There is such a learning curve creating metadata for my collection. I do not have any background in cataloging other than a mandatory course taken early in grad school. As I work more with the process I am discovering inconsistencies in the items that I create metadata for. I like to think that I am learning as I go, but I realize that I have such a long way to go. I have read over the elements list in Dublin Core and IEEE Learning Objects Metadata. What seems simple at first glance becomes difficult when trying to apply the rules and inexperience gets in the way.
I recently took a workshop on Metadata for ContentDM; I was the only non-technical services person who attended. During discussions and breakout session I could sense the importance to the catalogers for precision, almost to the point of obsession. I am not gifted in that way.
Working as a reference librarian I can appreciate the work that catalogers do. I often feel frustrated by the lack of precision I experience when searching proprietary databases. It seems that in a move to become more Google-like many database providers are attempting to liberally interpret subject terms; so many times lately I will look at a list of results and wonder how a certain item could possiblely be relevant.
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