Information Resource Description: Creating and Managing Metadata - Softcover

Hider, Philip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 083891201X ISBN 13: 9780838912010

Publisher: ALA Editions, 2012

Synopsis

This book serves as a primer on information and knowledge organization, with particular reference to metadata practices in the digital environment. It introduces the conventions and standards of contemporary document description, and the principles and trends of professional practice. Employing the unifying mechanism of the semantic web and the resource description framework, Hider integrates the various traditions and practices of information and knowledge organization. Uniquely, he 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 RDA: Resource Description and Access standard, which aims to move library cataloguing into the center of the semantic web. The work surrounding RDA looks set to revolutionize the field of information organization, and this book brings both the standard and its model and concepts into focus, making it essential reading for LIS students taking information organization courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, information professionals wishing to specialize in the metadata area, and existing metadata specialists who wish to update their knowledge.

About this title

Review

"...an excellent introduction both for students and for practitioners new to the field, and the very readable text is well supported by numerous examples, and lists of additional reading. A welcome addition to the literature in this field." (Vanda Broughton)

"Metadata is a topic of great, and continuing importance in all the information sciences and collection disciplines. But it is one in which students and practitioners alike can become lost in details and specifics. Philip Hider’s book takes a uniquely wide and integrative approach, combining basic principles and well-chosen examples to give an admirably clear insight into the subject." (David Bawden)

"Hider offers a clear and comprehensive look at metadata and all its many aspects―from its creation, to its many forms and uses, and even its future. This is a very readable text that any student or information professional will find useful and engaging." (Shawne D Miksa)

"This book promises to be a key resource in the field of information organisation. It takes a broad approach to information resource description without sacrificing the detailed description and explanation that students and practitioners will seek. Dr Hider demonstrates an enviable level of scholarly and professional knowledge and a capacity to structure and communicate it elegantly and with passion." (Stuart Ferguson)

"For those newly minted librarians whose graduate school no longer teaches cataloguing, for established librarians switching gears in mid-career from reference to technical services or for faculty who need to teach description, this book is an invaluable introductory resource." (Collection Building)

"Hider explains clearly the wide range of metadata that exists, and helps the reader further by guiding through the book with cross-references and direction. We know there is “more on this to come in the next chapter” or if we missed a detail, we can go back and locate it in context. This is useful for those learning the subject, as well as the more expert reader. Hider does an impressive job tying together so many different aspects of metadata and providing the “big picture”, and the book is highly accessible and engaging." (Library Management)

"...provides a clear multifaceted survey of the metadata landscape, which usefully relates complex standards and practices to difficult and demanding tasks. Readers seeking a better understanding of the broad reach of metadata in the contemporary environment will be well served." (Technicalities)

About the Author

Philip Hider is Head of the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He has worked, taught and researched in the field of information organization in the UK, Singapore and Australia. He holds a PhD from City University, London and was made a Fellow of CILIP in 2004.

Edition details

• Publisher: ALA Editions
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 083891201X
• ISBN 13: 9780838912010
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288