Metadata Fields

Owned by Juliet Hardesty
Last updated: Oct 01, 2024 by Jon Cameron
12 min read

Required fields include "Title", “Publication date / Date Issued”, and "File" (bolded below, asterisked in the Resource Description Form, and bolded in .xls template). Exception: If "Bibliographic ID" import/ingest is used, no other descriptive metadata is necessary and only "File" is then required in the batch spreadsheet. 

  • Bibliographic ID

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="original"/identifier

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: “Bibliographic ID"

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Bibliographic ID”

    • Used to identify the original MARC catalog record from which metadata was generated and import data from the catalog record into Avalon.

    • Inclusion of a bibliographic ID will cause any other descriptive metadata (including Required descriptive fields) entered into the batch spreadsheet besides the Bibliographic ID Label to be ignored. The Required file fields will, however, be read and used.

    • Information about how the corresponding MARC record is mapped to Avalon MODS is found in the MARC record ingest section below.

  • Bibliographic ID [drop-down] / Bibliographic ID Label

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="original"/identifier@type

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: Drop-down menu accompanying “Bibliographic ID"

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Bibliographic ID Label”

    • Identifies the type of bibliographic ID supplied in the Bibliographic ID column. Valid types depend on system configuration and by default include "local", "oclc", lccn", "issue number", "matrix number", "music publisher","video recording identifier", and "other".

    • The value of "local" maps to "Catalog Key" in the Resource Description Form.

    • Batch will fail if value is not in the configured list of valid values.

    • Will be ignored if no Bibliographic ID value is present

  • Other Identifier(s) / Other Identifier

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="original"/identifier

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: “Other Identifier(s)”

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Other Identifier”

    • Used to identify an external record that can connect the Avalon item to a catalog record or other record for the original item. This identifier differs from Bibliographic Identifier in that it is not used to retrieve a record from another system.

    • Must be paired with a value for Other Identifier Type

  • Other Identifier(s) [drop-down] / Other Identifier Type

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="original"/identifier@type

    • Not Repeatable within Other Identifier

    • Resource Description Form: Drop-down menu accompanying “Other Identifier"

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Other Identifier Type”

    • Identifies the type of external record identifier supplied in the Other Identifier column.

    • Valid types depend on system configuration and by default include "local", "oclc", "lccn", "issue number", "matrix number", "music publisher","video recording identifier", and "other"

    • Batch will fail if value is not in the configured list of valid values.

    • Will be ignored if no paired Other Identifier value is present.

  • Title - required

    • MODS mapping: titleInfo/title

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: “Title"

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Title”

    • Required descriptive field. Title is used for display in search results and single item views. Only the first 32 characters of a title are included in search results listings. Recommended use is to reflect the content captured in digitized media files (such as the title of the piece performed or a short description of the content of a home movie).

    • If title is not available or missing, create a title that describes something about the content of the item.  This is necessary for identifying items in search results.

  • Main contributor(s) / Creator

    • MODS mapping: name@usage="primary"/namePart (role/roleTerm set to "Creator")

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Main contributor(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Creator”

    • No ability to specify Corporate Body in batch at this time

    • Main contributors are the primary persons or bodies associated with the creation of the content. Main contributors will be included in search results display and aggregated for browsing access. At this time there is no ability to specify a main contributor as a corporate body. When possible, use the Library of Congress Name Authority File.

  • Contributor(s) / Contributor

    • MODS mapping: name/namePart (role/roleTerm set to "Contributor")

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Contributor(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Contributor”

    • Contributors are persons or bodies associated with the item but not considered primary to the creation of its content. Examples of this would be performers in a band or opera, conductor, arranger, cinematographer, and choreographer. At this time this is no ability to specify a contributor as a corporate body. When possible, use the Library of Congress Name Authority File.

  • Genre(s) / Genre

    • MODS mapping: genre

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Genre(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Genre”

    • Genre can be used to categorize an item by form, style, or subject matter. For consistency and to allow for sorting and aggregating, use terms from the Open Metadata Registry labels for PBCore: pbcoreGenre.

