METADATA

ELEMENT SET
METADATA ELEMENT SET

There are several metadata element sets that will be discussed in this chapter. It
includes :

1. Dublin core
2. GILS
3. TEI
4. EAD
5. VRA
6. ONIX
 1

DUBLIN CORE

This metadata initiative was developed by a group of information professionals who met in
1995 at the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in Dublin Ohio.

It began with thirteen elements and was expanded to fifteen elements.

Since its inception, DC has been received by many information communities worldwide.

In 2001, the Dublin core metadata element set was approved by the National Information
Standards Organization as ANSI/NISO Standard Z39.85-2001 (updated May 2007). In
February 2003, it was approved as an international standard, ISO Standard 15836-2003.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

1. Element Name: title

Label: Title
Definition: A name given to the resource.

2. Element Name: creator

Label: Creator
Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the resource. E.g., a
person, an organization, or a service.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

3. Element Name: subject

Label: Subject
Definition: A topic of the content of the resource.

4. Element Name: description

Label: Description
Definition: An account of the resources. E.g, may include and not limited to
abstract, table of contents, graphical representation, or free text account of the
resources
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

5. Element Name: publisher

Label: Publisher
Definition: An entity responsible for making the resource available.

6. Element Name: contributor

Label: Contributor
Definition: An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the
resource.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

7. Element Name: date

Label: Date
Definition: A point or period in time associated with the life cycle of the
resource.

8. Element Name: type

Label: Type
Definition: The nature or genre of the resource.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

9. Element Name: format

Label: Format
Definition: The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource.

10. Element Name: identifier

Label: Identifier
Definition: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

11. Element Name: source

Label: Source
Definition: A related resource from which the present resource is derived.

12. Element Name: language

Label: Language
Definition: A language of the resource.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

13. Element Name: relation

Label: Relation
Definition: A related resource.

14. Element Name: coverage

Label: Coverage
Definition: The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial
applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is
relevant.
DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SET

The Dublin Core contains a set of fifteen elements. These are listed below:

15. Element Name: rights

Label: Rights
Definition: Information about rights held in and over the resource. E.g.
intellectual property rights.
 2

Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

The GILS was set up by the US Federal Government in order to provide the general public
and its own employees with a means for locating useful information generated by the many
government agencies. As such its constituency of use is very broad; literally anyone is likely
to be able to search for resources using GILS and many different agencies are likely to use
a variety of staff to generate their part of the overall GILS framework. Originally GILS was
intended to force each agency to provide a set of locators that "together cover all of its
information dissemination products" (Executive Office of the President, Office and
Management and Budget, OMB Bulletin, no. 95-01, Dec. 7, 1994
<URL:http://www.usgs.gov/gils/omb95-01.html>). However in reality some agencies are
using GILS as generic metadata records for many resources and others are hardly using it
at all.
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

Basic descriptive elements

The basic descriptive (bibliographic) elements included in the GILS Core Element set:

• Title
• Author
• Date of Publication
• Place of Publication
• Abstract
• Agency Program
• Resource Description
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

Subject description

The subject description elements included in the GILS Data Element set are:

• Controlled Subject Index

• Subject Thesaurus
• Subject Terms Controlled
• Subject Term Uncontrolled
• Controlled Term
• Local Subject Index
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

URIs

GILS Data Element records use the Availability Linkage and Availability Linkage Type data
elements to specify the URI and MIME type respectively of the resource that the record is
pointing at. These fields may be repeated within a single GILS record. There is also a set
of Cross Reference elements that are used to refer to other, related GILS records. This set
contains the Cross Reference Linkage and Cross Reference Linkage Type elements that
indicate the URI and MIME type of the related record. The Cross Reference elements can
also be repeated.
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)
Host administrative details
GILS Data Elements contain a number of fields to provide contact information. These
include:
• Point of Contact
• Contact Name
• Contact Organization
• Contact Street Address
• Contact City
• Contact State or Province
• Contact Zip or Postal Code
• Contact Country
• Contact Network Address
• Contact Hours of Service
• Contact Telephone
• Contact Fax
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

