Reviewing Metadata Records

This page discusses the kinds of things to look for when you review an individual metadata record.

It’s a good idea to proofread a record after you complete it, to make sure you didn’t miss anything. The easiest way to do this is by looking at the item’s summary page, which has a compact view of the whole record. It also attempts to flag certain fields that might have issues and should be checked. More information about the summary page and the warning flags can be found :doc: here </technical/navigation.html#record-summary>

Introduction

Generally, when you look at a record, you want to evaluate each field on thee main criteria:

Existence of values

Completeness of field content

Content of values

  • Is there a value in the field?

    • If no, was information left out (e.g., required fields)?

    • If yes, is it appropriate, or does it belong (e.g., information pasted into the wrong field)?

  • Has all appropriate information been included?

  • For fields with qualifiers, does every text value have a qualifier?

  • Do the qualifiers match the content?

  • If there are multiple parts (e.g., publisher name/location), have all applicable components been included?

  • Does the value match the item?

  • Is it formatted and punctuated correctly?

  • Have all placeholder values been replaced or completely removed? :doc: More about placeholders </technical/completing-records.html#completing-records-from-templates>

  • Has any information that does not apply to the item been removed? (e.g., suggested template values that may apply to other items in the collection but not to the specific item)

The next section provides in-depth suggestions about the kinds of things that you might want to check for each field. The field name links to the full guidelines if you want to verify any field usage or formatting. Also note that there are a number of collection- and type-specific guidelines in the left-hand menu that have more specific information and examples, when they apply.

Remember: even though there is a lot of information on this page, review becomes quicker once you get familiar with the kinds of things you should look for.

Individual Fields

This section lists things to check for every field in the order that they appear on the record. Even though it’s a good idea to check every field value, there are some general priorities:

  • Required fields. There must be a value in every required field for the record to be complete

  • Filtering fields. Some fields are tied to search filters and “Browse by…” interfaces, so it can be a good idea to pay more attention to these, or add information when it is missing or very general (e.g., date, subject, coverage places, series/serial titles)

doc:

Title </fields/title.html>

  • Does the record have 1 main title?

  • Does the record have any other titles? (Should it?)

  • Does every title entry have an appropriate qualifier?

  • Does the main title match the item (e.g., text on the title page or appropriate source)?

  • If the item does not have a formal title, is the assigned main title appropriate and formatted in [brackets]?

  • Do all titles have correct spelling, spacing, and punctuation?

  • Are there any placeholder components left behind, such as identifiers or {}?
doc:

Creator </fields/creator.html>

  • Are any creator/s listed?

  • If not, do you know who made the item?

  • Have all appropriate creators been included?

  • Are any creator names listed twice? (Names can only be entered once per record.)

  • Does every entry have both – type and role – qualifiers?

  • Do the types match (e.g., no agency/organization marked “personal”)?

  • Are the roles appropriate to the item and the creator’s responsibility?

  • Are all of the creator names applicable to the item (did they actually have a role making the item)?

  • Are names formatted correctly?

    • Personal names should be inverted; applicable suffixes (e.g., “Jr.”) at the end; no nicknames or prefixes except in specific cases

    • Organization names are written as they appear; if there is a hierarchy (e.g., department in an agency or university), list them highest to lowest, separated by periods with a terminating period

    • Review formatting guidelines for any questions

  • Should any of the names be checked against an authority? (Sometimes name authority work may work easier at the collection level.)
doc:

Contributor </fields/contributor.html>

  • Are any contributor/s listed?

  • If not, are any missing (e.g., collection donors)?

  • Have all appropriate contributors been included?

  • Are any contributor names listed twice? (Names can only be entered once per record.)

  • Are any contributors also listed in the creator field? (Names cannot be listed in both creator & contributor.)

  • Does every entry have both – type and role – qualifiers?

  • Do the types match (e.g., no agency/organization marked “personal”)?

  • Are the roles appropriate to the item and the contributor’s responsibility?

  • Are all of the contributor names applicable to the item (did they actually have a role in the creation or provenance of the item)?

  • Are names formatted correctly?

    • Personal names should be inverted; applicable suffixes (e.g., “Jr.”) at the end; no nicknames or prefixes except in specific cases

    • Organization names are written as they appear; if there is a hierarchy (e.g., department in an agency or university), list them highest to lowest, separated by periods with a terminating period

    • Review formatting guidelines for any questions

  • Should any of the names be checked against an authority? (Sometimes name authority work may work easier at the collection level.)
doc:

Publisher </fields/publisher.html>

  • Is a publisher listed for the item?

