A new metadata white paper that describes the work that we have been doing to create a metadata infrastructure for XC is now available via the XC website! This paper, with its supporting documentation, describes in detail our work in two related areas:
- The creation of an XML schema for XC to facilitate the reuse of metadata from multiple schemas, in particular MARC and Dublin Core
- The development of the XC Metadata Services Toolkit, or MST, which provides a platform for metadata normalization, enrichment, schema transformation, etc.
While the MST has been developed specifically to support the functionality of the eXtensible Catalog software, we are excited about the possibilities for it to be used beyond the XC environment. Through the use of the MST and metadata services developed for use with it, libraries will be able to prepare their metadata to function in a variety of web environments. The MST’s services can normalize coded data so that it can be understood by users, transform metadata from one XML schema to another, provide basic authority control matching, “FRBRize” the data, and handle duplicates and updated records. I’m also excited by the potential that the MST has for helping the library community move forward as we implement RDA and begin to think about moving away from a MARC-based environment. The XC Schema incorporates a few RDA elements to give us a chance to get our feet wet with the new standard. The MST will also allow us to gain experience processing separate metadata records for the FRBR Group 1 entities and maintaining the appropriate relationships between them. And the MST architecture provides a “safe” environment for experimentation because the architecture of the XC system makes it possible to easily recreate any metadata that has been corrupted. So, in a way, it will function as a metadata “sandbox”! We look forward to hearing your comments on these documents, either as blog comments or in person at ALA Midwinter in Denver (Dave Lindahl and I will both be attending).
Corrected version now available
A corrected version of the original report, which includes the correct date of January 8, 2009 (instead of January 8, 2008!) and one change to a citation in the text on page 18, is now available at the same URL as the original version.
Apologies for any confusion caused by the incorrect date on the original paper!