Administrative metadata

The administrative metadata required to maintain a GILS record is held in the following
GILS Data Elements:
• Date of Last Modification
• Record Review Date
• Originator
• Control Identifier
• Original Control Identifier
• Record Source
• Schedule Number
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)
Provenance/Source
The GILS Core Data Element set provides the following elements for dealing with issues of provenance and record/resource
data source.
• Purpose
• Availability
• Distributor Name
• Distributor Organization
• Distributor Street Address
• Distributor City
• Distributor State or Province
• Distributor Zip or Postal Code
• Distributor Country
• Distributor Network Address
• Distributor Hours of Service
• Distributor Telephone
• Distributor Fax
• Sources of Data
• Record Source
Government Information Locator Service (GILS)
Terms of availability/copyright
Terms of availability and legal restrictions on records and resources (including but not limited to copyright) are
included in the following elements from the GILS Core Data Element set:
• Availability
• Order Process
• Order Information
• Cost
• Cost Information
• Available Time Period
• Available Time Structured
• Available Time Textual
• Access Constraints
• General Access Constraints
• Originator Dissemination Control
• Security Classification Control
• Use Constraints
 3

TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)

TEI (www.tei-c.org/) is an international standard providing guidelines for the preparation

and interchange of electronic texts of literary and linguistic textual materials, such as
fiction, drama, and poetry, for scholarly research in the humanities.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)

Originally sponsored by the Association of Computers in the Humanities (ACH), the

Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), and the Association of Literary and
Linguistic Computing (ALLC), TEI is now maintained by the TEI Consortium.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)

The TEI’s Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange (TEIp4), first
published in April 1994 in print form, has undergone several revisions. The latest version
is available both in print and online (https://tei-c.org/guidelines/p5/). A simplified version,
called TEI Lite (https://tei-c.org/guidelines/customization/lite/), is specific customization
designed for the core TEI Constituency.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)

Every TEI text has a header, which contains descriptive information, i.e., metadata about
the work. It is an “electronic title page,” similar to the title page of a printed work. The tags
used to label individual parts of the TEI header follow SGML (Standard Generalized
Markup Language).
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
The header is introduced by the element <teiHeader> and has four major parts:

1. File description <fileDesc> contains a full bibliographic description of an electronic file.

2. Encoding description <encodingDesc> documents the relationship between an
electronic text and the source or sources from which it was derived.
3. Profile description <profDesc> provides a detailed description of nonbibliographic
aspects of a text, specifically the languages and sublanguages used, the situation in
which it was produced, the participants, and their setting.
4. Revision description <revisionDesc> summarizes the revision history for a file.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
1. The <fileDesc> element is mandatory. It contains a full bibliographic description of the
file with the following elements;

Element Description
<titleStmt> Group information about title of a work and those
responsible for its intellectual content
<editionStmt> Group information relating to one edition of a text
<extent> Describe the appropriate size of the electronic text as stored
on some carrier medium, specified in any convenient units
<publicationStmt> Group of information concerning the publication or
distribution of an electronic or other text
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
The <fileDesc> element is mandatory. It contains a full bibliographic description of the file
with the following elements;

Element Description
<seriesStmt> Groups information about the series, if any, to which a
publication belongs
<notesStmt> Collected together any notes providing information about a
text additional to that recorded in other parts of the
bibliographic description
<sourceDescp> Supplies a bibliographic description of the copy text(s) from
which an electronic text was derived or generated.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
Example of TEI for file Description

