The Organization of Information

Chapter 4: Metadata

Metadata is data about data, and it plays a very significant role in the way we understand the world around us. Granted, our textbook for LIMS 5320 is a book, but it is not the same kind of book as a cookbook or Patricia Polacco's children's book, Pink and Say. By providing us with information, that is, organized data, metadata increases our understanding of objects, and it enables us to save time, as we are relieved of the burden of searching through huge amounts of information that we may not need.

A type of metadata is the MARC, or Machine-Readable Cataloging, format. MARC records are the behind-the-scenes, encoding metadata that gives extensive information (title, author, publication, edition, page number, subject, etc.) about a book. This information is not readily accessible to library patrons, but librarians/catalogs can retrieve this information as they include this and similar works in their collections. Below is a partial example of a MARC record: 

100 1_|a Polacco, Patricia.

245 14|a Pink and Say/|c Patricia Polacco
260 __|a New York:  |b Philomel |c 1994

Granularity is the fineness with which data in particular fields is sub-divided.  This breakdown is evident in MARC records as information about a particular object—book or DVD—is more extensive than what we see on the front of a book—title, author and sometimes publisher.  Information can go from before 1XX, the creator of the object, to beyond 7XX, added entries about it.  Note the examples of low and high granularity with my school’s address:

Low granularity:

1.     address:  3244 W. Ainslie St. Chicago, IL 60625 USA

High granularity:

1.     street address:  3244 W. Ainslie St.

2.     city:  Chicago

3.     postal code: IL 60625

4.     country:  USA

Higher granularity:

1.     street: W. Ainslie St.

2.     address:  3244

3.     city:  Chicago

4.     state:  IL

5.     postal code: 60625

6.     country:  USA