The starting point for selecting core metadata requirements is the analysis of uses of the national bibliography since use is only possible if appropriate metadata are available. Users will inevitably have different needs relating to standard functions, such as find, and may even have unique requirements. National bibliographic agencies should avoid creating metadata of specific use solely to individual users although they may offer a facility for users to assign their own tags or annotations.

Analysis of user requirements should go beyond requirements for resource discovery as articulated by FRBR but should also take account of requirements for:

Publishing activities, such as:

  • Rights management
  • Market research

Library functions, such as:

  • Collection management
  • Derived cataloguing
  • Data management

Some data elements required to support these functions are not normally considered to be in scope for resource description. It is not recommended that NBAs should create this information but instead, where possible, NBA’s are encouraged to link to trade sources and to reuse metadata created by other agencies.