Accessibility All 1 if applicable 1 unbounded

This element is mandated for core pages of web sites, which should carry an Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) label indicating the suitability of the material for children. Some applications designed to protect children will in future not allow access to any site that does not have a suitable ICRA rating. More information about this rating can be found at http://www.icra.org

The way in which ICRA and other labels are added to the metadata may require different notation from the remaining elements, to ensure they are located and read by the relevant software applications.

This element will be developed further in line with recommendations by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, W3C and other international organisations working on this issue.

Other accessibility information may also be given. See the Government Web Site Guidelines for further details. The checklist states:

Web managers should register their web site with at least the ICRA PICS service
Meta tags covering your whole site should be placed in the head element of the default page, e.g. index.htm or default.htm
Check that all web pages meet the defined rating. Additional meta tags can be placed in the home page of directories to rate pages within that directory, and where necessary can be applied to individual web pages.

Tools for accrediting accessibility can be found on the W3C site. The Bobby Initiative tests whether web pages meet the criteria for W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

eGMS All String Indicates the resource’s availability and usability to specific groups Enables the user to use all information resources to limit the search to items meeting their requirements ICRA ICRA http://www.icra.org/ WCAG WCAG http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/ RNIB RNIB http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/siraccess/welcome.htm NotApplicable 1 if applicable 1 unbounded General accessibility: Bobby accredited

The scheme 'W3C' has been changed to 'WCAG' to indicate the precise W3C scheme applicable and correspond with the text that should be used to denote the scheme in metadata.

audience Accessibility indicates whether particular users will be able to physically access or use the resource; Audience indicates those users for whom the content is designed. rights Rights indicates who is allowed to see the resource; Accessibility indicates who is actually able to see it. Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM

Should be used if resource conforms to an accessibility scheme such as Bobby where it would draw content to attention of someone with visual impairment.

CRM Implementation: All systems which interface with CRM should be accessible. This will enable customers to access all the information, resources and services they want.

The information held within CRM should also be accessible.

Accessible systems will also promote the employment of people with disabilities.

If the resource is being created through a CRM / CMS which produces accessible content, then this field could be auto-generated as the resource is produced.

All information resources need to be accessible. This includes accessibility to people who are using speech devices and other access technologies (see www.rnib.org.uk for useful resources on this issue).

Accessibility is about who will be able to access the resource.

Legislation will come into effect which will create legal obligations on local authorities to produce accessible information.

Accessibility also relates to access to content. The resources of a website for example can carry an Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) rating. This is described as a 'safety net for children' and is used to protect children from offensive content.

While it is unlikely that a local authority is going to have information resources which will require an ICRA rating, it is worth being aware of the issues, particularly where local authority information is being joined up to other information resources through portals and extranets. An example could be where a local sex shop was part of the portal (which they may be if they are a legitimate business in the area). If the local authority is providing access to information through a portal, it may want to apply an ICRA rating to information which is in virtual proximity.

ICRA could be used in the sense that unless a site has an ICRA rating, then access to children would be denied.

Addressee RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

While in practice this element will mainly be used when describing e-mails, it is also applicable to other types of correspondence or any resource which is distributed.

Includes those listed in ‘cc’ and ‘bcc’ lists. Use addressee.copy to list persons to whom resource was copied to

eGMS RecordsManagement String The person (or persons) to whom the resource was addressed. Enables the user to identify the person(s) to whom the resource was dispatched. Note that this does not provide evidence that the intended person actually received or read it, nor that they had the right or ability to access it. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource, in this case an e-mail, addressed to the Cabinet Office’s Human Resources Manager addressee: jane.roberts@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk For a resource addressed to a team in an organisation addressee: Communications Team, Office of Fair Trading For a resource, in this case an e-mail, addressed to the Cabinet Office’s Human Resources Manager and copied to the Office of the e-Envoy’s personnel officer addressee: jane.roberts@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk Copy addressee: mike.mordecai@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk AddresseeCopy Addressee copy eGMS RecordsManagement String Any person(s) to whom resource was copied NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource, in this case an e-mail, addressed to the Cabinet Office’s Human Resources Manager and copied to the Office of the e-Envoy’s personnel officer addressee: jane.roberts@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk Copy addressee: mike.mordecai@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk audience This refers to the wider sector of the population for whom the resource was intended; Addressee refers to the person or group to whom it was actively sent. rights This records the person or groups who have the right to see the resource, whether or not it has actually been sent to them. Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM Aggregation RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

Aggregation shows the extent to which the resource is part of a larger resource or collection, and defines where in a hierarchy it belongs. An example of this could be a folder, containing individual records, where all actions that are performed on the folder, such as a change in the security classification, automatically affect each record in the folder.

eGMS RecordsManagement String The resource’s level or position in a hierarchy. Aggregation allows searches to be restricted to resources at a particular level. It also helps indicate which actions can be carried out on the resource. NationalArchives National Archives (formerly PRO) – In a records management environment, the National Archives scheme must be used http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/2002reqs/2002metadatafinal.pdf IEEELOM IEEE LOM http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/ NotAvailable 0 not applicable unbounded For a single item that will be placed in a folder in a records management system aggregation: Record For a collection of records relating to financial dealings aggregation: Folder subject.category This refers to the content of the resource; Aggregation refers to the resource’s level in a larger resource or collection. AGLS Type.aggregationLevel IEEE LOM General.AggregationLevel Audience All 0 0 unbounded

Don’t use Audience unless the resource is prepared with a particular group in mind. If it’s for general release, leave it blank.

dcterms All String A category of user for whom the resource is intended. Enables the user to indicate the level or focus of the resource, as well as enabling filtering of a search to items suited to the intended audience. e-GMSAES e-GMS Audience Encoding Scheme (e-GMSAES) http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/egif_document.asp?docnum=731 IEEELOM IEEE LOM Audience Encoding Scheme http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/ LGAL Local Government Audience List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgal/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgal/lgal.xml Available 0 0 unbounded For a website designed to put businesses in touch with each other audience: businesses For a resource which will be sought by parents to read to their children audience.mediator: parents audience.educationLevel: pre-school EducationLevel Education Level dcterms All String A general statement describing the education or training context. Alternatively, a more specific statement of the location of the audience in terms of its progression through an education or training context. NotAvailable 0 0 unbounded For a resource which will be sought by parents to read to their children audience.mediator: parents audience.educationLevel: pre-school Mediator Mediator dcterms All String A class of entity that mediates access to the resource and for whom the resource is intended or useful. Comment: The audiences for a resource are of two basic classes: (1) an ultimate beneficiary of the resource, and (2) frequently, an entity that mediates access to the resource. The mediator element refinement represents the second of these two classes. NotAvailable 0 0 unbounded For a resource which will be sought by parents to read to their children audience.mediator: parents audience.educationLevel: pre-school accessibility Audience indicates which users the content is aimed at; Accessibility indicates whether particular users will be able to access or use the resource. rights Audience tells the user who the content is designed for, Rights informs the user of a list of individuals or groups who are allowed to see the resource. addressee the addressee is the person or persons to whom the resource was actually sent, the audience is the group for whom the creator prepared the content. Dublin Core Audience http://purl.org/dc/terms/audience Dublin Core Audience.mediator http://purl.org/dc/terms/mediator Dublin Core Audience.educationLevel http://purl.org/dc/terms/educationLevel AGLS Audience IEEE LOM Education.context, Educational.IntendedEndUserRole http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/

Only use this element if you want to draw the resource to the attention of particular groups. For example, an advertisement for a teaching post might have an audience of teachers, student teachers". However, the majority of web content is of interest to a wide range of people and it would be inappropriate to narrow the audience to specific groups.

Contributor All 0 0 unbounded

Examples of a Contributor include a person or organisation. Typically, the job title of a Contributor should be used to indicate the entity.

Include all individuals or organisations that played an important or significant role in creating the content of the resource but do not qualify as Creators.

For this data to be meaningful when the division making the contribution has been disbanded or the contributor has moved on, include the full hierarchy, e.g. department, division, section, team. It may be best to ‘depersonalise’ the contributor, and give the job title rather than the name.

Give full contact details if possible, especially when they are not to be given elsewhere. If possible use generic e-mail addresses rather than personal ones, as these are less likely to change, e.g. aviation.stats@dtlr.gov.uk

Acronyms may be meaningless to users. Use the full official title of the organisation, or link to a glossary or explanatory note.

dc All String An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the resource. Enables users to retrieve a resource which has been contributed to by a particular person or organisation. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/egif_document.asp?docnum=731 NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a resource edited by a member of staff in a particular department contributor: Edited by Resources manager. National Assembly for Wales. Cabinet. Finance Goup. fgcabinet@wales.gsi.gov.uk For minutes drafted by a minutes secretary but for which responsibility for content belongs with the chair of the meeting. (The chair will be entered in the Creator field.) contributor: Drafted by A O Jones. Secretary. Manchester City Council. Community Regeneration Team. crt@manchester.gov.uk creator The Creator is the person or group responsible for the intellectual or creative content of the resource, the Contributor played an important role but did not have primary or overall responsibility for the content. Dublin Core Contributor http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/contributor AGLS Contributor GILS Contributor IEEE LOM LifeCycle.Contribute.Entity

This element will supplement CREATOR where it is necessary to record the contribution of another person/team. In most cases CREATOR alone should be sufficient.

This element will be used to record the name of the person/team that drafted the resource. It will be used largely for committee minutes where it will record the name of the minutes secretary. Note that responsibility for the content of the minutes belongs with the Chair of the meeting who will be recorded in the CREATOR element.

Examples of a contributor can be person(s) or organisation(s). The contributor could be defined through their name and job title if it is a person, and the name of the organisation if it is an organisation.

In the context of CRM, contributor is a useful element as a record may be created and several different organisations / individuals could be part of an ongoing response / adding content to the record.

As much detail as possible should be given about a contributor – for example, an address, email, phone number.

This value could be auto-generated from the user-id profile relating to a particular log-in. For example, if someone was logging in to a content management system to create a resource.

Coverage All 1 recommended 1 recommended unbounded

Data will usually be put under Spatial or Temporal rather than the unrefined Coverage.

For preference, repeat the element for each value if the resource covers more than one area or time period. Alternatively use ‘;’ as a list separator.

‘Spatial’ includes jurisdiction, town, county, borough, constituency, region etc. Give enough detail to ensure places that share names can be accurately identified, e.g. ‘Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia’.

The OeE is considering further refinements for Coverage.Spatial to enable better retrieval of information with a significant geospatial element. This is likely to be part of a larger project that will include toolkits and encoding schemes. The OeE is awaiting the outcome of the work being undertaken by DC into the mapping of ISO 19115 into the DC Element Set.

