Metadata Elements of Dublin Core and Those of Central Libraries Websites of Medical Universities in Iran: A Comparative Study

Considering the importance of library websites in the establishment of communication and provision of services for their users, it is crucial to include those features in these websites which can lead to increased dynamism and optimal communication. The present study aimed at comparing Metadata elements of Dublin Core with those of the websites of Central Libraries of Medical Universities in Iran. In this descriptive Survey, 16 websites of the central libraries of medical universities in Iran were evaluated using Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers. The Metadata elements of the HTML pages of these websites were extracted from the Source tab of View menu and were inserted in a checklist. All the websites under study were designed on the basis of the general Markup language rather than Dublin core Metadata elements. It was also found that web designers preferred to focus on the content of the source in the first place followed by its physical appearance and ownership of the ideas, consecutively. Web designers of the central libraries of medical universities in Iran employ Meta tags more than specific Metadata such as those of Dublin Core. Lack of significant difference between ranking of web pages used by Meta tags and general Metadata, confirmed in some studies, could be due to web designers’ reluctance to employ the elements of specific Metadata the equivalents of which are found in Dublin Core.