Metadata and Its Applications in the Digital Library : Approaches and Practices

Jia Liu tackles the unruly world of metadata development and implementation through a state-of-the-art overview of major theoretical issues and exemplary practices. Part one of her book elaborates on the general and latest knowledge about metadata and its implementations. Part two discusses an international array of metadata-related practices, projects and applications in the digital library. While the concept of metadata predates the Internet, worldwide interest in its standards and practices is directly linked to the increase in electronic publishing and digital libraries. Yet questions remain, such as: What form should these standards take? Who gets to develop them? How will they do so and how, in turn, will they be implemented?