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Metadata Guidelines

The use of metadata in describing digital files is crucial to their long-term preservation. Proper description of digital objects and their technical requirements is of utmost importance to the University Digital Conservancy in its mission to preserve and provide access to digital assets of the University.

In metadata creation, three broad areas of information should be considered: Descriptive, Structural, and Administrative. These recommendations closely align with existing metadata standards, notably the Collaborative Digitization Program's Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices: Version 2.1.1. A more in-depth discussion of these elements can be found here: http://www.cdpheritage.org/cdp/documents/CDPDCMBP.pdf.

The Dublin Core metadata element set is considered a national and international standard for use in describing electronic resources (NISO Z39.85-2001 and ISO 15836-2003). By aligning the University Digital Conservancy with best practices and standards in the field of metadata cataloging, we ensure that the resources gathered today are viable, usable and sharable both now and into the future.

Benefits

Incorporating metadata in your project will allow you to better realize the following benefits:

• Enhanced accuracy for search and discovery of the resource.
• Adherence to best practices and standards will allow for the greatest interoperability within a larger institutional, national or international repository framework.
• Maximize the potential long-term preservation of the resource.

Descriptive

This is information that facilitates the discovery, indexing and identification of the digital object.

Mandatory elements(if applicable):

Creator

Subject

Description

Date Original

Identifier

Optional elements:

Publisher

Contributor

Source

Language

Relation

Coverage

Structural

Structural metadata refers to information relating to the type of resource and its relationship to other resources.

Mandatory elements (if applicable):

Format.Use

Optional elements:

Type

Relation

Administrative

Administrative metadata elements represent information about the management of the digital resource. This may include both technical information, such as bit depth and resolution, as well as any rights management information.

Mandatory elements (if applicable):

Rights

Format.Creation

Date.Digital

Holding Institution

Optional elements:

Publisher

There may also be localized information that is specific to a particular department or unit. You are encouraged to include this information as well. This set of metadata elements is intended to be both a guide and to facilitate the sharing of information between various collections and communities.

References

"Guide to Digital Projects"
MINITEX/LDS Joint Standards Review Task Force
http://www.minitex.umn.edu/committees/standards/documents/digi-guide.pdf

"Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices: Version 2.1.1"
CDP Metadata Working Group
Collaborative Digitization Program
http://www.cdpheritage.org/cdp/documents/CDPDCMBP.pdf

Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, Version 1.1
http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/

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