<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>……</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>….. </publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc>……. </sourceDesc>
</fileDesc>
</teiheader>
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
2. The <encodingDesc> element specifies the methods and editorial principles which
governed the transcription of the text. Its use is highly recommended. It may be prose
description or may contain elements from the following list:
Element Description
<projectDesc> Describe in detail the aim or purpose for which an electronic
file was encoded, together with any other relevant
information concerning the process by which it was
assembled or collected.
<samplingDecl> Contain a prose description of the rationale and methods
used in sampling texts in the creation of a corpus or
collection.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
2. The <encodingDesc> element specifies the methods and editorial principles which
governed the transcription of the text. Its use is highly recommended. It may be prose
description or may contain elements from the following list:

Element Description
<editorialDecl> Provide details of editorial principles and practices applied
during the encoding of text
<tagsDecl> Provide detailed information about the tagging applied to an
SGML or XML document
<refsDecl> Specifies how canonical references are constructed for this
text
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
2. The <encodingDesc> element specifies the methods and editorial principles which
governed the transcription of the text. Its use is highly recommended. It may be prose
description or may contain elements from the following list:
Element Description
<classDecl> Contains one or more taxonomies defining any classificatory
codes used elsewhere in the text.
<fsdDecl> Identifies the feature system declaration which contains
definition for a particular type of feature structure
<metDecl> Documents the notation employed to represent a metrical
pattern when this is specified as the value of a met, real or
rhyme attribute on any structural element of a metrical text
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
2. The <encodingDesc> element specifies the methods and editorial principles which
governed the transcription of the text. Its use is highly recommended. It may be prose
description or may contain elements from the following list:
Element Description
<variantEncoding Declares the method used to encode text-critical variants.
>
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
Example of TEI for encoding Description

<encodingDesc>
<projectDesc>
<projectDesc> Texts collected for use in the Claremont
Shakespeare Clinic, June
</ projectDesc >
</ encodingDesc >
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
3. The <profileDesc> element enables information characterizing various descriptive
aspects of a text to be recorded within a single framework. It has three optional
components.

Element Description
<creation> Contain information about the creation of a text
<langUsage> Describes the languages, sublanguages, registers, dialects,
etc., represented within a text
<textClass> Groups information which describes the nature or topic of a
text in terms of a standard classification scheme, thesaurus
etc.
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
Example of TEI for profile Description

<creation>
<date value = “1992-08”> August 1992 </date>
<name type = “place” > Taos, New Mexico </name>
</ creation >
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
4. The <revisionDesc> element provides a change log in which each change made to a
text may be recorded. The log may be recorded as a sequence of <change> elements
each of which contains;

Element Description
<date> Contains a date in any format
<respStmt> Supplies a statement of responsibility for someone
responsible for the intellectual content of a text, edition,
recording, or series, where the specialized elements for
authors, editors, etc do not suffice or do not apply
<item> Contains one component of a list
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
Example of TEI for revision Description
<revisionDesc>
<change><date>6/3/91</date>
<respStmt><name>EMB</name><resp>ed.</resp>
</respStmt>
<item> File format updated </item></change>
<change><date>5/25/90</date>
<respStmt><name>EMB</name><resp>ed.</resp>
<item> Stuart’s corrections entered</item></change>
</ revisionDesc >
TEI (TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE)
https://tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/examples-TEI.html
 4

EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)

The Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a standard for describing and encoding
findings aids for archival materials. Findings aids are tools such as inventories, registers,
indexes, and other documents created by archives, libraries, museums, and manuscript
repositories for both managing and providing access to their collections.
EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)

An EAD record typically contains a header similar to a TEI header. It describes the finding
aid itself and contains a description of the archival collection as a whole as well as more
detailed information about the records or series within the collection. In other words, the
EAD header carries metadata about the finding aid itself.
EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)

The current version, maintained by the Library of Congress and the Society of American
Archivists, is EAD DTD version 2002. The EAD header contains the following elements:
<eadheader>
<eadid>
<filedesc>
<titlestmt>
<titleproper>
<subtitle>
EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)

The EAD header contains the following elements:

