Metadata as Data: How the Libraries Can Support Digital Humanities Projects

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Allison Jai O'Dell

Library catalogs contain a treasure trove of data that can be used in humanities pursuits, for instance: historic place names and business addresses; the interests and diction of cultures; the appearance and features of design trends; and the materials and techniques of communication.  Have you thought of using library metadata as data?  Would you like to?

Dave Van Kleeck and myself, Allison Jai O’Dell, propose a session with a dual purpose:

  1. To introduce library metadata and how it may be re-purposed (with examples!)
  2. To garner ideas from the audience on how the University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries might serve up their metadata to better support the digital humanities
Categories: Data Mining, Libraries, Metadata, Session: Talk, Text Mining, Visualizations |

About Allison Jai O'Dell

I am the Metadata Librarian at the University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries. In addition to library and data science, I focus on book and textile history, arts, and crafts. I am especially interested in how these traditionally decorative arts media have entered contemporary fine arts contexts and conversations.

1 Response to Metadata as Data: How the Libraries Can Support Digital Humanities Projects

  1. Sophia K. Acord says:
    April 19, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    This is really interesting, since metadata underlies the semantic web, the sorts of human agency we create with metadata can make information accessible or hide it forever! I’m also interested in crowdsourcing metadata.

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