ABSTRACT
Digital resources are described with what is called metadata that serves a variety of purposes. Metadata forms records for the classification and description of resources. Library catalog records are a familiar form of metadata and the information in their fields makes it possible to find and use the resources for which these are surrogates. Metadata comes in many formats, most of which are governed by professional standards for describing different kinds of cultural materials (images, field notes, architectural plans, sound recordings, etc.). Metadata also takes the form of interpretative description and analysis. A highly specific form of metadata exists in what are termed markup languages. These are used to analyze the semantic content of texts and documents, and, like metadata, are generally governed by standards specific to individual disciplines, fields, or knowledge domains.
