Metadata

What is metadata? 

Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage other information. Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which can make finding and working with particular data sets easier. 

Types of metadata 

• There are different types of metadata used for a variety of purposes: 
• Descriptive metadata describes a resource in detail for identification and retrieval. It includes elements like title, author, keywords. 
• Structural metadata indicates how compound digital objects like web pages or multimedia files are organized.  
• Administrative metadata provides information to manage and administer a resource, like when and how it was created. 
• Reference metadata points to other metadata records or authority files to establish context. 

Uses of metadata 

Metadata has many important uses including: 

• Finding, identifying, and retrieving information resources through detailed descriptors. 
• Organizing electronic resources and data at scale through a structured format.  
• Archiving and preserving resources long term by capturing administrative details.  
• Supporting interoperability and unified access across systems and tools. 
• Providing unique digital identification and authoritative descriptions.  

Metadata management challenges 

Some metadata management challenges include: 

• Time and cost of metadata creation and maintenance at scale. 
• Keeping metadata synchronized with changes in the actual data.  
• Integrating metadata from disparate sources, formats, and vocabularies. 
• Ensuring metadata quality, consistency, and governance. 
• Managing metadata as data volumes grow exponentially. 

Metadata tools 

Metadata can be created and managed using metadata registries, repositories, mapping tools, harvesting tools, and search engines.  

Using LexisNexis and metadata 

LexisNexis is a leading provider of data, with vast repository of over 36,000 licensed sources and 45,000 total resources in more than 37 languages. Nexis^® Data+ offers bulk, constant call data APIs and on-premises applications for delivering highly relevant, archival, and current datasets to power your big data projects. Our expansive source universe features petabytes of semi-structured, normalized, and enriched text-based data to meet a wide range of data needs. 

Learn more about Nexis^® Data+