Metadata Collection Level Description

Simple Collection Description

Draft version - 02 August 1999

Edited by: Andy Powell, UKOLN

1. Introduction

• allow users to discover, locate and access collections of interest
• allow users to perform searches across multiple collections in a controlled way
• allow software to perform such tasks on behalf of users based on known user preferences.

• Internet catalogues (e.g. Yahoo)
• Subject gateways (e.g. SOSIG, OMNI, ADAM, EEVL, etc.)
• Library, museum and archival catalogues
• Web indexes (e.g. Alta Vista)
• Collections of text, images, sounds, datasets, software, other material or combinations of these (this includes databases, CD-ROMs and collections of Web resources)
• Collections of events (e.g. the Follett Lecture Series)
• Library and museum collections
• Archives
• Other collections of physical items
• Digital archives

2. Content Model

Our simple content model can be shown diagramatically as:

• A Collection is made up of Items or other Collections (or both).
• An Item may, in turn, be made up other Items. This makes the dividing line between Collections and Items somewhat vague! (For example, consider a collection of Web pages. Each Web page is typically made up up several items - text, images, etc. However, most people do not think of a Web page as a 'collection').
• A Collection may be catalogued by (or be the catalogue for) another Collection.
• A Service provides access to a Collection. Such a Service may be electronic (Web or Z39.50 access for example) or physical (a real library or museum). Any given Collection may be made available through a number of different Services. Any given Service may provide access to a number of Collections.
• There are Terms and Conditions associated with Items, Collections and Services. These Terms and Conditions may be related and/or inherited in quite complex ways.
• There are a number of different Agents, typically people or corporate bodies, associated with Items, Collections and Services. Three are highlighted in this model - the owner of a collection and the publisher and administrator of the Service that provides access to the Collection. The administrator is sometimes referred to as the 'resource operator' in other contexts.

The comprehensive description of Agents is also considered beyond the scope of this proposal. Initially it is expected that people and corporate bodies will simply be described using loosely structured string values, for example their name or name and email address. In the longer term, it might be sensible to develop structured values for these elements, perhaps based on vCard [2], to make it possible to provide postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, etc. However, this proposal does not consider how this might be done.

3. Simple Collection Description Element Set

• The set contains 23 elements - 12 are taken from the Dublin Core. They are grouped into those that describe a Collection and those that describe a Service that provides access to a Collection. The table indicates those elements that are taken from the Dublin Core with [DC].
• All elements are optional and repeatable.
• This list defines the semantics of each metadata element. The semantics are independant of any particular syntax that may be used in real implementations.
• Software is expected to use the short 'labels' to refer to these elements. The longer 'names' are for human consumption.

The use of protocol specific URLs for the Identifier element has several advantages. It limits the number of elements required and means that the element set is less likely to have to expand in future as new protocols become available (assuming that the new protocols have associated URL formats).

4. Refining Semantics

This document enumerates a list of values for the Type element (see below). This is an example of a SCHEME. In the semantic definitions provided above, other SCHEMEs were also mentioned including ISO8601 and RFC1766. It also proposes the use of four TYPEs for the Relation element (see below).

The implementation of element qualifiers is syntax specific. The RDF implementation described below includes an introduction to encoding element and value qualifiers in RDF.

