User Understanding of Metadata in Digital Image Collections: Or, What Exactly Do You Mean by "Coverage"?

This study looks at the usefulness of Dublin Core metadata in digitized image collections from the user's perspective. Are there elements that users don't find useful? Do users feel useful information is missing? Are labels and elements provided for users arranged in a way that makes sense to them? This paper uses a survey, focus groups, and search/usability testing to gain insight into the kinds of information nonexpert users rely on when searching for images and to identify the vocabulary that best expresses that information.