The Dublin Core is a metadata element set intended to facilitate discovery of electronic resources. Originally conceived for author-generated description of Web resources, it has attracted the attention of formal resource description communities such as museums, libraries, government agencies, and commercial organizations.
The Dublin Core Workshop Series has gathered experts from the library world, the networking and digital library research communities, and a variety of content specialties in a series of invitational workshops. The building of an interdisciplinary, international consensus around a core element set is the central feature of the Dublin Core. The progress represents the emergent wisdom and collective experience of many stakeholders in the resource description arena. An open mailing list supports ongoing work.
The document summarizes the updated definitions for the Dublin Core metadata elements. These new definitions will be officially known as Version 1.1.
The definitions utilise a formal standard for the description of metadata elements. This formalisation helps to improve consistency with other metadata communities and enhances the clarity, scope, and internal consistency of the Dublin Core metadata element definitions.
The definitions provided here include both the conceptual and representational form of the Dublin Core elements. The Definition attribute captures the semantic concept and the Datatype and Comment attributes capture the data representation.
Each Dublin Core definition refers to the resource being described. A resource is defined as "anything that has identity". For the purposes of Dublin Core metadata, a resource will typically be an information or service resource, but may be applied more broadly.
Element: Title
Name: Title
Identifier: Title
Definition: A name given to the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Title will be a name by which the resource is
formally known.
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Element: Creator
Name: Creator
Identifier: Creator
Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the content of
the resource.
Comment: Examples of a Creator include a person, an organisation,
or a service.
Typically, the name of a Creator should be used to
indicate the entity.
Element: Subject
Name: Subject and Keywords
Identifier: Subject
Definition: The topic of the content of the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Subject will be expressed as keywords,
key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic
of the resource.
Recommended best practice is to select a value from a
controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.
Element: Description
Name: Description
Identifier: Description
Definition: An account of the content of the resource.
Comment: Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract,
table of contents, reference to a graphical representation
of content or a free-text account of the content.
Element: Publisher
Name: Publisher
Identifier: Publisher
Definition: An entity responsible for making the resource available
Comment: Examples of a Publisher include a person, an organisation,
or a service.
Typically, the name of a Publisher should be used to
indicate the entity.
Element: Contributor
Name: Contributor
Identifier: Contributor
Definition: An entity responsible for making contributions to the
content of the resource.
Comment: Examples of a Contributor include a person, an organisation,
or a service.
Typically, the name of a Contributor should be used to
indicate the entity.
Element: Date
Name: Date
Identifier: Date
Definition: A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the
resource.
Comment: Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or
availability of the resource. Recommended best practice
for encoding the date value is defined in a profile of
ISO 8601 and follows the YYYY-MM-DD format.
Element: Type
Name: Resource Type
Identifier: Type
Definition: The nature or genre of the content of the resource.
Comment: Type includes terms describing general categories, functions,
genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best
practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary
(for example, the working draft list of Dublin Core Types).
To describe the physical or digital manifestation
of the resource, use the FORMAT element.
Element: Format
Name: Format
Identifier: Format
Definition: The physical or digital manifestation of the resource.
Comment: Typically, Format may include the media-type or dimensions of
the resource. Format may be used to determine the software,
hardware or other equipment needed to display or operate the
resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration.
Recommended best practice is to select a value from a
controlled vocabulary (for example, the list of Internet Media
Types defining computer media formats).
Element: Identifier
Name: Resource Identifier
Identifier: Identifier
Definition: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.
Comment: Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means
of a string or number conforming to a formal identification
system.
Example formal identification systems include the Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI) (including the Uniform Resource
Locator (URL)), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and the
International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
Element: Source
Name: Source
Identifier: Source
Definition: A Reference to a resource from which the present resource
is derived.
Comment: The present resource may be derived from the Source resource
in whole or in part. Recommended best practice is to reference
the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a
formal identification system.
Element: Language
Name: Language
Identifier: Language
Definition: A language of the intellectual content of the resource.
Comment: Recommended best practice for the values of the Language
element is defined by RFC 1766 which includes
a two-letter Language Code (taken from the ISO 639
standard), followed optionally, by a two-letter
Country Code (taken from the ISO 3166 standard).
For example, 'en' for English, 'fr' for French, or
'en-uk' for English used in the United Kingdom.
Element: Relation
Name: Relation
Identifier: Relation
Definition: A reference to a related resource.
Comment: Recommended best practice is to reference the resource by means
of a string or number conforming to a formal identification
system.
Element: Coverage
Name: Coverage
Identifier: Coverage
Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource.
Comment: Coverage will typically include spatial location (a place name
or geographic coordinates), temporal period (a period label,
date, or date range) or jurisdiction (such as a named
administrative entity).
Recommended best practice is to select a value from a
controlled vocabulary (for example, the Thesaurus of Geographic
Names [TGN]) and that, where appropriate, named places or time
periods be used in preference to numeric identifiers such as
sets of coordinates or date ranges.
Element: Rights
Name: Rights Management
Identifier: Rights
Definition: Information about rights held in and over the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Rights element will contain a rights
management statement for the resource, or reference
a service providing such information. Rights information
often encompasses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR),
Copyright, and various Property Rights.
If the Rights element is absent, no assumptions can be made
about the status of these and other rights with respect to
the resource.
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