4.1 A value qualifier for the Type element

Type
Collection	Any collection of items.
Catalogue	A manually created catalogue (or one created with significant human effort).
Index	An automatically generated index (or one that is primarily generated by a software robot or other harvesting technology).
Curatorial Environment
Library	A library collection (books, journals, etc.).
Museum	A museum collection (artefacts, etc.).
Archive	An archive is a whole which documents the life and work of an institution or individual, which has been retained in its original working order and is of known provenance.
Internet	A collection, catalogue or index of Internet resources.
Content
Text	A collection of items that are primarily words for reading. For example - books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre "text".
Image	A collection of items that are primarily symbolic visual representations other than text. For example - images and photographs of physical objects, paintings, prints, drawings, other images and graphics, animations and moving pictures, film, diagrams, maps, musical notation. Note that "image" may include both electronic and physical representations.
Sound	A collection of items that are primarily audio. For example - music, speech, recorded sounds.
Dataset	A collection of items that primarily consist of structured information encoded in lists, tables, databases, etc., which will normally be in a format available for direct machine processing. For example - spreadsheets, databases, GIS data, midi data. Note that collections of items that are primarily unstructured numbers and words will normally be considered to be type "Collection.Text".
Software	A software repository.
InteractiveResource	A collection of resources which require interaction from the user to be understood, executed, or experienced. For example - forms on web pages, applets, multimedia learning objects, chat services, virtual reality.
Event	A collection of non-persistent, time-based occurences.
PhysicalObject	A collection of three dimensional objects or substances which are not primarily text or image or one of the other types listed here. For example - people, computers, sculptures or wheat (!) . Note that collections of digital representations of, or surrogates for, these things should use "Collection.Image", "Collection.Text" or one of the other collection types listed here.
Policy and/or Usage
Special	A collection connected with local history, celebrities, industries, etc., or on a certain subject or period, or gathered for some particular reason. This term applies primarily to library collections.
Subject	A collection of material on a particular subject.
Form	A collection of materials of the same form.
User	A collection arranged specifically for a particular group of users.
Working	A collection brought together for a particular project or exhibition which is then disbanded.

In this Scheme, multiple categories may be selected as appropriate. Typically, zero or one category from each group will be selected (though there may be exceptions to this). Multiple categories should be concatenated together, separated by a '.', to form a string value - for example, Collection.Library.Special. Although no hierarchy is implied by the ordering of categories, it is suggested that categories are selected in the order shown here for consistency.

Some examples of the use of this enumerated list of Type values are given in Appendix B.

4.2 Element qualifiers for the Relation element

• Part/whole relations are those in which one collection (or item) is a physical or logical part of another. The Dublin Core defines a pair of Relation types [9] - IsPartOf and HasPart.
• Catalogue relations are those in which one collection is the catalogue for another. A pair of Relation element qualifiers are proposed - IsCatalogueFor and HasCatalogue.

Relation element qualifier
IsPartOf	An identifier of a second collection of which the current collection is a phyical or logical part.
HasPart	An identifier of a second collection (or item) that is a phyical or logical part of the current collection.
IsCatalogueFor	An identifier of a second collection for which the current collection is the catalogue.
HasCatalogue	An identifier of a second collection that is the catalogue for, or contains a catalogue record for, the current collection.

5. Notes and Open Issues

Implementation

This document proposes an abstract element set. (In fact, it proposes two sets - one for describing collections and one for describing the services that make those collections available. However, it is anticipated that the two element sets will normally be used together.) It is expected that the element set will be implemented in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:

• using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) [10]
• using a ROADS database [11]
• by incorporating the elements in library automation software
• by embedding the elements into HTML META tags.

An example ROADS implementation is available [12]. Implementation in HTML and RDF is expected to follow the syntactic rules developed by the Dublin Core Datamodel Working Group [13]. An example of how this element set might be represented using RDF is given in Appendix C.

This document makes no specific recommendations as to database structures, data types or implementation of qualifiers (described above) for any of the elements.

The content model, attribute grouping and sub-structure

In order to usefully model:

• collections and their owners
• access to collections and the resource operators who provide that access
• the ownership and rights issues associated with collections, access to collections and items within collections

we need to be able to structure collection descriptions more formally based on a more detailed 'content model' for collections and their environment. Individual collections may be made accessible in a variety of ways. Potententially, this access may be provided by a number of different resource operators (service providers). Ownership, rights and access constraints may be associated with the collection itself and, separately, with each method of accessing the collection.

Conspectus

The current list of elements doesn't explicitly have a space for conspectus [14] information.

While this proposal recognises the need for conspectus information, it makes no recommendation for how it might be encoded. However, it is anticipated that a mechanism for embedding conspectus information into the Subject element will be developed in the future.

Date and Coverage

The semantics of the Date element are intentionally vague. Dublin Core has developed the following list of Date type qualifiers:

Created
DataGathered
Valid
Issued
Available
Accepted
Acquired

What does temporal Coverage mean in the context of collections?

• Abstracting and indexing services may use coverage to indicate the date of publication of items in collection. For example, the 1997 ISI collection.
• A library might use it to indicate date of accession of items in collection. For example, the pre-1920 collection.
• Other collections may use it to indicate the temporal coverage of items in the collection. For example, a collection of items about World War I (1914-1918).

