1. Resource description: Metadata facilitates proper description and cataloguing of information resources, especially electronic and web resources.
2. Information retrieval: Metadata facilitates information retrieval by specific data elements; several subject gateways use metadata for resource discovery and information retrieval.
3. Management of information resources: Metadata is the main building block of information architecture and content management, the two newly developed fields of information services that aim to organize information in more effective ways so that it can be retrieved by users easily and intuitively.