rankings, and considers ways in which academic libraries can address this issue as well as areas for future research

Optimising metadata workflows in a distributed information environment

The different purposes present within a distributed information environment create the potential for repositories to enhance their metadata by capitalising on the diversity of metadata available for any given object. This paper presents three conceptual reference models required to achieve this optimisation of metadata workflow: the ecology of repositories, the object lifecycle model, and the metadata lifecycle model. It suggests a methodology for developing the metadata lifecycle model, and illustrates how it might be used to enhance metadata within a network of repositories and services

Cross-concordances: terminology mapping and its effectiveness for information retrieval

The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research funded a major terminology mapping initiative, which found its conclusion in 2007. The task of this terminology mapping initiative was to organize, create and manage 'cross-concordances' between controlled vocabularies (thesauri, classification systems, subject heading lists) centred around the social sciences but quickly extending to other subject areas. 64 crosswalks with more than 500,000 relations were established. In the final phase of the project, a major evaluation effort to test and measure the effectiveness of the vocabulary mappings in an information system environment was conducted. The paper reports on the cross-concordance work and evaluation results.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 11 tables, IFLA conference 200

Research Data Discovery Service Final Report

A project report that outlines the University of Glasgow's participation in the UK Research Data Discovery Project funded by Jisc from March 2015 to September 2016

Research data and repository metadata. Policy and technical issues at the University of Sydney Library.

The University of Sydney Library’s repository contains research outputs primarily comprising traditional publication types. Many academics manage data collections within databases and spreadsheets using metadata dissimilar to the repository’s Dublin Core schema. During 2007 and 2008 the author explored issues surrounding submission of a small range of research data collections and associated metadata. Native metadata structures were analysed and mapped to DC and scripts translated, packaged and transferred collections. This paper discusses metadata management and repository service levels and sustainability. It describes the Library’s approach to defining service requirements and includes discussion of various metadata management options. It also describes related activities within the University of Sydney to develop eResearch services and to harmonise the roles and relationships of eResearch support service provider

Metadata Crosswalk for a Museum Collection in a Thematic Digital Library

The Biblioteca Digital de Arte (BDArt) Digital Library hosted by the Thematic Repository at the University of Porto (Repositório Temático da U.Porto) aggregates documents from the library and the archive collections belonging to the Fine Arts School of the University of Porto (Faculdade de Belas Artes da U.Porto). This school has a museum collection containing a significant set of world-class objects managed with distinct processes and tools from those currently used in libraries and archives elsewhere. Interoperability between the collections of the archive, the library, and the museum is necessary because many works allocated to different collections are closely related and can only be seen as a whole by cross-collection search functionalities. The goal of this work, the first of its kind to be developed at the University of Porto (U. Porto), is to integrate the museum collection with archives and library collections in the repository and to use an open-source technology (DSpace). Our experiment involved the selection of appropriate representations of the objects and the definition of a metadata crosswalk between the original metadata standards and qualified Dublin Core. As a result, we created the BDA Museum Collection as a BDArt subcommunity using an XML export procedure that we expect to be helpful in future developments of other museum collections in the Thematic Repository at U.Port