Our Services

Metadata and discovery

CWA is an expert in metadata. We know how to make offline and online materials discoverable, we understand how to write standards-based schema, create hierarchies, develop thesauri, establish controlled vocabularies and apply these to the items which make up online collections. We also know how to connect to other metadata systems so that we can offer our clients and their audiences a federated search service.

In 1999 we created the very first bilingual metadata-based online portal in New Zealand, adopting the then emerging standard of Dublin Core. Dublin Core is now an integral part of the standard used by all government agencies in New Zealand.

Our Metadata Manager/Cyberlibrarian is widely recognized for her knowledge and practical experience in the field, and is often called upon to provide consultancy to government and private organizations.

We are active participants in the international Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). As an example, we developed the te reo Māori language schema which was made available to the world through this initiative.

To complete the picture, CWA's Metadata Management System (MMS) incorporates the tools, which support the step-by step process that leads to a standards-based, quality assured metadata repository.

metadata /n Data about data

discover /v To notice or learn, especially by making an effort