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Libraries continue to spearhead initiatives to incentivize instructors to adopt, adapt, and create open educational resources (OER). However, these programs often do not explicitly require educators to preserve the OER they create. Drawing on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with six experts, this article presents considerations for libraries interested in preserving OER and recommendations for OER librarians who are new to digital preservation. The study makes an argument for why and how libraries could begin to preserve OER. Future areas of investigation include better understanding how OER repositories preserve such resources and how consortia models can support this work.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the nature and sufficiency of descriptive information included in open datasets and the nature of comments and questions users write in relation to specific datasets. Open datasets are provided to facilitate civic engagement and government transparency. However, making the data available does not guarantee usage. This paper examined the nature of context-related information provided together with the datasets and identified the challenges users encounter while using the resources. Design/methodology/approach: The authors extracted descriptive text provided together with (often at the top of) datasets (N = 216) and the nature of questions and comments users post in relation to the dataset. They then segmented text descriptions and user comments into "idea units" and applied open-coding with constant comparison method. This allowed them to come up with thematic issues that descriptions focus on and the challenges users encounter. Findings: Results of the analysis revealed that context-related descriptions are limited and normative. Users are expected to figure out how to use the data. Analysis of user comments/questions revealed four areas of challenge they encounter: organization and accessibility of the data, clarity and completeness, usefulness and accuracy and language (spelling and grammar). Data providers can do more to address these issues. Research limitations/implications: The purpose of the study is to understand the nature of open data provision and suggest ways of making open data more accessible to "non expert users". As such, it is not focused on generalizing about open data provision in various countries as such provision may be different based on jurisdiction. Practical implications: The study provides insight about ways of organizing open dataset that the resource can be accessible by the general public. It also provides suggestions about how open data providers could consider users' perspectives including providing continuous support. Originality/value: Research on open data often focuses on technological, policy and political perspectives. Arguably, this is the first study on analysis of context-related information in open-datasets. Datasets do not "speak for themselves" because they require context for analysis and interpretation. Understanding the nature of context-related information in open dataset is original idea.

In this article, the author discusses "CanCore," a learning resource metadata initiative funded by Industry Canada and supported by Athabasca University, Alberta, and TeleUniversite du Quebec, and describes the increasing range of international uses of the "CanCore" metadata for the indexing of learning objects. "CanCore" is designed to facilitate the indexing of online educational resources or Learning Objects (LO), by assisting project implementers and catalogers in the development of high-quality systems and indexing based on the IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) standard. Other implementations of "CanCore" have been undertaken in a wide range of projects and educational contexts. This article provides a list of some of these projects, products and organizations, and their respective websites. In each case, a brief indication is provided of how the initiative has used "CanCore."

A brief review shows several suggested ways in which cultural historical activity theory has proved valuable to technology supported learning environments. Three of our own design cases are then described (evaluating a peer to peer interface for learning objects, designing an on-line school, and rethinking a public science centre). These are discussed to illustrate the approach and finally this is reviewed for potential re-use.

Successfully providing access to special collections of digital geospatial data in academic libraries relies upon complete and accurate metadata. Creating and maintaining metadata using specialized standards is a formidable challenge for libraries. The Ontario Council of University Libraries' Scholars GeoPortal project, which created a shared geospatial data infrastructure, involved centrally curating metadata for shared geospatial data collections, using a collaborative and cost-effective consortial model. This article presents the background and findings of the Scholars GeoPortal project. Through the development of advanced library systems and expertise, libraries in Ontario have improved discovery and access to geospatial data for researchers.

Today's technology-enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for Intelligent Learning Environments (ILEs) in particular, is related to the ability of leveraging these new paradigms for creating, maintaining and sharing the knowledge that these systems embed. This will enable ILEs to benefit from shared information from disparate systems, which is related to learning content and student activities, so that the overall complexity of system development and maintenance would be reduced while at the same time improving the capability of personalization, context-awareness, and interaction. In this article, we investigate how the Social Semantic Web can be leveraged for enabling and easing this process. We first analyze each module of a typical ILE, showing how it can benefit from the Social Semantic Web paradigm and then proceed to investigate how this new paradigm can be leveraged for increasing interactivity level of ILEs. (Contains 1 figure, 7 tables, and 2 notes.)

