The ability to create digital collections has become more accessible to libraries and cultural heritage institutions of all sizes over the last few years, making it a good time to release the second edition of Steven Jack Miller’s Metadata for Digital Collections. Miller is successful in his goal to write a textbook that is “accessible to beginners and library and information studies students as well as experienced professionals with little formal metadata training” (xxl). Throughout the book he introduces fundamental concepts that everyone developing a digital collection will need in order to be successful. Complex concepts—such as interoperability, linked data, and controlled vocabulary—are introduced early in the book in a manner that is appropriate for someone who is unfamiliar with the topics. Later chapters examine each of these topics in-depth providing a solid grounding and understanding of these concepts. In addition to writing plainly, Miller includes many examples that clearly illustrate the concepts being introduced. He also created a number of useful sidebars; I particularly found the “Typology of Metadata Standards” (15) and “Five Ways to Improve Metadata Quality and Interoperability: Summary Overview” (316) sidebars helpful in how they summarize the information in their respective sections which will make it easy for me to reference in the future.
Over the last ten years electronic resources (e-resources) have exploded, becoming a larger and more substantial part of library collections. As Stachokas writes in the introduction, “Libraries are reengineering in terms of their professional skills, organizational structures, collections, systems, tools and assessment in order to provide users with a greater number and more types of electronic resources” (xi). This reengineering is vital as processes used for purchasing and preparing print and other physical materials for use are no longer adequate to handle the increased volume of e-resources acquired by libraries. Reengineering the Library is written for academic library practitioners, and there are several chapters that will be of particular interest to those new to the field of electronic resource management.
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