Two Digital Public Library of America Leaders Share Lessons Learned About Collaborative Metadata Ingestion

Here’s a recently shared conference paper (via arXiv) that might be of interest to many infoDOCKET readers especially those who work with metadata.
The paper is co-authored by DPLA’s Director of Technology, Mark Matienzo and DPLA’s Assistant Director for Content, Amy Rudensdorf.
It will by formally presented at the International Conference on Dublin Core & Metadata Applications (DC-2014) this October in Austin, Texas. The paper/presentation will be given during two sessions focusing on “Distributed Metadata Environments & Aggregation” (October 9th).

Full Title

The Digital Public Library of America Ingestion Ecosystem: Lessons Learned After One Year of Large-Scale Collaborative Metadata Aggregation

Authors

Mark Matienzo
Digital Public Library of America
Amy Rudensdorf
Digital Public Library of America

Source

Proceedings of the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2014 (via arXiv)

Abstract

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) aggregates metadata for cultural heritage materials from 20 direct partners, or Hubs, across the United States. While the initial build out of the DPLA’s infrastructure used a lightweight ingestion system that was ultimately pushed into production, a year’s experience has allowed DPLA and its partners to identify limitations to that system, the quality and scalability of metadata remediation and enhancement possible, and areas for collaboration and leadership across the partnership. Although improved infrastructure is needed to support aggregation at this scale and complexity, ultimately DPLA needs to balance responsibilities across the partnership and establish a strong community that shares ownership of the aggregation process.

Direct to Full Text Paper (11 pages; PDF)

Filed under: Conference Presentations, Journal Articles, Libraries, Management and Leadership, News, Public Libraries