Metadata Quality Evaluation in Institutional Repositories: A Survey of Current Practices

Metadata plays an important role in the discovery, access, and use of materials in institutional repositories (IRs). Thus far, little empirical research been conducted to assess and evaluate metadata quality practices in place. This study begins to address that gap in knowledge by gathering data on current practices and procedures relating to metadata quality and evaluation in institutional repositories. A survey was distributed to individuals at ARL-member institutional repositories with knowledge of their institution's metadata procedures. The survey specifically gathered data on what metadata practices were in place and whether quality control procedures were being used. Forty respondents provided results that offer a state of the art view into the current metadata quality practices in place at IRs. Survey results indicate that metadata activities may not yet be streamlined into institutional workflow. For most institutions, metadata quality checking is a manual process, with only a small percentage (4%) employing the use of automated tools. Additionally, institutions rely on users as much as repository to staff to discover quality problems. Other results indicate that the majority of institutions surveyed are maintaining documentation relating to metadata policies. For example, 75% of respondents reported that their institution had developed either minimum metadata requirements or metadata submission guidelines for contributors. Overall, these results reflect the challenges and growing pains facing institutions as they adapt to managing materials in the digital world

A collaborative design process for educational digital resources in African higher education

Within Africa, access to digital library systems is critical in supporting higher level teaching, learning and research. Currently there is a high demand with inadequate resources which often produces poorly supported learning outcomes. The effectiveness of current resources is further limited by poor design processes, which is worsened by stakeholders (academics, e-learning technologists and digital librarians and designers) often working in isolation. Ultimately, designed resources become less user-centred and sustainable. This thesis sought to provide empirically developed collaborative design process guidance for design stakeholders developing educational digital resources within African higher education. Following a Human Computer Interaction research approach, eleven best practice digital library projects identified from three case studies of African universities (in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa) were investigated. Data was drawn from interviews, observations and an examination of documents. This investigation identified three interrelated factors that impacted on the design process (i. e. human relationships, innovative technologies and policies). The human relationships factor comprised multidisciplinary design stakeholders and included a subset i. e. design champions (multidisciplinary and domain champions) whose role changed the facilitation and eventual output of the other stakeholders in the design process. The multidisciplinary champions took on a participatory approach to engagement while the domain champions assumed an approach that was less engaging. The innovative technologies factor comprised universal technologies and `flexible' technologies (i. e. Web 2.0 applications and the Open Source Software) which supported the design process and enhanced user-centeredness and sustainability of the projects. Existing institutional and national policies supported stakeholder collaboration and application of the innovative technologies. The absence of any of these factors in the digital library projects weakened the design process and reduced effectiveness of digital resources. These three factors have been used to develop the Collaborative Educational Resources Design (CERD) process model as a guidance tool to support multidisciplinary design stakeholders indesigning effective digital resources

Einsatz und Bewertung komponentenbasierter Metadaten in einer föderierten Infrastruktur für Sprachressourcen am Beispiel der CMDI

Die Arbeit setzt sich mit dem Einsatz der Component Metadata Infrastructure CMDI im Rahmen der föderierten Infrastruktur CLARIN auseinander, wobei diverse konkrete Problemfälle aufgezeigt werden. Für die Erarbeitung entsprechender Lösungsstrategien werden unterschiedliche Verfahren adaptiert und für die Qualitätsanalyse von Metadaten und zur Optimierung ihres Einsatzes in einer föderierten Umgebung genutzt. Konkret betrifft dies vor allem die Übernahme von Modellierungsstrategien der Linked Data Community, die Übernahme von Prinzipien und Qualitätsmetriken der objektorientierten Programmierung für CMD-Metadatenkomponenten, sowie den Einsatz von Zentralitätsmaßen der Graph- bzw. Netzwerkanalyse für die Bewertung des Zusammenhalts des gesamten Metadatenverbundes. Dabei wird im Rahmen der Arbeit die Analyse verwendeter Schema- bzw. Schemabestandteile sowie die Betrachtung verwendeter Individuenvokabulare im Zusammenspiel aller beteiligten Zentren in den Vordergrund gestellt