Getting Started: Initial Metadata Issues

Before diving into this project, I spent some time discussing certain data and metadata related issues with my colleagues.  The program that we use for our digital library collections automatically provides us with a set schema, whether all of the fields are desired or not.  However, there is nothing against adding extra fields.  In this case, it became clear that the field 'Title' was not sufficient.  Each map will have its own sheet number, which will serve as the unique title.  The problem is that each map is part of a series, and this collection consists of three series separated by scale: 1:25,000s, 1:50,000s, and 1:100,000s.  However, the collection itself is only one portion of the Cyrillic Map Collection, which is the overall title of the collection.  Thus, it became apparent that Series Title needed to be added.

The problem of whether or not to use Cyrillic or transliteration also caused some discussion.  Each map consists of a sheet number followed by a title (Example: O-35-14-Г Таллин).  It all came down to whether or not PhotoCat would support searching in Cyrillic, but because no foreign language collections had yet been digitized, this was unknown territory.  After setting up some Cyrillic examples, I found that it actually worked.  Therefore, the title can remain in Cyrillic exactly the way it appears on each sheet.  This is important because the prospective users of this collection will most likely be familiar or fluent with the Russian language.  Therefore, it is really important to keep as much of the Cyrillic as possible.

In addition to the Cyrillic, I decided to also add the transliteration where appropriate.  This mostly effects the Geographic Subjects field.  For any one map, there may be up to five or six entries.  Every entry has the USSR listed, then the modern country name (some maps may include borders, so there can be more than one country name).  Next is the title name (each title is the name of a city).  Each name is given in Cyrillic, and either transliterated or written in Latin text (as in the case of city names in Poland).  Some maps also include the district or region name as well, so this is also added.  The Geographic Subject field has by far become the most complex field to complete, but the more descriptions of the place that can be added, the easier it will be for patrons to find the maps they are looking for with more accuracy.  That's what it's all about!