The importance of good-quality, user-focused metadata: How the Transport for London corporate archives benefit from voluntary standards and meaningful metadata

A good digital asset management (DAM) system will make the process of storing, sharing and tracking digital assets much easier. But is this all it should do? What about ensuring the discoverability of assets for years to come? What about rendering digital assets to users in an ever-evolving end-user computing environment? In other words, what about true digital preservation and the role of DAM? The answer lies in the metadata held in a system and what that system demands the asset creator provide. When considering the wider potential for metadata in the entire asset life cycle, is it necessary to alter the tradition of metadata being ‘data about data’ and go back to thinking of metadata as ‘data about the asset’? This paper looks at the challenges for successful information management created by the boom in born-digital assets and the ongoing conversion of hard-copy materials into digital formats. The value and role and criticality of high-quality, trusted and user-focused metadata in meeting these challenges is discussed through the exploration of standards and frameworks, and the use of case studies.