1. LIBR 281 - Assignment 3
Tracy Guza
The Seattle Public Library Century 21 Collection :
Balancing Metadata Complexity, Processing
Expediency and User Experience

2. Overview
Century 21, Photo by Werner Lenggenhager

3. Century 21 Collection
Over 1000 photographs plus all manner of
ephemera (menus, posters, maps,
guidebooks, nifty stuff)
Photos depict art and architecture as well
as documenting aspects of the 1962
Seattle World’s Fair

4. Project Considerations
Resources - staff (cataloging, processing)
CONTENTdm
Existing SPL digital collections
User discovery

5. Statement of Problem
Images : capturing photographer
information as well as artist/architect,
medium, size, etc. information
VRA Core scheme allows for description
of the image and the work itself using
element set

6. Background
CONTENTdm
Collections
 The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Digital Collecti
 The Northwest Art Collection
 The Seattle Historical Photograph Collection

7. Background
Resources
 Three librarians work on digital collections
 One cataloging librarian dedicated to Special
Collections
 One part-time student librarian

8. Research Question
What are the optimal metadata elements
required to capture the richest descriptive
information on the Century 21 collection
while balancing processing expediency?
Will the metadata mix provide ample
retrieval for users?

9. Literature Review : Image Project
VIUS/Penn State
 Grant-funded project to develop a digital image
system
 “Super element set” with DC, VRA Core and
some specific admin data for ILS
 Ultimately, they chose CONTENTdm and
mapped all elements to Dublin Core

10. Literature Review : Image Project
Cornell University
 Faculty collections, three initial collections
including images of ancient Greek inscriptions,
anthropological research from Peruvian Andes
and South Asian architecture
 VRA Core 4.0
 Luna Insight collection software
 Workflow, metadata quality - arduous!
 Issues with controlled vs. local vocabulary

11. Literature Review : Image Project
Colorado Digitization Project
 Union catalog merged diverse metadata from
participating organizations (EAD, MARC, DC,
VRA)
 Dublin Core chosen as common denominator
 Created and used local vocabulary lists

12. Literature Review : Resources
Greene and Meissner’s MPLP
 Level of processing complexity should be in
accordance with staffing abilities and balance
detail with expediency
 User access is paramount

13. Literature Review : Interoperability
Many articles with the bottom line that one
must consider the end use - i.e. harvesting
via OAIster, OCLC when planning
metadata elements
DC wins again
Issues with mapping DC to OAI to MARC

14. Collection Review : UW
Collections feature similar images, include
architect field which maps to dc.creator
CONTENTdm = flat
VRA Core = relational
Dublin Core common denominator
XML = happy interoperability

15. Final Metadata
Dublin Core
Extra creator fields for:
 Photographer
 Architect
 Artist
 Author

16. Final Metadata
Subject
 LCSH used
 Local controlled vocabulary with architects
Description
 Can include more details on contractors and
engineers
Browse by
 Helps users sort materials by building, topic

17. Discussion
Desire for immediate access,
interoperability and use of CONTENTdm
Collaboration on metadata collection
Other supplementary tools - subject guide,
architect spreadsheet, maps

18. The Century 21 Digital Collection
Here is a sample of the collection:
 http://cdm15015.contentdm.oclc
.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/p15015coll3

19. Fields and Elements
Field Name Dublin Core Element
Title Title
Photographer Creator
Architect Creator
Artist Creator
Author Creator
Subjects (LCSH) Subject
Description Description
Date Date Created
Browse by None
Notes Description
Date Digital None
Type Type
File Format Format
Measurements Description
Digitization Specifications Description
Identifier Identifier
Source Source
Collection Relation (Is Part of)
Rights Management Rights
Copyright Status Rights
Contributing Institution None