Metadata Principles, Guidelines and Best Practices: A Case Study of Brazil and Sri Lanka

Abstract

The concepts, guidelines, and best practices related to metadata are well-known factors in the global context. Hence, the weight given to this domain is varied in each country. The study investigates some fundamental conceptions of metadata and related standards through various literature and presents some best practices of metadata related to Brazil and Sri Lanka. Both countries have some initiatives related to library and geospatial data domains. The scale of these projects may be different, but some similarities are visible in both scenarios. Libraries use various metadata standards to organize and retrieve resources and this applies to both countries. Compared to Brazil, Sri Lankan Library, Archive and Museum (LAM) awareness of metadata is confined to MARC standards. Similar to Brazil, many institutions in Sri Lanka are maintaining Dspace repositories that use a qualified Dublin Core-based metadata schema. Some professionals in the information science sector are aware of Dublin Core standards, but the use cases are very rare. Based on the above best practices, awareness of Dublin Core metadata standards in Brazil is wider compared to Sri Lanka. However, this scenario should be further investigated thoroughly. Finally, awareness of basic conceptions and standards related to metadata is a key factor when it comes to conducting more research in the domain.