Metadata Table for the Coolidge-Consumerism Experiment
A Project of the Library of Congress and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives

Version of March 9, 1999, linked to LC internal documents; Carl Fleischhauer (cfle@loc.gov)

Related Documents:
What is this table?
Read more about repositories and metadata.
Where will the experiment get the metadata?
What has been omitted?

  This Document:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Creation, Responsibility, and Identity Metadata
II. Intellectual Metadata Subset in the Digital Object
III. Structural Metadata
IV. Administrative Metadata
A. Administrative Metadata to Serve Access Management
B. Administrative Metadata to Serve Object Preservation
C. Administrative Metadata to Serve Preservation Program Management

 
 
I. Creation, Responsibility, and Identity Information
This metadata may be compared to the information displayed together with a filename when one requests the file list for a computer folder or directory.
Category  Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
URN Handle (01) What is this object called? 
What is its persistent URN name?
Example: 
loc.mbrsmi/amrlr.4008
Serves: 
All functions
Responsibility statement Object_responsibility_name (02)
Object_responsibility_role (03)
Who is responsible? 
Who is the object manager? 
What is the nature of the responsibility, or the role?
Example: 
loc.mss
selected and converted
Serves: 
Administration
Object deposit information  Object_datetime_deposited (04) Good housekeeping
Example:
1997-07-16T19:20+01:00
Serves: 
Administration
Object last revision Object_datetime_last_modified (05) Good housekeeping
Example:
1999-11-06T04:20+01:00
Serves: 
Administration
Element deposit information  Element_datetime_deposited (06) Good housekeeping
Example:
1997-07-16T19:20+01:00
Serves: 
Administration
Element last revision Element_datetime_last_modified ( 07) Good housekeeping
Example:
1999-11-06T04:20+01:00
Serves: 
Administration
Repository type Object_repository (08) Digital archeology: What system assembled and managed this object?
Example: 
Handle for the repository where the object was originally deposited.
Serves: 
Administration
Repository version Object_repository_version (09) What version of the system?
Example: 
Ver 2.3
Serves: 
Administration

 
 
II. Intellectual Metadata Subset in the Digital Object
The Coolidge-Consumerism experiment team will include some intellectual metadata with the objects it creates, although there will be no attempt to include the entire bibliographic record and all of its tagging or coding.  The team recognizes that some Library of Congress staff have identified the risk associated with including intellectual metadata with the object.  The systems at the Library for the discovery and display of digital objects contain intellectual metadata in a catalog of bibliographic or other access-aid records that is separate from object storage.  Thus intellectual metadata in the object is redundant and, since such information is sometimes created after the object has been assembled and is frequently updated, its presence in the object leads to the burdensome requirement that updates be performed in two places.  The Coolidge-Consumerism experiment team, however, feels that national and international trends in digital libraries favor the inclusion of intellectual metadata in the object and will experiment with the following approaches to accomplish this. 
Category  Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
Intellectual metadata subset stored in object (title and author) Object_title (10)
Object_source_item_creator (11A)
What is this object? 
What does this reformatted entity represent, what was the original thing?
Example: 
The problem of distribution.
Hoover, Herbert
Information about ordering reproductions not available via the presentation of the object.
Note: listed here because derived from intellectual metadata, of which the identifier portion of this data unit is normally part.
Object_external_reproduction_identifier (11B)
Object_external_reproduction_procedure (11C)
What is the identifier I need to order, say, an 8x10-inch print of this photo, a paper copy of this map image, or a videotape version of this movie?
Where do I go to get the copy, what process must I follow?
Examples: 
LC-USF3410-24981D
HAR/ARB-3245-J12
[Pointer to LC Photoduplication Service Info Page]
[Pointer to Lab Services at Harvard Arboretum]
Intellectual metadata retrieved dynamically via client Object_description (12) Serves: 
Presentation, administration.
Example:
Creator: Howe, Elias, 1820-1895.
Title: Complete ball-room hand book, containing upwards of three hundred dances ... By Elias Howe, assisted by several eminent professors of dancing.
Created/Published: [Boston, Ditson, c1858]
Subjects: Ballroom dancing.
Dance Instruction and Technical Manuals.
Medium: 118 p. illus. 16 cm.
Call Number: GV1751 .H86 1858a

 
 
III. Structural Metadata
This metadata is intended to provide the information needed to present the digital object as a comprehensible and navigable whole for an enduser. The actual shaping is in the hands of a presentation service, working in concert with the enduser's browser. A key feature of the Coolidge-Consumerism experiment is the use of "typing," in which the digital objects are placed in five categories by the data unit Object_structural_type, which plays off against information about the elements. The key typing unit at the element level is Element_use, although element typing will also require discrimination by means of fields like Element_MIME_type and Element_horizontal_pixels.
Category Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
Object type 

Note: this does not refer to genre or "type" in the Dublin Core sense but is closer to Dublin Core's "format."

