Making and Implementing an Environmental Studies Database for Teacher Librarians: Metadata Education for Teacher Librarians

Abstract

Metadata encodes important knowledge for school library education. This study framed two questions: 1. How are metadata treated in teacher librarian textbooks? 2. What teaching materials are best for teacher librarians’ metadata education? To answer question one, we investigated the regulation of subject and content by Ministry of Education in Japan and we reviewed teacher librarian textbooks. To answer question two, we created an environmental studies database that included geographical metadata, and then surveyed undergraduate students to learn how the database was utilized. In conclusion, we recommend that future studies of metadata examine both how metadata are defined and how metadata are used in particular situations.