[Metadatalibrarians] Simple Dublin Core element for journal volume and issue number?

[Danielle Plumer]

Christine,

You might get some more ideas by looking at the DC Library Application Profile: http://dublincore.org/documents/library-application-profile/.

You can, of course, treat any term as meaning what you want it to mean, but this may create problems later on with interoperability with other systems, as Diane has said, or even intraoperability with metadata created by other catalogers in your unit. The "solution" I recommend to people who have custom needs that DC can't meet and who don't have the flexibility to create a custom namespace is to use dc:description. Add a dc:description element (it is repeatable, and you will generally want this to be the first description) and use a pre-determined word to state what you're adding, then the value you want to sort on. So, for example:

<description>volume 41, number 4</description>

 or

<description>volumeDate 41.4</description>

 or

<description>sortKey 41.4</description>

Think of description as a repeatable 500 (notes) field, and you're just defining here what can go into it. Write up your definition somewhere and make sure that everybody in your team has it! It's an internal cataloging rule.

If you are rigorous about regularizing the syntax in this field, you might be able to modify your interface so that it doesn't display although other descriptions do, and you should be able to sort easily on the field.

Danielle Cunniff Plumer, Coordinator
Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
512.463.5852 (phone) / 512.936.2306 (fax)
dplumer at tsl.state.tx.us

-----Original Message-----
From: metadatalibrarians-bounces at lists.monarchos.com
[mailto:metadatalibrarians-bounces at lists.monarchos.com]On Behalf Of
Diane I. Hillmann
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 11:57 AM
To: A listserv for Metadata Librarians
Subject: Re: [Metadatalibrarians] Simple Dublin Core element for journal
volume and issue number?


Chris:

I'm sorry (but not surprised) that you're confused about DC.  I hope I 
can be of help. 

Schwartz, Christine wrote:
> Hi Diane,
>
> Thanks for your reply. I have a bigger and related question: I am
> confused about Qualified Dublin Core and can't even seem to find a
> straightforward list of acceptable Qualified Dublin Core elements on the
> Internet. Is there such a list?
>
>   
Jenn is correct about the cite for official documentation.  You might 
also want to look at "Using Dublin Core" which has a whole section on 
the qualifiers: 
http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/qualifiers.shtml including a 
table which shows the relationships between terms.
> At the Dublin Core Metadata Registry I've found elements in the dcterms
> namespace that are element "refinements" of the original 15 DC elements.
> Is that what is meant by "Qualified Dublin Core" or is there more? I did
> find some explanation about Qualified Dublin Core in the document:
> "Guidelines for implementing Dublin Core in XML."
>
>   
The qualifiers are either extensions (or refinements) to the original 15 
elements providing more granularity, or some additional terms that can 
be used with DC.  The "original 15" live in two namespaces: in the 
legacy namespace they do not include domain or range restrictions, in 
the dcterms namespace they do.  You can use either, but probably the 
legacy namespace would work best for you.  There is an explanation in 
the introduction to http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/ about 
the two namespaces. 
> Back to my original question: I don't want to provide a full citation.
> What I need to do is isolate the volume and issue numbers of journal
> issues for sorting purposes in our digital library. We are working with
> programmers who are now sort on dc:date only and the issues are not
> displaying in order. So, I need to simply provide a number value,
> something like "41.1" for volume 41, number 1.
>
>   
Okay, but keep in mind that it would be hard for anyone else to use this 
data because what you're intending largely fails to provide any 
interoperability (which is why you're using DC in the first place, 
no?).  I generally discourage people from doing this sort of thing--even 
though I understand completely the desire to do something quick and 
focused.  That said, my original suggestions still apply.  DC simple is 
not capable of handling article data very well all by itself, and you 
have only a few tradeoffs available to you that would still pass the 
smell test.
> How about dc:relation, dc:source, or dc:coverage?
>   
If you look at the definitions for these elements ("Using Dublin Core" 
has some examples if you find the definitions not enough) you'll see 
that they are not suitable for what you're trying to do.  You'd be 
better off declaring your own term than squeezing things into DC 
elements where they don't belong.

Sorry to be so hard-nosed about this--I've been on the receiving end of 
some pretty squirrelly data in my time and tend to get cranky about 
funky uses of standard schemas.

Diane
> Thanks,
>  
> Chris 
>  
>
>   
>> Diane I. Hillmann wrote:
>>
>> Chris:
>>
>> I think the limits you seem to have defined make it very difficult
>> (impossible, really) to do what you want in an interoperable manner.
>> Looking more broadly at the problem I think you've got three options:
>>
>> 1. Use dcterms:bibliographicCitation for your volume and issue numbers
>> (preferably using the whole cite not just those numbers) -- this would
>> take you beyond the original 15 but I think that's pretty essential
>>     
> for
>   
>> good journal article metadata anyway.
>> 2. Stick with the 15 and plunk your citation in Identifier and let
>>     
> your
>   
>> application or downstream users figure out what's a cite and what's a
>> DOI (not that hard, actually)
>> 3. Format a descriptive note with the citation information.  This
>> allows
>> you to use the original 15 without using Identifier for the citation
>> information, but it certainly doesn't follow most best practice
>> guidance.  And of course then if you have an abstract you'd need to
>> repeat the Description element, which may not be a problem.
>>
>> Diane
>>
>> Schwartz, Christine wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm looking for some help with Simple Dublin Core (which we use in
>>>       
>> the
>>     
>>> dmdSec of METS).
>>>
>>> I'd like to use a dc element, from the original 15 elements, for
>>>       
>> journal
>>     
>>> volume and issue numbers, e.g., 61:2.
>>>
>>> However, I'd like to reserve the use of dc:identifier for DOI names
>>> only. So I'm stuck. Has anyone tackled this issue? Any thoughts?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Christine Schwartz
>>> Metadata Librarian
>>> Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries
>>> christine.schwartz at ptsem.edu
>>>