Web pages about physical collections

Some physical collections may have a Web page or set of Web pages that are about the collection but that do not constitute a digital surrogate for the collection. Two possible ways of indicating this are proposed here:

• add the URL into the Notes attribute as plain text
• use the Relation attribute, indicating an 'IsBasisFor' Relation type qualifier.

References

1. Dublin Core
   <URL:http://purl.org/dc/>
2. vCard
   <URL:http://www.imc.org/pdi/>
3. W3C Date and Time Formats
   <URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime>
4. RFC 1766 - Tags for the Identification of Languages
   <URL:http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/internet/rfc/rfc1766.txt>
5. Thesaurus of Geographic Names
   <URL: http://www.gii.getty.edu/tgn_browser/>
6. RFC 2056 - Uniform Resource Locators for Z39.50
   <URL:http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/internet/rfc/rfc2056.txt>
7. RFC 2255 - The LDAP URL Format
   <URL:http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/internet/rfc/rfc2255.txt>
8. WHOIS++ URL Specification
   <URL:http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-asid-whois-url-02.txt>
9. Dublin Core Relations Working Group draft report
   <URL:http://purl.oclc.org/metadata/dublin_core/wrelationdraft.html>
10. Resource Description Framework (RDF)
    <URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-rdf-syntax/>
11. ROADS
    <URL:http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/>
12. JISC Current Content Collection ROADS demonstrator
    <URL:http://roads.ukoln.ac.uk/jisc-ccc/cgi-bin/search.pl>
13. Dublin Core Datamodel Working Group
    <URL:http://purl.org/dc/groups/datamodel.htm>
14. Conspectus
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cld/study/collection/conspectus/>
15. Guidance on expressing the Dublin Core within RDF
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/resources/dc/datamodel/WD-dc-rdf/>
16. eLib Programme project details
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/projects/>
17. The eLib Programme
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/>
18. Collection Description meeting minutes, British Library, 2 September 1998
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cld/meetings/1998-09-02/>
19. UKOLN Collection Description Web pages
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cld/>
20. GILS
    <URL:http://www.gils.net/index.html>
21. ROADS SERVICE template
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/roads/templates/service.html>
22. WASRV
    <URL:http://www.bell-labs.com/mailing-lists/wasrv/>
23. ISAD(G)
    <URL:http://www.archives.ca/ica/cds/isad(g)e.html>
24. Collection Level Description - a review of existing practice (an eLib supporting study, draft version)
    <URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cld/study/toc/>

Appendix A - Examples

Several examples of the use of the proposed attribute set follow. Note that these have been developed for demonstration purposes and may not provide completely accurate descriptions of particular collections.

They are presented using an informal representation.

COPAC

Title             : COPAC
Subject           : 
Description       : COPAC gives access to the online catalogues of some of
                    the largest university research libraries in the UK and
                    Ireland. Most COPAC records represent books and
                    periodicals (but not periodical contents). Other
                    materials include videos, printed and recorded music,
                    and electronic materials.
Owner             : Manchester Information Datasets and Associated Services
Publisher         : Manchester Computing, University of Manchester
Date              : 
Language          : en-uk
Source            : Consortium of University Research Libraries
Coverage          : Cambridge University Library 
Coverage          : Dublin: Trinity College Library 
Coverage          : Edinburgh University Library 
Coverage          : Glasgow University Library 
Coverage          : Leeds University Library 
Coverage          : London: University College Library 
Coverage          : London: Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Library 
Coverage          : London: University of London Library 
Coverage          : University of Manchester Library 
Coverage          : Nottingham University Library 
Coverage          : Oxford: Bodleian Library and other libraries 
Type              : Catalogue.Library
Notes             : 
Purpose           : 
Rights            :
UseConstraints    : 
Logo              : http://www.copac.ac.uk/copac/icons/copac.gif
Access            :
       Identifier : http://www.copac.ac.uk/copac/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : copac@mcc.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Open
   ChargingPolicy : Free
Access            :
       Identifier : telnet://copac.ac.uk/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : copac@mcc.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Open
   ChargingPolicy : Free
Access            :
       Identifier : z39.50s://z3950.copac.ac.uk:2100/COPAC
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : copac@mcc.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Open
   ChargingPolicy : Free

