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Dublin Core™ Collection Description Application Profile Summary

Creator: Dublin Core™ Collection Description Working Group
Date Issued: 2006-02-24
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/collection-description/collection-ap-summary/2006-02-24/
Replaces: http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/collection-description/collection-ap-summary/2005-08-25/
Is Replaced By: http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/collection-description/collection-ap-summary/2006-08-01/
Latest Version: http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/collection-description/collection-ap-summary/
Status of Document: This is a Draft Dublin Core™ Application Profile.
Description of Document: This document presents a summary view of the draft application profile for collection-level description developed by the Dublin Core™ Collection Description Working Group.

Introduction

Note : This document presents a summary view of the application profile. For full details, see the full description of the Dublin Core™ Collection Description Application Profile [DCCDAP].

This document describes:

  1. The set of terms used in a class of DC metadata description sets.
    Specifically, it describes the set of terms used in a description of a collection (i.e. a "collection-level description", or "unitary finding aid" in the terminology of the Analytical Model of Collections and their Catalogues [AMCC]). A collection description conforming to this DC CD AP may be the only description in a description set or it may be part of a description set which includes descriptions of other resources related to the collection (as values in statements about the collection). Such other resources include the location of the collection, the services that provide access to the collection, concepts that are the subject of the collection, and other collections. While this DCAP permits the inclusion of descriptions of those related resources, it does not specify the properties and classes that may be referenced in descriptions of resources other than collections.
  2. How the terms in this set are deployed in this class of DC metadata descriptions.
    This includes requirements for the the occurrence of statements using a specified property, constraints on the types of value which are referenced in a statement using a specified property (vocabulary encoding schemes), and constraints on the datatypes of the value strings occurring in a statement using a specified property (syntax encoding schemes).

The terms description set, description, property, value, vocabulary encoding scheme, value representation, rich representation, value string, syntax encoding scheme, and related description are used in the sense they are used in the DCMI Abstract Model [DCAM].

This document is not a description of an XML format. There may be multiple bindings of the DC CD AP to XML and to other syntaxes.

Outstanding Isssues

This DCAP is currently work-in-progress. Two major issues are still under discussion:

  • Clarification (at the level of the data model) of the nature of the Location and Service entity types, and the relationships between Collection and Location and Collection and Service. The properties gen:isLocatedAt and gen:isAccessedVia currently listed below should be treated as provisional placeholders for a solution.
  • How to represent the information that a collection contains some items of specified formats. The outcome of this decision may also result in changes to the representation of the information that a collection contains items of a specified type.

Vocabularies/Namespaces used in this DCAP

All references to properties and classes in DC metadata descriptions are made using URIs, In this document, Qualified Names of the form prefix ":" local-part are used as abbreviations for URIs which identify metadata terms. Prefixes are assumed to be associated with Namespace Names (URIs) as follows, and the corresponding URI for the term is constructed by concatenating the Namespace Name and the local-part:

Vocabulary Title Namespace Name Prefix
The Dublin Core™ Metadata Element Set, v1.1 http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/ dc
Dublin Core™ Terms http://purl.org/dc/terms/ dcterms
Dublin Core™ Type Vocabulary http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/ dcmitype
MARC Relator Code Properties http://www.loc.gov/loc.terms/relators/
 marcrel
Collection Description Terms
(collection-specific terms) 		http://example.org/cld/terms#
[temporary URI, final URI to be confirmed] 		cld
General Description Terms
(non-collection-specific terms) 		http://example.org/gen/terms#
[temporary URI, final URI to be confirmed] 		gen
Collection Type Vocabulary Terms http://example.org/cld/type#
[temporary URI, final URI to be confirmed] 		cldtype

Please note that where the Qualified Name of a term (property/class) appears against a shaded background in the table below (i.e. all terms with the prefixes gen, cld and cldtype), this indicates that those terms have not yet been assigned persistent URIs. Until such persistent URIs are assigned, by DCMI or by some other naming authority, these terms should be considered to be unstable and should not be referenced in metadata descriptions, except as part of the evaluation/testing of this profile.

Property Usage

Each main row in the table below describes how a specified property should be used in a statement within a DC metadata description.

  • Label: A short human-readable label that provides an indication of how the property is to be used in a DC CD AP collection description. The label does not appear in the description. It may be used to provide a descriptor for fields in displays of DC CD AP collection descriptions, but there is no requirement for display applications to use this label.
  • Qualified Name for Property: A unique name/identifier for the property. It is presented as a Qualified Name, but is an abbreviation for a URI. This URI must be used to refer to the property in DC CD AP collection descriptions.
  • Usage in this DCAP: A description of how the definition of the property is to be applied in DC CD AP collection descriptions. This information supplements the definition of the property provided by its owner/maintenance agency.
  • Obligation: An indication of whether a statement using this property is required in a DC CD AP collection description. M = mandatory; a statement using this property is required, OR = a statement using this property is optional but recommended, O = a statement using this property is optional
  • Qualified Name(s) for Vocabulary Encoding Scheme(s): The unique names/identifiers of classes from which values for the property should be drawn. Names are presented as Qualified Names, but are abbreviations for URIs. The URI must be used to refer to the class in DC CD AP collection descriptions. If no class is listed, then the DC CD AP does not specify a class from which values should be drawn. However the definition and usage of the property may determine that values of only certain types are appropriate. For example, the value of the dc:creator property must be an entity capable of action.
  • Value URI: An indication of whether a value URI is to be used in a statement using the property (and vocabulary encoding scheme, where specified). M = mandatory; a value URI is required, O = a value URI is optional (see note), N = a value URI is not permitted
  • Value String: An indication of whether a value string is to be used in a statement using the property (and vocabulary encoding scheme, where specified). M = mandatory; a value string is required, O = a value string is optional (see note), N = a value string is not permitted
  • Qualified Name(s) for Syntax Encoding Scheme(s): The unique names/identifiers of datatypes from which value strings for the property should be drawn. Names are presented as Qualified Names, but are abbreviations for URIs. The URI must be used to refer to the datatype in DC CD AP collection descriptions. If no datatype is listed, then the DC CD AP does not specify a datatype from which value strings should be drawn.
  • Rich Representation: An indication of whether a rich representation is to be used in a statement using the property (and vocabulary encoding scheme, where specified). M = mandatory; a rich representation is required, O = a rich representation is optional (see note), N = a rich representation is not permitted

