Summary This book is intended to assist information professionals in improving the usability of digital objects by adequately documenting them and using tools for metadata management. It provides practical advice for libraries, archives, and museums dealing with digital collections in a wide variety of formats and from a wider variety of sources. This book is forward-thinking in its approach to using metadata to drive digital library systems, and will be a valuable resource for those creating and managing digital resources as technologies for using those resources grow and change. Key Features Provides practical guidance on the key choices that information professionals in libraries, archives, and museums must make when defining and implementing a metadata strategy Provides insight on the new area of 'metadata librarianship' while positions are opening in many organizations and many professionals worldwide are charged with managing and sharing metadata Focuses on metadata usability and the careful definition of what a digital library system must do in order to define a metadata strategy Explains key concepts of interoperability of digital library systems to information professionals Written by professionals who have concrete experience with metadata creation, sharing, reprocessing and aggregation in multiple sectors, particularly libraries, archives and museums Readership This book will be a valuable resource for librarians and information professionals planning or implementing digital projects in cultural heritage institutions. Students in library and information science will gain an introduction to the complex and interrelated challenges to creating high-quality, interoperable digital resources. Contents Part 1 Introduction What is metadata? Part II Implementation Choosing metadata for a digital library project Creating metadata usage guidelines Creating metadata Practical implementation of a metadata strategy Part III Systems design Functions implemented in a digital library system Metadata that drives discovery functionality Part IV Metadata interoperability Defining interoperability Interoperability and resource discovery Technical interoperability Content interoperability: shareable metadata Part V Conclusion The future of metadata1