Updating/sharing keywords and metadata in Lightroom 4

Question

I will be using an intern to help add keywords & metadata to an extremely large group of photos in Lightroom 4.
The intern will have their own workstation so we'll be passing files back and forth.
I need to add their work to mine, keeping all of the keyword/metadata work tied to the virtual photos which already have some work done to them (some keywords, metatdata and photo enhancements already in place on some photos).
step-by-step appreciated
What is the best way to do this?
I'm still learning LR myself.
suggestions welcomed!
thank you

Answer 1

Lightroom is not a multi-user application, and so you can, via tedious manipulation of files, achieve the result you want, but I should also note that make one mistake, and you potentially have a real mess on your hands.
The best solution (in my opinion) is to put the catalog file and all photos on a server that you can both access. The drawback to doing this is that only one person can be working with a specific Lightroom catalog at a time. And given my usual advice to use only one catalog, this may not meet your needs.
If that's not a good solution, then the intern can create her own temporary catalog of the portion of the photos to be worked on today, add keywords and other metadata, and then pass the catalog file to you to merge with your main catalog using the command File->Import from another catalog.
As another alternative, if the only task the intern will carry out is adding keywords and other metadata, there are many freeware solutions that your intern can use for this, and then when she is done in a particular folder, you can in Lightroom select all the photos in that folder, and then read the metadata from the photo files. For Windows, two such freeware programs are GeoSetter and ExifToolGUI.