A wonderful simple post that would be useful for researchers who know they need to do metadata but have not quite worked out how yet.
Reining in Your Metadata with Help from an Archivist
Advice for organizing your research materials.
November 13, 2016
Heather VanMouwerik is a Ph.D. candidate in Russian History at the
University of California, Riverside. Follow her on Twitter @hvanmouwerik or
check out her website.
Every book we read, every source we mine, and every number we collect has a history, has a life that precedes us and will continue long after we are gone. It is easy to forget this when we are frantically collecting materials for our dissertation. This legacy is rich but, in the hustle-and-bustle of research trips, exam prep, and writing, it is often neglected or even forgotten.
One of the most important parts of building an archive is capturing this legacy by recording an item’s dimensions, condition, material composition, origin, and provenance. In so doing, an archivist generates a vast amount of metadata, or information about an item irrespective of its content. Not only is this information useful in categorizing and storing the item, it also enriches the context of the archived item for researchers and facilitates use of the collection as a whole.
Metadata, though, isn’t reserved for the hallowed halls (or cold, windowless basements) of an archive. It is also a vital part of any researcher’s personal database.
Take a moment to review the material you have collected for your dissertation or other long-term project. How is it organized? ... Finish reading
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