Dates should be in standard W3C format, e.g. ccyy-mm-dd. A more controlled structure for this value may be required in situations where greater detail about the time covered is needed, e.g. statistics or geographic information (see example).

dc All String The extent or scope of the content of the resource. Enables the user to limit the search to items about a particular place or time. Can be thought of as a sub-section of the Subject element. NotApplicable 1 recommended 1 recommended unbounded For a list of chemists within a particular postcode area coverage.spatial: SW12 For a resource about events which occurred between 13th March 2000 and 13th March 2001 coverage.temporal: 2000-03-13/2001-03-13 For a document looking at events in Lewisham during the 1950s coverage.temporal: 1951/1960 coverage.spatial: London Borough of Lewisham, London, UK For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 Spatial Spatial dcterms All String GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue – (address, date and time types) http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm DCMI DCMI Point – Identifies a point in space using its geographic coordinates http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-point DCMI DCMI Box – Identifies a region of space using its geographic limits http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-box ISO3166 ISO 3166 – Codes for the representation of names of countries http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/codlstp1/index.html TGN TGN – The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/index.html ISO19115 ISO 19115 http://www.anzlic.org.au/asdi/metaiso.htm#iso ONSSNAC ONS ‘SNAC’ – Database (Standard Names and Codes) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/snac.asp FCO FCO Geographical names and information list of country names http://www.govtalk.gov.uk FCO FCO Geographical names and information list of country names http://www.fco.gov.uk RoyalMail Postcode Address Finder https://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/postcodefinder?pageId=pol_login NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a list of chemists within a particular postcode area coverage.spatial: SW12 For a document looking at events in Lewisham during the 1950s coverage.temporal: 1951/1960 coverage.spatial: London Borough of Lewisham, London, UK

The ‘spatial’ refinement of the ‘coverage’ metadata element provides geographical information pertaining to a resource.

There are two types of spatial data:

Position - defining the co-ordinates of a resource (eg the location at which a service is provided), expressed by:
- northing and easting
- post code
- UPRN (the unique property resource number as defined in the National Land and Property Gazetteer, see http://www.nlpg.org.uk)

Position is useful because it can help identify the extent to which a citizen, who’s location is known, might be interested in a resource. For example, a citizen may wish to know about resources describing a sports centre within 5 miles of her/his home, irrespective of the administrative area in which the centre is located.
Area - defining the geographical relevance of a resource (eg the extent of provision of a service), expressed by a named or numbered area from a controlled list, which may be associated with a box/polygon of points bounding the area. Different administrative areas apply to different resources, often dependent on the responsible agency (LA, health, police, etc). The Office of National Statistics produces “Standard Names and Codes for administrative and electoral geographies in the UK (SNAC)” available from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/snac.asp.

There is normally no need to define an area if the applicability of a resource is not limited by the location of a citizen. For example, a page describing a recreation centre need not indicate that there is any imposed geographic constraint on who uses the centre.

The ‘scheme’ used (and named) for spatial metadata will identify if that data relates to a position or an area.

Sometime both position and area metadata are relevant to a resource.

It should be possible to convert all spatial data back to northing and easting co-ordinates so that different schemes may be cross-referenced for spatial analysis.

There remains work to be done in making use of spatial metadata in conjunction with geographical information systems (GIS). This is of particular relevance to portals across multiple local authority Web sites. It is important that geographical metadata is properly recorded with a recognised scheme to support forthcoming GIS work.

Spatial.Postcode Spatial - postcode eGMS All String Postcode NotAvailable 0 0 unbounded Spatial.Location Spatial - location eGMS All String Location NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded Temporal Temporal dcterms All Date W3CDTF W3CDTF http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime W3CDTF W3CDTF http://dublincore.org/2003/03/24/dcq#W3CDTF DCMI DCMI Period – A specification of the limits of a time interval http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-period NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a resource about events which occurred between 13th March 2000 and 13th March 2001 coverage.temporal: 2000-03-13/2001-03-13 For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 Temporal.BeginningDate Temporal - beginning date eGMS All Date Beginning Date NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 Temporal.EndDate Temporal - end date eGMS All Date End Date NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 Temporal.DateCapturePeriod Temporal - date capture period eGMS All Date Date Capture Period NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded Temporal.StatusOfStartDateOfCapture Temporal - status of start date of capture eGMS All String Status of Start Date of Capture NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded Temporal.StartDateOfCapture Temporal - start date of capture eGMS All Date Start Date of Capture NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 Temporal.EndDateOfCapture Temporal - end date of capture eGMS All Date End Date of Capture NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For 2002/03 tax statistics collected by the Inland Revenue between July and August 2003 coverage.temporal.beginning date: 2002-04-01 end date: 2003-03-31 start date of capture: 2003-07-01 end date of capture: 2003-08-31 date coverage.temporal refers to the time period covered by the content of the resource, not its creation or publication date. subject Coverage contains information about the geographical and time aspects of the content of the resource. It can be thought of as a sub-section of the Subject element. There may be times when it is appropriate to enter the same data in both the elements. location Location describes the physical whereabouts of the resource, it has nothing to do with what the resource is about. Dublin Core Coverage http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/coverage Dublin Core Refinements: Spatial http://purl.org/dc/terms/spatial Dublin Cure Temporal http://purl.org/dc/terms/temporal AGLS Coverage; Refinements: Spatial, Temporal; Jurisdiction; Postcode. GI Gateway Geographic extent; Refinements: Spatial referencing by coordinates: System of spatial referencing by coordinates; West bounding coordinate; East bounding coordinate; North bounding coordinate; South bounding coordinate; Postcode district extent; National extent; Administrative area extent; Date capture period; Status of start date of capture; Start date of capture; Status of End date of capture; end date of capture; Frequency of update. GILS Refinements: Spatial domain; Place; Place keyword thesaurus; Place keyword; Bounding coordinates; West bounding coordinate; East bounding coordinate; North bounding coordinate; South bounding coordinate; Time period; Beginning date; Ending date; Time period textual; Time period structured. IEEE LOM General.Coverage

This element should be used in a similar way to the SUBJECT element to describe the information contained in the resource. It should be used sparingly and only where the resource relates to a specific place or time. Will only be used with a either a or a temporal refinement.

Give enough detail to ensure places that share names can be accurately identified, for example, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

This will be used to describe the geographical and temporal aspects of information resources across the local authority.

Selected from a pre-defined list

The extent or scope of the content of the information resource – ie what information does the information resource cover.

This element is extremely useful for limiting a search to information about a particular place or time. It can be thought of as a sub-section of Subject.

There are various refinements of coverage. For example, coverage.temporal refers to the time period covered by the content of the resource. This is not the date it has been created.

Coverage contains information about the spatial (geographical) and temporal (time) aspects of the content of the resource.

‘Spatial’ can include 'jurisdiction, town, county, borough, constituency, region etc'.

If the element covers more than one area or time period, then the element can be repeated to account for this.

Enough detail should be given to clearly identify a place – for example – Newcastle -upon Tyne, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Startford, Newham, London, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Creator All 1 1 unbounded

To enable a resource to be tracked when the division creating it has been disbanded or the Creator has moved on, include the full hierarchy, e.g. department, division, section, team. It is often best to ‘depersonalise’ the creator and give the job title rather than the person’s name.

Give full contact details if possible, especially when they are not to be given elsewhere, i.e. where the creator is different from the publisher/distributor. If possible use generic e-mails rather than personal ones, as these are less likely to change, e.g. aviationstats@dtlr.gov.uk. There are, however, situations where the Creator has legal responsibilities and obligations, and personal names may be needed for audit trails.

Acronyms may be meaningless to users. Use the full official title of the organisation, or link to a glossary or explanatory note.

dc All String An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource. To enable the user to find resources that were written or otherwise prepared by a particular individual or organisation. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm NotApplicable 1 1 unbounded For a resource for which chief responsibility for content rests with the Assistant Director creator: Assistant Director. Cabinet Office.Office of the e-Envoy. Technology Policy. ukgovtalk@e-envoy.gov.uk For the minutes of a meeting which were drafted by the minutes secretary but for which responsibility for content rests with the chair of the meeting (the minutes secretary appears in the Contributor element). creator: Jon Tiles. Chair. Manchester City Council. Community Regeneration Team. Community Regeneration Committee. crt@manchester.gov.uk For a resource prepared by an external consultant creator: Stella Dextre-Clarke, Consultant SDClarke@LukeHouse.demon.co.uk publisher The Creator is responsible for the intellectual or creative content of the resource; the publisher is the person or organisation that makes the resource available. You would contact the Creator to find out, for example, why this policy was made or how it will be implemented, whereas you would contact the publisher to find out about getting more copies or matters of copyright. In many cases the Publisher and Creator will be the same. contributor The Creator is the person or group responsible for the intellectual or creative content of the resource, the Contributor played an important role but did not have primary or overall responsibility for the content. Dublin Core Creator http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/creator AGLS Creator GI Gateway Originator IEEE LOM LifeCycle.ContributeEntity

This is a mandatory element in the e-GMS and must be used for all resources.

Give the job title or team name with main responsibility for the content e.g. ‘press office’. Try to avoid using an individual’s name.

In essence, the intention behind CREATOR is to identify the person or team responsible for the information and to provide contact details. In many cases, as in this example, the contact details will be part of the content already.

CMS can populate.

Dublin Core recommends that the 'last name, first name' format is used to describe names (eg the name of the person who was a creator of the resource – Austin, Jane).

The recommendation could be that creator is always in lower case to avoid biblical confusions of Creator and creator.

If all information resources produced by a local authority have information about who created them, it is easier to manage those resources, it is easier to authenticate them and it is easier to find additional information about the resource as there is a named person or organisation to contact.

An information resource may have several creators.

For personal metadata records, a number of people may be responsible over time for creating this record. Detail should be available of all those people.

This could be auto-generated from user ID log-in (for example when logging in to a CMS). This will depend upon the technical infrastructures within each local authority.

Date All 1 1 unbounded

Dates need to appear in a format that is recognisable to people all over the world, and that can be interpreted by computer software. The W3C format allows accurate searching, and makes it clear which is the year, month or day. The format is ‘ccyy-mm-dd’, where ‘ccyy’ is the year, ‘mm’ is the month and ‘dd’ the day.