<author>
<sponsor>
<editionstmt>
<publicationstmt>
<addresses>
<date>
<num>
<p>
EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)

The EAD header contains the following elements:

<publisher>
<seriesstmt>
<notestmt>
<profiledesc>
<creation>
<language>
<revisiondesc>
EAD (ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION)
The following is based on an example of an EAD header from the EAD Application
Guidelines, illustrating how to apply the “<titlepage>” tag:
 5

VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE

CATEGORIES

VRA is a documentation standard for image collections used by the visual resource
community. It is designed to describe visual documents depicting works of art,
architecture, and artifacts or structures from material, popular, and folk culture. It purpose
is to facilitate the sharing of information among visual resource collections about works
and images. The standard is based on the Dublin Core with modifications. Some of the
VRA elements are based on the Dublin Core elements such as title, creator, subject, and
relation. Other elements such as measurements, materials and technique are added to
enable a richer description of art works.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES

Core Element Set

The VRA Work Description (VRA Categories, version 3.0, 2002)
(www.vraweb.org/vracore3.htm) contains 19 elements, each of which may contain one or
more qualifiers to allow further specifications within the element:
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
1. Record Type Qualifier: None
Definition: identifies the records as being either a WORK
record, for the physical or created object, or an IMAGE record,
for the visual surrogates of such objects.
2. Type Qualifier: None
Definition: identifies the specific type of Work or Image being
described in the record.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Description
Categories
3. Title Qualifier:
Title.Variant
Title.Translation
Title.Series
Title.Larger Entity
Definition: The title or identifying phrase given to a work or an image.
For complex works or series, the title may refer to a discrete unit
within the larger entity (a print from a series, a panel from a fresco
cycle, a building within a temple complex) or may identify only the
larger entity itself. A record for a part of a larger unit should include
both the title for the part and the title for the larger entity. For an image
record, this category describes the specific view of the depicted work.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
4. Measurements Qualifiers:
Measurements.Dimensions
Measurements.Format
Measurements.Resolution
Description: The size, shape, scale, dimensions, format, or
storage configuration of the work or image. Dimensions may
include such measurements as volume, weight, area, or running
time. The unit used in the measurement must be specified.
5. Material Qualifiers:
Material.Medium
Material.Support
Description: the substance of which a work or an image is
composed.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
6. Technique Qualifiers: None
Description: The production or manufacturing process,
techniques, and methods incorporated in the fabrication or
alteration of the work or image.
5. Creator Qualifiers:
Creator.Role
Creator.Attribution
Creator.Personal Name
Creator.Corporate Name
Description: The name, appellations, or other identifiers
assigned to an individual, group, corporate body, or other
entity that has contributed to the design, creation, production,
manufacture, or alteration of the work or image.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
7. Date Qualifiers:
Date.Creation
Date.Design
Date.Beginning
Date.Completion
Date.Alteration
Date.Restoration
Description: Date or range of dates associated with the
creation, design, production, presentation, performance,
construction, alteration, etc. of the work or image. Dates may be
expressed as free text or numerical.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
8. Location Qualifiers:
Location.Current Site
Location.Former Site
Location.Creation Site
Location.Discovery Site
Location.Current Repository
Location.Former Repository
Description: The geographic location and/or name of the
repository, building, or site-specific work or other entity whose
boundaries include the Work or Image.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
9. ID Number Qualifiers:
ID Number.Current Repository
ID Number.Former Repository
ID Number.Current Accession
ID Number. Former Accession
Description: The unique identifiers assigned to a work or an
image
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
10. Style/Period Qualifiers:
Style/Period.Style
Style/Period.Period
Style/Period.Group
Style/Period.Dynasty
Style/Period.Movement
Description: a defined style, historical period, group, school,
dynasty, movement, etc. whose characteristics are represented
in the work or image.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
11. Culture Qualifiers: None
Description: The name of the culture, people (ethnonym), or
adjectival form of a country name from which or work or image
has been associated.
12. Subject Qualifiers: None
Description: Terms or phrases that describe, identify, or
interpret the work or image and what it depicts or expresses.
These geographic designations (places), generic terms
describing the material world, or topics (e.g., iconography,
concepts, themes, or issues.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
13. Relation Qualifiers:
Relation.Identity
Relation.Type
Description: Terms or phrases describing the identity of the
related work and the relationship between the work being
cataloged and the related work. Note: If the relationship is
essential (i.e. when the described work includes the referenced
works, either physically or logically within a larger or smaller
context), use the Title.Larger Entity element.
14. Description Qualifiers: None
Description: A free-text note about the work or image, including
comments, description, or interpretation, that gives additional
information recorded in other categories.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Core Categories Description
15. Source Qualifiers: None
Description: A reference to the source of information recorded
about the work or the image. For a work record, this may be a
citation to the authority for the information provided. An image
can be used to provide information about the supplying
Agency, vendor, or individual, or in the case of copy
photography, a bibliographic citation, or other description of
the image source. Names, locations, and source identification
numbers can be included in both cases.
14. Rights Qualifiers: None
Description: Information about the rights management, may
include copyright and other intellectual property statement
required for use.
VRA (VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION) CORE
CATEGORIES
Examples of VRA

