Metadata is structured data that facilitates discovery, access, administration and preservation of resources.

Want help? Contact us! 

We provide expert metadata guidance and services to our Cornell University Library colleagues, and consultations to the wider Cornell University community, other academic libraries, non-profit organizations, agencies, and journal publishers.

Services include:

Consultation

• Review project requirements and make recommendations
• Analyze existing metadata and recommend transformation strategies, when appropriate
• Educate and train metadata creators on best practices

Design

• Identify community metadata standards to best describe and serve resources
• Create data models that foster seamless access, interoperability and reuse
• Facilitate desired levels of access and appropriate repositories that fit project needs
• Establish workflows for metadata creation or capture

Production

• Reformat metadata to meet project specifications
• Modify metadata to conform with community standards or project guidelines
• Work with stakeholders to maintain consistency and best practices

Guiding Principles:

When providing metadata solutions, we strive to be:

• User-centered: Develop metadata practices that are reflective, thoughtful, appropriately innovative, and driven by clear use cases.

• Sustainable: Meet the interoperability needs of the present, while recognizing currently available resources and what is maintainable, and establish a flexible foundation to address future needs.

• Collaborative: Develop partnerships that achieve consistent descriptive practices, while ensuring responsible labor practices and the mindful inclusion of individuals and communities reflected in our collections.

• Process-oriented: Value and remain committed to establishing clearly defined lines of communication, roles, priorities, scope, and open documentation practices.