Got Metadata in Your Future? Lessons Learned from Describing a Unique Image Collection

This practical session covers how Clemson University Libraries’ metadata team describes their largest digital collection of historical images. It focuses on what the team has learned from this project thus far. This includes developing workflows and strategies for describing images, creating and using a controlled vocabulary of local headings, and leveraging expertise across the libraries to streamline metadata creation. The team walks through the metadata management tool CollectiveAccess, shares image examples from the collection, and discusses the benefits of metadata documentation. The team concludes with challenges they still face, such as selecting appropriate subject headings, managing entities, and describing images with little to no information