Where Have All the Collections Gone?: Analysis of OLAC Data Contributors&rsquo; use of DCMIType &lsquo;Collection&rsquo;

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Where Have All the Collections Gone?: Analysis of OLAC Data Contributors' use of DCMIType 'Collection'

May 2022

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Abstract

Language materials, as commonly conceptualized by academics, are resources which specifically exhibit or provide evidence of a naturally spoken language. The modern area of academic practice known as language documentation has its roots in anthropological linguistics but maintains a strong adherence to ideals which call for the archiving of source materials. The purpose for archiving is to benefit the many stakeholders involved in language development activities. Language archives, hosting language resources, have by and large adopted Dublin Core as a metadata standard along with the additional metadata terms of the Open Language Archive Community (OLAC) application profile as described in Bird and Simons (2001, 2003). This study is a first look at how the DCMIType ‘Collection’ is used across aggregated records from language archives. This study finds that current practices of arrangement and description at language resource preservation institutions participating in OLAC do not currently follow archival best practices in arrangement and description as described in frameworks like Describing Archives: A Content Standard including honoring principles like respect des fonds. This has multiple impacts including consequences in web-based navigation and discoverability.

Title

Where Have All the Collections Gone?: Analysis of OLAC Data Contributors’ use of DCMIType ‘Collection’

Type

Conference paper

Publication

In Proceedings of the 15th Annual Society of American Archivists Research Forum

Date

May 2022

Links

PDF Project Project Publisher Page Data set

Citable as

Paterson III, Hugh J. (2022) “Analysis of OLAC Data Contributors’ use of DCMIType ‘Collection’” In the Proceedings of the 15th Annual Society of American Archivists Research Forum. 21 July, 2021.

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Tags: Archive OLAC Metadata DCMIType Collections

Hugh Paterson III

Collaborative Scholar

I specialize in bespoke research at the intersection of Linguistics, Law, Languages, and Technology; specifically utility and life-cycle management for information products in these spaces.