4 Focus Area 4: Describe
Descriptive information about your digital content, called metadata, helps users find your items, understand their contents and origins, reflect on your community’s history and values, and make sense of how they may use the materials.
DESCRIBE: BRONZE LEVEL
| Key Activities |
|---|
| - Adopt a file naming convention and document it. |
| - Determine the metadata standard you will use and how the metadata fields apply to your collections. |
File Naming
As you digitize your collection items and save your digital files, you’ll need to assign a file name to each one. Using a well-defined and consistent system for organizing and naming digital files will make your life easier, now and in the future. If feasible, develop your file naming system before you begin digitizing.
A few file naming tips to keep in mind:
- Your file name is not a database record. Please don’t pack a bunch of descriptive information into the name.
- Your collection may grow! Your file naming system should accommodate future growth. Use up to five leading zeros with the numbers 0-9 to facilitate proper sorting, for example: smith00001.tif, smith00002.tif, smith00003.tif.
- Format dates consistently. When using dates in a file name, always start with YYYY, then MM, then DD so your files sort appropriately. If it’s easier to read, add hyphens between the year, month and day, for example: 2012-12-01.tif.
- Avoid funky characters. Do not make it “machine-unreadable” by using quotation marks, colons, or slashes. Stick to numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores only.
- No spaces, please. Use underscores (_) and dashes (-) to represent spaces. Spaces are often reserved for operating system functions and might be misread.
- Keep it short and sweet. Avoid including too many or overly complex elements within the file name.
| File Name Examples |
|---|
| Generic archives file naming convention: [collection]_[box #]_[folder #]_[item #].ext Example: goggins_box1_folder3_item006.tif |
| For a photograph with accession # 2011.32.1: 201132001.tif –OR– 2011_32_001.tif |
| For a series of images by photographer John Smith: smith001.tif, smith002.tif, smith003.tif |
| Not so good: Glassplate16039 Auto repair in basement 025.tif |
Once you’ve created a naming scheme, consider batch renaming existing digital files using a free, web-based tool such as AdvancedRenamer. This will save you a ton of time and reduce potential human-created file-naming errors.
Folder Structure
As you create and name files, organize them into folders in a structure that makes sense for how they will be used. Then document that structure so that others will understand where files are located and where to put new content.
For example, research files for internal use only might be moved to a network drive or a reference desk computer and the files might be organized into broad topic categories:
- RESEARCH FILES
- LOCAL BUSINESSES
- LOCAL HOMES
- COMMUNITY EVENTS
If you’ll be loading access files to a Collection Management System, move them to the computer where you’ll be doing that work. The folder structure might be as simple as:
- FILES FOR ONLINE ACCESS
- TO UPLOAD
- UPLOAD COMPLETED
When creating a folder structure, make sure not to have too many “nested” folders. If you are opening a series of more than four folders to get to a specific file, your folder structure may be too complicated[1].
Identify and Adopt a Metadata Standard
A metadata standard is a set of rules that helps to ensure that descriptive information is applied consistently. Consistent, standardized metadata is important because it makes your digital content searchable, findable, sortable, and shareable, both locally and as part of the vast ocean of digital content available online across the world.
Before you get started describing your digital content, determine the metadata standard you will use. Dublin Core (or DCMI – Dublin Core Metadata Initiative) is a widely adopted metadata standard used by cultural heritage organizations of all types and sizes[2]. PBCore is another metadata standard commonly used in A/V collections. Many collection management systems (CMS) are structured around a particular metadata standard, so if you’re using a CMS, that decision might already be made for you!
| Bronze Level: Resources and Tools |
|---|
| Best Practices for Naming Electronic Records. Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Best Practices for Organization of Electronic Records. Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| File Naming/Organization. South Central Library System. |
| Working with Dublin Core. Omeka. |
describe: silver level
| Key Activities |
|---|
| - Create metadata for items. |
Item-Level Description
Different types of metadata provide different types of information. Descriptive metadata for digital cultural heritage items aims to answer some very basic but important questions for you and your users:
- What am I looking at?
- Who created it?
- When was it created?
- Where was it created?
- Who owns it?
- How can I use it?
But where does all of this descriptive information actually go? You can input metadata into a simple spreadsheet, in a content management system or database, or, in some cases, embed it into the digital file[3]. Metadata files should be digitally stored with the collection to which they refer.
General metadata input guidelines:
- Avoid the use of abbreviations. Spell out the full names of communities, people and places.
- Capitalize all proper names. Capitalize only the first word in titles and subject terms.
- Avoid using special characters such as ampersands (&) or ellipses (. . .) and HTML tags. For example, do not use < br > or < br / > within metadata fields to force a line break.
- Fields for which there is no available information should be left blank. Avoid using “unknown,” “anonymous,” etc.
- Subject refers to terms or phrases assigned to an item to facilitate searching and browsing a collection. Consistent use of subject headings helps link related content in your collection and across disparate collections. The subject is intended to describe “aboutness,” not the physical item or its location.
