Editing OLAC

{{distinguish|text=OLAC, the association of [[Online Audiovisual Catalogers]]}}

'''OLAC''', the '''Open Language Archives Community''', is an initiative to create a unified means of searching online databases of language resources for [[linguistics|linguistic]] research. The information about resources is stored in [[XML]] format for easy searching. OLAC was founded in 2000, and is hosted at the [[Linguistic Data Consortium]] webserver at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].

OLAC advises on best practices in language archiving, and works to promote interoperation between language archives.

== Metadata ==
The OLAC metadata set is based on the complete set of [[Dublin Core]] metadata terms DCMT, but the format allows for the use of extensions to express community-specific qualifiers. It is often contrasted to [[IMDI]] (ISLE Metadata Initiative).

=== Attributes ===
The OLAC metadata is based on five primary attributes, ''refine, code, scheme, lang,'' and ''langs'', although the last attribute is only for completed metadata sets.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=OLAC Metadata Set|url=http://www.language-archives.org/OLAC/olacms.html#Attributes|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.language-archives.org}}</ref>  Each attribute serves a different function and is applicable in a different section of the metadata. 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Table 1: Attributes and Their Functions
!Attribute
!Function
|-
|Refine
|qualifying the meaning of certain elements, reducing the element to a "particular controlled vocabulary or notation"<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bird|first1=Steven|last2=Simons|first2=Gary|date=2001|title=The OLAC Metadata Set and Controlled Vocabularies|url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W01-1506|journal=ACL Anthology|volume=Proceedings of the ACL 2001 Workshop on Sharing Tools and Resources|arxiv=cs/0105030|bibcode=2001cs........5030B}}</ref>
|-
|Code
|"holding metadata values from a specific encoding scheme"<ref name=":0" />
|-
|Scheme
|standardizes how "the text in the content of the element will be encoded"<ref name=":0" />
|-
|Lang
|provides the name of the language that is in the text<ref name=":0" />
|-
|Langs
|provides the name of the language that "the metadata record is designed to be read" in<ref name=":0" />
|}

=== Elements ===
There are currently 23 different elements that OLAC lists on its metadata page. Elements may be used more than once, and not every element is required in a metadata submission.  Each element's entry on the official OLAC page includes the name of the element, its function, notes on its usage, and examples of its coding.<ref name=":0" />

In addition, OLAC provides a list of metadata extensions to augment descriptions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Recommended metadata extensions|url=http://www.language-archives.org/REC/olac-extensions.html|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.language-archives.org}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.language-archives.org/ Official website] (and [http://olac.ldc.upenn.edu/ alternative server])
* [http://search.language-archives.org/ Search OLAC]

[[Category:Linguistics organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 2000]]


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