When the time is also needed, add ‘hh:mm’, where ‘hh’ is the hour (using the 24 hour clock), ‘mm’ is minutes. More about this notation can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime.

dc All Date A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the resource. To enable the user to find the resource by limiting the number of search hits according to a date, e.g. the date the resource was made available. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm W3C W3C http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime W3C W3C http://dublincore.org/2003/03/24/dcq#W3CDTF NotApplicable 1 1 unbounded For a press release approved and sent to editors on 2nd December 2002 but not available for public viewing until 11:00 a.m. the following day date.created: 2002-12-02 issued: 2002-12-03T11:00 For an e-mail created 3rd July and received on 4th July: date.created:2003-07-03 date.acquired:2003-07-04T06:37 For a spreadsheet which will be replaced at the end of the financial year date.cut-off date: 2004-03-31 For a consultation document completed on 20th March 2003, released to the department only for comment on 30th March, and put on the web site for open consultation on 10th April with a closing date of 30th May date.created: 2003-03-20 available: 2003-03-30 issued: 2003-04-10 valid: 2003-04-10/2003-05-30 For a home page that went live on 6th January 2000 date.issued: 2000-01-06 The same home page the following May, after it has been edited date.issued: 2000-01-06 modified: 2000-05-01 For a database originally created in 1997 but updated monthly since then date.created:1997-09-09 updatingfrequency: monthly Acquired Acquired eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date on which the resource was received into the organisation. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 For an e-mail created 3rd July and received on 4th July: date.created:2003-07-03 date.acquired:2003-07-04T06:37 Available Available dcterms All Date Date (often a range) that the resource will become or did become available. NotApplicable 0 0 1 For a consultation document completed on 20th March 2003, released to the department only for comment on 30th March, and put on the web site for open consultation on 10th April with a closing date of 30th May date.created: 2003-03-20 available: 2003-03-30 issued: 2003-04-10 valid: 2003-04-10/2003-05-30 Created Created dcterms All Date Date of creation of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 1 For an e-mail created 3rd July and received on 4th July: date.created:2003-07-03 date.acquired:2003-07-04T06:37 For a press release approved and sent to editors on 2nd December 2002 but not available for public viewing until 11:00 a.m. the following day date.created: 2002-12-02 issued: 2002-12-03T11:00 For a consultation document completed on 20th March 2003, released to the department only for comment on 30th March, and put on the web site for open consultation on 10th April with a closing date of 30th May date.created: 2003-03-20 available: 2003-03-30 issued: 2003-04-10 valid: 2003-04-10/2003-05-30 For a database originally created in 1997 but updated monthly since then date.created:1997-09-09 updatingfrequency: monthly

DATE.CREATED might be useful internally for audit trails but not to the public.

(CMS could populate)

Cutoff Cut-off date eGMS RecordsManagement Date Date from which the resource should no longer be added to or modified. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 For a spreadsheet which will be replaced at the end of the financial year date.cut-off date: 2004-03-31

"Cut-offDate" changed to "Cutoff" to avoid repetition and remove invalid character.

Closed Closed eGMS RecordsManagement Date Date which the capacity to store the resource as part of a collection was revoked. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 DateAccepted Date accepted dcterms RecordsManagement Date Date of acceptance of the resource (e.g. of thesis by university department, of article by journal etc.). NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 DateCopyrighted Date copyrighted dcterms All Date Date of a statement of copyright. Use if date is different from date.created or if date.created is not given. NotApplicable 0 0 1 DateSubmitted Date submitted dcterms RecordsManagement Date Date of submission of the resource (e.g. thesis, article etc.). NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 Declared Declared eGMS RecordsManagement Date Date on which the resource was declared, filed or stored. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 Issued Issued dcterms All Date Date of formal issuance (e.g. publication) of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 1 For a press release approved and sent to editors on 2nd December 2002 but not available for public viewing until 11:00 a.m. the following day date.created: 2002-12-02 issued: 2002-12-03T11:00 For a consultation document completed on 20th March 2003, released to the department only for comment on 30th March, and put on the web site for open consultation on 10th April with a closing date of 30th May date.created: 2003-03-20 available: 2003-03-30 issued: 2003-04-10 valid: 2003-04-10/2003-05-30 For a home page that went live on 6th January 2000 date.issued: 2000-01-06 The same home page the following May, after it has been edited date.issued: 2000-01-06 modified: 2000-05-01

The most useful date for searchers will be DATE.ISSUED which is the date of publication on the web.

(CMS could populate)

Modified Modified dcterms All Date Date on which the resource was changed. NotApplicable 0 0 1 The same home page the following May, after it has been edited date.issued: 2000-01-06 modified: 2000-05-01

Use if it is important to record the date of the most recent modification to the resource.

NextVersionDue Next version due eGMS All Date Date on which the resource is due to be superseded. NotApplicable 0 0 1 UpdatingFrequency Updating frequency eGMS All Date How often the resource is updated. ISO19115 ISO 19115 http://www.anzlic.org.au/asdi/metaiso.htm#iso NotApplicable 0 0 1 For a database originally created in 1997 but updated monthly since then date.created:1997-09-09 updatingfrequency: monthly Valid Valid dcterms All Date The date (often a range) of validity of a resource. NotApplicable 0 0 1 For a consultation document completed on 20th March 2003, released to the department only for comment on 30th March, and put on the web site for open consultation on 10th April with a closing date of 30th May date.created: 2003-03-20 available: 2003-03-30 issued: 2003-04-10 valid: 2003-04-10/2003-05-30

Use sparingly when it is important to record that the resource is only valid for a specific period.

DATE.VALID is an interesting one. It can be used to record the opening and closing dates for the job advert.

coverage Date refers to dates relevant to the information resource itself, not the information held within the resource. For example, for a document about the civil service in the 18th century, put ‘18th century’ in Coverage and put the date published in Date. disposal use disposal.date reviewed to indicate when the decision to keep a resource needs to be made Dublin Core date http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date Dublin Core dateAccepted http://purl.org/dc/terms/dateAccepted Dublin Core dateAvailable http://purl.org/dc/terms/available Dublin Core dateCopyrighted http://purl.org/dc/terms/dateCopyrighted Dublin Core dateCreated http://purl.org/dc/terms/created Dublin Core dateIssued http://purl.org/dc/terms/issued Dublin Core dateModified http://purl.org/dc/terms/modified Dublin Core dateSubmitted http://purl.org/dc/terms/dateSubmitted Dublin Core dateValid http://purl.org/dc/terms/valid AGLS Refinements: created, modified, valid, issued IEEE LOM LifeCycle.Contribute.Date

This is a mandatory element in the e-GMS and should minimally be used with the ISSUED refinement.

Use the W3C date format, of year-month-day.

It really helps if you can remember that this element records date information about the resource itself and not about the actual content. The COVERAGE element has to be used to describe the period covered by the content.

Date information is going to be an important aspect of information resources for CRM.

There can be big differences between the council tax band information of 1999-04-01 and 2003-04-01. This needs to be explicit in the content itself.

Where information is being held in the public domain for archive purposes, this needs to be clear.

The date should not be auto-generated from a system clock. For example some websites have the day's date and time on them. This may have nothing to do with the last time the resource was amended and although the day's date is displayed, the resource may be out of date and inaccurate.

The date of when a resource is first created could be auto-generated from within a cms, where such software is being used. However, clear rules need to be defined within the CRM itself to determine exactly what is being auto-generated.

There are several key dates in the life-cycle of an information resource.

These key dates could be described as date created, date published, date archived. Date modified could also be used.

Date information is a key piece of data about an information resource, although surprisingly absent from many digital information resources.

Date is a metadata element which should be clearly visible to the information user. It should form part of the content of the information resource where possible.

Date information relates to the date which the resource was created, modified, published, archived etc.

It does not refer to the period of time which the information resource itself describes. For example, a list of key political events of the 20th century which was created on 1st January 2001 would have the date created as 2001-01-01. The 20th century date part would be described in the coverage.

The consistent description of the key dates of all information resources will allow much more effective control and management of those resources.

It will facilitate information storage and retrieval and will allow information to be collated and compared more easily.

It is proposed that a single date format is used for all information resources across the council. This format will follow the recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium – w3c which is ccyy – mm – dd, where ccyy is the century / year – 1905, mm is the month and dd is the day.

Time could also be added to the date element. The recommendation is to use the 24 hour clock in the hh.mm format.

While it is unlikely that most information resources produced by the local authority will need to have the time added, this will be useful for CRM where information about individuals is being used and created.

Description All 0 0 unbounded

The description could cover:

Approach to subject (e.g. critique, explanation, beginners guide)
Reason for production of resource (e.g. to inform, invite comments)
Groups and organisations referred to
Events covered
List of key fields (database) or chapters
Key outcomes
Broad policy area
Level (academic, basic etc.)
Any other useful information.

Keep the description as brief as possible and try not to repeat information that could be held in another tag (e.g. Title, Coverage or Subject).

dc All String An account of the content of the resource. To help the user decide if the resource fits their needs. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded General description: Leaflet for parents explaining the purpose of the introduction of Home-School agreements, which are compulsory for all maintained schools. General description: A brief history of Blackheath. Covers physical aspects, notable events and people connected with the area General description.tableOfContents: Document history / Introduction / Preparation / Lists of elements / General principles / Elements Abstract Abstract dcterms All String A summary of the content of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded TableOfContents Table of contents dcterms All String A list of sub-units of the content of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded General description.tableOfContents: Document history / Introduction / Preparation / Lists of elements / General principles / Elements Dublin Core Description http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/description AGLS Description GI Gateway Abstract GILS Abstract IEEE LOM General.Description

A meaningful description. Sites will need to provide guidelines on how content authors should complete this. The TITLE alone may contain sufficient detail, if so, leave DESCRIPTION blank.

The description needs to be a concise outline of the content of the resource. Some people are better at writing precisely than others. Consideration should be given to guidelines and style guides for writing descriptions.

Consideration should also be given to the tone of descriptions so that they are consistent from one to another, rather than some being detailed and others very brief or written in different styles.

Description may be more useful for information resources over a certain size. There may be too much of an information and resource overload to write descriptions for every information resource.

The description would probably have to be created manually when a resource was added to the system.

However, for some content, the description might be able to generated from the first paragraph of a report.

The description element allows a more detailed description to be written about the resource than the title and subject allows for. The description outlines in more detail what the resource is about.

The description element can be used to provide a precis or overview of the resource.

The description element is one element which is used by the major search engines, and is displayed in the list of search results. The absence of using this element would mean the search engine might pick up the first three lines of content of a resource, which may or may not be an accurate description of the resource.

By providing a clear title, subject, keywords and description for a resource, it is easier for software agents to accurately produce metadata through data mining processes.

DigitalSignature RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

National Archives will examine what metadata is likely to be created by digital signature technology and how far it is of relevance/use in records management when the adoption of this technology is further advanced in the UK government. Changes will be made to this element when this work is completed.

eGMS RecordsManagement String To be decided. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM Disposal All 0 0 unbounded

It is recommended that all web pages have a Review date, so webmasters can easily locate pages before they become out of date and take necessary action, e.g. modify them and send the original to their organisation’s records office.

AutoRemoveDate is used for machine generated removals, where there is absolutely no need for human intervention and review.

Many of the refinements will be used almost entirely for long-term records management purposes.

