[Metadatalibrarians] IPTC metadata

[Kristin E. Martin]

I'm wondering if anyone on the list has experience with IPTC 
(International Press and Telecommunications Council) metadata.  I've 
been talking with a colleague here who is a professional photographer 
and uses it as part of her professional work, and suggested the library 
use the standard for its descriptive metadata  for image digitization 
projects.  The advantages: the metadata would be imbedded within the 
image itself, and many image software programs are compatible with IPTC 
metadata standards.  I am not terribly familiar with the standard and 
wonder about it being developed for a specific purpose versus (press 
images) versus the more general purpose of library digital image 
collections. 5 of the elements map to Dublin Core.  Has anyone out 
worked with the standard?  What has your experience been?

I also wonder, in a more general context, about the advantages of 
embedding metadata within an image.  I'm more used to thinking of 
metadata as residing along side the digital object, particularly with 
descriptive metadata.  Most digital library programs keep the two 
separate and link them up. I suppose you can always extract the embedded 
metadata for searching purposes.  I'm curious as to anyone's thoughts 
and feelings on embedded metadata.

I realize this is sort of vague, but I'm just starting to consider what 
to do with this.

Thanks,

Kristin

-- 
Kristin E. Martin
Metadata Librarian
Catalog Department (MC 234)
2-390 Richard J. Daley Library
University of Illinois at Chicago
801 S. Morgan
Chicago, IL  60607
312-413-5052
312-413-0424 (Fax)
kmarti at uic.edu