  • Publisher

    • MODS mapping: originInfo/publisher

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Publisher(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Publisher”

    • Publisher of the content of the item.

  • Creation date / Date Created

    • MODS mapping: originInfo/dateCreated@encoding=”edtf”

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Creation date" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Date Created”

    • Creation date should only be used if Date Issued is a re-issue date. Then Creation date would contain the original publication date. Enter date information in a format consistent with the options shown in Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) 1.0.

  • Publication date / Date Issued (Required field for Avalon 7 and below)

    • MODS mapping: originInfo/dateIssued@encoding=”edtf”

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Publication date" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Date Issued”

    • Date should be the main publication date associated with the item to be used for sorting browse and search results. Enter date information in a format consistent with the options shown in Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) 1.0.

    • If date issued is not available or missing, enter a date that is narrowed down as much as possible (by range of years) or enter a date for century (18uu, 19uu, 20uu), in accordance with EDTF specifications.

  • Summary / Abstract

    • MODS mapping: abstract

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Summary" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Abstract”

    • Abstract provides a space for describing the contents of the item.  Examples include liner notes, contents list, or an opera scene abstract. This field is not meant for cataloger's descriptions but for descriptions that accompany the item. The first 15-20 words are included in search result listings.

  • Language(s) / Language

  • Physical Description

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="original"/physicalDescription/extent

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Physical Description" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Physical Description”

    • Physical Description provides a description of the original carrier for content that has been digitized from analog content.

  • Series

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@type="series"/titleInfo/title

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Publisher(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: "Series"

    • The Series field is used to associate a related grouping or series of items; for example, a television series which comprises multiple episodes. When Series metadata is entered and saved to the record, it will be stored in the search index and each Series value will be shown in the list of facets on the catalog search page.

  • Related Item(s) / Related Item Label

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@displayLabel

    • Not repeatable within Related Item

    • Resource Description Form: First form field in “Related Item(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Related Item Label”

    • Related Item Label provides a descriptive label for the Related Item URL field.

    • Must be paired with a value for Related Item URL

  • Related Item(s) / Related Item URL

    • MODS mapping: relatedItem@displayLabel/location/url

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: Second form field in ”Related Item(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Related Item URL”

    • Related Item URL provides a URL to related content, such as an adaptation or original version.

    • Must be paired with a value for Related Item Label

  • Subject(s) / Topical Subject

    • MODS mapping: subject/topic

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Subject(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Topical Subject”

    • Subject should be used for the topical subject of the content. For consistency and to allow for sorting and aggregating, use terms from the Library of Congress Subject Headings. For temporal subjects (time periods), use Temporal Subject and for geographic subjects (locations), use Geographic Subject. See below.

  • Location(s) / Geographic Subject

    • MODS mapping: subject/geographic

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Location(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Geographic Subject”

    • Geographic Subject should be used for the location associated with the content.  For consistency and to allow for sorting and aggregating, use terms from the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.

  • Time period(s) / Temporal Subject

    • MODS mapping: subject/temporal

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Time period(s)" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Temporal Subject”

    • Temporal Subject should be used for the time period of the content (for example, years or year ranges). Enter date information in a format consistent with the options shown in Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) 1.0.

  • Terms of Use

    • MODS mapping: accessCondition@type="use and reproduction"

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Terms of Use" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Terms of Use”

    • Terms of Use describes the conditions under which content may be used.

  • Table of Contents

    • MODS mapping: tableOfContents

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: "Table of Contents" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Table of Contents”

    • Used to provide the titles of separate works or parts of a resource. Information provided may also contain statements of responsibility or other sequential designations. Titles of separate works or parts should be separated by “ – “ (space-hyphen-hyphen-space).

  • Statement of Responsibility

    • MODS mapping: note@type="statement of responsibility"

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: “Statement of Responsibility" 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Statement of Responsibility”

    • Used to provide information about primary persons or bodies associated with the creation of the content, along with details about their roles. This information can be transcribed from the credits listed in the resource itself or on its packaging.

