Examine and evaluate reporting and decision-making structures at both institutions
Columbia
The Metadata Coordinator reports administratively to the Director of Original and Special Materials Cataloging; however, the Metadata Coordinator is charged to work across administrative divisions within the Libraries / Information Services. Metadata creation and decision making has been largely project-based up to this point. Both of these factors cause the functional reporting structure to frequently differ from the administrative reporting structure.
For all projects involving the Libraries Digital Program Division (LDPD), metadata decisions are made in collaboration with the Digital Projects Librarian, reporting to the Director of the Libraries Digital Program Division. In practice, the Metadata Coordinator and the Digital Projects Librarian design a metadata plan for a given project in concert with other stakeholders.
For projects that do not involve LDPD, the Metadata Coordinator works closely with the staff located in the library/division from which the project originates and the functional reporting structure aligns on a project-level. For example, a project is in-progress to test the feasibility of moving the metadata of Columbia’s institutional repository, Academic Commons, from MODS 3.4 to MODS/RDF. In this case, the Metadata Coordinator works with the Academic Commons team located at the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship (CDRS). The CDRS staff then reports to the Director of CDRS.
Many non-MARC metadata decisions that involve more than one division or library are reached by consensus building. For example metadata requirements for customer orders were developed by staff from the Preservation Division, LDPD, and the Metadata Coordinator.
The Metadata Assistant reports administratively and functionally to the Metadata Coordinator. When creating MODS records for Academic Commons, the institutional repository, the Metadata Assistant functionally report to the Digital Repository Assistant.
Cornell
Administratively, the three Metadata Librarians at Cornell report to the Director of Cataloging and Metadata Services. The Image Cataloger, half-time non-MARC position and the Original MARC Cataloger report to the Cataloging and Metadata Services (CMS) Administrative Supervisor. The Technical Services Assistant in the Database Quality Unit (DQU) reports to the DQU Administrative Supervisor. Due to the largely project-based approach that non-MARC metadata takes at Cornell, functional reporting structures vary significantly from administrative reporting structures.
For any non-MARC tasks within LTS, the functional supervision is provided by the Metadata Librarian overseeing the project. For instance, the three positions involved with VRA Core cataloging production report to the CMS Administrative Supervisor; however, their VRA Core related tasks are guided by the Discovery Metadata Librarian, who oversees VRA Core cataloging.
The three Metadata Librarians work fairly autonomously and have functional reporting structures on a project or initiative level, as described below:
The Discovery Metadata Librarian has functional direction for the Discovery and Access Initiative by the project’s co-chairs, who then report to the Chief Technology Strategist and Director of Information Technology and the Associate University Librarian (AUL) for Teaching, Research, Outreach, and Learning Service. Usability studies performed as part of the Usability Working Group are under the direction of the working group chairs. eCommons large-scale metadata structural strategizing is ultimately performed under the direction of Director of Scholarly Communications Services.
The Metadata Librarian for Humanities and Special Collections (MLHSC) has functional direction on Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) projects by the DCAPS Coordinator, who then reports to the AUL for Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services; digital scholarship activities are functionally directed by the AUL for Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services. All other MLHSC functional reporting happens on a project-level; for instance, Kaltura and SharedShelf bigger-picture work reports to the DCAPS Coordinator and the Director of Information Technology and Chief Technology Strategist while CULAR work reports to the Project Manager for the CULAR service. Library Outside the Library work is under the leadership of the Director of Information Technology and Chief Technology Strategist and the AUL for Teaching, Research, Outreach and Learning Services. Web Archiving activities are reported to the AUL for Scholarly Resources and Special Collections and the Director of Information Technology and Chief Technology Strategist.
In addition to functional reporting structure within LTS, the Science Data and Metadata Librarian’s (SDML) research data management work is, in part, derived from CUL’s Data Executive Committee, with sponsorship by the Director of Information Technology and Chief Technology Strategist and additional direction from the AUL for Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services and the AUL for Scholarly Resources and Special Collections. As of the summer of 2013, CUL is in the process of transforming the Data Executive group into a Repositories Executive group, but the SDML will likely continue to actively participate and receive direction from the activities of this newly formed committee. The SDML also reports to the Research Data Management Service Group (RDMSG), which is sponsored by the Vice Provost for Research and the University Librarian; additional RDMSG direction is provided by a management council, made up of representatives from the major Cornell University data management service providers, and a faculty advisory board. The SDML, as the RDMSG coordinator, reports to sponsors and advisors, and is given immediate oversight by the Associate University Librarian for Teaching, Research, Outreach and Learning Services.