Metadata Related Article

McCallum, Sally H. (2004). "An introduction to the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS)." Library Hi Tech 22(1): 82-88.

This article was a very useful introduction to MODS for someone, like myself, with little to no experience with Metadata Object Description Schema. The relationship between MODS, MARC21, and the use of XML was clearly laid out in the introduction. McCallum's article gave an excellent introduction to the XML environment, including the brief history and current uses for XML. I found this background information particularly useful in giving me a handle on understanding XML.

Prior to reading McCallum's article (and starting the workshop) I did not clearly understand the close link between MODS and MARC21. There was very clear explanation of the way MARC21 can, through steps, be converted into MODS.

I also found the presentation of the MODS features very useful, though slightly more difficult to follow in parts. The information covered the user-friendly tags used by MODS, which are actual English language words, as well as the grouping to the elements. Also included was the discussion of whether or not attributes should be used in MODS. The decision was to define attributes in places where they were deemed useful. They listed two cases in which elements must be used for the information instead of element; if information is repeatable or structured.

Overall, I found McCallum's article to be a good introduction to MODS. Though parts were a bit too technical for a very beginner, the majority of the article was clear and well put together.