Disposal in electronic records management systems (ERMS) is generally managed at the folder level. ERMS manage the disposal of resources to ensure they are only destroyed in accordance with an agreed disposal schedule and retained for periods consistent with the need to retain the resource. Further information is available at www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/2002reqs/2002requirementsfinal.pdf and http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/2002reqs/2002metadatafinal.pdf

eGMS All String The retention and disposal instructions for the resource. Helps the user manage resources and ensure that they are not kept after they are needed or disposed of before their time. NationalArchives National Archives – Disposal list (Destroy, Review, Export). http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/2002reqs/2002metadatafinal.pdf W3C W3C – Date formats (Disposal date, Review date, Date of last review) http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime W3C W3C http://dublincore.org/2003/03/24/dcq#W3CDTF NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a resource which will need to be sent to National Archives for archiving after a set period disposal.conditions: Five years after completion of programme Action: Retain until transfer to National Archives For a web page which states that ‘The final report will be published in August 2003’ disposal.review: 2003-08-01 For a resource which will automatically be removed on 3rd September 2003, without any review taking place disposal.autoRemoveDate: 2003-09-03 AutoRemoveDate Auto remove date eGMS Web Date The date on which the resource will automatically be removed from the system. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a resource which will automatically be removed on 3rd September 2003, without any review taking place disposal.autoRemoveDate: 2003-09-03 Action Disposal action eGMS RecordsManagement String The action to be taken once the condition is reached. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

State what action is to be taken eg. update if necessary, archive or delete.

(CMS can populate)

"DisposalAction" changed to "Action" to remove repetition.

AuthorisedBy Disposal authorised by eGMS All String The identity of the role, the person or the policy authorising the disposal. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded

"DisposalAuthorisedBy" changed to "AuthorisedBy" to remove repetition.

Comment Disposal comment eGMS RecordsManagement String The reason for disposal. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalComment" changed to "Comment" to remove repetition.

Conditions Disposal conditions eGMS RecordsManagement String An event that triggers disposal of the resource, e.g. closure of folder. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource which will need to be sent to National Archives for archiving after a set period disposal.conditions: Five years after completion of programme Action: Retain until transfer to National Archives

"DisposalConditions" changed to "Conditions" to remove repetition.

Date Disposal date eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date the disposal action is due to take place, i.e. from the disposal event, plus the disposal time period. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalDate" has been changed to "Date" to remove repetition.

DateOfLastReview Date of last review eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date the schedule for disposal was last reviewed NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded ExportDestination Disposal export destination eGMS RecordsManagement String The location where an exported resource will be disposed, e.g. National Archives for permanent preservation. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalExportDestination" changed to "ExportDestination" to remove repetition.

ExportStatus Disposal export status eGMS RecordsManagement String Information about the progress of the export, e.g. pending, already executed, failed. NotAvailable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalExportStatus" changed to "ExportStatus" to remove repetition.

Review Disposal review eGMS All Date The date on which the resource should be reviewed to determine the need to retain it. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a web page which states that ‘The final report will be published in August 2003’ disposal.review: 2003-08-01

This element is intended to facilitate better management of content by enabling the content author to set up a rule for reviewing the content at the appropriate date.

REVIEW should be used for all web content to set the date when is should be reviewed and further action taken.

(CMS can populate)

"DisposalReview" changed to "Review" to remove repeption.

ReviewDetails Disposal review details eGMS RecordsManagement String The details of the review decision which has been taken. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalReviewDetails" changed to "ReviewDetails" to remove repetition.

ReviewerDetails Disposal reviewer details eGMS RecordsManagement String The identity of the reviewer. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalReviewerDetails" changed to "ReviewerDetails" to remove repetition.

ScheduleID Disposal schedule ID eGMS RecordsManagement String The disposal schedule used to determine the disposal of the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalScheduleID" changed to "ScheduleID" to remove repetition.

TimePeriod Disposal time period eGMS RecordsManagement String A specific period of time following a specific event determining the period for which the resource must be kept for business purposes. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded

"DisposalTimePeriod" changed to "TimePeriod" to remove repetition.

Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM

For CRM, there may be statutory requirements on the retention and disposal of information contained in a resource.

There may be statutory requirements for other information resources.

The use of the disposal element could be useful in helping to manage information held within a CRM.

In terms of archiving and storage, there is one school of thought which argues that information should never be destroyed once it has been created, but should be archived instead.

A local authority should have clear policies in place for the disposal or archiving of information. This should form part of the information management policy.

All staff working with information should be aware of the policy at a local level.

For CRM, there may be statutory requirements on the retention and disposal of information contained in a resource.

There may be statutory requirements for other information resources.

The use of the disposal element could be useful in helping to manage information held within a CRM.

In terms of archiving and storage, there is one school of thought which argues that information should never be destroyed once it has been created, but should be archived instead.

Format All 0 0 unbounded

Have separate metadata for each format of the resource, rather than one entry with several formats listed. Use the Relation element to indicate when the resource is available in other formats.

Format may include the media-type or dimensions of the resource. It may be also be used to determine the software, hardware or other equipment needed to display or operate the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the list of Internet Media Types [MIME] defining computer media formats).

dc All String The physical or digital manifestation of the resource. Allows the user to search for items of a particular format. IMT Internet Media Type (IMT) Scheme http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/index.html PRONOM PRONOM http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/preservation/digital/pronom/default.htm NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a travel guide with additional material format: Text. Book with map insert For a database format: Text/vnd.ms-access extent: 345+mb For a software application format: Application/vnd.ms-access For a web page in HTML format: Text/html For a Word document held on a CD-ROM format: Text/MS Word 97 medium: CD-ROM Extent Extent dcterms All String The size or duration of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a database format: Text/vnd.ms-access extent: 345+mb Medium Medium dcterms All String The material or physical carrier of the resource. NotAvailable 0 0 unbounded For a Word document held on a CD-ROM format: Text/MS Word 97 medium: CD-ROM

FORMAT should always be used eg. text/html or text/MSWord97.

If a resource is provided in more than one format then a separate metadata record is needed for each.

(CMS can populate)

type Format looks at the physical format of the resource, Type considers the content. Format includes hard or electronic copy, and the software needed to access the resource; Type describes the category of the information in the resource, e.g. minutes, annual report, job advertisement. Dublin Core Format http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/format AGLS Format refinements: extent, medium IEEE LOM Technical.Format

The use of format can help the user decide how useful a resource is likely to be. For example, if they only want pictures of the Mayor, then being able to access only jpeg files will be helpful.

A controlled list of format types is being created at a national level and the format type can be selected from that list.

A cms should be able to auto-generate the format type, when it is added to the system.

The format could be the physical nature of the resource – for example a book.

It could also be the digital file format of a resource – for example html, pdf, txt, jpeg and so on.

Describing the format can be useful if the user is looking for information stored in particular formats such as images.

Format describes the physical format of the resource – eg hardcopy, pdf file.

A resource may be available in a range of formats – for example on the govtalk.gov.uk website, information resources are available in an html, rtf and pdf formats. This increases the access to information resources.

Organisations need to make decisions as to whether they would describe metadata for each of the formats (eg the three common formats described above for web resources) or whether they would create separate metadata for each resource. The more effective way would be to create one metadata record and reference the separate formats using unique identifiers.

Identifier All 1 if applicable 1 unbounded

Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system. Be cautious about using the URL as it can change, though it will often be the best identifier available. Identification codes automatically allocated by records and content management systems can be used.

It is not always possible to find a unique identifier for a resource, especially if it is not practical to use the URL. Examples include forms or leaflets that are produced by the organisation and need to be easily identified. While these usually have a code allocated (e.g. SA100 for a tax return form) this code is rarely universally unique (‘SA100’ is also a biplane, an amplifier, a set of kitchen scales, a marine antenna, a broadband service unit, a caller ID unit for telephones, a smoke alarm, a bus stop in Ottawa, and an MP3 player).

Identifiers can be made ‘more unique’ by prefixing them with the IARN (IAR Number departmental code), which is allocated to each government department and agency by HMSO.

The OeE is investigating the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and other persistent unique identifiers. The OeE has set up a proof of concept with TSO.

dc All String An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. Allows a user to search for a specific resource or version. URI URI http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt URI URI http://purl.org/dc/terms/URI ISBN ISBN http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp ISSN ISSN http://www.issn.org:8080/English/pub IARN IARN http://www.inforoute.hmso.gov.uk/ NotApplicable 1 if applicable 1 unbounded For a resource with an automatically generated identifier identifier: DTR/CA/NATS/2000-8769B For a resource with an automatically generated identifier identifier: [ISBN]0711504083 For a resource with an automatically generated identifier identifier: [URI] http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/e-gif For a tax return form, the Inland Revenue IARN followed by the form’s code identifier: IR000-SA100 Other identifier.systemId: 0711504083 Other identifier.filePlanId: OeE/250/332/40/06 Other identifier.bibliographicCitation: Byrne, Q. (1994). A question of data. In Government Online Review, (ed John Mayre), 2: 4-15. BibliographicCitation Bibliographic Citation dcterms RecordsManagement String A bibliographic reference for the resource. NotApplicable 1 if applicable not applicable unbounded Other identifier.bibliographicCitation: Byrne, Q. (1994). A question of data. In Government Online Review, (ed John Mayre), 2: 4-15. CaseID Case ID eGMS RecordsManagement String To identify the case handling environment NotApplicable 1 if applicable not applicable unbounded FileplanID Fileplan ID eGMS RecordsManagement String The reference derived from the fileplan. This is a culmination of information inherited from higher levels of aggregation in the fileplan. LGCS Local Government Classification Scheme http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcs/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcs/lgcs.xml Available 1 if applicable not applicable unbounded Other identifier.filePlanId: OeE/250/332/40/06 SystemID System ID eGMS RecordsManagement String Typically, a machine-generated running number allocated when the file is first created. This will typically be used by the internal processes and will rarely be visible to the end user, although it can be a useful tool for administrators accessing other information about the file-path object (e.g. interrogating the audit trail). NotApplicable 1 if applicable not applicable unbounded Other identifier.systemId: 0711504083 location Location indicates the physical location of the resource, not its electronic file-path or URL. Dublin Core Identifier http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/identifier AGLS Identifier IEEE LOM Split into General.Catalogentry.Entry and General.Catalogentry.Catalog. If the value is a URL then also Technical.Location

Can be used to hold references such as code numbers of forms, leaflets etc or ISBNs. It may not be used for the majority of resources but will be very valuable for some.

An ISBN number for a book is a good example of a unique identifier. For example, the ISBN for 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler is 0-14-010892-0.

It would obviously be helpful if local authorities used the same conventions to describe unique identifiers. It would certainly be desirable within an authority to use the same format to describe unique identifiers.

A unique reference could be generated by the CRM or by a cms. However, some work would be needed to ensure a standard way of describing and allocating unique identifiers was adhered to.

