Multilevel and graphical views of metadata

Digital libraries help users to search for, evaluate and retrieve information. Metadata is indispensable in this process of locating information and evaluating its fitness for specific uses. This paper describes a multilevel organization and presentation of metadata for spatial information in digital libraries. It is proposed that a single organization of metadata within the context of large distributed heterogeneous (text, image, video, audio, etc.) collections is inadequate. The organization of metadata should change, depending upon the purpose for which it is being used and the state of an information-seeking task. We argue for at least a three-level organization of metadata and graphical presentation of metadata for digital library users. The Content Standard for Geospatial Metadata provides a foundation for this approach