Results and implications of the EuropeanaLocal metadata and content survey Gordon McKenna Collections Trust, UK

Why Standards? The British Standards Institution (BSI), the world’s oldest standards setting organisation (1901), says: “Put at its simplest, a standard is an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guideline, or definition. Standards help to make life simpler and to increase the reliability and the effectiveness of many goods and services we use. Standards are created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators of a particular material, product, process or service." Plus in the context of Europeana: delivering interoperability

The Horrible Truth?

EuropeanaLocal Survey Sections Content provider information Collection description Digital object metadata Information scheme(s) (metadata) Terminologies: Geographic names and co-ordinate standards Date format and time periods Subjects Person and organisation Contributing to Europeana

Providers Organisation typeNumber of organisations(%) Library76(48.4) Archive19(12.1) Museum33(21.0) Sound archive0(0) Aggregator16(10.2) Other13(8.3)

Content Numbers Collection typeAmount of content(%) Library653,290(12.8) Archive2,098,406(41.1) Museum708186(13.9) Sound archive0(0) Aggregation1,216,058(23.8) Other431,568(8.4)

Content Themes Theme Number of collections Local history161 Fine art30 Education21 Local government20 Religion19 Archaeology17 Literature14 Maps13 People13 Science13 Music10

Content Time Periods (%) CenturiesAllLibrariesArchivesMuseumsOtherAggregators 20 th & 21 st th th th th th th th th th [Earlier]

Content Languages (examples) CountryMajor languages: Max-Min %Other languages: Max-Min % Czech Republic Czech: Latin: 75 English: 1 French: 2 German: 10 Hebrew: 1 Italian: 1 Spanish: 1 Swedish: 1 France French: Latin: Catalan: 10 English: 10-4 Spanish: 10 Turkish: 11 NetherlandsDutch: French: 10 English: 10 German: 10 NorwayNorwegian: English 25-5 ‘Other’: Slovak RepublicSlovak: 80 German: 10 Hungarian: 10 United KingdomEnglish: Welsh: 2

Content Conclusions Providers – c50% local libraries Content source – c60% from archives and aggregators Themes – Local history & Fine art (typical), Education Time periods: Most content 18 th century to present Significant content (especially museums) BCE Language – Reflect the historical environment of creation Latin – religious and legal English, French and German – lingua franca E.g. Swedish in Finland – significant communities

Technical Standards Focusing on: Amount of content File types in use

Text Content Text typeNumber of collections : % [All types]127 : 43.8% PDF96 : 76.8% HTML43 : 34.4% XML30 : 24.0% Word23 : 18.4% DjVu20 : 16.0% Plain text16 : 12.8% RTF4: 3.2%

Image Content Image type Number of collections: % [All types]213: 73.4% JPEG182: 85.0% TIFF107 : 50.0% GIF12 : 5.6% BMP8 : 3.7% PNG8 : 3.7% DjVu27 : 12.6%

Audio Content Audio typeNumber of collections: % [All types]26 : 9.0% MP39 : 10.7% WAV6 : 7.1% WMA2 : 2.4% AIFF1 : 1.2% MPG1 : 1.2% AudioCD1 : 1.2%

Video Content Video typeNumber of collections: % [All types]12 : 14.3% MPG7 : 8.3% AVI6 : 7.1% FLV (Flash Video Format)6 : 7.1% MOV (Quicktime)4 : 4.8% MP43: 3.6% WMV (Windows Media Video)3: 3.6%

Technical Standards Conclusions Organisations are using the expected technical standards Recommend good set of guidelines, e.g. Technical Guidelines for Digital Cultural Content Creation Programmes Advantages: Multilingual Written for a general cultural sector audience Updated

Terminology Standards Focusing on: Use Creation – Published or In-house

Terminology Use Standard areaNumber of organisations using standard Geographic names81 : 49.4% Geographic co-ordinates14 : 8.4% Date formats113 : 67.1% Time periods49 : 28.7% Subjects107 : 63.7% Person and organisation authorities77 : 13.1%

Terminology Creation Standard areaProvider developed Published standards Geographic names25 : 30.9%62 : 74.1% Time periods17 : 34.7%33 : 67.3% Subjects33 : 30.8%80 : 74.8% Person and organisation authorities 20 : 26.0%63 : 80.5%

Terminology Standards Conclusions Factors affecting choice: Subject area – Is there a suitable source covering the area being recorded available? Language – Is there a source in the organisation’s main working language available? National standard – Is there a mandated standard source available? International standard – Is there an internationally recognised standard (usually de facto) available? Getty terminologies Library of Congress

Metadata Standards Focusing on: Use Organisation type Adaption (changing the standard)

Metadata – Describing What?

Metadata Standards Provider Type Standard [domain audience] All Libraries Archives Museums Aggregators Other Library MARC METS MODS Archive EAD ISAD(G) Museum CDWA museumdat Object ID SPECTRUM Provider Type Standard [domain audience] All Libraries Archives Museums Aggregators Other General heritage CIDOC-CRM VRA Resource Discovery Dublin Core In-house No standard

Metadata Standard Adaption Organisations adapting scheme Standard [domain audience] Organisations using scheme Library MARC332 METS433 MODS40 Archive EAD40 ISAD(G)92 Museum CDWA20 museumdat10 Object ID63 SPECTRUM160 Organisations adapting scheme Standard [domain audience] Organisations using scheme General heritage CIDOC-CRM20 VRA11 Resource Discovery Dublin Core9934 TOTAL22045

Metadata Standards Conclusions Libraries, archives and museums tend to use their own standards. Dublin Core is a popular metadata scheme. In-house developed metadata scheme & No standard significant. Standard adaption significant (especially Dublin Core)