Note : For each value, at least one of the following components must be present: a value URI, a rich representation, a value string or a (related) description.

Collection Properties

Label Qualified Name
for Property 		Usage in this DCAP Obligation Qualified Name(s)
for Vocabulary
Encoding
Scheme(s) 		Value
URI 		Value
String 		Qualified Name(s)
for Syntax
Encoding
Scheme(s) 		Rich
Represent
Collection Identifier dc:identifier A globally unique formal identifier for the collection. OR dcterms:URI N M   N
Title dc:title The name of the collection. M   N M   N
Alternative Title dcterms:alternative
(sub-property of dc:title) 		Any form of name used as a substitute or alternative to the formal name of the collection O   N M   N
Description dcterms:abstract
(sub-property of dc:description) 		A summary description of the content of the collection. M   N M   N
Size dcterms:extent
(sub-property of dc:format) 		The size of the collection. O   N M   N
Language dc:language A language of the content of the items in the collection. O dcterms:ISO639-2 O M   N
Collection Type dc:type A type of the collection. O cld:CLDType O M   N
Rights dc:rights A statement of any rights held in/over the collection. O   O O   N
Access Rights dcterms:accessRights
(sub-property of dc:rights) 		A statement of any access restrictions placed on the collection, including allowed users, charges, etc. O   O O   N
Accrual Method dcterms:accrualMethod The method by which items are added to the collection. O cld:
DCCDAccrualMethod 		O M   N
Accrual Periodicity dcterms:accrualPeriodicity The frequency with which items are added to the collection. O cld:
DCCDAccrualPeriodicity 		O M   N
Accrual Policy dcterms:accrualPolicy The policy governing the addition of items to the collection. O cld:
DCCDAccrualPolicy 		O M   N
Custodial History dcterms:provenance A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the collection that are significant for its authenticity, integrity and interpretation. O   O M   N
Audience dcterms:audience A class of entity for whom the collection is intended or useful. O   O M   N
Subject dc:subject A subject or topic associated with the items in the collection. O dcterms:DDC O M   N
dcterms:LCC O M   N
dcterms:LCSH O M   N
dcterms:MESH O M   N
dcterms:UDC O M   N
Spatial Coverage dcterms:spatial
(sub-property of dc:coverage) 		The spatial coverage of the content of the items in the collection. O   O M   N
Temporal Coverage dcterms:temporal
(sub-property of dc:coverage) 		The temporal coverage of the content of the items in the collection. O   O M   N
Accumulation Date Range dcterms:created
(sub-property of dc:date) 		The range of dates over which the collection was accumulated. O gen:RKMS-ISO8601 O M   N
Contents Date Range cld:dateContentsCreated
(sub-property of dc:date) 		The range of dates over which the individual items within the collection were created O gen:RKMS-ISO8601 O M   N
Relationships between the Collection and Agents
Collector dc:creator An entity who gathers (or gathered) the items in a collection together. O   O M   N
Owner marcrel:OWN An entity who has legal possession of the collection. O   O M   N
Relationships between the Collection and Location, Collection and Service
Is Located At gen:isLocatedAt
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		The location of the collection. O   O O   N
Is Accessed Via gen:isAccessedVia
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		A service that provides access to the collection. O   O O   N
Relationships between Collections
Sub-collection dcterms:hasPart
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		A second collection contained within the current collection. O dcmitype:Collection O O   N
Super-collection dcterms:isPartOf
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		A second collection that contains the current collection. O dcmitype:Collection O O   N
Catalogue or collection description cld:collectionDescription
(sub-property of dc:description) 		A second collection that describes the current collection (for example, the catalogue for the current collection). O dcmitype:Collection O O   N
Associated collection cld:associatedCollection
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		A second collection that is associated with the current collection. O dcmitype:Collection O O   N
Relationships between the Collection and other resources
Associated publication dcterms:isReferencedBy
(sub-property of dc:relation) 		A publication that is based on the use, study, or analysis of the collection. O   O O   N

References

[DCCDAP]  Dublin Core™ Collection Description Application Profile
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/collection-description/collection-application-profile/

[AMCC]  Heaney, Michael. An Analytical Model of Collections and their Catalogues
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/model/

[DCAM]  Powell, Andy, Mikael Nilsson, Ambjörn Naeve, Pete Johnston. DCMI Abstract Model
http://dublincore.org/documents/abstract-model/

Changes made in this version

  • Replace use of dc:relation property with cld:associatedCollection property.
  • Replace use of dc:description property with cld:collectionDescription property.