- Description is a free text field for all extra, relevant information that does not have a “home” in other fields. We recommend that you include the names of people here whenever possible. Provide enough information to add meaning for non-local users. You may include short transcriptions here, like a handwritten note on the back of a photo, but don’t include full-text or OCR transcriptions.
| Metadata Record Examples |
|---|
| Sample Metadata: Postcard, Recollection Wisconsin |
| Sample Metadata: Oral History Interview, Recollection Wisconsin |
| Sample Metadata: Yearbook, Recollection Wisconsin |
| Sample metadata: Moving Image (starting on page 10), California Revealed |
| Silver Level: Resources and Tools |
|---|
| Metadata Creation Template. Recollection Wisconsin. |
| “Metadata Essentials.” Recollection Wisconsin, 2020. |
| “Tutorial: Creating titles for historic photographsTutorial: Creating titles for historic photographs.” . Recollection Wisconsin, 2013. |
| Metadata Guidelines. California Revealed, 2023. |
DESCRIBE: GOLD LEVEL
| Key Activities |
|---|
| - Identify and/or create controlled vocabulary lists to use when creating metadata. |
| - Create a data dictionary to document the standards you will use for metadata. |
Controlled Vocabularies
A controlled vocabulary is a predetermined list of terms and phrases used to describe resources. Controlled vocabularies help establish consistency and enable discovery by grouping and connecting related content. In other words, using the same subject terms, creator names, place names, etc. as everyone else describing digital materials means that search terms will turn up the same types of items across multiple collections.
| Controlled Vocabulary Examples | |
|---|---|
| Subject | Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) |
| Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (LCTGM) | |
| Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) | |
| Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging | |
| Type | DCMI Type Vocabulary Type Vocabulary |
| PBCore instantiationPhysical for Audio, Video, and Film | |
| Creator | Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) |
| Place | Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names |
| Language | ISO 639.2 (Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages) |
| Rights | Rights Statements URIs |
Data Dictionary
A data dictionary or metadata style guide is a document describing, connecting, contextualizing, and interpreting your metadata fields. It’s important to document what kinds of information should be captured in each metadata field, and how, so that others can refer to it as they create new metadata records in a standardized way.
For instance, your community may have a particular content creator whose name is known in more than one way — perhaps a nickname. Your data dictionary could specify that the “Creator” field should include both the given name and nickname of creators, i.e. Paul “The Lumberjack” Bunyan.
| Data Dictionary Examples |
|---|
| Listening to War data dictionary, Recollection Wisconsin |
| Metadata Style Guide for Digital Maryland Collections |
| Guidelines for Uploading Exhibit Submissions to Mukurtu, Great Lakes Culture Keepers |
| Clements Texas Papers, Briscoe Center for American History |
Metadata Considerations
Controlled vocabularies, data dictionaries, subject headings, and other standardized metadata have been created by people: human beings with human perspectives and biases. Additionally, terminology, understanding, and relationships change and evolve over time. This means that subject terms determined by the Library of Congress or another authority may not be accurate or acceptable today, in your geographic region, or for your experiences.
Creating metadata gives the writer a lot of power to decide how materials will be discovered and understood by users in the future. While we can’t know how terms might change going forward, we can consciously create metadata that uses community members’ preferred terminology. For instance, although there are many place names in Wisconsin that use the outdated word “Winnebago,” the citizens of Ho-Chunk Nation prefer “Ho-Chunk” to describe themselves[4].
We’ve included several resources in the Resources and Tools list below to get you started on what’s called inclusive metadata.
| Gold Level: Resources and Tools |
|---|
| Introduction to Conscious Editing Series Sunshine State Digital Network, 2020. |
| A choice to empower. University of North Carolina, 2021. |
| It’s All In The Details. Iowa State University, 2021. |
| Anti-Racist Description Resources. Archives For Black Lives in Philadelphia, 2019. |
| Equitable Metadata Practices Related to Race, Gender and Culture. DigitalNC, 2021. |
- Personal Digital Archiving: Organization, University of Montana. https://libguides.lib.umt.edu/c.php?g=712064&p=5066898 ↵
- DCMI Metadata Terms. https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/ ↵
- Photo Metadata Project, Stock Artists Alliance. http://www.photometadata.org ↵
- Ho-Chunk Nation, Hochungra - The People With The Big Voice, Wisconsin First Nations. https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/ho-chunk-nation/ ↵
Metadata is a Latin term meaning "information about information." In the digital realm, metadata is data that describes key information about digital objections (image files, text files, digital audio/video) and, when appropriate, the original objects they represent. Types of metadata include administrative, descriptive, structural, and technical.
A Collections Management System (CMS), sometimes called a Collections Information System, is software used by the collections staff of a collecting institution or by individual private collectors and collecting hobbyists or enthusiasts. Collections Management Systems (CMSs) allow individuals or collecting institutions to organize, control, and manage their collections' objects by “tracking all information related to and about” those objects. May also be referred to as a Discovery Platform. See: CONTENTdm, Mukurtu, Omeka, PastPerfect, Preservica
A metadata standard is a system or set of rules that ensure descriptive information is applied consistently across your items. DublinCore is a commonly-used metadata standard in digital archives.
Descriptive metadata is information used to search for and locate an object such as title, author, subjects, keywords, and publisher. Descriptive metadata allows users to locate, distinguish, and select materials on the basis of the material's subjects or 'aboutness.' It is distinguished from information about the form of the material, or its administration.
Transcription is the process of making a written copy of a recording or document. For audio or video recordings, a transcription is a written copy of the spoken material. For handwritten archival artifacts, a transcription is a typed, usually digital, version of the handwriting.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the process that converts an image of text into a machine-readable text format.
A controlled vocabulary is a standardized, pre-determined list of terms, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
A data dictionary is a collection of names, definitions, and attributes about data elements that are being used or captured in a database, information system, or part of a research project. It describes the meanings and purposes of data elements within the context of a project, and provides guidance on interpretation, accepted meanings and representation.