Metrics for Metadata Quality Assurance and Their Implications for Digital Libraries

This study aims at developing a set of common metrics for metadata quality at data element level. The proposed metrics are used to assure the quality for metadata that converted from heterogeneous metadata formats and sources into a Dublin Core based centralized digital repository. This study adopted the metrics provided by Bruce and Hillmann [2] as a basis to develop the proposed metrics as follows: conformance to expectations, provenance, accuracy, completeness and accessibility. A hybrid approach of automatic and manual had developed for assessing metadata quality in practice. Target subjects were two individual projects selected from the Taiwan E-Learning and Digital Archives Program as use case to illustrate the details and examine the feasibility of the proposed metrics. Finally, this study discussed the implications of proposed metadata quality metrics for digital libraries in the following perspectives: project management, metadata management, hidden quality problems and accessibility.