    • Recommended use is to provide a separate Contributor field for each person or body listed in the Statement of Responsibility. Statement of Responsibility may be left empty if the use of Contributor fields alone is preferred.

    • Statement of Responsibility is displayed in the user interface appended to the Title field, following a “ / “.

    • Also may be included as a Note/Note Type pair with Note Type='statement of responsibility'.

  • Note(s) / Note

    • MODS mapping: note

    • Repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: “Note(s)” 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Note”

    • Used to describe aspects of the resource not accounted for in any of the other fields, such as creation or production credits, performers, venue/event date, historical or biographical information, language details, awards given to the performance or the work performed.

    • Recommended use is to provide a separate Contributor field for each person or body associated with the creation of the content and to use a Note to provide more information about such contributions or to provide information about secondary persons or bodies associated with the creation of the content.

    • Must be paired with a value for Note Type

  • Note(s) [drop-down] / Note Type

    • MODS mapping: note@type

    • Not repeatable

    • Resource Description Form: Drop-down menu accompanying ”Note(s)” 

    • Batch spreadsheet: “Note Type”

    • Identifies the type of note and is used as a label in the user interface.

    • Valid types depend on system configuration and by default include:  general, awards, biographical/historical, creation/production credits, language, local, performers, statement of responsibility, venue 

    • Must be paired with a value for Note

 

Batch spreadsheet only

In addition to the descriptive fields, there are operational fields for the items(s) being ingested:

  • Publish

    • Whether the item should be automatically published after ingest.

    • Default is "No".

    • To auto-publish, enter value of "Yes".

  • Hidden

    • Whether the item will appear in search/browse results for end users. Use this field to prevent users from discovering items that would be confusing outside some externally-determined context (such as video figures for a research paper or audio clips contextualized in an Omeka exhibit). Hidden items can also provide "security by obscurity" when it is desirable to provide easy access but you don't want to publicize the availability of the items. 

    • Default is "No".

    • To trigger hiding, enter value of "Yes".

    • Hidden items will still appear in search/browse results for those with ingest privileges.

There are also several fields that describe the media file(s) that are part of the ingested item. These fields must be repeated for each attached file:

  • File

    • Required file field.  Content files listed in the manifest file must have the correct path noted for where those files are located in the Avalon dropbox, relative to the manifest file.  Additionally, all content files must include a file extension. If necessary, include any directories or subdirectories (note the paths listed in columns D and F in the above example).

    • Repeatable

    • Label, Offset, and Skip Transcoding can be listed in any order following the file they are describing. Absolute Location can only be used following Skip Transcoding if Skip Transcoding is included and its value is set to "yes".

  • Label

    • Label is used for display in single item views. Recommended use is to reflect the content captured in digitized media files (such as the Part 1 and Part 2 of the piece performed or titles of songs).

    • Only repeatable following a file entry.

    • Editable after ingest in "Label" field of Manage Files page

  • Offset

    • Offset is used to set the thumbnail and poster image for the display in search/browse results and single item views. Must be entered between 00:00:00.000 and length of file.

    • Excel will automatically format hh:mm:ss into time. To circumvent this, begin time offset with a single quote, for example: '0:10 for 00:00:10 and '1:06 for 00:01:06.

    • Only repeatable following an additional file.

    • Default is 2 seconds into playback. 

    • Only applicable to video files. Audio files have a default thumbnail, offset will be ignored.

    • If a record contains multiple files, the first offset listed will set the thumbnail and poster image for the Avalon record.

    • Editable after ingest in "Poster Offset" field of Manage Files page or on the item preview page.

  • Skip Transcoding

    • Skip Transcoding is used if a pre-encoded derivative of the file is what is being uploaded to Avalon instead of the master version of the file. This presumes that the derivative(s) match the requirements explained in Avalon Derivatives. Master file location information should be included for complete object ingest. See Absolute Location (below) for further information.

