Our latest schema update 5.4.0 is now available and we’ve commenced work on the next update, which will include adding support for the CRediT vocabulary to contributor roles, and making contrib. roles repeatable. I’d like to potentially fold some other contributor-centric changes into this update, but want to make sure these changes meet everyone’s needs.
Please comment directly in the linked document, or leave comments below with any feedback or questions:
Hello,
I am a music librarian, researcher, and metadata specialist from Poland. I work with bibliographic metadata, especially MARC 21 and Dublin Core, and I also contribute to RILM, NUKAT and Pomeranian Digital Library.
I have recently joined the Crossref community because I would like to learn more about scholarly metadata, metadata quality, multilingual metadata, and metadata development. My background is mainly in music bibliography, special collections, and historical music publications, so Crossref is a new environment for me.
I would be very happy to learn from the community and, in time, contribute to metadata-related activities.
Best regards,
Marta 
Hi @Marta.Walkusz ,
Welcome to the Community Forum! We’re looking forward to hearing your perspective on the issues discussed here. Do you have specific questions that we can help with?
Warm regards,
Isaac
Hi Isaac,
Thank you for your message!
I’m new to the Crossref environment, and I’d like to understand how to begin. I learn best through case studies, so I’d be grateful for any training materials, sample metadata, test records, or practical exercises.
I have experience with MARC 21 and Dublin Core, and I also contribute to RILM.
What would you recommend as the best starting point for someone with a background in bibliographic metadata but no previous experience with Crossref metadata?
Best regards,
dr Marta Walkusz
pt., 2 paź 2026, 22:02 użytkownik Isaac Farley <notifications@crossref.discoursemail.com> napisał:
Hi @Marta.Walkusz ,
Thanks for following up. As far as first steps, it really depends on what you want to do with the metadata. Do you want to register records for works/content? Do you want to analyze records for trends? Based on your message, I am assuming the latter. Do let me know if that assumption is incorrect.
I’ll start with analyzing the metadata records that are registered with us. Your best first step are these two posts right here in the community forum:
This is also a great video tutorial on using Postman with our API: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjAMt4wojA&t=6s
Again, all three of those resources above are about metadata retrieval or analyzing the metadata output (in JSON).
It may also be helpful to see examples of the input XML that gets registered with us. Examples of those records are available here: best-practice-examples · master · crossref / Schema · GitLab
Have a look at those resources and let me know if you have other questions or comments. We can build from there!
-Isaac
And, our API Learning Hub is also a great starting point: API Learning Hub - Crossref