Object_structural_type (13) What type of object is this, in terms of the profiles used to generate presentations at LC?  For an outsider who wants to build his or her own presentation: what was LC's conceptualization of this object or its presentation?
Example: 
x-DO/doc; doctype="image"
Serves: 
Presentation and administration including object preservation and preservation management
Information about the elements Object_quantity_content_elements (14)
Object_quantity_metadata_elements (15)
How many content elements and metadata elements are there in this metaobject? 
[What are their identifiers?]
Example:
2
3
amrlp.3a11165.1
amrlp.3a11165.2
Serves: 
Presentation, administration
Element_size (16) How many bytes in this element? 
Example:
1392887
1999-07-18T19:20+01:00
2002-03-23T09:45+02:00
Serves: 
Presentation, administration
MIME type Element_MIME_type (17) What MIME type is this element?
Example: 
application/x-pn.RealAudio
Serves: 
Presentation, administration including object preservation
Image dimensions Element_horizontal_pixels (18)
Element_vertical_pixels (19)
If an image of any type (including moving), what are the image dimensions expressed in pixels?
Examples: 
1024
768
Serves: 
Presentation, administration including object preservation and preservation management
Image orientation (rotation) Element_image_orientation (20) If a still image, what is the orientation? Does it need to be rotated for display?
Example: 
090
Serves: 
Presentation, administration
Spatial resolution Element_image_spatial_resolution (21) If an document or pictorial image, what is the spatial resolution (expressed in dots per inch)?
Example: 
300
Serves: 
Presentation, administration including object preservation and preservation management
Duration (playing time) Element_duration (22) If this element is time-based (video or audio), how long does it play?
Example: 
00:04:22
Serves: 
Presentation, administration
Compression Element_datastream_compression (23) Was the file compressed by an external or datastream algorithm and, if so, which one?
Example:
G-ZIP
Serves: 
Presentation, administration including object preservation and preservation management
Special viewer support information Element_supported_viewer (24) In situations where it is not obvious or requires marking, which software can be used for display?
Example: 
Panorama [for SGML texts]
Serves: 
Presentation, administration including object preservation and preservation management
Relationship of elements Element_relationship (25) How do the elements in a multi-element object relate to another?
Example: 
SEQ_02:41
GRID_a:03
Serves: 
Presentation and administration including object preservation and preservation management
Element version (also "type" or "use") Element_use (26) Key data point for the selection of an element for presentation in terms of the profile implicit in the object type
Which version is this element? How does it fit into the presentation?
Example: 
picture_master_image
Serves: 
Presentation and administration including object preservation and preservation management
Element feature, description, or characteristic Element_page_type (27) What feature or characteristics are special to this page, image, or other element? What additional information ought to be placed in the heading of a presentation device like a page turner?
Example: 
Front cover
Serves: 
Presentation and administration
Element part (for multi-part objects) Element_part (28) If a multipart ("hierarchical sequence") item, what part is this?
Example: 
2
Serves: 
Administration; could serve presentation.

 
 
IV.A. Administrative Metadata to Serve Access Management
The Coolidge-Consumerism experiment planners postulate that a to-be-developed access management service will use this data together with a separate set of access policies in order to control access by object category. Categorization for the Coolidge-Consumerism experiment is at the object level; other projects may wish to categorize at the element level.
Category Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
Access category Object_access_category (29) What is the access category for this object?
Example: 
LU
Serves: 
Access management
Display message pertaining to access Object_access_display_message (3 0) What message should be displayed to enduser regarding access (or lack of access) to this object?
Examples: 
[Pointer to access management system table that sends "Sorry, accessible only in LC buildings" to offsite users.]
[Pointer to table that sends message "Reproduced under a special license from the Smedley Publishing Company. No further reproduction permitted without permission (email: legal@smedley.com)."]
Serves: 
Access management
Other access information Object_access_info (31) Is there additional information, fact sheets, or agreements pertaining to access to this object?
Example: 
[record number in another database?]
Serves: 
Access management
Access code expiration Object_access_expiration_date (32) Will the access management code change at a certain date?
Example: 
2002-01-01
Serves: 
Access management