This paper compares the subject indexing on articles pertaining to Immanuel Kant, agriculture, and aging that are found simultaneously in Humanities Index, Academic Search Elite (EBSCO) and Periodicals Research II (Micromedia ProQuest), in order to show that there are substantial variations in the depth and quality of indexing in these databases. Libraries that are considering a subscription to a database should pay careful attention to the depth and quality of indexing in making their decisions.

Learning object repositories and evaluation tools have the potential to serve as sites for interaction among different cultures and communities of practice. This article outlines Web-based learning object evaluation tools that we have developed, describes our current efforts to extend those tools to a wider range of user communities, and considers methods for fostering interaction among user communities. We discuss the recommendation of objects across community boundaries and approaches to mapping between languages, ontologies, and work practices.

The use of contextual information about the creators and users of archival and manuscript resources has always been a critical method for discovering and providing access to them. Traditionally, this information has been unstructured and ephemeral, being part of the knowledge that experienced staff bring to reference queries. The development of Encoded Archival Context provides a methodology and structure for recording this information about the characteristics of creators and the circumstances of creation more explicitly and in ways that it can be used to support discovery of archival and manuscript sources. (Contains 13 notes.)

These six articles discuss collection level descriptions. Highlights include cross-domain issues; archive standards and automation issues; museum considerations, including metadata and Web pages, based on the Canadian Heritage Information Network; data standards for directories; electronic libraries in the United Kingdom; and the Research Libraries Support Program (RLSP). (LRW)

Exam period can be a stressful time for students, and having examples of past papers to help prepare for the tests can be extremely helpful. It is possible that past exams are already shared on your campus--by professors in their specific courses, via student unions or groups, or between individual students. In this article, we will go over the workflows and infrastructure to support the systematic collection, provision of access to, and repository management of past exam papers. We will discuss platform-agnostic considerations of opt-in versus opt-out submission, access restriction, discovery, retention schedules, and more. Finally, we will share the University of Toronto setup, including a dedicated instance of DSpace, batch metadata creation and ingest scripts, and our submission and retention workflows that take into account the varying needs of stakeholders across our three campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How aggregators reconcile repositories' user-supplied subject keywords is a growing challenge in the metadata profession. While aggregators allow users to search across multiple databases to find information, the search capability is only as good as the supplied metadata. This paper is a case study of a project to reconcile harvested metadata keywords within a research data discovery service. The Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) Discovery Service is a national, bilingual platform for discovering Canadian research data that harvests metadata from over 90 repositories. This paper outlines the work of a cross-Canada, volunteer group of experts who attempted to develop a semi-automated workflow to map the FRDR subject keywords to Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) to improve discoverability. The authors, who were members of the working group, discuss why the project failed, the problems encountered, and their thoughts on the future of automated metadata reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines decolonization efforts at the Indigenous Authors Collection at the University of Calgary in Canada. The 47-book collection is an example of a decolonization attempt by the University, which aligns with the institution's Indigenous strategy. This project enhanced the Indigenous collection by adding Canadian authors and providing culturally appropriate metadata to increase visibility and access in the library's catalogue. The authors discuss the problems they faced with current metadata standards not allowing the use of special characters, enhancements made, and the implications of cataloguing policies and workflow for other collections. The authors also demonstrate how users view and access their changes and show new ways that users can interact with the collection. They also explore future possibilities that linked data practices offer to display enhanced author information from local authorities and broaden the collection's reach even further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments can use social media platforms such as Twitter to disseminate health information to the public, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic [Pershad (2018)]. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of Canadian government and public health officials' use of Twitter as a dissemination platform during the pandemic and to explore the public's engagement with and sentiment towards these messages. We examined the account data of 93 Canadian public health and government officials during the first wave of the pandemic in Canada (December 31, 2019 August 31, 2020). Our objectives were to: 1) determine the engagement rates of the public with Canadian federal and provincial/territorial governments and public health officials' Twitter posts; 2) conduct a hashtag trend analysis to explore the Canadian public's discourse related to the pandemic during this period; 3) provide insights on the public's reaction to Canadian authorities' tweets through sentiment analysis. To address these objectives, we extracted Twitter posts, replies, and associated metadata available during the study period in both English and French. Our results show that the public demonstrated increased engagement with federal officials' Twitter accounts as compared to provincial/territorial accounts. For the hashtag trends analysis of the public discourse during the first wave of the pandemic, we observed a topic shift in the Canadian public discourse over time between the period prior to the first wave and the first wave of the pandemic. Additionally, we identified 11 sentiments expressed by the public when reacting to Canadian authorities' tweets. This study illustrates the potential to leverage social media to understand public discourse during a pandemic. We suggest that routine analyses of such data by governments can provide governments and public health officials with real-time data on public sentiments during a public health emergency. These data can be used to better disseminate key messages to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stamp collectors frequently donate their stamps to cultural heritage institutions. As digitization becomes more prevalent for other kinds of materials, it is worth exploring how cultural heritage institutions are digitizing their philatelic materials. This paper begins with a review of the literature about the purpose of metadata, current metadata standards, and metadata that are relevant to philatelists. The paper then examines the digital philatelic collections of four large cultural heritage institutions, discussing the metadata standards and elements employed by these institutions. The paper concludes with a recommendation to create international standards that describe metadata management explicitly for philatelic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author addresses on the need for metadata training in Canadian library technician programs. Topics discussed include Canadian schools that offer library technician programs like MacEwan University, Langara College and Nova Scotia Community College, library technician programs associated with metadata like Cataloguing III and Introduction to Metadata and Metadata Applications, and the need for coursework centered on metadata standards and basic skills for metadata manipulation.

