OpenRefine, formerly known as Google Refine, is a powerful open-source tool for working with messy data. As the amount of data grows, so do the errors and inconsistencies, leading to more time required to manually correct these issues. This course will introduce and review OpenRefine, the software which allows users to quickly view, identify inconsistencies in, and enhance a variety of data.

* This culminating course is required to complete your micro-credentialing requirements. (optional) - What is micro-credentialing? Do you catalog? Do you plan digital projects? Do you wish to better understand the role of metadata and how it works?

Authority control, the process of ensuring consistent use of access points in bibliographic records, helps library users discover all relevant information within a library’s catalog. To be effective, authority requires record maintenance. This session will cover the basic principles of authority control and guide users on maintaining consistency in authority records.

Linked data is a method of representing and sharing data that connects information across different sources and domains. It can offer many benefits to libraries through improved data quality, enhanced discoverability of resources, and data sharing among institutions. This course covers the principles of linked data and demonstrates the use of semantically rich data in libraries.

Authority control is the process of ensuring that all access points in a library catalog are used consistently, and it is a great help to patrons and library staff in identifying and locating library material. But it also can be overwhelming for librarians who are not familiar with it. This session covers the principles of authority control and the value that it brings to library users.

Special metadata projects often require specialized vocabularies beyond the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Many libraries are now supplementing their MARC records with terms from other thesauri. This course covers taxonomy design and development of controlled vocabularies. Topics include types of controlled vocabularies, taxonomy planning, and design, structure and relationships in a taxonomy, and taxonomy management and maintenance.

MarcEdit and OpenRefine are two powerful tools to help handle metadata clean-up issues. Detect misspellings and inaccuracies in your data and remedy them with OpenRefine. Quickly update large quantities of MARC records with MarcEdit. Learn to harness their power to work smarter, not harder.

Library collections contain many types of video formats, from Blu-Ray discs to streaming videos. Using the Resource Description and Access (RDA) instructions relevant to cataloging tangible and digital video recordings, gain proficiency with descriptive elements, choice of preferred source of information, access points, and relationship elements for video content.

This final course in the Metadata Principles and Practices Series focuses on the role of expressing relationships in metadata to enhance resource discovery.