Hello again
all!
This week I
have started working on metadata, which as some of my coworkers have explained
in the past, refers to subject terms and descriptive information about the
digitized items. Metadata is important in digital archives because it allows
patrons to find what they’re looking for with relative ease! Without metadata, users
would have to spend more time looking for primary sources relevant to their
research topic. Some items might be overlooked because they are too obscure or
simply become lost in the oversaturation of items.
As this is
my first day working on metadata, I am rather slow at putting all of the
information into an excel spreadsheet. As time passes and I become more
familiar with the Library of Congress subject headings that are relevant to the
California Water Documents Collection, I suspect I will be able to complete the
metadata faster.
One step I
am looking forward to with the metadata process is working with geospatial
information. We will eventually be working with the library’s resident GIS
experts in order to input geographical information into the metadata. First, we
plan on filtering the documents through text mining software to pull out
geographic information. Whenever a document cites a location such as the Salton
Sea, the text mining software will add that to a pool of locations, which we
can then translate into latitude and longitude coordinates. From there,
researchers will be able to use the metadata we provide in order to make maps
with GIS.
I am happy
to begin learning more about the next phase of the digitization process with
these water documents. As a researcher myself, I know how important it is to
find everything relevant to a research topic–you do not want to be told you
missed something that could have been helpful. Thus, as I create the metadata,
my goal is to be as thorough as possible while also still being efficient.
Until next
time!
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}