What is Dublin Core?
What is a metadata scheme?
- If your information is organized in categories or fields, you have a plan, a metadata template or scheme.
- Standard metadata schemas exist to collect sets of information, for example Dublin Core (for generic purposes) and VRA Core (for visual resources).
- Custom schemas may be necessary for more specific sets of information, but all sets could be mapped to other schemas.
Dublin Core
Instructional video 1: Metadata MOOC2-2 Background on Dublin Core
This 7:29-minute video contextualizes the development of the Dublin Core metadata schema
Note: This video is recorded on a desktop. The view will differ on a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
Instructional video 2: Metadata MOOC 2-5 Creating Dublin Core records
This 7:15-minute video introduces the basics of creating Dublin Core records.
Note: This video is recorded on a desktop. The view will differ on a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
DC is a simple plan or schema comprised of 15 elements which relate to the description of an object.
| CONTENT | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY | INSTANTIATION |
| Title | Creator | Date |
| Subject | Publisher | Type |
| Description | Contributor | Format |
| Source | Rights | Identifier |
| Language | ||
| Relation | ||
| Coverage |
Definitions of types of fields
Content
In Dublin Core, content fields record data about an item.
Intellectual property
In Dublin Core, intellectual property fields record data about the individuals or organizations with intellectual property rights to a given item. Intellectual property can be defined as the ideas or intellectual content created by an individual or organization. This content is not material in nature.
Instantiation
In Dublin Core, instantiation fields record data about the physical or digital representation of an item. Instantiation can be defined as a concrete example of an abstract idea or entity.
Field definitions
It is important to clearly define the goals of the information being captured to avoid misinterpretation. A consistent syntax facilitates metadata entry and metadata analysis. Detailed field definitions are especially important when more than one person contributes to metadata entry.
- Coverage: The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant.
- Creator: An entity primarily responsible for making the resource.
- Date: A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource.
- Description: An account of the resource.
- Format: The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource.
- Identifier: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.
- Language: A language of the resource.
- Publisher: An entity responsible for making the resource available.
- Relation: A related resource.
- Rights: Information about rights held in and over the resource.
- Source: A related resource from which the described resource is derived.
- Subject: The topic of the resource.
- Title: A name given to the resource.
- Type: The nature or genre of the resource.
Examples of field definitions
Creator
Creator(s)/author(s) of the item. Last name, First name. For items with multiple authors, add each individual or institution as distinct entries in order of importance with their role in parentheses.
Date
Date when your item was created (the text was published or written, the photograph was taken, or the object was made). Year, month, day.
Source
Full name of the archive/collection where you found the item, including the fonds and item numbers (from the larger institution down to the smaller details of the box, folder, page, etc.), and you name (the cataloguer).
If this item is part of a larger body of work, such as a publication, the source should be formatted as a bibliographic reference in the author-date format of the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition.
Handouts
Cataloguing using Dublin Core