Title             : Digimap
Subject           : Ordnance Survey; OS; maps; digital map data
Description       : DIGIMAP is exploring ways of delivering Ordnance Survey 
                    of Great Britain map data to Institutes of Higher Education
                    in the United Kingdom. Based in the Data Library at the
                    University of Edinburgh, the project involves researchers
                    and service developers as well as map library
                    and library staff from six UK academic insititutions.
Owner             : Data Library, University of Edinburgh
Publisher         : University of Edinburgh
Date              : 
Language          : 
Source            : Ordnance Survey
Coverage          : 
Type              : Collection.Dataset
Type              : Collection.Image
Notes             : 
Purpose           : 
Rights            : http://digimap.ed.ac.uk:8081/service/copyright.html
UseConstraints    : http://digimap.ed.ac.uk:8081/service/copyright.html
Logo              : http://digimap.ed.ac.uk:8081/ui-graphics/digi_logo_3.jpeg
Access            :
       Identifier : http://digimap.ed.ac.uk:8081/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : P.Burnhill@ed.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Access limited to staff and students at:
                    University of Aberdeen Queen Mother Library
                    University of Edinburgh Main Library 
                    University of Glasgow Library
                    University of Newcastle Robertson Library 
                    University of Oxford Bodleian Library Map Library
                    University of Reading Department of Geography Map Library 
                    Registration is required.
   ChargingPolicy : Free (to those groups listed in AccessPolicy)

Title             : Follett Lecture Series
Subject           : electronic library; digital library; information technology
Description       : This series of lectures developed from an idea put
                    forward by members of the JISC's Follett Implementation
                    Group on Information Technology, with the aim of
                    raising awareness of international developments and
                    issues relating to the electronic library, and stimulating
                    further discussion. Beginning in May 1994 with a paper
                    given at the University of Aston by Clifford Lynch, then
                    of the University of California, the final lecture took
                    place at the University of Leicester in March 1997 with a
                    presentation by Peter Graham of Rutgers University
                    Library. The series featured 11 speakers giving a
                    total of 13 lectures. Venues ranged across the United
                    Kingdom, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, Derry City,
                    Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester, London, Birmingham and Leicester. 
Owner             : 
Publisher         : 
Date              : 
Language          : 
Source            : 
Coverage          : United Kingdom, 1994-1997
Relation          : 
Type              : Collection.Event
Notes             : 
Logo              : 
Purpose           : 
Rights            :
UseConstraints    : 
Access            :
       Identifier : 
      AccessTimes : 
         Location : 
            Admin : 
     AccessPolicy : 
   ChargingPolicy : 

Title             : National Fairground Archive
Subject           : fairground; showmen; fairs; history 
Description       : The NFA is a unique collection of photographic, printed, manuscript and
                  : audiovisual material covering all aspects of the culture of travelling 
                  : showpeople, their organisation as a community, their social history and 
                  : everyday life; and the artefacts and machinery of fairgrounds. There are 
                  : over 30,000 images in the photographic collection, in addition to audio
                  : and video material, journals and magazines, and nearly 300 monographs. 
                  : The collection also includes a unique body of fairground ephemera 
                  : (programmes, handbills, posters, charters and proclamations, plans and 
                  : drawings).
Owner             : National Fairground Archive
Publisher         : University Library, University of Sheffield
Date              : 1994
Language          : en-uk
Source            : Showmen's Guild of Great Britain
Source            : Fairground Association of Great Britain
Source            : UK fairground societies
Source            : fairground families  
Coverage          : United Kingdom; 18th century - present
Relation          : HasPart Bellhouse Collection
Relation          : HasPart Harry Lee Collection
Relation          : HasPart Jack Leeson Collection
Relation          : HasPart Shufflebottom Collection
Relation          : HasPart R A Taylor Collection
Relation          : HasPart Tucker Collection
Relation          : HasPart Waddington Collection
Type              : Collection.Archive
Type              : Collection.Image
Type              : Collection.Text
Type              : Collection.Sound
Notes             : Web pages at http://www.shef.ac.uk/~nfa/
Purpose           : 
Rights            : (c) National Fairground Archive
UseConstraints    : 
Logo              : http://www.shef.ac.uk/~nfa/logo.gif
Access            :
       Identifier : 
      AccessTimes : Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 1.00 and from 2.00 to 4.30
         Location : Main Library,
                    University of Sheffield,
                    Western Bank,
                    Sheffield
                    S10 2TN
                    UK
            Admin : Dr. Vanessa Toulmin, NFA Assistant Director; fairgound@shef.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Appointments must be made in advance
   ChargingPolicy : 

