Reducing Metadata Errors in an IR with Distributed Submission Privileges

Date

2015-06

Authors

Lyon, Colleen
Cofield, Melanie C.
Borrego, Gilbert

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Abstract

The distributed nature of many repositories means that standardizing metadata input is very difficult. At the University of Texas at Austin, there are over 50 people who have permission to upload content to the UT Digital Repository (UTDR). Out of that 50, there are two full-time staff members who have management responsibilities for the repository. The limited number of staff responsible for managing UTDR means that frequent metadata clean-up isn’t possible. We’ve instituted an approach that combines limited data clean-up with a transformed training process. Training focuses on clearly communicating overall metadata standards, the creation of metadata guidelines to be used as necessary for individual collections, and a focus on better defining the input guidelines for each Dublin Core (DC) metadata field. We are working one-on-one with student workers to familiarize them with the new guidelines and are communicating with repository submitters via listservs and in-person meetings. The new guidelines were rolled out recently, and we expect to see a decrease in the number of records requiring editing. We will present examples from our new guidelines, suggestions for successful communication methods with stakeholders, and provide information regarding the incidence of errors since implementing the new training.

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Description

Poster presented at Open Repositories 2015 in Indianapolis, IN

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