Metadata - the Key for Discovering Books

Metadata is nowadays one of the most important elements for discovering books. But what is it? And what does it mean for publishers?

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The word meta means ‘about’, making the literal definition of metadata as “data about data” (Lubas, Jackson and Schneider, 2013). And essentially that’s what it is. Metadata provides context to digital resources (data).

To paint a picture. Let’s say you saw a book in a bookshop and wanted to know more about it. When you get home you go online, click on the search engine to type in its title – only to realize that you forgot what it was called. The only thing you can remember is what the cover looked like or what kind of genre it was. This is where metadata comes into the picture.

Metadata can be used for applying textual description to images, and more information to text resources. Without it, it would be very difficult for you to find the title you were looking for. Resulting in one more trip to the bookstore. With it, you could find the title by typing in its genre or describing its cover design.

In The Metadata Manual (2013), Lubas, Jackson and Schneider illustrates the function of metadata as:

‘Try to think of metadata as a piece of information describing a resource. It’s like the nutritional information on a package of food ‒ metadata is the information about what’s inside the package.’ (2013)

In general, metadata supports the producers in finding and using their own digital resources, and for the customers to discover and locate these. In publishing, metadata is specifically useful for book information. On the most basic level this means core information such as the title, ISBN, author, price – the list goes on. But it also revolves around enhanced information such as images, description, author bio, and so on. When used properly, metadata can boost the publisher’s sales, generate profitability and reduce book returns. The 2012 Nielsen Book study on ‘the impact of metadata on sales’, stated that books with complete data information and image sold almost six times as many copies than those with ‘incomplete metadata’ (Warren, 2015).

The con of metadata however, is its need for consistency and quality control. The effort never ends. A lot of time and resources goes into improving or upgrading the publisher’s information. If the information is missing or incorrect it can have commercial consequences. It limits discoverability for customers. If customers can’t find the book they want, they will find something else that is similar to it.

Nevertheless, the effort of managing metadata is worth it for the end results. Metadata adds a more meaningful layer to book information. It benefits both publishers and customers in making web searches more substantial.

References:

Lubas, R. L., Jackson, A. S. and Schneider, I. (2013) The Metadata Manual: A Practical Workbook. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

Warren, J. (2015) ‘Zen and the Art of Metadata Maintenance. The Journal of Electronic Publishing’, [online] 18(3). Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0018.305?view=text;rgn=main. [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020].

Wilkins, A. (2011) ‘Metadata Perspectives: More Sales, Just Don’t Mention the “M” Word’ - Publishing Perspectives. [online] Publishing Perspectives. Available at: https://publishingperspectives.com/2011/10/metadata-perspectives-2011/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020].