The CIC metadata portal: A collaborative effort in the area of digital libraries

Abstract

The CIC consortium includes 12 major Midwestern Universities. Their libraries have decided to share the cost of a joint project (2003-2006) aimed at better understanding the mechanisms by which emerging technologies and standards can facilitate metadata sharing and the creation of value-added services for their users. The CIC metadata portal project has performed advanced work in the area of Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, collection level descriptions, metadata transformation and enrichment, and practices and usability of metadata standards. It has provided an opportunity for increased collaboration between CIC academic libraries and a way to highlight the wealth of digital resources held by the participating libraries. This article describes the project and enumerates project accomplishments. The project has helped to better the way in which partner institutions share information about digital content and provide access to digital resources. Four content providers of the project highlight different aspects of the project and the practical benefits they found in the collaboration.