(1) A record for a work of architecture (2) A record for a slide

Record type = image
Record type = work
Type = slide
Type = architecture
Title = entry level plan
Type = museums
Creator.Personal Name = John Cook
Title = J. Paul Getty Museum
Creator.Role = photographer
Title.Variant = Getty Museum
Date.Creation= 1998
Creator.Personal Name = Meier, Richard
Location.Current Repository= Cambridge. MA, US, Harvard
Creator.Role = architect
Design School, Loeb Library, Visual Resources Department
Creator.Personal Name = Olin, Laurie
Subject = entrance
Creator.Role = landscape architect
Subject = floor plans
Date.Creation= 1994-1997
Source = Architecture, Dec., 1997, p.92
Location.Current Site = Los Angeles, CA US
Rights= publisher
Culture = American
Subject = art museums
Subject = research centers
Relation.Part of = Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, US
 6

ONIX (ONLINE INFORMATION EXCHANGE)

ONIX is an international metadata standard designed specifically to support electronic

commerce applications. It was developed by publishers among the book industry trade
groups in the United States and Europe and was designed to capture the images, cover
blurbs, reviews, and other promotional information that can be used to enhance book
sales.
ONIX (ONLINE INFORMATION EXCHANGE)
Three bodies are involved in the development and maintenance of ONIX : Book Industries
Communications (BIC) based in London, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) based in
New York, and EDItEUR (www.editeur.org/), an international steering group that is
responsible for the maintenance of the ONIX standard. Version 2.1 of ONIX for Books was
released in 2005.
ONIX (ONLINE INFORMATION EXCHANGE)
An ONIX record contains bibliographic information as well as trade information. Libraries
and information agencies have found the ONIX description useful as starting points or as
enhancements for resource descriptions for their materials. Because much of this
information is also included in library catalog records, ONIX records provide a source for
ordinary cataloging information and for additional information, such as a table of contents,
that is sometimes useful for enhancing cataloging records. ONIX metadata can also be used
as the beginning of a cataloging record to save money and effort in original cataloging.
ONIX (ONLINE INFORMATION EXCHANGE)
The ONIX DTD (Document Type Definition) contains a set over two hundred data elements
in four groups:
1. The ONIX message header concerning information the message being transmitted
2. Main Series Record (Optional) –consisting of seven main elements with subelements,
describing a series or “top-level” of a series or sub-series.
3. Sub-series Record – consisting of eight main elements with subelements, describing a
subseries
4. Product Record – consisting of twenty-five main elements with sub-elements, describing
an individual publication such as a book.
ONIX (ONLINE INFORMATION EXCHANGE)