North Country Digital History
Metadata Style Guide
June 6, 2006
Edited from Hudson River Valley Heritage
(http://www.hrvh.org) metadata elements.
The purpose of this style guide is to assist
organizations participating in the NCDH digital service as they create metadata
for their digital objects. It also serves to ensure consistency across the
various collections in NCDH.
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NCDH Elements: |
Element number |
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Title |
1 |
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Creator |
2 |
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Date of Original |
3 |
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Publisher of Original |
4 |
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L. C. Subject |
5 |
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Alternate Subject |
6 |
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Local Subject Heading |
7 |
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Geographic Location |
8 |
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Description |
9 |
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Format-Medium |
10 |
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Type |
11 |
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Resource Identifier |
12 |
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Digital Collection |
13 |
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Holding Institution |
14 |
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Credit Line/Contact Information |
15 |
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Copyright Statement |
16 |
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Transcript |
17 |
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1. Title
|
NCDH Label: |
Title |
|
Maps to Dublin Core: |
Title |
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Definition: |
The name given to the resource. |
|
Comment: |
Typically, Title will be a name by which the resource is formally known. |
|
Mandatory: |
Yes |
|
Searchable: |
Yes |
The title is a brief, descriptive phrase. The title may be transcribed from the resource itself (book title, photograph caption, artist's title, object name, etc.). Frequently the items won't have titles, and the cataloger will have to supply the title. It is recommended that supplied titles not be enclosed in brackets.
When possible, omit initial articles at the beginning of a title (The, An, A, etc.).
Capitalize only the first word of the title and proper names.
If the item has a caption, but the cataloger supplies a different title, the caption may be included in the Description field ("Caption on original reads: .")
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Example: |
Comment: |
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Vassar College class of 1873 |
Photograph |
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Marlboro High School baseball team |
Photograph |
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Frederic and Bertha Goudy |
Photograph |
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American Field Service Bulletin no. 12 |
Periodical |
|
World War I photograph album of Henry Eglington Montgomery Suckley |
Photo Album |
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The Testimonial Gateway, Lake Mohonk, NY |
Postcard |
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1762 tax bill to District of Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
Tax Bill |
2. Creator
|
NCDH Label: |
Creator |
|
Maps to Dublin Core: |
Creator |
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Definition: |
An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the original resource. |
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Comment: |
Examples of Creator include a person, an organization, or a service; an author, artist, photographer, composer, etc. |
|
Mandatory: |
Yes |
|
Searchable: |
Yes |
If the creator is unknown, leave blank.
Separate multiple creators with a semicolon and one space.
Consult the Library of Congress Authority File (LCAF) for
correct form of personal and corporate names: http://authorities.loc.gov (help
page available at: http://authorities.loc.gov/help/name-auth.htm)
Consult the Union List of Artist Names (Getty) for correct form of artists' names: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan
If there is no entry in the LCAF or ULAN, enter personal
names in inverted form: Last Name, First Name, Middle Name or initial
(include birth and death dates if known). Enter corporate names in full direct
form. In the case of hierarchy, list the organizational components from the
largest to the smallest, separated by periods.
If the creator and the publisher of the original resource
are the same, repeat the creator's name in the Publisher.field.
|
Example: |
Comment: |
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Suckley, Henry Eglinton Montgomery, 1887-1917 |
Full form of name known |
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Rogers, Jane M. |
Dates not known |
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Long, Fred |
Middle name and dates not known |
|
Stowall Studios |
Organization |
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New York (State). Department of Labor |
Organization with hierarchy |
3. Date of
Original
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NCDH Label: |
Date |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Date.Created |
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Definition: |
The creation date of the original resource |
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Comment: |
Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or availability of the original resource. |
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Mandatory: |
No, but recommended |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
If the original date is unknown, leave blank.
Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is
defined in a profile of ISO 8601 ( W3CDTF*) and includes (among others) date of
the form YYYY-MM-DD
*W3CDTF = World Wide Web Consortium Date Time Format. http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime
|
Example: |
Comment: |
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1917-09-15 |
Exact date known: September 15, 1917 |
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1900-05 |
Month and year known: May, 1900 |
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1921 |
Year known |
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1934? |
Approximate or circa date |
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1915-1917 |
Date range |
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1870?-1875? |
Approximate date range |
4. Publisher of Original
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NCDH Label: |
Publisher |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Source |
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Definition: |
An entity responsible for making the original resource available |
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Comment |
Examples of Publisher include a person, an organization, or a service |
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Mandatory: |
No, but recommended |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
Use Publisher if the original item was published and if you
know the name of the publisher. If the original item was never published or you
do not know the name of the original publisher, leave the field blank.
If the publisher of the original resource and the creator
are the same, repeat the name in the Creator field.
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Example: |
Comment: |
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American Ambulance Field Service |
Publisher of original bulletin |
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The American News Company |
Publisher of original postcard |
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Hugh C. Leighton Company |
Publisher of original postcard |
5. LC
Subject
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NCDH Label: |
LC Subject |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Subject |
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Definition: |
A topic of the content of the resource. |
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Comment |
Typically, Subject will be expressed as keywords, key phrases or classification codes that describe what the resource is about or what it is. |
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Mandatory: |
Yes |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
Subject terms reflect what the content of the resource is
about or what the resource is. Terms can be topical, geographical, personal
names, corporate names, or form/genre terms. It is recommended that form/genre
terms be included.
There is no recommended limit on the number of subject terms assigned. Include as many as are necessary to characterize the item.
Best practice is to select terms from a controlled
vocabulary. Employing terminology from a controlled vocabulary ensures
consistency and can improve the quality of search results.
Locally created subject terms can be used, but should be
used sparingly and consistently.
If there is a term that will aid users in finding the resource, but is not included in the vocabulary source, you may include it in the Description or in the Title field.
Enter a name as a heading when the resource is of or about a
person or organization (e.g. photograph of a person). The person or
organization that created the resource should be entered in the Creator field,
and not the Subject field.
Consult the Library of Congress Authority File (LCAF) for
correct form of personal and corporate names: http://authorities.loc.gov (help
page available at: http://authorities.loc.gov/help/name-auth.htm)
If there is no entry in the LCAF, enter personal names in
inverted form: Last Name, First Name, Middle Name or initial (include
birth and death dates if known). Enter corporate names in full direct form. In
the case of hierarchy, list the organizational components from the largest to the
smallest, separated by periods.
6. Alternate Subject
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NCDH Label: |
Alternate Subject |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Subject |
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Definition: |
One of twelve pre-defined subject groups |
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Comment: |
Choose from controlled vocabulary if appropriate to the item. |
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Mandatory: |
No, but recommended if appropriate to the item |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
Alternate subject terms for this project are:
Architecture
Art and Music
Domestic Life
Education
Government and Politics
Industry and Labor
Landscape and Environment
Maps
Military
People and Communities
Recreation
Transportation
7. Local Subject Heading (Not required)
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NCDH Label: |
Subject, Local |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Subject |
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Definition: |
Optional additional subject heading |
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Comment: |
Subjects taken from controlled vocabularies other than the Library of Congress list or subject headings used by the institution. |
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Mandatory: |
No |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
Examples of Local Subject Headings using controlled vocabularies include, but are not limited to:
Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphical Materials I: Subject Terms (TGMI)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/toc.html
Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphical Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGMII)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
http://authorities.loc.gov
(help page available at: http://authorities.loc.gov/help/name- auth.htm)
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html
Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/
Chenhall's Nomenclature (The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging)
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Label: |
Example: |
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Subject. (TGM) |
Schools |
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Subject.Local |
Bell's Mill (Milton, N.Y.) |
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Subject.Local |
Bowery Tavern (Rhinebeck, N.Y.) |
8. Geographic Location
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NCDH Label: |
Geographic Location |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Location |
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Definition: |
Standardized name of location |
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Comment: |
Choose from controlled vocabulary if appropriate to the item. |
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Mandatory: |
No, but recommended |
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Searchable: |
Yes |
9. Description
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NCDH Label: |
Description |
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Maps to Dublin Core: |
Description |
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Definition: |
An account of the content of the resource |
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Comment: |
Examples of Description include, but are not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content. |
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Mandatory: |
No, but recommended |
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Searchable: |
Yes |