An identifier is a unique way of identifying the resource.

There are a number of possible unique identifier formats which could be used.

The URI – unique resource identifier is discussed in detail at the dublincore website.

DOI – digital object identifier is another way of uniquely identifying a digital resource.

Unique identifiers can be used as the means to attached RDF /XML files containing metadata to information resources and this is discussed in detail in this report.

Unique identifiers can also be used for the management and retrieval of information.

Unique identifiers could also follow logical sequences which could help show the relationships between information resources.

URL's and unique identifiers. A url could be a unique identifier, but it is not necessarily one. There are several disadvantages of using a url as a unique identifier which include:

an information resource may not be a webpage
a url may point to a webpage but that webpage may contain several information resources including six different pictures of the mayor, a pdf file and some text
unfortunately url's can be changed due to website re-structuring and re-organisation
url's generated from within some cms systems can be extremely long ,unwieldy and very difficult to comprehend.

Care needs to be taken in relation to CRM that identifier in this context means the unique identifier of an information resource. It is possible within CRM that unique identifiers could be used as part of the personal data description. For example, an NHS number could be a unique identifier used for a person.

Language All 1 recommended 1 recommended unbounded

The use of language codes simplifies the inputting of the language element. Most users will learn the relevant codes quickly. Most systems can be set so that the name of the language is displayed in full, which is more user-friendly.

Use of the language element is especially important for resources that will be loaded onto the Internet. It is an invaluable means for people to limit their searches to items that are relevant to their own needs.

For existing systems where other codes from ISO 639 are being used, it should be possible to continue with these and map to 639-2/T.

dc All String A language of the intellectual content of the resource. Enables users to limit their searches to resources in a particular language. ISO639-2 ISO 639-2 http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2 NotAvailable 1 recommended 1 recommended unbounded For a resource written in English language: eng For a resource written in Welsh and English language: [ISO 639-2/T] cym language: [ISO 639-2/T] eng For a Polish translation of a resource originally written in Portuguese. (Use ‘Relation’ to link to the original Portuguese version) language: [ISO 639-2/T] pol Dublin Core Language http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/language AGLS Language GI Gateway Language GILS Language of resource IEEE LOM General.Language

Should always be used and will become more important as more languages start to appear on web pages.

If a resource is published in more than one language, there should be a separate metadata record for each one.

(CMS can default to value for English)

Multilingual information resources could be available in a range of formats – eg as pdf files, gifs, audio and video files. It will be necessary to organise and retrieve this information.

For CRM purposes, language could be used as a personal data element which defines the first language spoken by the customer and other languages spoken by the customer.

This could be generated automatically from with the CRM system – also possible for the creator to select from a predefined list

The language element describes the language used in the information resource itself.

Many information resources held by a local authority, but increasingly information can be made available in community languages and in multiple language formats.

By using the language element, the user will be able to find information which is in particular languages.

By using the format of RDF / XML, it will be possible to describe the metadata itself in the community languages.

Location RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

Location will mainly be used for items held in a physical format, e.g. paper files.

This is especially relevant for items listed in a metadatabase (a catalogue containing the metadata of resources but not the resources themselves). Metadatabases may refer to items not available in electronic format.

It will also be valuable for electronic resources stored on physical media, e.g. magnetic tapes or CD-ROMs.

eGMS RecordsManagement String The physical location of the resource. Enables the physical form of the resource to be found. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded General location: Storeroom 16, Box 38 General location: Library, Hansard Room, disc 1874D General location: Hackbridge, Acme Storage Facility, Room 84B CurrentLocation Current location eGMS RecordsManagement String The temporary place the resource is located, e.g. the name and address of a person who has checked out a disc. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded HomeLocation Home location eGMS RecordsManagement String The place the resource is normally stored. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded identifier The URL or filename refers to an electronic, machine readable pathway, not a physical location. Such information should go in the Identifier element. coverage This element concerns what the resource is about and not where the resource is. Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM

Most web content has no physical location.

Mandate RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

A balance needs to be struck between the usefulness of this information and the overhead cost involved in collecting it.

Organisations using electronic document or records management systems may choose to use the sub-element with a broader approach than indicated, capturing mandate details at class level and cascading this down through inheritance to the records below.

Recommended practice is to exclude very broad legislative provisions, e.g. Companies Act 1989, and concentrate on the capturing of exceptional and specific powers, e.g. Charities Act 1993, section 8.

It is recommended that a link to the legislative provisions be given if one exists. UK statutes are available on line at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/legis.htm

There may be little point in capturing all of the sub-elements if the business environment means that they tend to overlap (e.g. the power or purpose used to conduct the business function is the same as that purpose for which personal data is collected or one of these (or both) equates to a DPA Part 4 exempt category.

eGMS RecordsManagement String Legislative or other mandate under which the resource was produced. Clarifying the legislative or other mandate for the business activity producing the records. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource which has been produced by order of an Act of Parliament Mandate.authorisingStatute: Land Registration Act 2002 c.9 AuthorisingStatute Authorising statute eGMS RecordsManagement String The Act of Parliament or other legislation authorising the capture of information or development of the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource which has been produced by order of an Act of Parliament Mandate.authorisingStatute: Land Registration Act 2002 c.9 DataProtectionExemptCategory Data protection exempt category eGMS RecordsManagement String One or more exemption clauses as defined in the Data Protection Act Part 4 (DPA), which applies to this resource. NotAvailable 0 not applicable unbounded PersonalDataAcquisitionPurpose Personal data acquisition purpose eGMS RecordsManagement String Reason for the collection and storage of personal data. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded rights Exemption from the data subject access provisions of the DPA 1998 is covered by the Rights element. Dublin Core AGLS Mandate GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM Preservation RecordsManagement 0 not applicable unbounded

Preservation will be mainly used by records managers and others engaged in the long-term storage of official records.

It will be used to support departmental migration activity, sustainability and archival preservation of the resource, and preserve aspects of the provenance of the resource across transfer of custody between departments and to the National Archives.

A variety of approaches may have to be taken to sustain and preserve electronic resources and their components across technical platforms. Information on the technical environment that produced the original objects greatly improves the chances of such approaches being achieved successfully and may make possible digital archaeological reconstruction where past management has been lacking (and costs are justified). Some of this information may need to be included in archival description or custody documentation.

As preservation strategies across government emerge, some of the refinements may need to be mandated in future for resources identified as being of long-term importance. Additionally, some will be concerning the original environment of the records (possibly requiring automatic capture at declaration stage) and others may be defined at the batch level for resources at platform or format migration.

eGMS RecordsManagement String Information to support the long-term preservation of a resource. Enables users now and in the future to read, interpret and use the resource. PRONOM PRONOM http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/preservation/digital/pronom/default.htm NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource which was originally created in WordStar version 2, but has since been converted to Word Preservation.originalFormat: WordStar v2 OriginalFormat Original format eGMS RecordsManagement String The original format of the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a resource which was originally created in WordStar version 2, but has since been converted to Word and is no longer available in WordStar Preservation.originalFormat: WordStar v2 Relation.hasFormat This refers to another resource which is essentially the same intellectual content presented in another format. Preservation.originalFormat refers to the format in which the resource was first made but in which it no longer exists. Format This provides information about the format of the resource, for current processing. Preservation provides additional information intended to facilitate long-term preservation. Preservation.originalFormat refers to the format in which the resource was first made. Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM

The use of this element requires consideration by record managers.

Publisher All 1 if applicable 1 unbounded

‘Publisher’ is used here in its widest sense, so an organisation that places an information resource on a web site is the publisher, even if no hard-copy version is made available. The publisher is the person or organisation a user needs to contact in order to obtain permission to re-publish the information contained in the resource or to obtain copies in a different format.

A publisher has certain legal rights and responsibilities regarding the resource, so should always be named.

dc All String An entity responsible for making the resource available. Enables users to find a resource published by a particular organisation or individual. It can also be referred to by those wanting to re-use or re-publish the resource elsewhere or purchase a copy of the resource. GDSC Government Data Standards Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm NotApplicable 1 if applicable 1 unbounded General publisher: London Borough of Lewisham, Town Hall, Catford, London SE6 4RU. Tel 020 8314 6000. enquiries@lewisham.gov.uk General publisher: The Stationery Office, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1PD. Telephone 0870 600 5522. Facsimile 0870 600 5533. E-mail esupport@theso.co.uk General publisher: The Cabinet Office, Office of the e-Envoy, Stockley House, 130 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LQ govtalk@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk creator The publisher is the organisation or person that makes the resource available to the public (in the traditional sense of publishing a book or in the latest sense of releasing the resource on a web site). The publisher is the entity that the user would contact to obtain new copies, or discuss copyright issues. The Creator, and to some extent the Contributor, are responsible for the content of the resource. The user would therefore contact the Creator to find out, for example, why the particular policy described in the resource was made or what the process was to contribute to the discussion. In many cases the Publisher and Creator will be the same. contributor The publisher is the organisation or person that makes the resource available to the public (in the traditional sense of publishing a book or in the latest sense of releasing the resource on a web site). The publisher is the entity that the user would contact to obtain new copies, or discuss copyright issues. The Creator, and to some extent the Contributor, are responsible for the content of the resource. The user would therefore contact the Creator to find out, for example, why the particular policy described in the resource was made or what the process was to contribute to the discussion. In many cases the Publisher and Creator will be the same. Dublin Core Publisher http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/publisher AGLS Publisher, Availability IEEE LOM LifeCycle.Contribute.Entity

Should usually default to the name, address, tel, fax & email of the council but user needs ability to overtype if for example a community group is the publisher.

(CMS can provide default)

For information resources published by a local authority, it is recommended that the local authority is the publisher rather than named individuals. Each local authority has an obligation to produce a publication scheme under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

Full contact details of the publisher should be provided.

This could be auto-generated at the time the resource is published

The publisher is the person or organisation making the information resource available.

In a local authority, all of the information which is produced by members of staff will be the property of that local authority. It is assumed that if a person or organisation publishes information that they have a right to do so and that they are the owners of the intellectual property rights of that information.

The publisher may publish on to websites in the form of html pages, or reports or it could be computer code.

Publisher suggests obligations and quality assurance. The publisher of a newspaper will try to ensure that content in the paper does not libel or slander anyone.

Publishers of print information can be held legally responsible for the accuracy and truthfulness of the content.

Relation All 0 0 unbounded

Recommended best practice is to reference the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system, i.e. the referenced resource’s Identifier.

