Back to Basics with Dublin Core

When the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System needed to create a new metadata system they decided to start with a time tested foundation; Dublin Core. The U.S. Central Bank consumes a variety of metadata including metadata that defines collections of data and metadata that describes variable level data. This paper discusses the challenges and advantages of using an international standard. It follows the processes used to create collection level metadata, variable level metadata, and retrofitting existing metadata to make it all usable by economists and financial analysts.