New Project Metadata

Creating Metadata for Discovery

Providing good, detailed information about your file an effective way to make sure your file can be discovered in search. It's also useful for you as a steward of your file to record what you know about the file so that information doesn't get lost. But what information is important to record?

Required Elements

Only two elements are required in the DRS:

Title

A good title is a brief descriptive statement that is used to identify the resource and its content.

Example: Adult swimmers practice lifegaurding techniques in a natatorium pool

Keyword

Keywords are terms used to identify the content of the resource. Only one keyword is required, but three to five keywords are recommended.

Example: Passively-switched, non-contact energy harvester...

Recommended Elements

Creator names

Creators are typically persons or entities credited with the creation of the resource being described, or contributed to its creation. The creator's name should always be included, if it is known. A file can have more than one creator, and the creator can be a person or an entity, like Northeastern University.

Example of a personal name: Cauchon, Brad

Example of a entity name (also known as a corporate creator): Marlan Studio of Photography

Date

An item's date can refer to the date the item was originally created or published.

Example: This photo of a sand sculpture was taken in July 1985, though the exact date is not known.

Description/Abstract

The description or abstract should contain a succinct description of an item’s content, including any valuable information that could not be included in the title.

Example of a thorough description: La Bernache

Example of a typical description: Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity

Example of a typical abstract: Direct measurement of graphene adhesion on silicon surface by intercalation of nanoparticles

Other Possible Elements

Notes

Notes can be used to add additional information about an item.

Example of a provenance note: Hand-drawn story

Example of a comments note: Application of geometric programming to the power systems economic dispatch optimization

Publication Information

If the item was published or distributed, the name and location of the publisher, and the publication date can be included in the record.

Example: The Bitter Fruit of American Justice

Rights Statements

Rights statements can contain information about how the item can be used or reproduced, any licensing issues, or contact information for full access to the item.

Example: Little people

Subjects from a controlled vocabulary

Rather than using simple keywords, you can opt to select terms from a controlled vocabulary. There are a few controlled vocabularies that cover a lot of types of material, including the Library of Congress subject headings and Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus. You can also create a controlled vocabulary for your own collection by creating a list of commonly used keywords that you select from and periodically add to when needed.

Example of Library of Congress Subject Headings: Three girls paddle a canoe on a lake