Metadata Services
MIT Libraries

The Role of Metadata in Digital Production Projects

Capturing robust metadata for digitization and electronic publishing projects plays an important role in the following:

• Helping visitors find their way through digital libraries.
  • Descriptive metadata is information used to search the catalog of digital objects. Information describing the subject matter of objects, their creators and nature is captured to improve visitors' ability to discover the resources they require.
• Managing the publication of content
  • Operational metadata carries instructions for the organization and presentation of digital objects, and their relation to other resources. Technical information required to access and operate objects is captured to ensure the smooth functioning of the electronic environment.
• Archiving content
  • Preservation metadata ensures the integrity and reuse of electronic resources over time. Technical information is captured to secure the validity of objects and to plan their migration through import/export to long-term repositories and other content management systems where they may be included in future digital objects and repositories.
• Managing access to the collections
  • Rights metadata manages access to the objects. Information describing the legal right to publish and view the objects is captured in compliance with the U.S. and international copyright laws.
• Administering electronic publication projects
  • Administrative metadata captures information related to the effort required to prepare and publish electronic resources. Information related to organizing workflow and communicating responsibilities, objectives and schedules is captured to create an effective process for sharing these resources with the world.