Water science data are a valuable asset that both underpins the original research project and bolsters new research questions, particularly in view of the increasingly complex water issues facing Canada and the world. Whilst there is general support for making data more broadly accessible, and a number of water science journals and funding agencies have adopted policies that require researchers to share data in accordance with the findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable (FAIR) principles, there are still questions about effective management of data to protect their usefulness over time. Incorporating data management practices and standards at the outset of a water science research project will enable researchers to efficiently locate, analyse and use data throughout the project lifecycle, and will ensure the data maintain their value after the project has ended. Here, some common misconceptions about data management are highlighted, along with insights and practical advice to assist established and early career water science researchers as they integrate data management best practices and tools into their research. Freely available tools and training opportunities made available in Canada through Global Water Futures, The Gordon Foundation DataStream, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada Portage Network, Compute Canada, and university libraries, among others are compiled. These include webinars, training videos, and individual support for the water science community that together enable researchers to protect their data assets and meet the expectations of journals and funders. The perspectives shared here have been developed as part of the Global Water Futures programme's efforts to improve data management and promote the use of common data practices and standards in the context of water science in Canada. Ten best practices are proposed that may be broadly applicable to other disciplines in the natural sciences and can be adopted and adapted globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-reported data and media suggest youth mental health is declining. To more objectively measure this, we conducted a population-wide investigation of changes in diagnosed point prevalences of anxiety/depression among children and young adults between 1997 and 2017 in Ontario, Canada.Methods: All Ontarians (population approximately 14 million) age 5-25 in each index year were included and grouped as follows: 5-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25. As the Canadian medical system is public and universal, all diagnoses can be tracked via billing submissions. The outcome of interest was non-psychotic anxiety/depression diagnosed by any physician in any setting. Using regression analyses, cross-sectional administrative (billing) data for 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 for diagnoses of anxiety/depression were linked to indicators of sex, household income, rurality, and immigrant/refugee status.Outcomes: Point prevalence of anxiety/depression diagnoses increased with age (girls 2·1 to 16·9%, boys 2·9 to 10·6%), particularly from age 11 to 20. Rates, overall, remained stable until 2012 then rose among 11-15 and 16-20 year-olds. This pattern varied by sex. An earlier inverse association with rural residency disappeared by 2017, while immigrant status aligned increasingly with absence of diagnosed anxiety/depression. Lowest household income quintile was associated with higher prevalence of diagnoses.Limitations: Cross-sectional data preclude hypothesising about causes of observed shifts.Conclusion: We found no overall upsurge in youth anxiety/depression, although small increments between 2012 and 2017, and variability with sociodemographic characteristics suggest a possible looming trend and the merit of studying concomitant and potential explanatory shifts in social circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metadata in most existing building automation systems (BASs) is inconsistent, incomplete, and nondescriptive. This situation is a major obstacle to the widespread use of data analytics to improve the operation of buildings. In this article, we put forward a method to infer zone-level metadata from features derived from BAS data. The method includes two steps: 1) classification of BAS points into different types (e.g., indoor temperature, indoor temperature set point, airflow, airflow set point, damper position, and radiator valve position) and 2) association of BAS points based on their functional relationships (i.e., grouping the sensors, actuators, and set points of each zone together). The metadata inference method was demonstrated with data from zones served by four different air handling units (AHUs) in two office buildings in Ottawa, ON, Canada. The results from this case study indicate that common zone-level BAS point types can be accurately classified and associated even in the absence of intuitive data labels. Note to Practitioners—This article was motivated by the problem of metadata normalization in existing buildings, in order to scale up the application of smart building solutions in the real world. Existing metadata normalization approaches mainly focused on inferring the point types of the metadata with both semantic (label) and numerical information (time series readings). In this article, we put forward a method to infer zone-level metadata with numerical information only. Methods for both types of classification and relationships’ association of the BAS points are investigated. The results from two office buildings indicate that the classification phase can achieve an average of 90% accuracy, while the association phase can obtain an average of 85% accuracy. The method was developed and demonstrated with a limited data set by using data exclusively from zone-level sensors, actuators, and set points. Future work is planned to extend the proposed method to more comprehensive BAS data sets with the system- and plant-level data as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current metadata schema, internet search engines and databases of scientific literature have an Anglo-American language and cultural bias. While it is possible to catalogue or index non-English, non-Latin