Metadata Requirements

ESDN harvests and normalizes metadata for contribution to DPLA. We receive metadata in a variety of formats (including Dublin Core and MODS), usually through an OAI-PMH feed. If your institution’s metadata is not shareable via OAI-PMH, we will work with you to determine an alternative solution.

ESDN brings together the contributed metadata from our partner institutions and maps it to a set of MODS elements for passing on to DPLA. Those elements have been mapped to properties in the DPLA Metadata Application Profile, which underpins services provided by the DPLA such as the DPLA API and portal. Please consult DPLA’s An Introduction to the DPLA Metadata Model for additional information.

In order to contribute records to DPLA, your metadata must contain two descriptive fields: Title and Rights. A number of additional descriptive fields are recommended and/or optional. The more complete and accurate your records are, the more likely they are to be discovered and used through DPLA.

In addition to those descriptive fields, ESDN is required to submit with each record a link back to the metadata record in your local context as well as a link to a thumbnail ‘preview’ of the object (where available). A data provider field containing the name of the “owning institution” of each object is also submitted with each record.

Please consult the following documents for further information:

ESDN Metadata Best Practices and Guidelines (from the ESDN Metadata Working Group) (direct link to PDF version of guidelines available here)

Guidelines written by:

Chris Stanton, Metropolitan New York Library Council
Dacia Metes, Queens Borough Public Library
Joanna DiPasquale, Vassar College
Katie Jezik, Hudson Valley Community College
Amy Miller, Buffalo History Museum
Laura Evans, Binghamton University
Ryan Perry, Central New York Library Resources Council
Laura Osterhout, Rochester Regional Library Council

ESDN Metadata Profile

ESDN Field Requirements List

ESDN Mapping Worksheet (Template)

ESDN New Contributor Checklist

Additional technical documentation, templates and tools are available through ESDN’s Github repository.

Please contact Karen Hwang (khwang@metro.org) with questions about contributing metadata to ESDN and DPLA.