7 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Metadata Management &Its Impact on Digital Libraries
Rakhie Joseph
Abstract
The ever-increasing demand for systems to deliver flexible solutions to meet
business requirements requires business and IT professionals to proactively share
information, adjusting to changing needs in a cost-effective manner. In an attempt
to gain a competitive advantage, today’s businesses need to gather vital data from
new and existing systems to effectively make essential strategic decisions. There
are a number of ways for organizations to effectively manage these demands.
First, IT assets must be cataloged, documented, and cross-referenced throughout
the enterprise. Second, specific IT assets must be related back to the business
processes they support in order for IT professionals to efficiently react to
continually evolving requirements. Finally, this vital information must be
accessible to all members of the organization, providing a unified view of the
associations between business and technical assets while stimulating
collaboration.In the past, a software component (.exe or .dll) written in one
language could not easily use a software component written in another language.
Metadata makes component interoperation even easier in the .NET Framework. It
also provides the following major benefits in a .Net Environment like Selfdescribing
files, Language interoperability and easier component-based design,
Attributes. Metadata reduces development, deployment and maintenance costs
by helping manage the entire process and associated resources. Metadata
management helps you understand what information you have, where it is
located, and what value it provides to users. Users can view information in a
context they understand, providing a more efficient and intuitive way to
communicate. Developers can share and reuse existing objects such as data
structures, programs, model definitions and more. Metadata management ensures
data consistency, enabling better business decisions and promoting more effective
communication. Maintaining a library of digital objects of necessity requires
maintaining metadata about those objects. The metadata necessary for successful
management and use of digital objects, is both more extensive than and different,
from the metadata used for managing collections of printed works and other
physical materials. Metadata is widely used in library science, computer science,
meteorology, geology, Electronics, government, and other domains, for scientific,
industrial and commercial purposes. Metadata management provides business
value, in all stages of data integration and warehousing projects, including design,
development, deployment and management. Metadata ensures that data is only
rationalized once and is then made available to all subsequent projects needing
access to the data, thereby saving considerable analysis time.
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Faculty in the Dept. of I.T ,Alliance Business Academy,Bangalore –560 068.
Email: rakhiejoseph@yahoo.com
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