Designing a Child-Centered Metadata Model for Organizing Children's Information Resources: A Meta-Synthesis Study

Purpose: Metadata serves as an intermediary that facilitates the discovery, access, and sharing of resources between users and information. However, the distinct ways in which children think, compared to adults, make the application of existing metadata models challenging for this user group. As users of information systems, children have unique needs and developmental characteristics; factors such as cognitive development, memory, information recall, socio-emotional growth, and physical development shape their interaction with information retrieval systems. Consequently, designing a child-centered metadata model for organizing information resources is essential to enhancing children's access to information. This study aimed to develop a metadata model for organizing information resources from children's perspectives.
Methodology: This study employed a qualitative approach using the seven-step meta-synthesis method proposed by Sandelowski and Barroso. This method was selected to systematically synthesize scattered findings and develop a comprehensive framework for understanding children's cognitive-perceptual dimensions. The research population consisted of relevant articles in three main areas: children's information behavior, the selection of information resources, and child-centered metadata. Valid specialized thesauri were used to identify keywords. The search focused on sources addressing the perspectives of children, parents, educators, and child experts regarding the selection and organization of children's information resources, while sources referring to existing metadata standards were excluded. Following a systematic search of Iranian databases (ISC, IranDoc, Magiran, Normags, SID, Civilica) and International databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Emerald, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Google Scholar), and after applying Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP), 18 articles were selected and coded. Research validity was ensured using the CASP guidelines, and reliability was established through consultation with three experts and auditing by a metadata specialist. A descriptive coding process, in which key concepts were extracted and categorized while preserving the original context of the text, was conducted in three stages under the supervision of two researchers. The calculation of Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ = 0.89) confirmed the reliability and validity of the coding analysis.
Findings: Data analysis resulted in the extraction of 128 initial codes. After merging similar codes, these were organized into 16 main concepts within three categories: (1) Resource-related attributes (including bibliographic information, book cover, storybooks, images, characters, items or entities, physical specifications, genre, series/sequels, and non-fiction), (2) User-related attributes (including emotions, familiarity or prior knowledge, and comprehensibility), and (3) User–resource shared attributes (including novelty, appeal, and complexity). In response to the second research question, since most extracted metadata was descriptive, the child-centered metadata model was developed on the basis of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) and its framework. This model emphasizes the formulation of descriptive elements with a child-centered perspective without imposing predetermined values. Its structure follows an attribute–value pair framework, where the attribute refers to a descriptive feature of the resource (e.g., title) and the value denotes the corresponding data (e.g., book name). The model’s core elements include Name, Definition, Comment, Refinement, and Value Type, some designated as mandatory and others as optional. The grouping of these elements was guided by children’s cognitive criteria. Redundant elements were consolidated under broader categories, and non-operationalizable components were eliminated. Analytically, the proposed model does not encompass the value space of data such as documentation files, subject headings, or specialized children’s thesauri. Addressing children’s cultural, social, and cognitive metadata across diverse information retrieval contexts is essential to refining the model and enhancing children’s access to information.
Conclusion: The final model can serve as a scientific framework for organizing children's resources in libraries and information centers, representing a significant step toward improving information services for this age group. This flexible model supports the use of existing standards, such as subject headings, and, while upholding the principles of standardization, allows for adaptability to diverse needs in the description of children's resources