Better Guidelines, Better Functionality: How Metadata Supports the Cycle of System Improvement at UNT

Abstract

The University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries recently revised their Metadata Input Guidelines in order to improve usability and accessibility for metadata writers, and to enhance the quality of metadata that drives new features in their digital systems. This paper describes important considerations in the revision process and also demonstrates the relationship between quality metadata and system functionality that ultimately benefits both metadata creators and system end-users. Keywords: metadata; input guidelines; schemas; system functionality; quality control; faceted searching