script publications and achieve some degree of success in the retrieval of such information, librarians and researchers are often disappointed by inconsistencies in the accuracy of search results for this type of publication and frustrated by the limitations created by the biases embedded in the technology and schema. This paper is the result of a two-year dialog between a Farsi-speaking medical librarian in Iran and an English-speaking metadata librarian in Canada. They present the argument that a metadata schema which incorporates graphical images such as Emoji along with keyword indexing or a controlled vocabulary and new search engines which can make use of the new schema for Boolean searching is a robust potential solution for the difficulties they discussed. While this new information seeking environment that requires both the edition of a graphical facet to metadata schema and new search engines presents the potential to break down significant intercultural barriers, the authors recognize that this undertaking is more than a simple technological or procedural change but would require significant agreement between and work from librarians, standards bodies and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for approximately 30% of lymphoma cases in Canada. Although most patients will achieve a cure, up to 40% will experience refractory disease after initial treatment, or relapse after a period of remission. In eligible patients, salvage therapy followed by high-dose therapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) is the standard of care. However, many patients are transplant-ineligible, and more than half of those undergoing asct will subsequently relapse. For those patients, outcomes are dismal, and novel treatment approaches are a critical unmet need. In this paper, we present available data about emerging treatment approaches in the latter setting and provide a perspective about the potential use of those approaches in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data presented in 29 papers published in the Biota of Canada Special Issue of ZooKeys and data provided herein about Zygentoma, more than 44,100 described species of terrestrial arthropods (Arachnida, Myriapoda, Insecta, Entognatha) are now known from Canada. This represents more than a 34% increase in the number of described species reported 40 years ago (Danks 1979a). The most speciose groups are Diptera (9620 spp.), Hymenoptera (8757), and Coleoptera (8302). Less than 5% of the fauna has a natural Holarctic distribution and an additional 5.1% are non-native species. A conservatively estimated 27,000-42,600 additional species are expected to be eventually discovered in Canada, meaning that the total national species richness is ca. 71,100-86,700 and that currently 51-62% of the fauna is known. Of the most diverse groups, those that are least known, in terms of percent of the Canadian fauna that is documented, are Acari (31%), Thysanoptera (37%), Hymenoptera (46%), and Diptera (32-65%). All groups but Pauropoda have DNA barcodes based on Canadian material. More than 75,600 Barcode Index Numbers have been assigned to Canadian terrestrial arthropods, 63.5% of which are Diptera and Hymenoptera. Much work remains before the Canadian fauna is fully documented, and this will require decades to achieve. In particular, greater and more strategic investment in surveys and taxonomy (including DNA barcoding) is needed to adequately document the fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information (iSchool) and the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) partnered in the development of the Toronto Academic Libraries Internship (TALint) program. Focused on workplace-integrated learning, the TALint program provides enhanced educational experiences for Masters of Information students by combining periods of in-class study with actual workplace experiences. With this year's TALint cohort in UTL's Metadata Technologies Unit, the NASIG Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians was used as a framework for student training. In this session, we discuss the development of a comprehensive student training plan in electronic resource management, the key benefits of using the NASIG Core Competencies within the TALint program, student perceptions of competency-based training, and we outline future directions for the TALint program within the Metadata Technologies Unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although established as an important contributor to pig health and performance, high diversity and variability of the microbiome has challenged identification of a beneficial community composition that could inform best management practice and gut modifier development. To address this challenge, rectal swabs were collected at intervals from near birth to one-week postweaning from 4 piglets in 10 litters from 13 conventional and 9 RWA barns across Canada. The 16S rRNA gene was sequenced in 1,997 fecal samples collected at ~4 days of age (4d), 1 day before weaning (W-1), and 7 days after weaning (W+7), piglets were also weighed at the time of sampling. Raw sequences were denoised and assigned to genera using DADA2. After quality control and filtering there was an average of 32,710 reads per sample, with 649 genera identified in the samples. