Master Data Elements List
This draft list of data elements, mainly intended for special collections, is a list from which the Library of Congress chooses elements for a specific project and then indicates the ones chosen in a profile similar to the ones on this site. The profiles also have some additional detail about the use of authority lists, etc. If a project needs an element not on the list then it is brought to the MDC group for possible addition. The goal is to use this list to provide a standardized approach to metadata across Library of Congress special digital collections.
Equivalent MODS elements are indicated in the last column of the Master List, although it should be noted that MODS has additional elements and other markups are possible.
MODS can specify the source vocabularies or forms of content where needed (as indicated in the Notes column). Alternate languages or scripts of the metadata may be indicated with attributes.
A hyphen (-) before an element in the first column indicates that it is a parsing component that may be applied to basic elements in the group.
Last Updated: 07/22/2021
