Section $1$: Metadata in Offline Environments Metadata has long been essential in the offline world, especially within traditional systems like libraries. In these environments, metadata refers to the catalog information about books, journals, and other media, helping users efficiently find the materials they need. Example $1$: Libraries In libraries, metadata is encoded into systems such as the Dewey Decimal System, which assigns unique identifiers to books based on subject matter, author, title, and publication date. This metadata allows librarians and patrons to quickly locate a book from thousands of possibilities. Without this system, locating a specific book would be far more time$-$consuming.