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) plots were created using the vegan and phyloseq packages (cao model and MDS settings). Relationships between metadata factors and the microbiome were investigated using PERMANOVA analysis in the adonis2 package. In PCoA plots samples clustered by production stage, with an expected marked change of the bacterial community following weaning. Because production stage had a large effect on the microbiome the effects of metadata factors were investigated within sampling visit. Metadata factors investigated included farrowing pen (FP) location at the 4 d-old sampling, barn and rearing system [conventional versus raised without antibiotics (RWA)] and the lifetime health (LH) status including always healthy, received a health score 1 or greater at any one visit or did not complete the study. At ~4 d of age, PERMANOVA indicated that all these factors were significantly linked to the microbiome composition (P = 0.001), FP explained the most microbiome variation (R2 = 0.338), followed by barn (R2 = 0.217). Rearing system and LH explained much less of the variation, R2 = 0.009 and R2 = 0.005, respectively. At W-1, the microbiome was not significantly correlated to LH (P = 0.053); however, the other metadata factors were significant (P = 0.001) with similar R2 values to the previous timepoint (FP; R2 = 0.317, barn R2 = 0.210, and system R2 = 0.008). At W+7 all metadata factors were once again significant (P < 0.005). The correlation to FP had reduced to R2 = 0.245, cohort increased to R2 = 0.266, system effects doubled to R2 = 0.21, and LH remained very low at R2 = 0.006. However, interactions between LH and FP (R2 = 0.059) and system and LH (R2=0.003) were also observed. These results suggest that farrowing pen has a significant and lasting effect on the microbiome. The effect of being raised RWA or conventionally was very small in preweaning piglets, but that affect increased post weaning. The immediate environment early in life appears to have a large effect on piglet microbiomes and may present an opportunity for beneficial intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on strategies adopted by the University of Toronto Libraries for promoting digital primary source collections. Topics discussed include creation of conditions needed for knowledge sharing about digital primary source collections; promoting information resources to library users; and challenges faced by the Library in successful promotion of digital primary source collections such as metadata. It also mentions about making plans for library marketing.

Motivation: Improving the dissemination of information on existing epidemiological studies and facilitating the interoperability of study databases are essential to maximizing the use of resources and accelerating improvements in health. To address this, Maelstrom Research proposes Opal and Mica, two inter-operable open-source software packages providing out-of-the-box solutions for epidemiological data management, harmonization and dissemination.Implementation: Opal and Mica are two standalone but inter-operable web applications written in Java, JavaScript and PHP. They provide web services and modern user interfaces to access them.General features: Opal allows users to import, manage, annotate and harmonize study data. Mica is used to build searchable web portals disseminating study and variable metadata. When used conjointly, Mica users can securely query and retrieve summary statistics on geographically dispersed Opal servers in real-time. Integration with the DataSHIELD approach allows conducting more complex federated analyses involving statistical models.Availability: Opal and Mica are open-source and freely available at [www.obiba.org] under a General Public License (GPL) version 3, and the metadata models and taxonomies that accompany them are available under a Creative Commons licence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on international serials and electronic resource management which includes library schools, continuing education and library-orientated organizations. The article also discusses the awards and grants given by EBSCO Information Services and the recommendations provided by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

Open Access publishing continues to grow, and it has profound implications for librarians in a variety of contexts. This report serves two functions. It provides background on Open Access publication of scholarly journals and the role of academic libraries in this movement. In particular, it examines the University of Lethbridge Journal Incubator as an example of library involvement in Open Access publication. The report also examines how hybrid journals, in an attempt to provide Open Access publication options in traditional subscription journals, have introduced a new discovery and access problem for libraries. While standards bodies have begun to address the problem, there are still many challenges when accessing open content in hybrid journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a preliminary report on the work of the Canadian Linked Data Initiative (CLDI), a collaboration between five of Canada’s largest research libraries, Library and Archives Canada, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and Canadiana.org. Although still in its nascent stage, participating institutions are working together to advance the technical services divisions of our libraries in the area of linked data. Project working groups are making progress in five main areas: grant funding, digital collections, education and training, legacy metadata enhancement, and in the evaluation and adaptation of Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative tools. By working across geographic and institutional boundaries, the CLDI aims to chart a path to a new age of technical services, one based on the foundation of Linked Open Data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For e-resource librarians, maintaining e-book and e-journal holdings within electronic resource management systems is a labor intensive and often manual process. In 2014, with the aim of saving library staff valuable time and effort, the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) launched a service to provide automated holdings management within the WorldCat knowledgebase. For a select group of content providers, including some of the largest e-book aggregators, holdings information can be populated and updated automatically within the knowledgebase without intervention from library staff. At the University of Toronto Libraries, we conducted a study to assess the accuracy and efficiency of these automated holdings management services. This presentation outlines the results of the study and provides suggestions for further improvement to the current services offered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pathogen genomics is a critical tool for public health surveillance, infection control, outbreak investigations as well as research. In order to make use of pathogen genomics data, they must be interpreted using contextual data (metadata). Contextual data