The ALA Core Metadata Standards Committee is developing a rubric to help information professionals evaluate metadata schemas in order to select one that  would best fit the needs of a given project.  A preliminary draft of the Metadata Schema Assessment Framework is ready for public review and feedback.

 

The Committee identified several criteria that can be used to evaluate metadata schemas, including: ease of access, applicability, completeness, consistent representation, interoperability, understandability, rate of adoption, maintenance, and transparency, bias & engagement.  

 

The rubric also contains levels for assessing the extent that a given schema meets each criterion from lowest (e.g., minimally acceptable) to highest (value added or most complex).

 

If you work with metadata, the committee welcomes your feedback, including how useful this rubric would be in selecting a schema in your daily work, and suggestions for improvement.  

 

Feedback can be given by commenting on sections within the draft itself, available on Google Drive at this address: bit.ly/CoreMSAF and/or submitting comments and questions through a Google form: https://forms.gle/H7yXPUSjmLhpRvmT9.  

 

Feedback on the draft can be given through July 18th. After feedback is collected the ALA Core Metadata Standards Committee will incorporate suggestions and recommendations into a final draft for publication.  

 

Thank you,

 

ALA Core Metadata Standards Committee

Ayla Stein Kenfield, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Catherine Smith, University of Alabama

Darnelle Melvin, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Erica Findley, Multnomah County Library

Jeannette Ho, Texas A&M University

Liz Woolcott, Utah State University

Marina Morgan, Florida Southern College

Meredith L. Hale, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Tina Herman Buck, University of Central Florida