 
 
IV.B. Administrative Metadata to Serve Object Preservation
Object preservation will be carried out by a to-be-designed object preservation service. The service will use these data units and will also exploit several structural metadata units.
Category Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
Checksum for file integrity checking Element_MD5_checksum (33) What is the existing MD5 checksum or equivalent for this element?
Example:
57edf4a22be3c955ac49da2e2107b67a
Serves: 
Object preservation
Date checksum created Element_checksum_creation_date_time (34) When was the checksum generated? 
Example: 
1997-04-22T19:20+01:00
Serves: 
Object preservation
External migration master Object_external_migration_element (35) Is the best copy or migration master for one of the originals represented by an element in this object external to the repository?
Example: 
MBRS videotape FRP1286 (D2 digital format)
Serves: 
Object preservation (migration)
Repository backup information Object_backup_identification (36)
Object_backup_datetime (37)
Has this digital object been included in a backup? When and what is the backup identifier?
Examples: 
B4kg4509
1999-07-01T07:20+01:00
Serves: 
System operations, object preservation
Object-preservation archiving information Object_archive_identification (38)
Object_archive_datetime (39)
Has this digital object been archived? When and what is the archive identifier?
Examples: 
Vault tape RR34LK222
2003-09-14T17:20+01:00
Serves: 
Object preservation

 
 
IV.C. Administrative Metadata to Serve Preservation Program Management
These metadata units document aspects of the reformatting process and permit library and archive preservation programs to determine which reformatting practices have been followed and guidelines met. Program managers will depend upon these data units as well as a number of units listed in the preceding section on structural metadata.

Other organizations have outlined the types of information that are of interest to the field of library and archive preservation. For example, see RLG Working Group on Preservation Issues of Metadata: Final Report (May 1998), RLG Working Group on Preservation and Reformatting Information: Proposed Enhancements to MARC 007 Values for Computer Files (November 1998), The Making of America II Testbed Project White Paper Version 2.0 (September 15, 1998) (see esp. sections on structural and administrative metadata), and Table 2 within the report "Digital Imaging and Preservation Microfilm" by Stephen Chapman, Paul Conway, and Anne R. Kenney in the February 1999 issue of RLG DigiNews

The documents cited in the preceding paragraph suggest the range of information that managers may wish to record. It is possible that the specifics will vary from project to project. This potential variation, together with the fact that little of the information need be parsed by computer, has led to the Coolidge-Consumerism team to define several of the following metadata units as "human readable," i.e., neither coded nor computer-parseable, thus offering the greatest flexibility for inputting data.

Category Logical tag and project tracking number Question to be answered
Preservation intention Object_preservation_copy (40) Did the producers intend for this object to represent digital preservation reformatting?
Example: 
y
Serves: 
Preservation program management
Disposition of the original physical item Object_preservation_original_note (41) Was the original item retained or discarded? What information may be of interest regarding discarding or retention, e.g., condition, storage, etc.
Example: 
Original book disbound and reshelved in container.
Serves: 
Preservation program management
Reformatting guidelines  Object_reformatting_guidelines (42) What guidelines or standards were followed for this instance of reformatting?
Example: 
Cornell University Printed Matter Practices, 3d Edition (2002)
Serves: 
Preservation program management
Preservation reformatting method Object_reformatting_method (43) What approach and/or methods to digitization were used? 
Example: 
Book disbound, scanned on Xerox model 620 with use of halftone descreening, 600 dpi bitonal images.
Serves: 
Preservation program management
Image characteristics of special interest for preservation Element_image_tonal_resolution (44) If an image of any type (including moving ??), what is the tonal resolution?
Element_image_characteristics (45) If this element is an images of any type, what other relevant aspects of "rendition" ought be reported?
Examples: 
36 bits per pixel (12 bits per channel), RGB color space, 

Capture device ICC profile: [handle for special digital object]

Serves: 
Preservation program management
Reformatting batch tracking Element_reformatting_batch (46) Was digitization part of batch or task order? Are there relevant targets or other measurement tools?
Example: 
JJT Contract 99CCT456309, batch PNP235, 19990713, includes IPI test target
Serves: 
Preservation program management
Other preservation program information Object_preservation_note (47)
Element_preservation_note (48)
What additional information was recorded regarding reformatting this object or element?
Example: 
Lithographs in this group had color adjustment supervised by P&P fine prints curator.
Serves: 
Preservation program management

 


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