University of Pittsburgh Library System

The Metadata and Discovery Unit provides metadata consultation, development, and production support for students, faculty, and staff. As a center for expertise in descriptive, technical, and administrative metadata, we work with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to support their metadata needs.

Consultation

Specialists in the Metadata and Discovery Unit are available for consultations to help you start a new project, improve your metadata quality and consistency, and learn more about what metadata can do for you. Training on standards and best practices, controlled vocabularies, and data cleaning tools are also available. Contact us to make an appointment.

We provide support for…

Design

• Reviewing project requirements and identifying metadata standards which best describe and enhance your research
• Selecting appropriate controlled vocabularies to improve consistency in your project
• Establishing workflows and developing tools for metadata creation

Production

• Analyzing metadata and recommending transformation strategies to conform with project guidelines
• Cleaning and validating your metadata to improve standardization and consistency
• Educating and training metadata creators

Discovery

• Recommending standards that encourage access, interoperability, and reuse
• Identifying suitable repositories to connect your data to other research in your field
• Exploring emerging trends in metadata, such as linked data, metadata harvesting, and automated creation.