LibGuides: Digital Collection Project Best Practices: Metadata Elements

Metadata Elements

This document provides a set of metadata elements that are highly recommended for digital collections at the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. It consists of:

(1) Dublin Core 15 Core Elements;

(2) Selected Dublin Core Terms; and

(3) Local Use Elements: These elements are intended to enhance resource discovery and be applicable only among the digital collections at the local platform.

While it is not ideal to repeat the main title element, all elements are repeatable. Although some of the elements may or may not be relevant to the digital collection being described, it is recommended to retain the elements and leave them blank when irrelevant. Deletion is not recommended.
Other Dublin Core Terms can be added and leveraged if they can serve sufficiently.

Dublin Core 15 Core Elements

(1) Title	(2) Creator	(3) Contributor	(4) Publisher	(5) Description
(6) Date	(7) Coverage	(8) Subject	(9) Type	(10) Format
(11) Language	(12) Source	(13) Identifier	(14) Rights	(15) Relation

Selected Dublin Core Terms

Alternative Title	Coverage-Spatial	Format-Extent
Format-Medium	Relation-Is Part Of	Relation-Is Referenced By

Local Use Elements

Element	Usage
Alternative Title (Sorting)	Title for sorting.
Bibliographic Note	Provenance. Source of information.
Date (Display)	Display purposes. Human readable format.
Decade	Decade filtering.
Language (Display)	Display purposes.
Staff Use Note	Administrative purposes.

Label and Order of Elements

Labels can be renamed and/or modified to serve a digital collection adequately as long as they are used in the same context.

The order of the elements is flexible and can be rearranged, however, it is recommended to place the main title element at the top.

The following table lists labels, DC elements/terms, and usage and note in the recommended order.

	Label	DCMI	Usage and Note
1	Title	Title DC Core Element	Main title. Transcribed or devised (supplied) title. A name given to the resource. Required by Calisphere and DPLA.
2	Alternative Title (Sorting)	Alternative Title DC Term	Title for sorting purposes. Uniform title. Eliminate initial articles, "a," "an," and "the." An alternative name for the resource. Local use element.
3	Other Title Information	Alternative Title DC Term	Translation title, running title, etc. An alternative name for the resource.
4	Creator	Creator DC Core Element	An entity responsible for making the resource.
5	Contributor	Contributor DC Core Element	An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource.
6	Publisher	Publisher DC Core Element	Publisher for the original item (not for the digitized object). An entity responsible for making the resource available.
7	Description	Description DC Core Element	An account of the resource at an item level.
8	Bibliographic Note	Description DC Core Element or None	Bibliographic notes. Provenance. Sources of information where the title and/or alternative title appear.
9	Date	Date DC Core Element	Filtering purposes. ISO 8601. Date Data Type.
10	Date Created	None or Date Created DC Term	Display purposes. Human readable format. Text Data Type.
11	Decade	None	Decade filtering purposes. e.g. 1900s; 1910s; 1920s; undated Local use element.
12	Location (Creation)	Description DC Core Element	An account of the resource at an item level. Location where the described resource was created.
13	Location (Subject)	Spatial Coverage DC Term	Spatial characteristics of the resource. Location where the described resource refers to.
14	Subject	Subject DC Core Element	A topic of the resource.
15	Identifier	Identifier DC Core Element	An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. Digital file name.
16	Type	Type DC Core Element	DCMI Type Required by Calisphere and DPLA.
17	Format or Genre	Format DC Core Element	Genre or format of the resource.
18	Physical Carrier or Medium	Format-Medium DC Term	The physical carrier of the resource (original item).
19	Digital File Format	Format DC Core Element	Internet MIME types. A digital resource format.
20	Extent	Format-Extent DC Term	The size or duration of the resource (digitized item).
21	Language Code	Language DC Core Element	ISO 639-2/639-3
22	Language	None	Display and facet filtering purposes. Human readable format. Text type. Local use element.
23	Source Collection	Source DC Core Element	Collection name that the described resource was derived from.
24	Source Collection Description	Description DC Core Element	An account of the resource at a collection level.
25	Source	Source DC Core Element	Physical location.
26	Finding Aid	Relation-Is Referenced By DC Term	Finding aid URL.
27	Digital Project or Digital Collection	Relation-Is Part Of DC Term	Digital project/collection name. e.g. CSU Japanese American Digitization Project Holt Labor Library Digital Collection
28	Related Resource	Relation DC Core Element	A related resource.
29	Repository	Publisher DC Core Element	Publisher for the digitized item. An entity responsible for making the resource available. e.g. CSU Dominguez Hills Gerth Archives & Special Collections
30	Rights	Rights DC Core Element	Information about rights held in and over the resource. Creative Commons copyright licenses. Free text including contact information, etc. Required by Calisphere and DPLA.
31	Sponsor	Contributors DC Core Element	Use for a person, family, or organization sponsoring some aspect of a resource, e.g., funding research, sponsoring an event.
32	Funding Code	Description DC Core Element	Subfield of Sponsor for contract, grant, and project numbers when the resource results from a funded project.
33	Full Text or Transcript	None	Full Text Search Type.
34	Staff Use Note	None	Administrative notes. Local use element.
35	Object File Name	Identifier DC Core Element	Data extraction. The last entry CONTENTdm system requirement.

Updated on May 2, 2024