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Many discipline-specific and community-specific metadata standar= ds have evolved to meet the challenge of supporting data management and dis= covery as well as capturing and communicating information to users. Islando= ra=E2=80=99s system is based on an understanding that the complexity of con= tent-types and metadata standards, and the scarcity of metadata creation, m= anagement, and validation tools pose barriers to effective information mana= gement.
The following chapter will outline the role of descriptive metadata in t= he Islandora system. If you are using Islandora, it is presumed you have a = strong understanding of metadata standards that you will be working with, a= nd the role of descriptive metadata in organizing information assets.
Islandora also preserves the use of F= edora=E2=80=99s underlying administrative metadata (such as audit streams t= hat indicate what has happened to an object and when) and relationship meta= data (codified in the RELS-EXT streams of objects). Some Islandora Solution= Packs also utilize the EXIFtool to extract technical metadata from objects= and store it in a separate datastream.
As the proliferation of Descriptive Metadata standards continues to crea= te interoperability and compatibility issues, XML is increasingly viewed as= a key tool in automating and translating metadata, so that appropriate Met= adata can continue to be produced, persisted, and managed. The benefits are= widely recognized as reduced effort, greater consistency of metadata, and = enhanced accuracy of metadata.
Using XML to represent metadata means that a representative document is = created that represents what fields are used to describe a given object, an= d then these fields are mapped to a particular object, creating an XML-base= d metadata record. These representative documents are called schemas, and h= ave an .xsd file extension. The use of XML for metadata also means that XML= transformations (which have an extension of .xslt) can be used to translat= e or crosswalk metadata between schemas. Islandora leverages this XML appro= ach to metadata to facilitate the creation of ingest forms, and the automat= ic crosswalking of Descriptive metadata.
Islandora utilizes Fedora=E2=80=99s ability to represent Descriptive met= adata in XML format via one or more Datastreams in an obje= ct. Fedora is written in such a way that any object may have multiple metad= ata Datastreams, which can store Metadata following any schema, such as MOD= S, Dublin Core, or QDC.
When an object is created in Islandora, a datastream containing Dublin C= ore XML metadata is automatically produced and is given "DC" as its DSID, b= ut you will most likely want a separate datastream containing metadata from= a richer metadata schema.
To accommodate the richer metadata, each Islandora Solution Pack comes w= ith a pre-installed metadata form that can be used as a starting point in b= uilding your own rich metadata form. So, a user ingesting a new object is p= resented with the metadata form appropriate for that collection. The Conten= t Model for the collection specifies the DSID of that metadata datastream i= n order to maintain consistency across all objects associated with that Con= tent Model.
The form that come pre-installed with a Solution Pack represent just a s= tarting point to help you create an XML form appropriate for your data. You= can leave the form as is or modify it to meet the needs of your repository= .
XML Metadata Forms can be edited, created, copied, and affiliated with C= ontent Model objects using the Islandora Form Builder (XML Forms Modules). = When you use the Form Builder, an .xsd in the Form Builder Modules can read= in an externally or internally stored schema (another .xsd document), and = allow for a form to be created and validated based on that external schema.= Users can then associate the newly created or edited form with other conte= nt models in the repository via the User Interface (providing that they ass= ociate the form with a content model that prescribes that scheme, and permi= ts an XML datastream corresponding to it). Likewise, one Islandora content = model may be associated with a number of forms to suit the needs of differe= nt collections.In order to fully utilize the Forms Builder, users will have= to have an understanding of XML, Schema documents, and XPath (the language= used to navigate XML documents).
In order to crosswalk metadata, Islandora makes extensive use of XML tra= nsformations, or .xslts. Transformation serve a number of purposes in the I= slandora system. Of particular significance here is the way that Islandora = crosswalks data on ingest.
Fedora requires that any object created in the system contain a default = Dublin Core Stream. By extension, any object that is created in Islandora (= and therefore in a Fedora repository) will have a default Dublin Core Datas= tream. However, Islandora=E2=80=99s Solution Packs presume that users will = often want to store an additional metadata stream outside of the default Du= blin Core stream, in order to create richer descriptive metadata, and also = to adhere to standards for metadata description of particular types of data= and collections. For example, the MODS form that comes by default with any= Solution Pack is designed to suit the most common cases for that solution = pack.
This means that Islandora=E2=80=99s Solution Pack Content Models define = a Datastream that allows for additional granularity and is customized to th= e needs of a particular data type or subject area. When metadata is created= using this ingest form, an .xslt is called by the Content Model to transfo= rms the richer metadata schema into the default Dublin Core datastream, and= stores both the richer XML based Descriptive Metadata and the Dublin Core = Metadata in the object. In this way, Islandora preserves a common metadata = stream (in Dublin Core format) that can be useful for searching and retriev= ing metadata objects across the repository, as well as a more granular meta= data stream, say, MODS or Darwin Core, that describes the object as is most= appropriate for the subject area or discipline to which the object relates= . Whenever a metadata field is updated through the Islandora interface, the= .xslt is called to perform the transformation again, making sure that the = Dublin Core datastream is kept consistent with the data in the richer Metad= ata Datastream.
In the end, the architecture surrounding descriptive metadata in Islando= ra is designed to provide out-of-the box metadata creation, but also custom= ization. New forms can be created and associated with Content Models via th= e Islandora interface. Content Models can be written to define any number o= f metadata datastreams, and to call .xslt files to create new datastreams o= n ingest, and to update datastreams when metadata is edited. The system lev= erages the external community by taking advantage of .xslts that are common= ly produced to serve similar use-cases for other organizations.