When using refinements, use the most specific one that is applicable. Relation can be used to allow cascading retrieval of interrelated objects, especially if used in conjunction with the Aggregation element. (More information can be found in the National Archives’ Metadata Standard.) It is also invaluable for linking items in multiple parts, different versions of the same resource and items available in multiple formats.

dc All String A reference to a related resource. Enables the user to find other resources that are related to a resource, or to group together individual resources which then form a collection. URI URI http://purl.org/dc/terms/URI ISBN ISBN http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp ISSN ISSN http://www.issn.org:8080/English/pub NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a publication with an associated press release relation: Press release 2002-01-03, http://www.idea.gov.uk/news/press/030102.htm For a web site which replaces an earlier web site with similar content relation.replaces: www.open.gov.uk For version 2 of the e-GMS, showing its link to version 1 relation: isVersionOf: http://purl.oclc.org/NET/e-GMS_v1 For a folder that groups together files on a particular issue relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2001/LBR2001-08-13 relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2002/LBR2001-08-14 relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2002/LBR2001-08-17 For a file that belongs in the above folder relation.isPartOf: DAA/FIN37/22/2001 For a document that is No 7 in the ‘Information Management’ series relation.isPartOf: Information management series sequenceno: 7 For a resource interpreting a set of statistics, but not listing those statistics Relation.requires: 398762342X For an HTML document that was originally made available in hard copy relation.isFormatOf: [ISBN] 0711504237 For an XML schema document which requires another XML schema document to be available to the schema processor relation.requires: IR/SAelements-2002-v1.0 For an XML schema providing a definition of the XML data type NationalInsuranceNumberType relation.providesDefinitionOf: NationalInsuranceNumberType ConformsTo Conforms to dcterms All String A reference to an established standard to which the resource conforms. NotAvailable 0 0 unbounded HasFormat Has format dcterms All String The described resource pre-existed the referenced resource, which is essentially the same intellectual content presented in another format. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded HasVersion Has version dcterms All String The described resource has a version, edition, or adaptation, namely, the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded HasPart Has part dcterms All String The described resource includes the referenced resource either physically or logically. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a folder that groups together files on a particular issue relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2001/LBR2001-08-13 relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2002/LBR2001-08-14 relation.hasPart: DAA/FIN37/22/2002/LBR2001-08-17 IsDefinedBy Is defined by eGMS All String The described resource is given an effective working definition by the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded IsFormatOf Is format of dcterms All String The described resource is the same intellectual content of the referenced resource, but presented in another format. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For an HTML document that was originally made available in hard copy relation.isFormatOf: [ISBN] 0711504237

The ‘relation.isFormatOf’ element/refinement should be used to identify the source of content presented in a particular resource. That is, where a content management system separates content from its presentation, the resource as presented is given by the ‘identifier’ and the raw content which is presented is given by ‘relation.isFormatOf’.

Hence, for a council Web page, these elements may be:

identifier = www.mycouncil.gov.uk/page12345.html
relation.isFormatOf = www.mycouncil.gov.uk/page12345.xml

relation.isFormatOf is important because it allows a user to trace back to the content of a Web page and access it in a more machine-readable format.

If a Web page is constructed from multiple XML (or other format) sources, multiple relation.isFormatOf values may be required.

relation.isFormatOf should refer only to the main content of a Web page, not navigational aspects of the page.

relation.isFormatOf is not needed where the main content of a Web page is in its source XML format rendered at runtime through an XSL stylesheet. On this occasion the machine readable source of a page is its content in native XML format.

IsPartOf Is part of dcterms All String The described resource is a physical or logical part of the referenced resource. Comments: When the described resource is part of another, it may be possible for it to inherit metadata elements from the parent resource. For example, the subject metadata of a folder may be inherited by all of the files within that folder. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a file that belongs in the above folder relation.isPartOf: DAA/FIN37/22/2001 For a document that is No 7 in the ‘Information Management’ series relation.isPartOf: Information management series sequenceno: 7 IsReferencedBy Is referenced by dcterms All String The described resource is referenced, cited, or otherwise pointed to by the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded IsReplacedBy Is replaced by dcterms All String The described resource is supplanted, displaced, or superseded by the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded IsRequiredBy Is required by dcterms All String The described resource is required by the referenced resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence of content. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded IsVersionOf Is version of dcterms All String The described resource is a version, edition, or adaptation of the referenced resource. A change in version implies substantive changes in content rather than differences in format. Comments: Includes translations of resources. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For version 2 of the e-GMS, showing its link to version 1 relation: isVersionOf: http://purl.oclc.org/NET/e-GMS_v1 ProvidesDefinitionOf Provides definition of eGMS All String The described resource provides an effective working definition of an item whose usual name is given in the value. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For an XML schema providing a definition of the XML data type NationalInsuranceNumberType relation.providesDefinitionOf: NationalInsuranceNumberType ReasonForRedaction Reason for redaction eGMS RecordsManagement String The reason for the publication of a redaction or extract. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded Redaction Redaction eGMS RecordsManagement String The described resource has a version with some part of the content marked or removed to make the remainder of the content releasable. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded References References dcterms All String The described resource references, cites, or otherwise points to the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded Requires Requires dcterms All String The described resource requires the referenced resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence of content. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a resource interpreting a set of statistics, but not listing those statistics Relation.requires: 398762342X For an XML schema document which requires another XML schema document to be available to the schema processor relation.requires: IR/SAelements-2002-v1.0 Replaces Replaces dcterms All String The described resource supplants, displaces, or supersedes the referenced resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a web site which replaces an earlier web site with similar content relation.replaces: www.open.gov.uk SequenceNo Sequence no eGMS All String The resource’s allocated number in a sequence to which it belongs. Comment: this refinement has been deprecated NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded source Do not use Source if it is more appropriate to put this data in the Relation element, i.e. it may be more accurate to use the IsVersionOf refinement of Relation. Preservation.originalFormat Refers to the format in which the resource was first made but in which it no longer exists. Relation.hasFormat refers to another resource which is essentially the same intellectual content presented in another format. Dublin Core relation http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/relation Dublin Core relation.isPartOf http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf Dublin Core relation.hasPart http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasPart Dublin Core relation.isVersionOf http://purl.org/dc/terms/isVersionOf Dublin Core relation.hasVersion http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion Dublin Core relation.isFormatOf http://purl.org/dc/terms/isFormatOf Dublin Core relation.hasFormat http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasFormat Dublin Core relation.references http://purl.org/dc/terms/references Dublin Core relation.isReferencedBy http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReferencedBy Dublin Core relation.isRequiredBy http://purl.org/dc/terms/isRequiredBy Dublin Core relation.requires http://purl.org/dc/terms/requires Dublin Core relation.isReplacedBy http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReplacedBy Dublin Core relation.replaces http://purl.org/dc/terms/replaces Dublin Core relation.conformsTo http://purl.org/dc/terms/conformsTo AGLS Relation Refinements: IsPartOf/HasPart; IsVersionOf/HasVersion; IsFormatOf/HasFormat; References/IsReferencedBy; IsRequiredBy/Requires; IsReplacedBy/Replaces. GI Gateway Dataset association: Additional information source. GILS Cross reference Refinements: Cross reference title; Cross reference relationship; Cross reference linkage; Linkage; Linkage type.

Relationships between resources should be defined in a consistent way. The unique identifier can be used to show the relationships.

The relation element is likely to become more widely used as the concept of the semantic web develops.

Relations can be shown between objects – all of the local service centres in the borough – and people – all of the people who work in the contact centres.

A reference to a related information resource.

Metadata facilitates showing the relationships between information resources.

A resource can have relationships with several other resources and therefore this is a repeating element.

The relationships between other resources should be described in a consistent way.

Relation are used to help cluster information and to help the user find information and related information. It can be useful in generating background information to an information resource and finding other resources which might not be obvious but which are useful.

Rights All 0 0 unbounded

If possible provide a link to a resource giving more details about the Rights marking, e.g. the ‘Crown copyright’ statement at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/docs/copynote.htm.

Typically the rights will be defined by the owner or custodian of the resource.

Use of metadata does not infer any compliance with either DPA, EIR or FOIA. Metadata’ role is the aiding of locating information.

dc All String Information about rights held in and over the resource. Indicates who has the right to see, copy, redistribute, republish or otherwise make use of all or part of the resource. Legislation Legislation – Legislation covering rights of access to official information often has its own encoding scheme. W3C W3C http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime W3C W3C http://dublincore.org/2003/03/24/dcq#W3CDTF ProtectiveSecurityRights Manual of Protective Security Rights NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded General rights.copyright: Crown copyright http://www.hmso.gov.uk/docs/copynote.htm Copyright Copyright eGMS All String Statement and identifier indicating the legal ownership and rights regarding use and re-use of all or part of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded General rights.copyright: Crown copyright http://www.hmso.gov.uk/docs/copynote.htm

A statement or link to a statement about the copyright of the resource. (Use in conjunction with the unrefined element).

This will normally be the local authority but could perhaps be a local community group.

(CMS can provide default)

Custodian Custodian eGMS RecordsManagement String The user or role identifier with local management powers over the resource, e.g. assignment and maintenance of access control markings. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded Descriptor Descriptor eGMS RecordsManagement String Refines the meaning of a protective marking, e.g. Policy, Contracts, Personnel. It may be used with group access permissions to determine access rights. NotAvailable 0 not applicable unbounded DisclosabilityToDPADataSubject Disclosability to DPA data subject (deprecated) eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether the resource can be disclosed (‘Y’ or ‘N’) in accordance with the DPA (Data Protection Act). Comment: has been deprecated. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 DPADataSubjectAccessExemption DPA data subject access exemption (deprecated) eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether the resource is exempt from DPA access provisions (‘Y’ or ‘N’). Comment: has been deprecated. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 EIRDisclosabilityIndicator EIR disclosability indicator eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether the resource can be disclosed (‘Y’ or ‘N’) in accordance with the EIR (Environmental Information Regulations). NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 EIRExemption EIR exemption eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether there are exemptions to access to the resource (‘Y’ or ‘N’) in accordance with the EIR. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 FOIDisclosabilityIndicator FOI disclosability indicator eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether the resource can be disclosed (‘Y’ or ‘N’) in accordance with the FOI (Freedom of Information Act). NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 FOIExemption FOI exemption eGMS RecordsManagement Boolean Whether there are exemptions to access to the resource (‘Y’ or ‘N’) in accordance with the FOI. NotApplicable 0 not applicable 1 FOIReleaseDetails FOI release details eGMS RecordsManagement String The details of the past or future release of the resource to public view either by general publication or by release in response to an individual request. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded FOIReleaseDate FOI release date eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date of past or future release. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded GroupAccess Group access eGMS RecordsManagement String Name of a group or groups which have the right to access the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded IndividualUserAccessList Individual user access list eGMS RecordsManagement String Names of individuals having access to the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded LastFOIDisclosabilityReview Last FOI disclosability review eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date of the previous formal decision regarding the disclosability of a resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded PreviousProtectiveMarking Previous protective marking eGMS RecordsManagement String Protective marking previously applied to a resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded ProtectiveMarking Protective marking eGMS RecordsManagement String The minimum level of security required to have access to the resource. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded ProtectiveMarkingChangeDate Protective marking change date eGMS RecordsManagement Date The date the previous protective marking was superseded. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded ProtectiveMarkingExpiryDate Protective marking expiry date eGMS RecordsManagement Date Date on which the existing protective marking becomes invalid. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded Accessibility Accessibility indicates whether particular users will be able to access or use the resource; Rights indicates if they are allowed to. Audience Audience tells you who the content is designed for; Rights is the place to list the individuals or groups who are allowed to see the resource. Dublin Core Rights http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/rights AGLS Rights GI Gateway Access constraints GILS Availability; Access constraints; Refinements: General access constraints; Security classification control IEEE LOM Rights.Description

Staff in local authorities should be aware that any content or information which they produce at work is the property of the local authority. This includes reports, design work, computer code, maps, images and any other intellectual content.