include sample metadata, laboratory methods, patient demographics, clinical outcomes and epidemiological information. However, the variability in how contextual information is captured by different authorities and how it is encoded in different databases poses challenges for data interpretation, integration and their use/re-use. The DataHarmonizer is a template-driven spreadsheet application for harmonizing, validating and transforming genomics contextual data into submission-ready formats for public or private repositories. The tool's web browser-based JavaScript environment enables validation and its offline functionality and local installation increases data security. The DataHarmonizer was developed to address the data sharing needs that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was used by members of the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) to harmonize SARS-CoV-2 contextual data for national surveillance and for public repository submission. In order to support coordination of international surveillance efforts, we have partnered with the Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology to also provide a template conforming to its SARS-CoV-2 contextual data specification for use worldwide. Templates are also being developed for One Health and foodborne pathogens. Overall, the DataHarmonizer tool improves the effectiveness and fidelity of contextual data capture as well as its subsequent usability. Harmonization of contextual information across authorities, platforms and systems globally improves interoperability and reusability of data for concerted public health and research initiatives to fight the current pandemic and future public health emergencies. While initially developed for the COVID-19 pandemic, its expansion to other data management applications and pathogens is already underway.

As electronic serials have shifted from being the exception to the norm, libraries are becoming increasingly reliant on knowledge base-driven systems to help manage electronic serial holdings. In 2011, the University of Toronto Libraries migrated its electronic resource holdings from a local database to a commercial electronic resource management (ERM) system. With two years of experience using a commercial ERM system, the presenters endeavored to analyze how the library is coping with e-serial management within this new environment. This study reveals many of the benefits and pitfalls of managing electronic journals within a knowledge base–driven system and highlights the need for greater standardization within the data supply chain, better communication with publishers and knowledge base providers, and increased collaboration to improve the e-resource management process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MIxS (Minimum Information about any Sequence) (Yilmaz et al. 2011) is a metadata standard of the Genomics Standards Consortium (GSC), designed to make sequence data findable, accessible, and interoperable. It contains fields for recording physical and chemical characteristics of the sampling environment, geographical and habitat information, and other metadata about the sample and its provenance, which are critical for downstream intepretation of data derived from the sample. We will present our experience implementing MIxS in two metagenomic information systems -- the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP) and the Government of Canada (GoC) Ecobiomics project. The EMP (Gilbert et al. 2014) is an ongoing effort to crowdsource environmental microbiome samples from around Earth, then sequence and analyze them using a standardized workflow. The EMP has aggregated and sequenced over 50,000 samples, which are queryable using a publicly available catalogue. A meta-analysis of the first 25,000 samples is currently in review. MIxS and the Environment Ontology (ENVO) (Buttigieg et al. 2016) have been useful in structuring environmental metadata from EMP studies. For the particular application of the EMP meta-analysis, however, several issues were encountered: often there are multiple possible 'correct' assignments to the biome, feature, and material fields; the fields are not hierarchical, limiting logical organization; and the primary ecological factors differentiating microbial communites are not captured. In response to these challenges, the EMP team worked with the ENVO team to devise a new hierarchical structure, the EMP ontology (EMPO), that captures the primary axes along which microbial communities tend to be structured (host-associated or not, saline or not). EMPO is an application ontology, with a formally defined W3C Web Ontology Language (OWL) document mapping to existing ontologies, enabling reuse by the microbial ecology community. Ecobiomics is a joint project of multiple GoC departments and involves the complete workflow, from sampling in a variety of aquatic, soil, and benthic environments, through sample prep, DNA extraction, library prep, sequencing, and analysis. In contrast to the EMP--where some of the samples and metadata had been collected before the establishment of the MIxS standards--the Ecobiomics project has been able to create metadata profiles for each sub-project to conform to, extend, and build, upon the existing MIxS standards. Despite these two different contexts, EMP and Ecobiomics encountered a number of common issues that prevented a complete implementation of MIxS. These issues include ambiguous term names and definitions; inconsistencies amongst the environmental packages; non-standard ways of dealing with units; and a number of issues surrounding ENVO (the Environment Ontology), which is required for filling out the mandatory MIxS fields "Environmental material", "Biome", and "Environmental feature". We will describe these issues, and, more generally, the successes and challenges of our implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's ocean science community which includes the federal government, academia, small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and other research partners, collect and synthesize physical, chemical and biological ocean observations. This information is used for discovery research purposes, to model ocean changes and provide environmental