Title             : The Pitman Collection
Subject           : shorthand; phonetic alphabets; Initial Teaching Alphabet;
                    ITA; Pitman family;
Description       : A collection of printed, manuscript, and audiovisual
                    material and artefacts collected by Sir Isaac Pitman
                    and his grandson, Sir James Pitman.  The collection has
                    been added to by the Pitman Company.  It includes over
                    7300 catalogued monographs and serials on the history of
                    shorthand plus a small number of uncatalogued manuscripts
                    in shorthand.  The collection also includes 75 feet of
                    material on the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA), 50%
                    monographs, the rest artefacts, offprints, correspondence,
                    etc. - all unsorted - plus 18 filing cabinets of archival
                    material.
Owner             : University of Bath Library
Publisher         : University of Bath
Date              : 
Language          : en-uk
Source            : Pitman family
Source            : Pitman Company
Source            : Library of the Initial Teaching Alphabet Foundation
Coverage          : Predominantly UK - 19th and 20th century.
Relation          : HasPart Initial Teaching Alphabet Collection
Relation          : HasCatalogue http://www.bath.ac.uk/Library/webcat/
Type              : Collection.Library.Special
Notes             : Transferred to the University of Bath in 1970.
Purpose           : 
Rights            : (c) University of Bath
UseConstraints    : 
Logo              : 
Access            :
       Identifier : 
      AccessTimes : 
         Location : Library and Learning Centre
                    University of Bath
                    Bath
                    BA2 7AY
                    UK
            Admin : Keith Jones - k.e.jones@bath.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : By arrangement with the University of Bath Library.
   ChargingPolicy : Free

Title             : Social Science Information Gateway
Title             : SOSIG
Subject           : Economics, Development, Law, Education,
                    Management, Accountancy, Business,
                    Environmental Issues, Philosophy, Demography ,
                    Politics, International Relations,
                    Ethnology, Social Anthropology, Psychology,
                    Feminism, Social Science General, Methodology,
                    Geography, Social Welfare, Community, Disability,
                    Education, Sociology, Government, Military Science,
                    Statistics, Demography 
Description       : SOSIG is an online catalogue of thousands of
                    high quality Internet resources relevant to social
                    science education and research. Every resource
                    has been selected and described by a librarian or
                    subject specialist. 
Owner             : ILRT, University of Bristol
Publisher         : University of Bristol
Date              : 
Language          : en-uk
Source            : 
Coverage          : 
Type              : Catalogue.Internet.Subject
Notes             : 
Purpose           : http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/collect.html
Rights            : 
UseConstraints    : 
Logo              : http://www.sosig.ac.uk/images/sos.gif
Access            :
       Identifier : http://www.sosig.ac.uk/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : 
   ChargingPolicy : Free for non-commercial and educational use
Access            :
       Identifier : whois++://sosig.ac.uk:8237/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Please check centroid before querying Whois++ server
   ChargingPolicy : Free for non-commercial and educational use
Access            :
       Identifier : z39.50s://edward.ilrt.bris.ac.uk:2102/Sosig
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : 
   ChargingPolicy : Free for non-commercial and educational use

Title             : Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert
                    Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection
Subject           : migrant work camps; california; folk song; folk culture;
                    US; united states; america
Description       : The collection consists of approximately 18 hours of
                    audio recordings (436 titles on 122 recording discs),
                    28 graphic images (prints and negatives), and 1.5 linear
                    feet of print materials including administrative
                    correspondence, field notes, recording logs, song text
                    transcriptions, dust jackets from the recording discs
                    with handwritten notes, news clippings, publications,
                    and ephemera. The online presentation provides access to
                    371 audio titles, 23 graphic images, a sampling
                    of the dust jackets, and all the print material in the
                    collection. Covering a period between 1940 and 1941, this
                    collection documents the lives of Dust Bowl migrants
                    living in Farm Security Administration (FSA) camps in
                    California.
Owner             : 
Publisher         : Library of Congress
Date              : 
Language          : en-us
Source            : 
Coverage          : California, USA, 1940-1941
Relation          : IsPartOf http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
Type              : Collection.Sound
Notes             : 
Purpose           : 
Rights            : http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tscpyrt.html
UseConstraints    : 
Logo              : 
Access            : 
       Identifier : http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
            Admin : ndlpcoll@loc.gov
     AccessPolicy : Open
   ChargingPolicy : Free

