Introduction

The following guidelines outline the Dublin Core metadata fields used to describe “seeds” captured in a web archive collection.
Guidelines are based, in part, on the report: Descriptive Metadata for web archiving: Recommendations of the OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group by Jackie Dooley and Kate Bowers.
Consult your supervisor or project manager if you need a metadata field not included in these guidelines.
In addition to these guidelines, you may need to consult:
- Library of Congress Authorities (LoC)
- Resource Description and Access (RDA) rules
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- a style guide such as the APA Style Guide, the MLA Style Guide, or the Chicago Manual of Style

dc.contributor

Field	dc.contributor
Required	No
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Indicate entities responsible for making secondary contributions to the archived website or collection that are not specified in the creator element.
Examples	See dc.creator

Field	dc.creator
Required	Yes
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Either the personal or the corporate name of the person or group responsible for creating the intellectual content of the item. If more than one person is responsible for the intellectual content, use separate dc.creator fields to include all relevant names. Check the Library of Congress (LoC) for the correct name format. If you cannot find the name in LoC Enter personal names in the format of Lastname, Firstname, using the most commonly used form of the name. If the commonly used form of the name is uncertain, copy the name exactly as it appears on the original. Enter corporate names using the form most commonly used to identify to corporate body. In most cases, this should not be an abbreviation.
Examples	Borgman, Christine L., 1951- Stanfield, Robert L. (Robert Lorne), 1914-2003 Gloeckner, Phoebe Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Environment Canada Dalhousie University Libraries

Field	dc.date
Required	Yes
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Enter date of creation. If the precise date is known, enter the date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If a less precise date is known, enter the date in YYYY-MM or YYYY. Only use copyright date if the date of creation is unclear.
Examples	2020-03-19 2020-04 2021 Copyright 2019

Field	dc.description
Required	No
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Provide a brief description of the seed and its intellectual content. Follow guidance for item-level scope and content notes provided in the Rules for Archival Description. Spell out abbreviations and acronyms and include the abbreviation in parenthesis the first time the abbreviated phrase is used. The abbreviation can be used in subsequent sentences. Do not include HTML markup. If more than one paragraph is required, use a second dc.description field.

Field	dc.format
Required	Yes
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Provide a statement that indicates the resource is an archived website.
Example	1 archived website

Field	dc.language
Required	Yes
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Used to indicate the language of the intellectual content of the item. If two languages are used, provide both. If more than two languages are used, consult your project manager.
Examples:	English French

Field	dc.publisher
Required	No
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Provide the name of the publisher as it appears on the original website. Do not include place or date of publication in this field.
Examples	Imperial Publishing Company Medical Society of Nova Scotia Halifax Examiner

Field	dc.relation
Required	Yes
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Provide the title of the web archive collection to which the seed belongs. If the seed is part of an archival fonds held in the University Archives, provide the title and Collection ID of the fonds in a second dc.relation note.
Examples	Covid-19 in Nova Scotia web archive Dalhousie Art Gallery fonds (UA-36) Ecology Action Centre fonds (MS-11-13)

Field	dc.source
Required	No
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Provide information about the gathering or creation of the metadata itself, such as sources of the data or the data on which source data was obtained. Only use dc.source when the source of metadata is unclear or needs clarification.
Examples	Title from HTML header (viewed on August 29, 2017) Description derived from press release announcing new website published on April 20, 2020 Description based on contents viewed on April 20, 2020 (Nova Scotia government website); title from press release Description based on archived web page captured July 3, 2019; title from title screen (viewed July 27, 2019) Title from home page last updated December 2018 (viewed March 5, 2019)

Field	dc.subject
Required	Yes
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Provide subjects, geographic place names, and names of persons or organizations reflected in the website. Derive terms from controlled vocabularies such as LCSH or MESH terms. Add no more than 5 keywords to describe the intellectual content of the item. If using key word phrases, aim for 3 or fewer words per phrase. Use a new subject field for each keyword or phrase. Capitalize the first letter of each keyword or phrase. Named persons: If the item deals with a specific, named person or corporate person, check the Library of Congress (LoC) for the correct name format. If you cannot find the name in LoC Enter personal names in the format of Lastname, Firstname, copying the name exactly as it appears on the original. Enter corporate names, provide the name most commonly used to identify to corporate body. In most cases, this should not be an abbreviation. Locations If the item deals with a specific geographical location, use place names from LoC. Dates Use LoC to standardize dates.
Examples	Named persons Borgman, Christine L., 1951- Stanfield, Robert L. (Robert Lorne), 1914-2003 Gloeckner, Phoebe Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Environment Canada Dalhousie University Libraries Locations Halifax (N.S.) Inverness Co. (N.S.)

Field	dc.title
Required	Yes
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Transcribe the complete title as it appears on the original website. Usually this is transcribed from the head of the homepage. Include the date in the title if it is part of the title. If no title appears on the website, provide a brief descriptive title that indicated the nature and subject of the resource. Optionally, add a phrase such as [archived website] to the transcribed title for a single site.
Examples	Dalhousie Art Gallery : [archived website] The Khyber Sipekne’katik COVID 19 Information Page

Field	dc.type
Required	Yes
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Provide the term “Website” or a more specific term that indicates the type of content in an archived website. Only use terms provided in the list of examples below:
Examples	Blog Corporate website Government website News article Podcast Press release Social media Video Website