Supporting Metadata Management for Data Curation: Problem and Promise

Abstract

Research communities and libraries are on the verge of reaching a saturation point with regard to the number of published reports documenting, planning, and defining e-science, e-research, cyberscholarship, and data curation. Despite the volumes of literature, little research is devoted to metadata maintenance and infrastructure. Libraries are poised to contribute metadata expertise to campus-wide data curation efforts; however, traditional and costly library methods of metadata creation and management must be replaced with cost-effective models that focus on the researcher’s data collection/analysis process. In such a model, library experts collaborate with researchers in building tools for metadata creation and maintenance which in turn contribute to the long-term sustainability, organization, and preservation of data. This presentation will introduce one of Cornell University Library’s collaborative efforts curating 2003 Northeast Blackout Data. The goal of the project is to make Blackout data accessible so that it can serve as a catalyst for innovative cross-disciplinary research that will produce better scientific understanding of the technology and communications that failed during the Blackout. Library staff collaborated with three groups: engineering faculty at Cornell, Government power experts, and power experts in the private sector. Finally the core components with regard to the metadata management methodology will be outlined and defined. Rights management emerged as the biggest challenge for the Blackout project.