DIGITIZATION OF RARE LIBRARY MATERIALS Metadata Format Access to Digital Documents © Adolf Knoll, National Library of the Czech Republic

Basic principles Data is what is produced directly during the digital reformatting image files sound files video files text Metadata is what is added to the data during the digital processing technical metadata identification metadata description of various objects in the document emulation metadata Clear distinction between data and metadata

Digital copy The digital copy of a manuscript consists of several hundreds of computer files. These files are structured hierarchically, while this hierarchy follows the logical structure of the original document. For example, a BOOK consists of PAGES, while a musical WORK of PARTS (a symphony has usually four movements).

Adding metadata is equal to describing objects We must be able to describe the BOOK as a whole, a PAGE as a whole, a WORK as a whole, its PART as whole, etc. AND ALSO We must be able to describe any object on the BOOK level, PAGE level, etc.

Creating records is equal to creation of metadata files BOOK record  cataloguing rules (e.g., AACR2) specifying the objects to describe  formats (e.g., UNIMARC) saying how to mark the described objects and their properties There is a quite good standardization here, both in rules and the formats.

Creating records is equal to creation of metadata files PAGE record  we have good practices what to describe, but we are not sure, whether we would not need more objects to specify to be able to analyse until today unknown documents  we have no such fixed formats how to mark these objects and their properties

Book Description Page descriptions Metadata tree skeletonExternal data Gallery image Preview image Internet image User image Archival image

The metadata format It controls the complex document structure through the appropriate definitions It enables to describe contents of any object on any hierarchical level It enables the basic HTML formatting through XSL transformation It enables indexing

Mark-up of the object AUTHOR AUTHOR UNIMARC: 200 $$f Dante Alighieri TEI MASTER: Dante Alighieri DOBM: Dante Alighieri XML Monograph: Alighieri Dante

Book Description Page descriptions Metadata tree skeletonExternal data Gallery image Preview image Internet image User image Archival image DTD and structuring rules Technical metadata

Approaches RDB Data files Metadata containers with sets of data files metadata