An Emergent Theory of Digital Library Metadata

Re-thinking library metadata

The discipline of library and information science has developed to play a pivotal role in providing conceptual and technical solutions to library standards agencies, libraries and library system developers. However, the availability of complete, timely, accurate and quality information sources, along with the emergence of new technologies, has changed users’ expectations. This, in turn has prompted existing metadata principles, approaches, systems and tools to be called into question. This is partly due to library standards that are underpinned by theories and principles that were developed in the context of physical libraries and print resources. These do not always reflect the heterogeneity and diversity of users ...