Therefore any content which is produced should by default contain the rights information of that local authority.

There are issues here about who would own the rights to information posted on to a bulletin board hosted by a local authority.

The default value should be the local authority, but there are cases when information will be re-published with the permission of the copyright owner and this needs to be acknowledged. For example, a local authority may reproduce a photograph (with permission) but the rights may still reside with the photographer.

As much information as possible should be used to describe the rights holder – for example, a full postal address and email and telephone details. This allows other organisations to check the rights of a resource and gives contact information they want to ask permission to reproduce a resource.

Rights information can be used to help to authenticate content. Most organisations and individuals would be very wary of claiming to hold copyright on material does not belong to them. This means that rights information can be used to help prove ownership. This is important for users when they are unsure about the validity or authentication of content.

This should be auto-generated with a default value.

Rights is essentially about copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR).

Rights defines who is able to reproduce, publish and copy resources.

Rights can also be used to define who can have access to information resources.

Source All 0 0 unbounded

The described resource may be derived from the Source resource in whole or in part. Recommended best practice is to reference the Source by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system, i.e. the referenced resource’s Identifier.

dc All String A reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived. Enables the user to find resources that have been developed using the content of a particular resource (for example, all items based on a named set of statistics). URI URI http://purl.org/dc/terms/URI ISBN ISBN http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp ISSN ISSN http://www.issn.org:8080/English/pub NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a report based on figures gathered during a survey source: Figures derived from Wired in Whitehall survey by the Committee of Departmental Librarians 1998 http://www.aslib.co.uk/proceedings/2001/jan/03.html Relation Do not use Source if it is more appropriate to put this data in the Relation element, i.e. it may be more accurate to use the IsVersionOf refinement of Relation. Dublin Core Source http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/source AGLS Source GILS Sources of data IEEE LOM Relation.Resource

Sources could also mean showing references to books, periodicals, journals, websites.

This document has a list of references at the end of the document. These are references to sources of material which have been used in the creation of this report.

It might be possible to auto-generate resources into metadata from some applications.

Source and references are useful to the user because they can unveil rich seams of related information which the user was not aware of.

Sources could also mean showing references to books, periodicals, journals, websites.

This document has a list of references at the end of the document. These are references to sources of material which have been used in the creation of this report.

It might be possible to auto-generate resources into metadata from some applications.

Source and references are useful to the user because they can unveil rich seams of related information which the user was not aware of.

Status All 0 0 unbounded

The status of a resource includes:

The extent to which it has been developed or completed: i.e. is it a first draft, final draft or completed draft?
Is it awaiting approval? If it has been approved, then by whom?
Version number
The purpose of the resource. This is not the purpose of the content (see Description) but the purpose in relation to the status of the resource.

This data should apply to the described resource only, not to earlier versions.

eGMS All String The position or state of the resource. Enables the user to search for a resource according to its status. Also it may be used as a reference by a user who wants to know the resource’s status. IEEELOM IEEE LOM Status Encoding Scheme http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/ NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a series of documents created in the development of a policy statement status: Draft v0.1. For consideration by Team status: Draft v0.2. For consideration by Department status: Draft v0.3. For consideration by Minister status: Draft v0.4. Approved by Minister. For open consultation status: Draft v0.5. Following open consultation. For final approval by Minister status: Version 1.0. For publication status: Version 2.0. For publication Dublin Core AGLS GI Gateway GILS IEEE LOM

Few web resources will need this as the majority will only be published when in their final version.

Subject All 1 1 unbounded

The obligation of this element rests with the Subject.Category refinement.

At least one term from the Government Category List must be added to this refinement and this should reflect the main subject of the resource. Other terms should be added as necessary. The Category will be used to enable browsing through multiple resources, e.g. from UK Online and other portals.

GCL terms are typically very broad, so it is important to add the Keywords as well, choosing those that describe specifically what the resource is about. Subject.keyword terms should also be chosen from a controlled list, such as MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) or a specialised thesaurus or taxonomy used by the organisation. It is important to tag each term entered to indicate the source vocabulary.

Add uncontrolled terms to the unrefined Subject element if they will make it easier for people to find the resource. These can be in addition to controlled terms, which appear in the Keyword refinement. For example, you might add common abbreviations or acronyms for Keyword terms.

Using the most specific terms as Keywords, and not including more general terms, helps prevent information overload. For example, someone looking for a web site covering their government’s overall policies on health will have to search using ‘health’ as the main Subject term. It won’t help if the hit list is full of items on specific health issues such as a shortage of doctors in Stourbridge.

More guidance on using the GCL and specialised vocabularies is available on Govtalk.

When setting keywords for resources that will become part of a web site, select terms that describe the page in question only, not the entire site. This will help users go straight to the information they are looking for, and will also help with navigating the site using the local search engine.

When the described resource is part of another, it may be possible to omit certain metadata elements that are inherited from the parent resource. For example the Subject metadata of a folder may be inherited by all of the files within that folder.

dc All String A topic of the content of the resource. Enables the user to search by the topic of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a policy document on heart disease subject: NHSP CHD subject.category: Heart disease and stroke subject.keyword: Heart attacks; Coronary heart disease; Treatment; Prevention subject.programme: The NHS Plan subject.project: Coronary heart disease For one of a series of documents looking at take up of private health care by various societal groups subject.category: Private health care; Minority groups subject.keyword: Private health care; Greek Cypriots; Croats For a web site giving advice to citizens travelling abroad subject.category: Tourism subject.keyword: Foreign travel; Travel advice; British embassies; Consulates For a web site giving biographical information about a minister subject.category: ministers subject.person: Douglas Alexander Category Category eGMS All String Broad subject categories from the Government Category List, and, optionally, any other widely available category list. Comment: This is to allow users to scroll down through a list of very broad terms (e.g. Business and Industry) to narrower categories (e.g. Companies, Imports). GCL Government Category List http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/gcl.asp http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/gcl/gcl.xml SIC SIC – UK Standard Industrial Classification http://www.nationalstatistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/downloads/UK_SIC_Vol2(2003).pdf LGBCL Local Government Business Category List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgbcl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgbcl/lgbcl.xml LGCL Local Government Category List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcl/lgcl.xml Available 1 1 unbounded For a policy document on heart disease subject: NHSP CHD subject.category: Heart disease and stroke subject.keyword: Heart attacks; Coronary heart disease; Treatment; Prevention subject.programme: The NHS Plan subject.project: Coronary heart disease For one of a series of documents looking at take up of private health care by various societal groups subject.category: Private health care; Minority groups subject.keyword: Private health care; Greek Cypriots; Croats For a web site giving advice to citizens travelling abroad subject.category: Tourism subject.keyword: Foreign travel; Travel advice; British embassies; Consulates For a web site giving biographical information about a minister subject.category: ministers subject.person: Douglas Alexander

A mandatory element and one which, as you might suppose, is really important for information retrieval. This is the element which will require most thought when content is being classified. But we don’t want this to be really time-consuming for staff and this is where controlled lists come in.

GCL defines a broad list of subject headings spanning all government activity. A GCL term is required by eGMS to populate subject.category.

The Local Government Category List (LGCL) provides a controlled vocabulary which is more detailed in subject areas covered by local authority Web sites. Higher level broad terms in LGCL may be used to populate subject.category in addition to GCL terms.

The full hierarchy of terms defined by LGCL acts as a controlled list for subject.keyword.

The latest version of LGCL is available from www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcl.

LGCL flags which terms may be seen as high level ‘categories’ as well as keywords. Cross-references (known as ‘mappings’) are published between LGCL categories and:

GCL terms
LGSL terms

LGCL is integrated with esd-toolkit software (see www.esd-toolkit.org) and maintained by esd-toolkit officers. It is periodically upgraded in response to local authority feedback.

Guidelines to LGCL are published at: http://www.esd.org.uk/LGCLGuidanceNotes.pdf.

If you wish to use additional words that do not come from a controlled vocabulary to describe the subject matter of a resource, use the ‘subject’ metadata element with no refinement and no scheme.

Interaction Interaction eGMS All String The interaction (eg ‘Publish information’, ‘Consultation’) described/performed by a Web page LGIL Local Government Interaction List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgil/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgil/lgil.xml Available 0 0 unbounded

Interaction defines the nature of a transaction in relation to one or more services. The Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 157 defines ten interaction types. These are published at http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgil/ with a further breakdown of some into narrower definitions of interactions. This list will be extended as interactions are sub-divided to provide definitions specific enough to uniquely identify electronic processes supported by middleware.

Static Web pages normally support the ‘Provide information’ interaction. Interactive pages support other interactions.

Refinement added to e-GMS v3.0 by esd-standards resulting from work by the LAWs National Project.

Keyword Keyword eGMS All String Words or terms used to describe, as specifically as possible, the subject matter of the resource. These should be taken from a controlled vocabulary or list. Enables the user to search by the topic of the resource. SeamlessUK Seamlessuk subject taxonomy http://www.seamlessuk.info/supportsub_tax.asp NationalCurriculum National Curriculum metadata standard http://www.nc.uk.net/metadata/index.html ERIC ERIC – Educational Resources Information Centre thesaurus http://searcheric.org MeSH MeSH – Medical Subject Headings http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html LCSH LCSH – Library of Congress Subject Headings http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso SpecialistThesauri Specialist local/organisational thesauri LGCL Local Government Category List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgcl/lgcl.xml Available 0 0 unbounded For a policy document on heart disease subject: NHSP CHD subject.category: Heart disease and stroke subject.keyword: Heart attacks; Coronary heart disease; Treatment; Prevention subject.programme: The NHS Plan subject.project: Coronary heart disease For one of a series of documents looking at take up of private health care by various societal groups subject.category: Private health care; Minority groups subject.keyword: Private health care; Greek Cypriots; Croats For a web site giving advice to citizens travelling abroad subject.category: Tourism subject.keyword: Foreign travel; Travel advice; British embassies; Consulates

The full hierarchy of terms defined by LGCL acts as a controlled list for subject.keyword.