Title             : The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive
Title             : WOMDA
Subject           : First World War; WWI; Wilfred Owen
Description       : The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive contains a
                    host of material relating to the First World War
                    poet Wilfred Owen, in particular, and a large amount of
                    related background material on the War in general . It
                    is not the intention of the authors of this site to
                    canonize Owen above the other poets of the First World
                    War, rather the contents of the archive are a reflection
                    of the proximity of material and advice on Owen
                    available to the authors.  The archive contains digital
                    facsimilies of Owen's original manuscripts, audio
                    interviews with veterans, letters written by Owen,
                    contemorary video clips, contemporary photographs
                    and modern video and photographs.
Owner             : Humanities Computing Unit, Oxford University Computing
                    Services
Publisher         : University of Oxford
Date              : 
Language          : en-uk
Source            : Imperial War Museum
Source            : Wilfred Owen Estate
Source            : Harry Ransom Research Centre, University of Texas at Austin
Source            : British Library
Source            : Public Records Office
Coverage          : 1914-1918
Type              : Collection.Text
Type              : Collection.Image
Type              : Collection.Sound
Notes             : 
Purpose           : http://firth.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/jtap/help.html#whatcontain
Rights            : http://firth.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/jtap/copyright.html
UseConstraints    : http://firth.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/jtap/copyright.html
Logo              : http://firth.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/jtap/images/womda-title.gif
Access            :
       Identifier : http://firth.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/jtap/
      AccessTimes : Any
         Location : 
            Admin : paul.groves@oucs.ox.ac.uk
     AccessPolicy : Open
   ChargingPolicy : Free

Appendix B - Examples of the SCT scheme qualifier for Type

A manually created catalogue of Internet resources

Examples: Yahoo
Catalogue.Internet

A manually created catalogue of Internet resources in a particular subject area.

A Subject Based Information Gateway (SBIG) or subject service.
Examples: SOSIG, EEVL, ADAM, OMNI
Catalogue.Internet.Subject

A library catalogue (OPAC)

Examples: the Univesity of Bath OPAC, COPAC
Catalogue.Library

A museum catalogue

Catalogue.Museum

An archival finding aid

Catalogue.Archive

An automatically (robot) generated index of Internet resources

A Web Index or a Web search engine
Examples: Alta Vista, Lycos, Google
Index.Internet

A collection of items that are primarily words for reading

Books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre "text".
Examples: Mailbase, Internet Library of Early Journals
Collection.Text

A collection of items that are primarily symbolic visual representations other than text

Images and photographs of physical objects, paintings, prints, drawings, other images and graphics, animations and moving pictures, film, diagrams, maps, musical notation. Note that "image" may include both electronic and physical representations.
Collection.Image

A collection of items that are primarily audio

Music, speech, recorded sounds.
Examples: Voices from the Dust Bowl
Collection.Sound

A collection of dataset items

Items that primarily consist of structured information encoded in lists, tables, databases, etc., which will normally be in a format available for direct machine processing. Spreadsheets, databases, GIS data, midi data. Note that collections of items that are primarily unstructured numbers and words will normally be considered to be type "Collection.Text".
Examples: Digimap
Collection.Dataset

A software repository.

Examples: HENSA, SunSite
Collection.Software

A collection of resources which require interaction from the user to be understood, executed, or experienced

Forms on web pages, applets, multimedia learning objects, chat services, virtual reality.
Collection.Interactive

A collection of non-persistent, time-based occurences

Examples: The Follett Lecture Series
Collection.Event

A collection of three dimensional objects or substances which are not primarily text or image or one of the other types listed here

People, computers, sculptures or wheat (!) . Note that collections of digital representations of, or surrogates for, these things should use "Collection.Image", "Collection.Text" or one of the other collection types listed here.
Collection.PhysicalObject

A library collection (books, journals, etc.)

