Survey of Ebook Databases with Emphasis on Metadata

With the exponential growth of electronic resources on the Web، the application of metadata has enhanced the precision of retrieval and facilitated the search of electronic resources. Hence، the aim of this study was to determine the metadata in ebook databases. This study is an applied work، which was carried through surveys method. The population consisted of 9 e-books databases، Gale Virtual Reference Library، EBL - Ebook Library، Credo Reference، MyiLibrary،Palgrave Connect، NetLibrary، Ebrary، Dawsonera، Taylor & Francis eBookstore which were selected by a intentional method. Data was collected from the websites using Academic Database Assessment Tool (http: //adat. crl. edu)، which compares databases from different perspectives، through direct observation. The obtained data was analyzed using ‘Excel’ software. Results showed that metadata used in e-books databases، were as follows، Marc metadata (100 percent)، Onix (55. 55 percent)، Dublin Core (11. 11 percent) were and UK Lom was not used in any of the databases. Results suggested that information specialists and database designers apply appropriate metadata in developing ebook databases.