LGCL flags which terms may be seen as high level ‘categories’ as well as keywords. Cross-references (known as ‘mappings’) are published between LGCL categories and:

GCL terms
LGSL terms

LGCL is integrated with esd-toolkit software (see www.esd-toolkit.org) and maintained by esd-toolkit officers. It is periodically upgraded in response to local authority feedback.

Guidelines to LGCL are published at: http://www.esd.org.uk/LGCLGuidanceNotes.pdf.

Person Person eGMS All String Subject.Person should be used when a resource is about a person. Note: do not confuse with addressee or creator GDSC Government Data Standard Catalogue http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gdsc/html/default.htm NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For a web site giving biographical information about a minister subject.category: ministers subject.person: Douglas Alexander ProcessIdentifier Process identifier eGMS All String Indicates a specific service or transaction, using an identifier taken from a recognised list. LGSL Local Government Service List, also known as the 'PID List' http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgsl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgsl/lgsltermslist.xml Available 0 0 unbounded

Process Identifier was introduced to support the CUPID (Customer Unique Process Identifier) from the Life Events Access Project. The CUPID List has been subsumed by LGSL, defining services and LGIL, defining interactions.

Do NOT use this sub-element. Use SUBJECT.SERVICE and/or SUBJECT.INTERACTION instead.

It is recommended that Service.processIdentifier be decrimented.

Programme Programme eGMS RecordsManagement String The broader policy programme to which this resource relates directly. Comment: There is no official definition of a programme or what differentiates it from a project. As a general rule, programmes are broad government policy initiatives that take several years or more to complete, e.g. e-Government or Civil Service Reform. Projects are more specific manageable chunks that make up the larger Programme. It will be useful to agree with your team or even entire organisation what is a Programme and what is a Project. Bear in mind that this is used mainly to find all items belonging to a particular project or programme. Think objective. Don’t use these if they have no particular value to you or your users. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a policy document on heart disease subject: NHSP CHD subject.category: Heart disease and stroke subject.keyword: Heart attacks; Coronary heart disease; Treatment; Prevention subject.programme: The NHS Plan subject.project: Coronary heart disease Project Project eGMS RecordsManagement String The specific project that this resource relates to directly. Comment: See comment above under Programme. NotApplicable 0 not applicable unbounded For a policy document on heart disease subject: NHSP CHD subject.category: Heart disease and stroke subject.keyword: Heart attacks; Coronary heart disease; Treatment; Prevention subject.programme: The NHS Plan subject.project: Coronary heart disease Service Service eGMS All String A standard definition of the citizen facing service to which a Web page relates. LGSL Local Government Service List, also known as the 'PID List' http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgsl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgsl/lgsltermslist.xml Available 0 0 unbounded

Always use subject.service for resources relating to specific local government services.

subject.service defines the specific service to which a resource relates. Citizen facing local authority services are defined by the ‘PID List’ (formally known as the Local Government Service List) published at http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgsl/ and maintained through the esd-toolkit at www.esd-toolkit.org.

The PID List was compiled as a result of co-operation between the following organisations:

Information gathered in respect of each service (eg suggested authentication levels) is published through esd-toolkit.

Each service has a number, a name and a local name (assigned by an authority for local use). When referencing a service in the ‘subject.service’ element, use the number not the name (unless your preferred method of referencing metadata allows for both to be used).

Refinement added to e-GMS v3.0 by esd-standards.

Type The Subject terms indicate the subject matter of the resource, i.e. what the resource is about, rather than what it is. For example, do not use ‘Maps’ as a subject if the resource is a map; in this instance, put ‘map’ in the Type element. Do use ‘maps’ as a subject term if the resource is about maps, map-making, cartography etc. Coverage Coverage contains information about the resource content’s relation to place and time. This can be thought of as a sub-section of Subject. Dublin Core Subject http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/subject AGLS Subject GI Gateway Keywords GILS Subject terms uncontrolled; Refinement: Uncontrolled term. Controlled subject index; Refinements: Subject thesaurus; subject terms controlled; controlled term IEEE LOM General.Keyword or Classification.Purpose=Discipline/Idea http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/

The Office of the e-Envoy has supported the creation of a Government Category List (GCL).

The LAWS project has produced a local government category list based on the APLAWS list.

It is expected that these two lists will be used to populate the subject element of the metadata.

Using a list of keywords and synonyms provides a wider net for a resource which can then funnel the user to the relevant resource.

These are open products and will be freely available for the use of the local government community, and for vendors who want to produce software applications which are tailored to the local government sector.

The categorisation of information resources using controlled vocabularies will help to enable information sharing and exchange.

Government Category List for subject.category

LAWS list for subject.category

LAWS list for keywords

SEAMLESS thesaurus for keywords

The subject element is used to describe what the information resource is 'about'.

All of the information resources held by a local authority can be categorised into a range of subject headings. These can be grouped into top level categories, sub-categories and so on.

These lists of categories or subject headings can be pulled together into a controlled vocabulary or taxonomy.

A category (or subject heading) can then be chosen to describe the information resource

Title All 1 1 unbounded

The title should be the formal title. If the resource does not have a formal title, then it is recommended to create a meaningful title. The meta tag should be customer focused: make it brief and meaningful rather than clever and catchy.

For an Alternative title add any form of the title used as a substitute or alternative to the formal title of the resource, including a name by which the resource is normally known, abbreviations and translations. If a resource’s official or formal title is one which members of the public would find incomprehensible, it is recommended that an additional, meaningful name be given to it.

If the resource is an e-mail and the ‘subject’ line is unclear, give a meaningful title as the main title, and use the original ‘subject’ line as the alternative title.

The title should be in the same language as the resource. If the resource is in more than one language, the title should be in the main language(s) of the resource, with Alternative titles in other languages.

Think list. It may be useful to add values such as version number, status (e.g. ‘draft’, ‘draft for consultation’) or date if the item is one of many with the same title, so that when they all appear in a list it is easy to find the right one (see example).

The title should be written in sentence case. This is much easier on the eye.

If the resource is an electronic ‘folder’ containing electronic documents, use the usual folder name as the title.

dc All String A name given to the resource. Enables the user to find a resource with a particular title or carry out more accurate searches. The title is commonly used as the key point of reference in the list of search results. NotApplicable 1 1 unbounded For an e-mail with an informal and uninformative subject line title: ZitKwik application demonstration 2002-09-12 title.alternative: Software demo Thursday For a document commonly known by an informal title title: The Stephen Lawrence inquiry: report of an inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny title.alternative: The Macpherson report For a series of items with the same title but with different versions. (This is much more helpful than a long list of items all called ‘Tax return guidance’) title: Tax return guidance 2002 title: Tax return guidance 2003 title: Tax return guidance 2004 title: Tax return guidance 2005 For a sequence of documents on one subject title: Plans for the restructuring of the Department – draft title: Plans for the restructuring of the Department – draft 2 title: Plans for the restructuring of the Department – draft 3 title: Plans for the restructuring of the Department – final 2003-01-08 title: Plans for the restructuring of the Department – revised 2003-01-17 For a folder containing files title: DAA/FIN37/22/2001 Alternative Alternative dcterms All String Any form of the title used as a substitute or alternative to the formal title of the resource. NotApplicable 0 0 unbounded For an e-mail with an informal and uninformative subject line title: ZitKwik application demonstration 2002-09-12 title.alternative: Software demo Thursday For a document commonly known by an informal title title: The Stephen Lawrence inquiry: report of an inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny title.alternative: The Macpherson report

Changed from AlternativeTitle in eGMS 3.00 to Alternative for consistency with DCTerms.

Dublin Core Title http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title AGLS Title GI Gateway Title; Alternative title GILS Folder title; Document title IEEE LOM General.Title

This element is mandatory in the e-GMS and must be used.

Try to keep TITLE short and meaningful. Use the existing title of the document if there is one.

The title is a metadata element which will be picked up by many internet search engines and therefore should accurately describe the information resource.

The title is also likely to be displayed by the search engine interface, so again, it should be as coherent as possible.

The title is also part of the structure of an information resouce, particularly if the resource is a document or report.

If the resource is being produced in a structured way – ie through a template, then it should be possible to auto-generate the title from the template into the metadata.

The source of the title is at the top of the document itself. It could be automatically added by a software tool

The title is a metadata element which will be picked up by many internet search engines and therefore should accurately describe the information resource.

The title is also likely to be displayed by the search engine interface, so again, it should be as coherent as possible.

The title is also part of the structure of an information resouce, particularly if the resource is a document or report.

If the resource is being produced in a structured way – ie through a template, then it should be possible to auto-generate the title from the template into the metadata.

Type All 0 0 unbounded

Best practice is to include relevant terms from DCMI type (where there is an appropriate type listed), as well as a more specific term. Specific terms may be taken from the e-GMS Type Encoding Scheme (e-GMSTES), which also serves to provide examples making it clearer what is meant by Type. The e-GMSTES is granular but its use is flexible; users may wish to add on their own Types and/or remove those that are not applicable.

Note that Aggregation appeared in e-GMS v1.0 as a refinement of Type, but is now an element in its own right.

dc All String The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Enables the user to find a particular type of resource. DCMI DCMI type http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-type-vocabulary e-GMSTES e-GMS TYPE Encoding Scheme (e-GMSTES) http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/metadata.asp?order=title LGTL Local Government Type List http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgtl/ http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/lgtl/lgtl.xml Available 0 0 unbounded For a record of a meeting type: minutes For a visual map type: image/map Format Format refers to the physical format of the resource, including the software application used to create, read and edit it; Type refers to the content of the resource. Subject Type describes what the resource is instead of what it is about. Dublin Core Type http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/type AGLS Type IEEE LOM Educational.LearningResourceType

Refers to the content of the resource and should not be confused with FORMAT which refers to the physical format.

A Content Management System can automatically populate this element.

TYPE will be important in future to facilitate information exchange between authorities and standard Document Type Definitions (DTDs) will also be required. A DTD is a set of rules that define the content structure allowed in a document type.

However, there will be many more or less unstructured resources which do not fit into a TYPE, in which case, leave this blank.

Type is useful in helping to organise information, and therefore in helping to retrieve information.

For example, it can be useful to be able to search for all the minutes of a particular committee or organisation.

This is useful for CRM purposes when a decision has been made which a local person objects to.

It is expected that a full list of types will be created for use at a national level. Again, this will help to create a consistency of description which will facilitate data sharing and exchange.

Auto-generated either by CRM at the point of publishing a resource, or by the creator when creating a resource.

Type can be described as 'what sort of information resource is it and what does it contain?

Examples of types include minutes, reports, agendas.