Abstract:
Increasingly, people with little experience of cataloguing, indexing or abstracting are using
metadata schemas like the Dublin Core Metadata Elements Set (DC) and the New Zealand
Government Locator Service (NZGLS) to describe resources. There is currently little
information available about how novices approach the process of metadata creation, and
what personal (cognitive) and other factors (particularly organisational) are at work. In this
exploratory study, I spoke with novice metadata creators about their skills and knowledge
when they began to create metadata and, six weeks later, after they had created records as
part of their normal work duties. I asked novices to identify factors that impacted positively or
negatively upon their progress, and also sought the opinions of metadata experts who were
training and supervising novice creators. The study identified the skills and knowledge that
are required to create metadata, and investigated the techniques used to develop expertise.
The tools used by metadata creators were evaluated, and the effects of organisational
culture were also explored. The insights of the expert and novice participants provide
guidance as to how managers can facilitate the production of good quality metadata through
developing effective staff training and quality assurance, providing more usable online tools
and documentation, and fostering more supportive organisational cultures.