University of Nebraska

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries will use the Walt Whitman Archive project to create a model metadata encoding and transmission standard (METS) profile for digital thematic research collections. Digital thematic research collections constitute a distinct class of digital collection that typically requires high-quality data and metadata, in-depth description, high resolution files, and encoded texts. While standards have been developed for each of these, there has not yet been a disciplined effort to integrate the standards. Created by scholars in collaboration with librarians/archivists, thematic research collections are directed primarily at other scholars, though they are also used by students from kindergarten through graduate school, and by life-long learners. By standardizing the way metadata is encoded, creators of digital thematic research collections can make their work more sustainable and universally usable. The Whitman Archive is a complex project that uses multiple metadata schema thereby providing an excellent test case.