  • Should the item have a publisher listed?

  • Have all known parts been entered?

  • If city is unknown, is there an appropriate general location (e.g., state or country level)?

  • Is the publisher name formatted correctly?

    • Personal names are NOT inverted

    • Organization names are written as they appear; if there is a hierarchy (e.g., department in an agency or university), list them highest to lowest, separated by periods with a terminating period

    • Review formatting guidelines for any questions

  • Is the location formatted correctly (i.e., city, state or city, country with no abbreviations)?
doc:

Date </fields/date.html>

  • Is there a creation date entered?

  • Is the creation date (or an approximate date/date range) known?

  • Are any other applicable date types entered?

  • If the date is unknown, is there a reasonable way to provide a range (e.g., lifetime of a photographer)?

  • Is every date value marked with the correct qualifier?

  • Does every date value conform to EDTF (the system will flag invalid dates)?

  • Is the date an appropriate level of specificity (i.e., more specific is generally better, but only if it is known)?

  • Does the date format and specificity match the item type e.g.:

    • For photos with known ranges, we generally prefer “one of a set” notation for photos, e.g., “taken between 1970 and 1973” > [1970..1973]

    • For serials that are published multiple times per year, include known month or season (to sort issues by publication date)
doc:

Language </fields/language.html>

  • Is there at least 1 language value chosen?

  • Should there be multiple languages?

  • For photos/images, is there text in or written on the item?

N/A

  • Do any languages chosen match any visible written text or audible spoken language?

  • If there is no language (e.g., an image with no text, handwritten mathematical notes with no words, etc.) is “No Language” chosen?
doc:

Content Description </fields/description.html#element-name-content-description>

  • Is there 1 content description?

  • Are there additional content description entries (only 1 is allowed per record)?

  • Is the qualifier marked “content”?

  • Does the text describe the content of the item?

  • Does it start with a statement of the type of item (e.g., “Photograph of…” or “Letter from…” or “Article about…”, etc.)

  • Is the text written in complete sentences of reasonable lengths (e.g., not series of extremely short, choppy sentences)?

  • Is the spelling, spacing, and punctuation all correct?
doc:

Physical Description </fields/description.html#element-name-physical-description>

  • Is there 1 physical description?

  • Are there additional physical description entries (only 1 is allowed per record)?

  • Are all known details (like size) included?

  • If there is no physical description can a partial statement be included (For example, even if details or dimensions are unknown: just # p. for text; just kind of item; 1 photograph : col. or b&w, without format or size; etc.)

  • Is the qualifier marked “physical”?

  • Does the description format match the material type

  • Do the details (such as pagination or color) match the item?

  • Is the description punctuated and spaced correctly?

  • Are there any placeholder values that have not been removed (e.g., h cm. or # p.)?
doc:

Subject </fields/subject.html>

  • Does the record have at least 2 subject entries?

  • Does the record have at least 1 UNTL-BS term (unless it is only in the Digital Library)

  • If there is significant information about a person – e.g., physically visible in a photo, biographical text, etc. – are they listed as a named person?

  • Does the record have (roughly) the number of subjects or types of subjects expected for the collection or item type?

  • Does every subject entry have a qualifier?

  • Do the qualifiers match the subject types?

  • Are the subjects applicable to the item? Are they useful if someone wants to find that specific item?

  • Does the formatting for each value match the type of subject?

    • Keywords should be lowercase and plural (except proper nouns)

    • Persons names are inverted

    • Terms from controlled vocabularies must match the source authority

  • Is there a mix of general and specific terms? (This is not required, but can be helpful for some collections.)
doc:

Primary Source </fields/primary-source.html>

  • This is a radio button, so one value is always chosen: N/A, Yes, or No

N/A

  • If the item is definitely a primary source (like a photo) or definitely not (like a history paper), is it marked correctly?

  • When it doubt, N/A is fine
doc:

Coverage </fields/coverage.html>

  • Is there coverage information in the field?

  • Is all of the known coverage information about the content included?

    • Place name/s

    • Date or date range (only 1 entry)

    • Time period/s (Portal only)

    • Place point or box (usually 1)

  • If there is no place name, can a general location be added to support browsing by places (e.g., a country or state level)?

