Benchmarks and checks for metadata

Planning and accuracy

Your organisation should decide on the metadata needed for a back-capture digitisation project during the planning stage. This decision sets the standards for quality checks and ensures the metadata supports the project’s goals.

For more information, see Metadata requirements.

Note: It is very important to prevent or remove errors in metadata. Inaccuracies in metadata can have significant consequences for retrieval and, depending on the records, may have wider risks for the organisation.

Where possible, metadata should be collected automatically to reduce errors and improve accuracy.

Quality checks for metadata

Quality checks for metadata must be clearly planned, written into procedures or contracts, and implemented. 

Checks for manually entered metadata should be stricter, but automatic metadata also needs some level of review.

Quality checks should ensure:

• Completeness: All required metadata has been collected.
• Standards compliance: Metadata follows the standards set for the project.
• Correct naming conventions: File names match the required naming conventions.
• Relevant metadata: Metadata accurately describes the content.
• Accuracy: Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct, especially for manual entries.
• Consistency: Metadata is created and interpreted in the same way across the project.
• Synchronisation: Metadata stored in different locations (e.g., in a TIFF header, management system, or database) is consistent.

Addressing poor metadata capture

Organisational procedures should explain how to handle errors found during quality checks. 

Over time, it is also helpful to review how useful the collected metadata is and adjust processes or systems to improve future collection.

Important considerations

• File identifiers: File names must uniquely and consistently identify the digital image and its metadata. Information like page number, date, or institution ID in file names should match what is stored in database records or headers. File identifiers link metadata stored in different systems and must be accurate.
• Sequence and completeness of multi-page items: Pages should be in the right order, with no pages missing. Metadata should reflect the content, including attachments, chapters, or multi-page records. Descriptions of these parts must match the actual images. Choosing to digitise only what is ‘important’ from a file destroys the authenticity, accuracy, trustworthiness and integrity of that file and must be avoided