Metadata is known as “data about data,” or descriptive information about an object to help make it discoverable and usable, among many other features. When scholarly material is deposited to cIRcle, the metadata is essential for making that content findable not only within Open Collections, but also on other UBC and non-UBC platforms, like Google and Google Scholar. Strong metadata is important for understanding the item and how it can be used and shared, ultimately maximizing the item’s full potential.
How Metadata Works
How items are discovered and retrieved from a search is largely dependent on the of metadata. For example, if you perform an advanced search in Open Collections for “Pike, Ian” as a Creator, all material in cIRcle that meets that criteria will be included in your search results.
cIRcle aims to meet broader established standards, guidelines, and practices to facilitate metadata interoperability across platforms, while still managing a schema that meets unique needs of UBC. In cIRcle’s Metadata Manual you will find some fields that capture UBC-specific information, such as Program, Degree, and Supervisor. Fields may also be controlled with pre-selected values to ensure consistent representation.
Providing robust and standardized metadata allows UBC and non-UBC search engines, digital repositories, and platforms to harvest, index, and store reliable and accurate information, along with provision of proper item citation. For example, the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) facilitates harvesting and indexing of cIRcle metadata by other discovery layers, which demonstrates the importance of interoperable metadata to facilitate greater discoverability.
Extending Discovery and Use of Scholarly Material via Metadata
Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) Theses Canada portal and the From the Ground Up: Buddhism and East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR) Project are two examples that highlight the importance of robust metadata.
The Theses Canada portal is a large publicly accessible collection consisting of theses and dissertations from approximately 70 Canadian universities, making it an important place to find Canadian academic research. LAC updates and populates their collection by using OAI-PMH to harvest cIRcle content and metadata. This also benefits cIRcle’s preservation efforts, and boosts the discovery of UBC’s graduate research more widely.
cIRcle had a major role in the FROGBEAR Project, which encompasses more than 1,500 items including material related to key sites of religious practice and knowledge in East Asia. Using the Open Collections API and harvesting metadata from cIRcle’s records helped build the project’s website. The project’s content is now discoverable and accessible on its own website, in addition to Open Collections. The harvested metadata was also used to create an interactive map tool and a custom search interface, among other website features.
Having multiple locations to find the outputs of research is beneficial. To achieve wider points of research discovery outside of UBC’s repositories, strong and interoperable metadata is required. This will help search engines, digital repositories, and other platforms harvest and index information so that users can access and use the material on those sites.
Learn More and Submit Your Work
If you’re interested in learning more about metadata, take a look at UBC Library’s LibGuide for Metadata or Metadata Basics: Describing Research Data from the Research Commons.
If you are a UBC faculty member, student, or staff interested in depositing your work to cIRcle, please review cIRcle’s Submissions page for more information or Contact Us.