Metadata Best Practices: Structuring for Discovery & Accessibility

Metadata Best Practices - Structuring for Discovery & Accessibility

Join Chris Day, Metadata Librarian, as he explores the essentials of metadata in this insightful Islandora webinar. Learn how effective metadata, “data about data," supports discovery, accessibility, and preservation of digital assets. This session covers key metadata types, community standards, schemas like MODS and Dublin Core, and how to apply best practices to ensure your repositories are future-proof and aligned with FAIR principles. Whether you’re managing institutional repositories, digital collections, or archives, this webinar offers practical guidance on creating rich, structured metadata that enhances findability and reuse.

Metadata enables discoverability, context, and preservation of digital assets.

Top Takeaways from this Webinar

Metadata Matters More Than Ever

• Metadata enables discoverability, context, and preservation of digital assets.
• Good metadata must include persistent identifiers and enough descriptive richness to support reuse, even if the original identifier is lost.

Follow the FAIR Principles

• Effective metadata aligns with the FAIR principles:
  
  • Findable
  • Accessible
  • Interoperable
  • Reusable

Standards First, Then Best Practices

• Choose standards (structure, content, values, exchange) that reflect your community’s needs—both internal workflows and external users.
• Apply Required, Recommended, and Optional fields to ensure clarity and consistency.

Know Your Schemas

• Common schemas include:
  
  • MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema)
  • Dublin Core (Qualified and Simple)
  • VRA Core, Costume Core, Darwin Core, ETD-MS
    
• Rights, preservation, and structural metadata use standards like:
  
  • PREMIS, FITS, METS, and copyrightMD

Use Metadata Value Standards and Taxonomies

• Enhance accuracy and discoverability with authority sources like:
  
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Getty Vocabularies (AAT, ULAN, TGN), and VIAF
• Local vocabularies and Wikidata can support community-specific needs.

Metadata in Islandora

• Modern Islandora uses a MODS-based framework, adapted to Drupal’s database rather than strict XML validation.
• Includes over 150 default fields and supports metadata complexity via repeatable paragraph fields for elements like titles, names, and origin info.
• Metadata is shared using OAI-PMH with Qualified Dublin Core.

Best Practices with Drupal

• Drupal field types (e.g., EDTF dates, entity references, geolocation) help enforce consistency.
• Taxonomies can enforce controlled vocabularies and metadata authority, improving internal consistency and external sharing.

Share Metadata Thoughtfully

• Platforms like DPLA and Mountain West Digital Libraries require certain metadata standards for ingestion.
• Create Metadata Application Profiles (MAPs) to balance local needs with external sharing standards.

Local + Global = Strong Metadata

• Effective metadata practice is:
  
  • Guided by standards
  • Shaped by community needs
  • Driven by end-user discovery goals

Ready to see what Islandora can do for your organization?

Whether you’re managing a single repository or supporting a multi-institution consortium, Islandora offers the flexibility, scalability, and support you need. Contact Discovery Garden to schedule a demo, start a project discovery session, or learn more about how we can help you build a future-proof digital repository.