Presentation slides from the ALCTS Metadata Interest Group Meeting at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando are available below as an attachment (pdf).
Digital Library North: Engaging with communities to develop culturally appropriate and aware Metadata
Presenter: Sharon Farnel, University of Alberta
Abstract:
Digital Library North (https://www.ualberta.ca/~dln/) is a four year collaboration between researchers at the University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada), staff at the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre in Inuvik, Canada, and communities within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) Northwest Territories, Canada to develop a digital library infrastructure to support access to cultural resources. A key objective of the project is to work with the communities to develop a culturally appropriate metadata framework for resource description and discovery. We are seeking to define and develop a culturally appropriate metadata framework through multiple parallel processes: a) investigation and critical examination of the scholarly literature around cultural approaches to metadata, b) examination and assessment of the characteristics of the proposed content of the digital library, c) close collaboration with community members to understand the metadata elements important to meeting their information needs, and d) design of metadata based on information seeking behaviours of community members.
In this session, we will a report on early investigations into the literature of culturally relevant metadata, b) discuss the results of early engagement - interviews, surveys, information audits - with the communities and assessment of sample digital library content, c) describe how this influenced the initial metadata design and application to sample materials, d) and discuss the processes for taking the design and application to the communities for testing and feedback.