assessment advice, support resource management decision-making, and establish baseline data for long-term monitoring. Canada's ocean community collects large amounts of data but, aside from building comprehensive ocean observatories (Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) et al. 2010), there is no easy mechanism to integrate data from various sources to allow the exploration of interrelationships among variables, and no coordination and collaboration mechanism for the ocean community as a whole to generate an efficient system (Ocean Science and Technology Partnership (OSTP) and for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) 2011). Consequently, we observe fragmented and isolated data -- which may never be used outside of a specific project because it is not discoverable by other potential end users. Canada's ocean science community (Wallace et al. 2014), led and supported by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), is advancing the development of a Canadian Integrated Ocean Observation System (CIOOS) that brings together and leverages existing Canadian and international ocean observation data into a federated data system which will generate value for users. This integrated ocean observing system (Wilson et al. 2016) will improve coordination and collaboration among diverse data producers, improve access to information for decision making, and enable discovery and access to data to support a wide variety of applied and theoretical research efforts to better understand, monitor, and manage activities in Canada's oceans. Conceptual discussions on CIOOS have taken place with Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Department of National Defence, DFO, and the academic and NGO sector. Work is underway on four closely-linked projects to move CIOOS from the concept stage to the design stage, covering key areas required to develop a robust and integrated observing system: 1. Governance; 2. Data and observations; 3. Cyber Infrastructure; and, 4. Visualization tools. The project teams are evaluating the current ocean observing landscape in Canada (what exists, who has it, and what state is it in), the standards followed, and the gaps, limits or barriers to setting up an integrated ocean observing system. From this they will develop a list of recommendations to support the implementation of CIOOS, which will include which standards to use, the resources required (FTE, capital investment, capabilities), and the best practices to follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Polar Data Catalogue (PDC) is a growing Canadian archive and public access portal for Arctic and Antarctic research and monitoring data. In partnership with a variety of Canadian and international multi-sector research programs, the PDC encompasses the natural, social, and health sciences. From its inception, the PDC has adopted international standards and best practices to provide a robust infrastructure for reliable security, storage, discoverability, and access to Canada's polar data and metadata. Current efforts focus on developing new partnerships and incentives for data archiving and sharing and on expanding connections to other data centres through metadata interoperability protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives -- This study examines the use of print and electronic collections both before and after implementation of Summon at the University of Manitoba Libraries. Summon is a web-scale discovery service which allows discovery of all of the materials the library owns or has access to from a simple search box on the library's web page. Methods -- COUNTER statistics were used to determine database, e-journal, and e-book statistics, including database search statistics (DR1) from the COUNTER Database Report 1, full-text article downloads from the COUNTER Journal Report 1 (JR1), and successful section search requests from the COUNTER Book Report 2 (BR2) for electronic resources. Sirsi, the University of Manitoba's integrated library system, provided statistics on checkouts for the libraries' circulating print monograph and serial collections. The percentage change from the pre-Summon implementation period to the post-Summon implementation period was calculated and these numbers were used to determine whether usage had increased or decreased for both print and electronic collections. Results -- As expected, searches in citation databases decreased because searches were no longer being carried out in the native database as the metadata from the database is included in Summon. E-journal usage increased dramatically and e-book usage also increased for four of six providers examined. Print usage decreased, but the results were inconclusive. Conclusions -- Summon implementation had a favourable impact on collection usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A hybrid model based on 3D deterministic Toutin’s model developed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing and taking full advantages of the image metadata was used to geometrically process WorldView-1 and -2 stereo images without in situ ground control points (GCPs) collection. Elevations were thus extracted and compared to 0.2-m accurate lidar elevation data to see the impact of no-GCP. Elevations linear errors with 68% confidence level (LE68) computed over bare surfaces were 2.6m and 2.1m for WorldView-1 and -2, respectively with small biases. The not-significant difference in LE68 (around 10–20cm), when compared to the solution using accurate GCPs, will offer strong advantages of no-control collection in operational conditions, mainly in remote and harsh environments or when cartographic or ground control data do not exist. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the advantages of using mezzanine files in managing and digitizing audiovisual materials. It cites the move of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) to create an audiovisual digitization plan to preserve its archival collections, which were made up of 12,963 titles on films and videos dating back to 1939, by using mezzanine file with metadata. It notes that the technique has enabled NFB to implement dynamic digitization and accessibility solution for its project.

