Metadata
For the purposes of cataloging this collection, using Dublin Core offered several advantages. First, as all of the items are physical objects that occupy three dimensions, having the Dublin Core Type for Physical objects made this an easy choice. Dublin Core’s fields fit relatively well for the types of metadata I needed to record, and the repeatability of the fields allowed enough flexibility to accommodate all of the available information, making each record as useful as possible in a search.
Several controlled vocabularies were utilized. The most useful one proved to be the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). Despite most of the objects being utilitarian in creation, their inclusion in an art collection allowed many of the describing terms, including time periods and cultures, to be incorporated into this thesaurus. For locations, Geonames: The GeoNames geographical database was most inclusive. Lastly, the Library of Congress Name Authority File was helpful in locating a few of the specific personal names mentioned in the metadata.
Title
An identifier to refer to the object, other than the accession number
Description
The description field allows for additional information that might not fit well into other fields. It might contain a written description of the object, its use, or its historical significance.
Creator
I felt that this would be the best descriptor for a specific company or person who made the object. If none is known, the creating culture is named.
This field is repeated in the instances where the designer and the manufacturer are listed as separate entities
Date Created
Most often this is a range of time, but this field will describe the temporal aspect of the object, when it was most likely created. To create some standardization in how the date range is described, I’ve chosen to use a system of earliest/latest date, and followed the guidelines from Cataloging Cultural Objects for applying date ranges to estimated years.
Date
Other dates of significance for the object, most often the date of acquisition to the museum
Provenance
A list of the known ownership of the object, before being incorporated into the museum collection
Identifier
The accession number of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Medium
The material or materials the object is fabricated from
Format
Dimensions of the object - this is based on Dublin Core’s own description of the field.
This field is often repeated to accommodate both dimensions, as well as a medium format description
Publisher
All of my items came from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who is the publisher of the online catalog through which I have accessed the information and photographs
Source
The name of the donor, or funds through which the object became the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rights
All of the objects cataloged are marked as open access, and a link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s policy is included in this field
Contributor
This field has been used to include the contributing culture or influences that may have shaped the work, particularly when the creator is specifically named.