The U.S. Library of Congress first spearheaded the move to create a computer-based metadata standard for all libraries in the 1960s. The result was Machine-Readable Cataloging, or MARC records. With MARC, catalogers have a straightforward and logical way to record the essential aspects of new acquisitions, such as title, author, publisher, and certain physical details. The beauty of MARC is that it's adaptable---data fields can be added as new forms of media become commonplace.
(see References 1)
The Dublin Core metadata standard describes and organizes digital, networked resources. The standard includes fifteen elements which can be used to describe electronic books, pictures, music, movies and other digital objects. The authors of Dublin Core come from the fields of computer science, librarianship and museum curating. Elements are similar to fields in MARC records. Each element has a qualifier which distinguishes the object of record. An example of an element-qualifier pairing is "Title:Jaws."
(see References 2)
The purpose of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is to uphold an international standard for the encoding of literary texts. These texts include first editions of classic works, ancient inscriptions, historical archives and manuscripts. The TEI Consortium is responsible for publishing the most current guidelines. Its members are international and represent a cross-section of academic disciplines. The most common usage of TEI is in digital libraries. With a common metadata standard, digital librarians can easily share and co-create resources for the end users.
(see References 3)
Museums and archives typically create finding aids so that users of the resources know what's available and how to find specific kinds of items. Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a metadata standard for finding aids developed at the University of California at Berkley. Thousands of archive storehouses across the globe have implemented EAD as a way of streamlining operations. Before EAD, the design of finding aids was unique to each museum and archive.
(see References 4)
Crafting a metadata standard for works of visual art presents a challenge distinct from simple text. As a result, the Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) contains more than 500 categories and subcategories. A core group of categories includes the bare minimum of information to concisely describe a work of art. Created in the early 1990s, CDWA represents a universal and adaptable vocabulary for describing and organizing the cultural material of society.
(see References 5)
The Online Information Exchange (ONIX) metadata standard allows book publishers to share product information with each other and with sellers. The standard was first rolled out in 2000 in response to the rapid growth of Internet marketplaces. The standard has been steadily tweaked as technology evolves. For example, information unique to electronic books has now been incorporated into the ONIX standard. Virtually every major publisher uses ONIX to simplify their online sales operations.
(see References 6)