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Metadata Discovery & Access

Photo of Steacie Library with students working at tables, books on shelves in the background and one student walking - used as a header image for the MDA website

The Metadata Discovery and Access Department (MDA) advances knowledge discovery and dissemination by enhancing discovery of the Libraries’ collections and the broader scholarship of York University. The Department provides expertise in knowledge organization and discovery by communicating the core concepts of metadata fundamentals and applying them to research data management and open data principles to the larger university community.

The field of metadata is a constantly evolving and expanding, and the Department is responsible for staying at the forefront by monitoring external developments and changing needs in these areas while integrating new developments to inform workflows, practice, and future strategy for resource discovery, interoperability, and metadata exchange.

In addition to their day-to-day support of research, teaching and learning at York, MDA staff regularly offer workshops in the Digital Scholarship Centre as they inform students, faculty, and researchers about the benefits of metadata, as well as how they can incorporate the latest advancements from the field into their scholarship.