Library Personnel's Role in the Creation of Metadata: A Survey of Academic Libraries

The digital age has caused the paradigm to shift in academic libraries both in terms of their collections and the roles of their personnel. As academic libraries begin to digitize objects in their collections, how and who in the library creates access to these resources has become a hot issue. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries (UNL Libraries), taskforces were formed to study metadata schemes used at UNL Libraries. The taskforces identified the various metadata schemes in use and the role of various departments within UNL Libraries in the creation of metadata. They made recommendations about how to document decisions relating to metadata and how to coordinate metadata creation and digitization projects. As a result, the authors decided to survey American Research Libraries (ARL) and other peer libraries to determine their metadata workflow. This paper discusses the results of the survey and provides insight as to how libraries may meet the challenge of creating metadata through the reorganization of departments and staffing responsibilities.