The accuracy of the Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) produced over the past was based on the accuracy of the sources used for their creation (elevation extracted form contour lines or provincial data exchange). No means to characterize the absolute vertical precision was available, particularly in remote areas. A new production of CDED in the North is currently carried out by the Centre for Topographic Information, Natural Resources Canada with the support of the Canadian Space Agency. Approximately 1,500 new data sets are being produced. Altimetric data is partly acquired with the European Remote Sensing satellite (ERs) by interferometry (70 percent) and partly by stereo-compilation with aerial photography (30 percent). The assessment of the absolute altimetric accuracy of the CDED5 themselves as opposed from the sources is required. ICESAT lidar data gives us such an opportunity. The results obtained on the first CDED data sets produced with ERS interferometry are very promising. Accuracy for a group of 21 CDED is in the order of 0.34 m ± 6.22 m, i.e., 10 m at 90 percent confidence level. Accuracy is recorded in the metadata of each data set and is freely available on the GEOBASE portal (http://www.geobase.co/). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the broad definition of metadata is 'data about data' or 'data that describe data or information'. In more specific terms, 'metadata is data about other data or objects, used to describe digitized and non-digitized resources located in a distributed system in a network environment' (Haynes, D, p 8). In e-Government applications it may be used, amongst other for the discovery and retrieval of government information, as well as to assist in the management of government electronic resources. In other words, metadata is the key to interoperability. This paper aims to highlight the use of metadata in e-Government projects with a review of the most widely metadata standard used in e-Government application (DC). Also, it will compare the work which has been carried out in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland with DC, as all these metadata projects are based on simple Dublin Core metadata. Finally, roadmap for metadata development will be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadiana.org is a new independent, non-profit, alliance of partners, including Library and Archives Canada, from all parts of Canada's cultural, heritage, research, broadcasting and publishing communities, chartered to raise funds, receive donations and grants and to act as the overall coordinator and facilitator for digitization initiatives and related enduring access services and preservation infrastructures. Working with Library and Archives Canada under the framework of the Canadian Digital Information Strategy, Canadiana.org has a 'master plan' to facilitate a coherent national digital information strategy. The community has developed a bilingual metadata toolkit to suit most types of material as an option for those who need it. The community also supports a powerful bilingual public access Indexing and Discovery Portal system (right now branded AlouetteCanada) to enhance the searching and discovery of local digital collections of all types across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI) is a research project in the social sciences and humanities in Canada that involves seven universities and partnerships with several public- and private-sector institutions. The goal of the project is to create a research infrastructure centered oil microdata from the 1911-1951 decennial Canadian censuses, accompanied by metadata and extensive contextual data. The result will provide a new foundation for the study of change in Canada in the first half of the 20th century. This paper will describe the research infrastructure that is being created, and explain how the CCRI defines metadata and contextual data, and why it is of interest to social science researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metadata application profile identifies the metadata elements used in a particular domain or application and describes how they have been customized for that use. A metadata application profile facilitates information exchange and element re-use. In practice, the development and use of metadata application profiles present a number of challenges. This paper investigates these issues by examining the definition and function of a metadata application profile, interoperability challenges, and the evolution of thinking about metadata elements, element sets, and application profiles. The authors draw on their experience in the Government of Canada to discuss these issues and suggest rections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]