[Metadatalibrarians] Release of TDL Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for ETDs

[Sarah Potvin]

The Texas Digital Library<https://www.tdl.org/> (TDL) is pleased to announce the release of the Texas Digital Library Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Electronic Theses and Dissertations, v.2<http://hdl.handle.net/2249.1/68437>.


The full set of Guidelines are available in the Texas Digital Library Repository<http://hdl.handle.net/2249.1/68437> and on the Vireo Users Group website<http://vireoetd.org/vireo/support/>.


About the Guidelines

These guidelines, which build upon and update the 2008 TDL Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Electronic Theses and Dissertations v.1<http://www.tdl.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tdl-descriptive-metadata-guidelines-for-etd-v1.pdf>,  include two publications intended to be used in tandem to enhance the management, discoverability, and reuse of electronic theses and dissertations:



·         A "Dictionary of TDL Descriptive Metadata for Electronic Theses and Dissertations, v.2" detailing an updated TDL ETD Dublin Core standard, with mappings to the ETD-MS, OAI-ETD, and Highwire Press tags (Google Scholar).



·         An accompanying report that details the group's process and findings; outlines recommendations to the Vireo Users Group<http://vireoetd.org/vireo/> for Vireo functionality to support the guidelines; discusses emergent issues related to metadata for electronic theses and dissertations; and lists contributors to the development of the Guidelines.



Authored by the TDL ETD Metadata Working Group<https://tdl.org/members/groups#etd>, the guidelines provide direction to the TDL's member institutions and other ETD practitioners on metadata for electronic theses and dissertations, with a particular focus on works published through Vireo<http://tdl.org/etds>, the TDL's open source ETD workflow platform. While the guidelines provide specific guidance for Vireo development andDSpace implementation, they aim to be platform-agnostic, broadly applicable whether institutions use DSpace, Vireo, Fedora, Digital Commons, or any other repository or thesis submission system.



The TDL's current development on Vireo, taking place under the direction of the Vireo Users Group and in close collaboration with open source partners, will address in part the recommendations for Vireo included in the guidelines. Additionally, in a future publication, the TDL metadata community will provide clear guidance for handling legacy metadata issues produced by recommended changes in the standard.


About the authors

The Texas Digital Library Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Electronic Theses and Dissertations, v.2<http://hdl.handle.net/2249.1/68437> were developed by TDL ETD Metadata Working Group: Kara Long (Baylor University); Colleen Lyon (University of Texas at Austin); Kristi Park (Texas Digital Library); Sarah Potvin (Texas A&M University); Monica Rivero (Rice University); and Santi Thompson (University of Houston).



The guidelines were reviewed by a group of experts based in institutions across the United States including Baylor University, Johns Hopkins University, Kent State University, Harvard University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of North Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech  University, UT Austin, UT San Antonio, and Wake Forest University.


Contact

Questions or comments about the guidelines can be addressed to Sarah Potvin, chair of the TDL ETD Metadata Working Group, at spotvin at library.tamu.edu.



*****


Sarah Potvin
Digital Scholarship Librarian | Assistant Professor
Office of Scholarly Communication
Texas A&M University Libraries
5000 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-5000
spotvin at library.tamu.edu<mailto:spotvin at library.tamu.edu> | 979.458.2662