    • Only repeatable following a file entry.

    • Valid values: “yes” or “no”

    • See section below for skipping transcoding with multiple quality levels of derivative.

  • Absolute Location

    • Absolute Location is used with Skip Transcoding to indicate the location of the master version of a video or audio file when the file uploaded to Avalon is a pre-encoded derivative.

    • Only repeatable following Skip Transcoding if Skip Transcoding is included and its value is set to “yes”.

    • If Skip Transcoding is set to “no” or not included, Absolute Location will be ignored.

    • Absolute Location should be the full URI path of the server housing the master version of the file.

  • Date Ingested

    • This represents the date the item was ingested into Avalon Media System.

    • This date will not be visible within the user interface to normal users.

    • For system administrators and collection managers, a Limit By facet with these values will be available for search/browse.

    • If this column is not included, Date Ingested will automatically be set to the day on which the ingest process is completed by Avalon.

    • Include a valid date with format 2015-12-31 in this column to override the value being automatically set by the system. 

  • Transcript File

    • Content files listed in the manifest file must have the correct path noted for where those files are located in the Avalon dropbox, relative to the manifest file.  Additionally, all content files must include a file extension. If necessary, include any directories or subdirectories (note the paths listed in columns D and F in the above example).

    • Repeatable

  • Transcript File Label

    • The label to be used for the transcript file

    • Only repeatable following a Transcript File entry

  • Transcript Language

    • Only repeatable following a transcript file entry.

    • Transcript language should describe the language of the transcript content. Only terms or codes from the MARC Code list for Languages may be used. Entering a language term not from the list will set the transcript language to the default defined in the settings.yml file. If left blank or otherwise not included the transcript language will be set to the default defined in the settings.yml file.

    • Editable after ingest in the Section Files menu on the Manage Files page.

  • Machine Generated

    • Option to record that the transcript file has been machine generated and may contain error

    • "yes" or "no"

    • Only repeatable following a Transcript File entry

  • Caption File

    • Caption files listed in the manifest file must have the correct path noted for where those files are located in the Avalon dropbox, relative to the manifest file. Additionally, all caption files must include a file extension. If necessary, include any directories or subdirectories.

    • Only repeatable following a file entry.

    • Caption Label and Caption Language can be listed in any order following the caption file they are describing.

    • Caption File can be updated or removed later via the Section Files menu on the Manage Files page.

  • Caption Label

    • Only repeatable following a caption file entry.

    • Caption Label is used for display in caption/subtitle selection menu in the player. If left blank or otherwise not included the caption filename will be used as the caption label.

    • Editable after ingest in the Section Files menu on the Manage Files page.

  • Caption Language

    • Only repeatable following a caption file entry.

    • Caption language should describe the language of the caption content. Only terms or codes from the MARC Code list for Languages may be used. Entering a language term not from the list will set the caption language to the default defined in the settings.yml file. If left blank or otherwise not included the caption language will be set to the default defined in the settings.yml file.

    • Editable after ingest in the Section Files menu on the Manage Files page.

  • Treat as Transcript

    • Option to mark that the caption file should also be treated as a transcript for inclusion in the Transcript tab on the item view page as well as search results.

    • "yes" or "no"

    • Only repeatable following a Caption File entry

MARC record ingest

When a Bibliographic ID is provided for a resource the corresponding MARC record is mapped to a MODS record for use in Avalon. The MARC to MODS mapping is based on the Library of Congress mapping to MODS 3.5: http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods-mapping.html

The Avalon mapping differs mainly:

  • in placing elements describing the original physical resource inside the relatedItem element with attribute type=”original”;

  • general, temporal, or geographical subdivisions  of subject headings are split into separate elements for better faceting; and

  • the typeOfResource element is determined by Avalon based on the media type uploaded.

Detailed mappings of MARC fields and subfields to MODS records for the Resource Description Form and the Batch Ingest Form can be found at the Metadata Crosswalks page.