Metadata for digital collections: a how-to-do-it manual

Before writing the review, I conducted a quick search on metadata in the books section of Amazon. It returned 1,950 titles, with this one included. One could ask whether we need yet another book on metadata when there are so many books already available, many of which look at metadata from various angles and to different depths. What would make it different from those other publications? Is it possible to have a “how‐to‐do‐it” manual which would be helpful enough to learn about metadata in general, when there are is abundance of schemas and guidelines in this domain? After all, metadata – data about data – is a concept which has led to so many practical developments that a book to help readers understand it and how to apply it in a particular memory institution environment was surely created some time ago. These days it is more likely that guidance on choosing from the multiple possibilities of metadata schemas available is what is really required.

This book from Facet goes some way to covering both the “what” and the “how”. It does not only help the reader to understand what metadata is, by taking into account the recent developments in the domains of linked data and the semantic web, but also provides helpful guidance on practical issues related to designing, documenting and using a metadata schema. Any author of a book about metadata faces a difficult issue – the world of metadata is huge and growing, and it is difficult to strike a balance between an overly detailed explanation reminiscent of a technical manual and a birds‐eye generic overview that will not help in answering the types of questions asked by a professional who works with metadata on a daily basis, or by a student who requires a detailed understanding of it.