[WEB4LIB] Metadata use in libraries? (Re-post) - RE:What does this mean.

[John Little]

>I have posted this query on November 19.  So far, all the responses I have
>>received are asking me to forward the answers I receive.  But I have not
>received any answer.
>What does this mean?  Does this mean that nobody is using meta data in
>libraries?

I don't think it means nobody is using meta data.  (See my other posting).
But I suspect, since nobody answered you, that most of us are unsure of what
to do with meta data in the web context.

I'd don't know if you saw the message posted to DigLibns:
Last October Gail Clement announced the "Dublin Core Implementation Survey:
Call for Participation of Dublin Core implementers".  You might contact her
for the status of that project and when the data might be available.  See
<http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/DigLibns/archive/9810/0010.html>.

But there are all kinds of questions that come up with meta data.  Should
all our local Dublin Core data be automatically converted in MARC records
and inserted into our local OPACs?  (I'd say probably).  How do we ensure
currency of our locally maintained Dublin Core meta-data.  How do we ensure
currency of our OPAC-based MARC formatted Dublin Core data?  This applies
not only to our local resources but to any Dublin Core data we use when
cataloging remote web resources -- to which we apply the MARC cataloging
format/methods of Dublin Core data.

Lastly, and I think more importantly, how can we combine the power of
searching meta-data fields, Boolean logic, and free text indexing?  What I'm
getting at here is if we merely put meta-data into MARC records then we have
lost all the free text search capabilities we get with web search engines. I
think that is a step in the wrong direction.  I want a search tool that
allows me to combine both field searching and free text searching.  Any OPAC
developers out there that can make that happen?  But I don't necessarily
want all the noise I get with AltaVista.  A more selective database of data,
like our OPACs usually contain, would be nice.  But I want full text
searching.  Anyone else?

--
John.Little at Duke.edu
Web Development Librarian