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Metadata Quality Benchmarks
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These pages comprise two major components: benchmarks for descriptive metadata records and supplementary information related to assessment and benchmarking activities.
For clarification, the documentation uses the terms assessment and benchmarks -- referencing interconnected but separate concepts -- which we are defining as:

-    Assessment: A process of evaluating metadata (e.g., using tools or manual review) to determine the level of quality according to various aspects 
     (e.g., completeness, accessibility, etc.)

-    Benchmarks: Explicit goals or measurable steps regarding aspects of metadata quality

The benchmarks are an effort to define criteria for digital collections, to provide a “universal” frame of reference to determine whether records meet a minimal standard.  Due to differences in metadata schemas, local requirements, available resources, etc., minimal benchmarks are an extremely low bar and there is a large gap between “minimal” and “ideal” benchmarks.  The pages of supplementary information provide additional context to support organizations in defining local goals and benchmarks for “better-than-minimal” records, or using assessment to meet specific benchmarks.

Please note that the metadata quality benchmarks are focused specifically on descriptive metadata field usage and values.  There are other factors that can affect how users interact with digital items -- e.g., the design of digital library interfaces (UI/UX, etc.), technical specifications, administrative metadata, and other factors -- but these are not reflected in the benchmarks.  In some cases we have tried to include resources for organizations that want to consider these additional aspects during local evaluation or benchmarking.


.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: Metadata Benchmarks

   /benchmarks-summary
   /benchmarks-full

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: Supplementary Documentation

   /starting-questions
   /quality-metrics
   /citations

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: About This Project

   /about


`Back to MWG homepage <https://dlfmetadataassessment.github.io/>`_  ||  See this repository `in GitHub <https://github.com/DLFMetadataAssessment/MetadataQualityBenchmarks/>`_



Indices and tables
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* :ref:`genindex`
* :ref:`modindex`
* :ref:`search`