Glossary
“The Dublin Core™ Metadata Element Set is a vocabulary of fifteen properties for use in resource description. The name "Dublin" is due to its origin at a 1995 invitational workshop in Dublin, Ohio; "core" because its elements are broad and generic, usable for describing a wide range of resources.” Dublin Core(DC) is built into our Omeka hosted system, and we are bound to its terminology for describing the items in The Commissioned Street Art Digital Library of Miami-Dade. Since many in our audience may not be familiar with the terminology we decided to include this Glossary, including both the official DC definitions and more specific rationale used here.
Note: Only thirteen elements are mentioned below, as we chose not to use “Language” in this project, and “Relation” has yet to be required by the collection. More information can be found at (https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/)
Title: “A name given to the resource.”
- This is either a Title given by the artist or else “unknown.”
Subject: “The topic of the resource.”
- We chose to represent this with a minimum of two selections from the Library of Congress Subject Headings controlled vocabulary. (https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/freelcsh.html)
Description: “An account of the resource.”
- The goal of this section is to serve as alternate text for the images that make up the collection.
Creator: “An entity primarily responsible for making the resource.”
- In this case the artist responsible for the original work depicted in the digital resource.
Source: “A related resource from which the described resource is derived.”
- For our purposes this means the web location from which the resource was retrieved for the collection.
Publisher: “An entity responsible for making the resource available.”
- In a digital library of commissioned artwork, the commissioning body, whether corporate or private, is the closest thing to a publisher in our opinion.
Date: “A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource.”
- We aim to get as near as possible to the date that the original work was completed.
Contributor: “An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource.”
- In this case we mean the staff member who added the resource to the collection.
Rights: “Information about rights held in and over the resource.”
- This means copyright information.
Format: “The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource.”
- File format says it all!
Coverage: “The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant.”
- Here we chose to record the physical address which the original work either resides or formerly resided at in the case of a “Historic” work.
Identifier: “An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.”
- This is an alphanumeric system label specific to the resource. This is particularly useful in the common case of multiple unnamed or untitled works.
Type: “The nature or genre of the resource.”
- All items in The Commissioned Street Art Digital Library of Miami-Dade fall under the type “still image,” however we used this section to record any information about the original work depicted.
Tags: Each resource is tagged with “Surviving,” “Historic,” or “Unknown” depending on the current fate of the original work. This is not a Dublin Core element, merely a convenience for patrons interested in visiting works. Further pre-approved tags may be added as the collection develops.