What is metadata?
Metadata is “a set of attributes necessary to describe a resource.” That is, metadata gives users more information about an item, and it helps users find the items they’re looking for. That’s why it’s so important to create good metadata for your items. Some examples of metadata that you might be familiar with are title, description, keywords, or hashtags — but there are lots more.
A printable version of this post
A printable form for field collecting
What is Dublin Core?
Dublin Core is a metadata schema, or a set of fields used to describe items. In more complicated terms, it is “A simple yet effective element set for describing a wide range of networked resources.” Some other examples of metadata schema include VRA Core, Encoded Archival Description (EAD), MARC, and METS. Omeka S uses the Dublin Core metadata schema to gather and store information about items.
Below are the names and simple descriptions of the most commonly used Dublin Core metadata fields, which you will see when creating items in Omeka S.
Dublin Core Metadata Spreadsheet
- Title
- The title of the item. If the item’s creator gave it a title, enter that title. If not, you can create a brief descriptive title. You can enter more information about the item in the Description field, so keep the title brief.
- Subject
- Often, this field contains Library of Congress Subject Headings related to the item. This can be complicated, but the Omeka ValueSuggest plugin can make suggestions. You can also
search for appropriate subject headings in the Library of Congress Subject Authorities. - Description
- Here is your chance to describe the item in detail. You can tell the story behind the item, if you know it. You can describe the contents of the item, for example, as well as the history of it. Include words written on the back of photos if there are any. The Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus can help with writing descriptions for photographs and artwork.
- Creator
- The name of the person who made the item. This might be a person, several people, or an organization.
- Source
- This can be the name of the collection the item is a part of, for example, “The Margaret Herter Collection of Karl Moon and Alabama Milner Photographs, 1904-1950”. If it is an article published in a book or journal, the Source can be the name of the publication.
- Publisher
- The organization or person that made the item available.
- Date
- This can be a specific date, for example, “05/10/1965”, or a time period like “1940-1945.” If you don’t know, leave the Date field blank. Don’t guess or put a question mark.
- Contributor
- Someone who played a role in the creation of the item, but did not create it. An example of a contributor could be an editor or translator, for a book or journal. This field is sometimes used to indicate the person or institution who donated the item to a museum or archive.
- Rights
- This page has a lot of information about selecting a rights statement for your item. RightsStatements.org provides more information to help you choose a rights statement. If you are the creator or owner, you can consider using a Creative Commons license depending on how you want to allow others to use your item.
- Relation
- Links to, or ID numbers for, other items that are related to this item. For example, additional photos of the same subject within a pictorial collection.
- Format
- The media type or dimensions (size, duration) of the item. The format of a drawing might be “Pen and ink, 3 x 5 inches.” The format of a sound or video file might be “40 minutes.” For a
digital object, the format might be “PDF,” “JPG” or “PNG.” There is a separate Dublin Core field for digitization specifications, to differentiate between digital and physical formats of an item. - Language
- The language that the item is written or spoken in. If the item does not contain any text or spoken words, leave this field blank.
- Type
- Type is a controlled vocabulary field. This means that you should select from a preset group of entries for this field. Some common type entries are text, still image, moving image, sound, physical object, and dataset.
- Identifier
- A unique way of referring to the item; often numeric, such as the ID number within the collection, or an ISBN number for a book.
- Coverage
- Coverage refers to a geographical location (spatial coverage) or time period (temporal coverage) related to the item. You can use the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names to find standard formats for some place names. Temporal coverage entries could be, for example, “April 2020” for an issue of a magazine, or “1/1/2020 to 12/31/2020” for the active period of a license.
Examples from the Library of Congress
Look at their metadata. Not always Dublin Core, but so complete!
Resources On Other Sites
- Getting Started with omeka.net
- Omeka Use Case for Museum Professionals
- A discussion of the difference between a digitized object and a born digital object
- IrfanView: Free image editing software
- Windows Movie Maker v6
- Learn best practices for digitizing cultural heritage materials from the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI).
- Learn about copyright from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
- Learn about improving the web experience for people with disabilities at usability.gov.