Methodology

About the Metadata

Ontology

This project uses Dublin Core as its main ontology, due to the nature of the book-based subject matter.

Class

While the collection objects are digital records, I have decided to recognize their class label as ‘Dublin Core Type: Physical Object,’ since they are all real, tangible books. Had I decided to include eBooks or audiobooks in this collection, I would have assigned a different class to these objects.

I made multiple changes to the original resource template options provided by Omeka S and used Dublin Core Standards, as seen in the table on the right. I also decided if each label was a required field based on necessity.

My reasoning for this was that much of Dublin Core’s controlled vocabulary could be repurposed to more closely represent the metadata being cataloged, in this case, physical books, without restructuring what the original term meant to represent.

One of the main challenges was finding information related to the books’ copyright holder when a specific edition was published. Without previewing the physical book, it can be challenging to find.

 

Metadata Fields

* indicates a required field

Title* – The name of the book, in English. If the original title is in another language, it has been translated for this field.

Original Title – The original name of the book if its title is in another language other than English. Originally labeled as ‘Alternative Title.’

Description – A brief synopsis of the book’s plot.

Author* – The writer of the book. Originally labeled as ‘Creator.’

Illustrator – The book’s artist. If the author is also the illustrator, this field is left empty. Originally labeled as ‘Contributor.’

Publisher – Who printed this edition of the book for distribution.

Edition Publication Year – The year this edition of the book was published. Originally labeled as ‘Date.’

Original Publication Year* – The year the 1st Edition of this book was published, based on the published format (Hardcover, Paperback, Board Book, etc). Originally labeled as ‘Date Created.’

Edition – The ‘version’ of a book’s printing and distribution. Originally labeled as ‘Is Version Of.’

Language* – The language the book is written in.

Edition Publication Country – The country-level location of where this version of the book was printed. Originally labeled as ‘Spatial Coverage.’

Lexile Measure – A measurement score created to identify a book’s reading difficulty. Lexile’s Find a Book Tool was used to identify books with a Lexile Measure score, which mainly consists of books originally published in the United States. Originally labeled as ‘Audience Education Level.’

Format– Binding and dimensions of the book. Dimensions are listed in inches.

Source – Where I researched the information to fill metadata fields.

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)* – Every published book possesses an ISBN, making it a viable field to identify each book within the collection. Originally labeled as ‘Identifier.’

Resources & References

This project relied heavily on:

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Metadata Terms - For determining which DC metadata fields could be repurposed to better reflect the content's metadata.

Lexile Measure Find-A-Book Tool - To include reading age range measurements, if available.

US Copyright Office Public Catalog - If a book was published in the United States, there was a very good chance of it having some kind of copyright record.

Library of Congress Catalog - For referencing subject terms based on the LC Annotated Children’s Catalog subject headings.

Amazon.com - Nearly all of the books were viewable on Amazon's website, which was used to research book format (binding style and dimensions).

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