What is metadata and what do I need to know about it? These are two key questions for the information professional operating in the digital age as more and more information resources are available in electronic format. This is a thought-provoking introduction to metadata written by one of its leading advocates. It assesses the current theory and practice of metadata and examines key developments - including global initiatives and multilingual issues - in terms of both policy and technology. Subjects discussed include: What is metadata? definitions and concepts Retrieval environments: web; library catalogues; documents and records management; GIS; e-Learning Using metadata to enhance retrieval: pointing to content; subject retrieval; language control and indexing Information management issues: interoperability; information security; authority control; authentication and legal admissibility of evidence; records management and document lifecyc≤ preservation issues Application of metadata to information management: document and records management; content management systems for the internet Managing metadata: how to develop a schema Standards development: Dublin Core; UK Government metadata standards (eGIF); IFLA FRBR Model for cataloguing resources Looking forward: the semantic web; the Web Ontology Working Group. Readership: This book will be essential reading for network-oriented librarians and information workers in all sectors and for LIS students. In addition, it will provide useful background reading for computer staff supporting information services. Publishers, policy makers and practitioners in other curatorial traditions such as museums work or archiving will also find much of relevance.

An overview of the field of information organization that examines resource description as both a product and process of the contemporary digital environment. This timely book employs the unifying mechanism of the semantic web and the resource description framework to integrate the various traditions and practices of information and knowledge organization. Uniquely, it covers both the domain-specific traditions and practices and the practices of the ‘metadata movement’ through a single lens – that of resource description in the broadest, semantic web sense. This approach more readily accommodates coverage of the new Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard, which aims to move library cataloguing into the centre of the semantic web. The work surrounding RDA looks set to revolutionise the field of information organization, and this book will bring both the standard and its model and concepts into focus. Key topics include: • information resource attributes • metadata for information retrieval • metadata sources and quality • economics and management of metadata • knowledge organization systems • the semantic web • books and e-books, websites and audiovisual resources • business and government documents • learning resources • the field of information/knowledge organization. Readership: LIS students taking information organization courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, information professionals wishing to specialise in the metadata area, and existing metadata specialists who wish to update their knowledge.

Metadata play a fundamental role in both DLs and SDIs. Commonly defined as "structured data about data" or "data which describe attributes of a resource" or, more simply, "information about data", it is an essential requirement for locating and evaluating available data. Therefore, this book focuses on the study of different metadata aspects, which contribute to a more efficient use of DLs and SDIs. The three main issues addressed are: the management of nested collections of resources, the interoperability between metadata schemas, and the integration of information retrieval techniques to the discovery services of geographic data catalogs (contributing in this way to avoid metadata content heterogeneity).

This book offers a comprehensive guide to the world of metadata, from its origins in the ancient cities of the Middle East, to the Semantic Web of today. The author takes us on a journey through the centuries-old history of metadata up to the modern world of crowdsourcing and Google, showing how metadata works and what it is made of. The author explores how it has been used ideologically and how it can never be objective. He argues how central it is to human cultures and the way they develop. Metadata: Shaping Knowledge from Antiquity to the Semantic Web is for all readers with an interest in how we humans organize our knowledge and why this is important. It is suitable for those new to the subject as well as those know its basics. It also makes an excellent introduction for students of information science and librarianship.

An overview of metadata: what it is, its types and uses, and how it can help to make Web resources more accessible and comprehensible. Contains articles, a glossary, and a list of acronyms relating to metadata.

The wealth of information accessible on the Internet has grown exponentially since its advent. This mass of content must be systemically sifted to glean pertinent data, and the utilization of the collective intelligence of other users, or social information retrieval, is an innovative, emerging technique. Social Information Retrieval Systems: Emerging Technologies & Applications for Searching the Web Effectively provides relevant content in the areas of information retrieval systems, services, and research; covering topics such as social tagging, collaborative querying, social network analysis, subjective relevance judgments, and collaborative filtering. Answering the increasing demand for authoritative resources on Internet technologies, this Premier Reference Source will make an indispensable addition to any library collection.

Class-tested and coherent, this textbook teaches classical and web information retrieval, including web search and the related areas of text classification and text clustering from basic concepts. It gives an up-to-date treatment of all aspects of the design and implementation of systems for gathering, indexing, and searching documents; methods for evaluating systems; and an introduction to the use of machine learning methods on text collections. All the important ideas are explained using examples and figures, making it perfect for introductory courses in information retrieval for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in computer science. Based on feedback from extensive classroom experience, the book has been carefully structured in order to make teaching more natural and effective. Slides and additional exercises (with solutions for lecturers) are also available through the book's supporting website to help course instructors prepare their lectures.