Collection.Library

A library 'special collection'

A collection of books connected with local history, celebrities, industries, etc., or on a certain subject or period, or gathered for some particular reason, in a library which is general in character.
Examples: The Pitman Collection
Collection.Library.Special

A library 'subject collection'

1. A complete library: a special library is an example of a subject collection which is a complete library.
2. A subject collection within a library: a collection of material on a particular subject kept together within a larger general collection, and usually with a distinct name.
3. A dispersed collection within a library: a collection of material on a single subject, but not kept together and not referred to by a specific name.

Collection.Library.Subject

A library 'form collection'

A collection of library materials shelved by form.
Collection.Library.Form

A library 'user collection'

A collection arranged specifically for a particular group of users.
Collection.Library.User

A library 'database collection'

A collection of online databases or networked CD-ROMs. These collections will normally be linked by subject, as well as by form.
Collection.Library.Database

A museum collection (artefacts, etc.)

Collection.Museum

An archive

An archive is a whole which documents the life and work of an institution or individual, which has been retained in its original working order and is of known provenance.
Examples: National Fairground Archive
Collection.Archive

Appendix C - RDF/XML example

An RDF/XML example, based on the SOSIG description above, follows:

<rdf:RDF
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
  xmlns:collection="http://registry.desire.org/cld/collection/elements/1.0/"
  xmlns:service="http://registry.desire.org/cld/service/elements/1.0/"
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.0/"
  xmlns:dcq="http://purl.org/dc/qualifiers/1.0/">
  <rdf:Description about="">
    <dc:title>
      Social Science Information Gateway
    </dc:title>
    <dc:title>
      SOSIG
    </dc:title>
    <dc:subject>
      Economics; Development; Law; Education; Management; Accountancy; Business;
      Environmental Issues; Philosophy; Demography ; Politics; International Relations;
      Ethnology; Social Anthropology; Psychology; Feminism; Social Science General; Methodology;
      Geography; Social Welfare; Community; Disability; Education; Sociology; Government; Military Science;
      Statistics; Demography 
    </dc:subject>
    <dc:description>
      SOSIG is an online catalogue of thousands of high quality Internet resources relevant to social
      science education and research. Every resource has been selected and described by a librarian or
      subject specialist. 
    </dc:description>
    <collection:owner>
      ILRT, University of Bristol
    </collection:owner>
    <dc:language>
      en-uk
    </dc:language>
    <dc:type>
      <rdf:Description>
        <dcq:scheme rdf:resource="http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cld/SCT/" />
        <rdf:value>
          Catalogue.Internet.Subject
        </rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dc:type>
    <collection:purpose
      rdf:resource="http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/collect.html" />
    <collection:access>
      <rdf:Description about="http://www.sosig.ac.uk/">
        <service:admin>
          sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
        </service:admin>
        <service:publisher>
          University of Bristol
        </service:publisher>
        <service:chargingPolicy>
          Free for non-commercial and educational use
        </service:chargingPolicy>
        <service:accessTimes>
          Any
        </service:accessTimes>
      </rdf:Description>
    </collection:access>
    <collection:access>
      <rdf:Description about="whois++://sosig.ac.uk:8237/">
        <service:admin>
          sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
        </service:admin>
        <service:publisher>
          University of Bristol
        </service:publisher>
        <service:chargingPolicy>
          Free for non-commercial and educational use
        </service:chargingPolicy>
        <service:accessTimes>
          Any
        </service:accessTimes>
        <service:accessPolicy>
          Please check centroid before querying Whois++ server
        </service:accessPolicy>
      </rdf:Description>
    </collection:access>
    <collection:access>
      <rdf:Description about="z39.50s://edward.ilrt.bris.ac.uk:2102/Sosig">
        <service:admin>
          sosig-info@bris.ac.uk
        </service:admin>
        <service:publisher>
          University of Bristol
        </service:publisher>
        <service:chargingPolicy>
          Free for non-commercial and educational use
        </service:chargingPolicy>
        <service:accessTimes>
          Any
        </service:accessTimes>
      </rdf:Description>
    </collection:access>
    <collection:logo
      rdf:resource="http://www.sosig.ac.uk/images/sos.gif" />
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Note: this example should not be interpretted as a formal syntax for the element set proposed here.

Appendix D - Background Information

The group was asked to develop a proposal for a core set of collection description attributes. The group considered 5 existing description formats in detail:

• Dublin Core
• GILS [20]
• ROADS SERVICE template [21]
• WASRV [22]
• ISAD(G) [23]

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