What Is Metadata?
Metadata is information about information. Metadata connects all information on the internet, and it is what helps people find things that you have created. Metadata for a digital photo might include the photographer's name, the time and place the photo was taken, the file size and type, a copyright statement, and a permalink to where the photo can be found.
This metadata record is for a photo from the Dartmouth Library's digital collections that was used in the student exhibit, Transforming Dartmouth: Oral Histories of Black Students from the 1960s and 1970s. When you add an item for your exhibit, you will use the same metadata template that was used for this item.
Student reading under tree
This is the metadata record for the photo you see above.
These are the fields you will fill in for each item:
Class -- the format of the item. Examples: Image, Text, Sound
Identifier -- a unique set of numbers and letters for the items. We recommend that you use your initials and a number. This helps you find and organize items for your exhibit. Example: LRB12
Title -- a short name or description of the item. Examples: "Students Gather on the Green, 1975" or "Interview with Kathy Reynolds"
Description -- one or two sentences describing the item. Example: "Excerpt from the Dartmouth College Black Studies Program brochure, 1976, listing courses for fall term."
Creator -- who made the item? Examples would be the name of a photographer, the writer of a letter, or a group that produced the item.
Date created -- when the original item was created, not the digitized item. A photograph taken in 1974 but digitized in 2006 would have a Date created of 1974. "n.d." refers to "no date."
Publisher -- the entity (usually an organization) responsible for producing the digital item. For items from a library or archival collection, this would be the name of the library or archive.
Bibliographic citation -- a citation for the item, such as you would include in the bibliography of a research paper. Include a link if the item is from a digital collection. Example:
Black Students and Alumni, Dartmouth College Photographic Files, https://collections.dartmouth.edu/archive/object/PhotoFiles/PhotoFiles-icon1647-0164-0000023#?page=icon1647-0164-0000023A