Why metadata matters: Bringing librarians’ expertise to digital projects
This event is part of a series on digital methods and tools in teaching and learning, with a focus on “Library roles in the Digital Liberal Arts.” This talk will be given by Mackenzie K. Brooks, Associate Professor & Digital Humanities Librarian at Washington and Lee University.
Metadata is deeply embedded in library work. We use metadata to describe our resources in our catalogs and to discover research for our students and faculty. Our metadata work demands a certain level of data literacy – a skill-set that is ripe for application in digital projects. But the role of metadata in digital projects can be overlooked as we manage all the moving parts of digitizing content, learning new tools, customizing interfaces, and training students. There is also a reluctance for some humanities scholars to recognize their material as data (Miriam Posner calls humanities data “a necessary contradiction”), which can lead to challenges for collaborating librarians.
This presentation will explore the reasons why metadata matters in digital projects. After a brief explanation of the data modeling process, I will share examples of ways that metadata knowledge and skills can be used in the classroom and in research projects. I’ll also share ways to engage collaborators in understanding the importance of metadata and approachable methods for navigating the acronym soup (RDF, OAI, XML, just to name a few!).
Speaker bio
Mackenzie K. Brooks is Associate Professor & Digital Humanities Librarian at Washington and Lee University. At W&L, she is the Program Coordinator for the Digital Culture and Information program and teaches courses on humanities data, born digital archives, and scholarly editing. Previously, she worked as Metadata Librarian at W&L and at Loyola University Chicago. She received her MLIS from Dominican University. Her research focuses on digital pedagogy, text encoding and publication, and metadata. Her work appears in the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, College and Undergraduate Libraries, and Art Documentation.
The event will be recorded. If you register for the event, you will be emailed a link to the recording.)
The platform will be Zoom, which may require installation in advance of the event. Review our online event guidelines to ensure you are set up to participate with a microphone and/or web cam.