(confessions of a librarian-programmer)

Shepherding Information

Robert Carter • Metadata Librarian

School of Architecture Visual Resources Collection, The University of Texas at Austin

28th Visual Resources Association Conference, Atlanta GA, March 18 2010

AND SO…

• Lamp

• Chair

Why PHP?

• Low barrier language

• Well suited for metadata transformation

Pipes and Filters:

• Metadata goes through a series of transforming steps,

i.e., it is “piped” through a series of “filters”

• Chief advantage: original data is not modified,

changes can be rolled back in case of error

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright Frank Lloyd (NULL)

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright

Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun

Frank Lloyd

André, Louis, Charles

(NULL)

(NULL)

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright

Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun

Herzog, Jacques

Frank Lloyd

André, Louis, Charles

de Meuron, Pierre

(NULL)

(NULL)

Herzog & de Meuron

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright

Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun

Herzog, Jacques

Johnson, Burgee

Frank Lloyd

André, Louis, Charles

de Meuron, Pierre

(NULL)

(NULL)

(NULL)

Herzog & de Meuron

(NULL)

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright

Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun

Herzog, Jacques

Johnson, Burgee

(NULL)

Frank Lloyd

André, Louis, Charles

de Meuron, Pierre

(NULL)

(NULL)

(NULL)

(NULL)

Herzog & de Meuron

(NULL)

Giotto; di Cambio, Arnolfo;

Brunelleschi, Filippo

Metadata Cleanup

arLname arFname arFirmName

Wright

Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun

Herzog, Jacques

Johnson, Burgee

(NULL)

Frank Lloyd

André, Louis, Charles

de Meuron, Pierre

(NULL)

(NULL)

(NULL)

(NULL)

Herzog & de Meuron

(NULL)

Giotto; di Cambio, Arnolfo;

Brunelleschi, Filippo

two lessons learned:• Rich metadata prevents a ton of

headaches

• Having code skills is a great asset,

AND

librarianship is still needed