  • Does every entry have a qualifier?

  • Does every qualifier match the content?

  • Do all of the coverage entries match the content?

  • If there are place name/s are they at an appropriate level?

    • a photo taken “outside Austin” Austin” should be set to Travis County

    • a photo taken in San Antonio should list the city not “Texas”

  • If there is a coverage date entry, does it conform to EDTF formatting (the system will flag invalid dates?

  • Are all the values formatted appropriately, including spacing, punctuation, and spelling?
doc:

Source </fields/source.html>

  • Is there a source value?

  • Should there be a source value?

  • Does every source entry have an appropriate qualifier?

  • Does the source apply to the item?

  • Is everything spelled correctly?

  • Does the value have reasonable formatting (spacing, punctuation, etc.) and all known info?

  • Have any placeholder values been left in the record (e.g., for clippings)?
doc:

Citation </fields/citation.html>

  • Has any citation information been added?

  • Should citation information be added?

  • Does every citation entry have a qualifier?

  • Do the qualifiers match the values?

  • Does the citation information apply to the item?

  • Are all of the values formatted appropriately (e.g., numbers or text)?

  • Are values entered with consistent formatting, especially for values that will be repeated (e.g., titles or preferred citations)

  • Is everything spelled correctly?
doc:

Relation </fields/relation.html>

—————————————+—————————————|————————————— * Are there any relation value/s in |* Does every relation entry have a |* Does every relation apply to the

the record? | qualifier? | item?

  • Should additional relationships be |* Is the qualifier appropriate? |* Does every value include a title added? |* Does the qualifier have a | and ARK for the related item?

    reciprocal? (With few exceptions, |* Are values spelled correctly, with
doc:

Collection </fields/collection.html> & :doc: Institution </fields/institution.html>

  • Collection and institution should be pre-set at upload and generally do not need to be changed

  • Each record can have only 1 institution but may have more than 1 collection

  • Note that changing these fields may affect your access to edit those records

N/A
doc:

Rights </fields/rights.html>

  • Is there any information in the rights field?

  • Should there be rights information (e.g., if there is an explicit statement on the item}?

  • Does every rights entry have a qualifier?

  • Do all of the qualifiers match the information?

  • Does all of the rights information (or quoted statements) match the item?

  • Some sub-fields are controlled; do those values come from the appropriate lists (these are also drop-down menus)?

  • Are any names or statements spelled and formatted correctly (e.g., spacing and punctuation)?
doc:

Resource Type </fields/resource-type.html>

  • Is there a resource type value?

  • If there is no value, choose the most appropriate one from the list

N/A

  • Does the resource type match the item?

  • Is the type the most appropriate value from the list?
doc:

Format </fields/format.html>

  • Is there a format value?

  • If there is no value, choose the most appropriate one from the list

N/A

  • Does the format match the item?

  • Does the format align with the resource type?
doc:

Identifier </fields/identifier.html>

  • Are there identifier/s listed in the record?

  • Should the item have identifiers?

  • Are all relevant identifiers included?

  • Does every identifier have a qualifier?

  • Are the qualifiers appropriate?

  • Do the identifiers match the item?

  • Are the identifiers formatted appropriately (spacing, punctuation, etc.)?

  • Have any placeholder values been left in the identifier field (e.g., #)?
doc:

Degree </fields/degree.html>

  • Are there values in the degree field?

  • Is all relevant degree information included?

  • Does every entry have a qualifier?

  • Are the qualifiers appropriate?

  • Have any qualifiers (except department) been repeated?

  • Does the degree information match the item?

  • Are all values formatted appropriately (including spelling, spacing, & punctuation)?

  • Have any placeholder values been left in the field?
doc:

Note </fields/note.html>

  • Are there any notes in the record?

  • Should any notes be added?

  • Does every note have a qualifier?

  • Are the qualifiers appropriate?

  • Do the notes match the item?

  • Is everything spelled correctly, with appropriate spacing and punctuation?

  • Is there any non-public information (like e-mail addresses) marked as display notes?

Other Resources

  • doc:

    Quick-Start Guide </guides/quick-start-guide.html>

  • doc:

    Input Guidelines <input-guidelines-descriptive.html>

  • doc:

    UNTL System features </technical/navigation.html>

  • doc:

    Completing Metadata </technical/completing-records.html>

  • doc:

    Quality Control in Metadata </tools/metadata-tools.html>