ABSTRACT
In the last few years the term "metadata" has become a buzzword in the realm of online information access. The word figures prominently in discussions of how to improve electronic data retrieval. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has begun organizing conferences devoted entirely to metadata. At the same time Clifford Lynch has advised at least one audience of library cataloged that if they tell their directors they create metadata, they could improve their chances for a higher salary.l
This chapter was written to help show how metadata can be applied to online serials. Its specific task, however, is to establish (with apologies to the late short-story writer Raymond Carver) what we talk about when we talk about metadata.
