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Government of Canada Metadata Implementation Guide for Web Resources - 4th edition, October 2005
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Name |
Department |
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Marie-Claude Côté |
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat |
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Margaret Devey |
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat |
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Patricia Gorman |
Social Development Canada |
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Elizabeth Kirby |
Public Works and Government Services Canada |
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Gay Lepkey |
Public Works and Government Services Canada |
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David L. McCallum |
Consultant |
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Cindy Mitchell |
Natural Resources Canada |
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Karen Morgenroth |
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council Canada (Editor) |
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Gregory Renaud |
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat |
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Cecil Somerton |
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat |
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Deane Zeeman |
Library and Archives Canada |
The Training Sub-group wishes to acknowledge the contribution of the many volunteers from federal government departments and agencies who reviewed the Guide.
The Guide was produced with financial support from the Information Management Strategies Division of the Chief Information Officer Branch of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
Adjustments to text and examples are based on new developments and on feedback from users of earlier editions.
dc.creator element has been expanded to include personal names and non-federal organizations.dc.subject, dc.format and
dc.type.dc.coverage element has been revised.Note: This edition of the Guide reflects a version of Dublin Core syntax that is being updated. Future editions will reflect these updates as they become more fully documented.
The Government of Canada Metadata Implementation Guide for Web Resources is intended for metadata developers responsible for creating and maintaining the metadata mandated by the Common Look and Feel for the Internet (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/index_e.asp), a Treasury Board standard implemented government-wide in 2000. Readers of this Guide should have a basic knowledge of metadata.
The metadata requirements, found in Standard 6.3 of the Common Look and Feel for the Internet (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-06-03_e.asp), make it mandatory for federal Web sites to include descriptive metadata about the content of Web resources. A Web resource is defined as a single Web page, a document (consisting of multiple Web pages), a digitized image, a sound file, or an animation, such as a movie. The official deadline for implementing Standard 6.3 for external Web sites was December 31, 2002. The metadata requirements remain in effect.
This edition of the Government of Canada Metadata Implementation Guide for Web Resources was prepared by the Training Sub-group of the Government On-Line Working Group (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/ts-sf/intro_e.asp). Comments on the Guide and suggestions for improvements are welcome and should be directed to the Chair of the Training Sub-group, care of im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
Chapter 1, the introduction to this edition, explains what metadata is and why it is important. It sets out the metadata elements that department or agency Web sites are expected to include in order to comply with Common Look and Feel (CLF) Standard 6.3.
Chapters 2, 3, and 4 offer practical assistance for creating metadata content for federal government Web resources in accordance with Treasury Board metadata standards. These chapters explain the tasks to be performed, demonstrate how the required information should be created, and direct users to other resources. They also provide HTML examples of how and where to insert required source code into a Web document.
The appendices to this Guide include a list of Web resources on metadata policies and practices and an example of metadata source code in HTML.
The Guide will be updated with new or revised information as often as is necessary. For information on the status of
updates, contact the Chair of the Training Sub-group, care of
im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
The Government of Canada Metadata Framework
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/frame-cadre_e.asp) establishes a
strategy for the development of metadata within federal departments or agencies.
Treasury Board has adopted the Dublin Core metadata standard. This standard was created and is maintained by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (http://dublincore.org). The Framework shows the relationship between the Dublin Core standard and other extensions for specific subject domains or purposes (e.g. records management, portal content management, and domain.specific metadata, such as e-learning).
The five mandatory CLF metadata elements (Title, Creator, Date, Language, and Subject) constitute the base of the Framework. These elements are expressed using the Dublin Core grammar and must be used by departments and agencies to describe their Web resources.
The Framework is under revision and will be included in its new form in the upcoming Metadata Strategy.
Metadata is structured information about the characteristics of a physical or digital object. Metadata serves the same function as a label. Just like other labels, metadata provides information about an object.
For example, an unlabelled, sealed tin can could contain motor oil, baked beans or cat food. The only way to ascertain its contents is to open it. A label, however, would describe what is inside the can and would allow for an informed decision about whether to buy or open it.
A typical label for a tin can of baked beans might consist of the following information:
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title: |
Baked Beans |
The label could also contain additional information, from allergy alerts to a toll-free number for consumers. Some jurisdictions, including Canada, require food processors to include a certain amount of mandatory information on their product labels or packaging. In addition, Canadian regulations require that the information be expressed in both of Canada's official languages.
The Treasury Board's metadata standards are analogous to Canadian product labelling regulations: they require that federal government Web pages contain certain mandatory information (i.e. the metadata), expressed in a certain way (i.e. a standard).
Such information facilitates resource discovery in the same way that supermarket signage facilitates locating products or that library catalogues provide paths to required information. Metadata is used by search engines to improve matching between user queries and descriptions of resources indexed by the search engine.
Good metadata helps people find the information they are looking for. Searching through unstructured text (i.e. performing a full-text search) or using uncontrolled terminology (i.e. keywords) may yield tens of thousands of results, the majority of which are usually irrelevant to the searcher. The structure of metadata records allows searching for terms in discrete elements (e.g. title, subject). Search results are therefore fewer and more focussed.
Quality control and consistency are important. If a Web resource lacks essential metadata, or if the metadata is inaccurate or incorrect, search results will be negatively affected.
To facilitate the management of Web resources and accurate information retrieval, every Web resource should have a unique set of metadata describing the content of the resource. No two Web resources on a particular Web site should contain exactly the same metadata.
For federal departments and agencies, metadata serves three separate but interrelated functions simultaneously:
Adopting a common standard ensures that metadata on federal Web sites will be coordinated and client-focussed. In the context of the Government of Canada, a single standard makes it possible for Canadian citizens and federal employees to search the gc.ca domain for Web information without needing to know which department or agency produced it.
A common standard also makes it possible for systems to communicate the existence and characteristics of electronic information resources to other electronic applications or search tools. Moreover, a standard permits efficient migration of information from one application or search system to another. The ability of systems to communicate with other applications, search tools, systems, etc., is known as interoperability.
In CLF 6.3 (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-06-03_e.asp), Treasury Board mandates the use of five elements for description of federal Web resources. These five mandatory elements are Title, Creator, Date, Language and Subject.
In TBITS 39.1 (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/its-nit/standards/tbits39/crit391_e.asp), Treasury Board adopted the international Dublin Core metadata standard for use across the federal government. Of the 15 Dublin Core metadata elements, 5 are required by CLF.
The five mandatory elements are intended only as a starting point for federal organizations using metadata as part of their information management strategy. Expanding the metadata element set beyond the mandatory five to include such elements as Coverage, Description, and Type is encouraged, as is the use of local elements, provided that evolving guidance from the Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat (the Secretariat) is followed. Canadians will benefit from improved resource discovery, and Web site managers will benefit from the improved information management capabilities provided by use of additional metadata elements in resource descriptions.
The five mandatory elements are briefly described below. Detailed guidance for each element is found in Chapter 3,
"Elements Required under the Common Look and Feel" and in Common Look and Feel Metadata Standard Definitions and
HTML Examples
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/clf-nsi-meta/clf-nsi-meta_e.asp).
Title specifies the title given to a resource.
Creator specifies the name of the organization(s) or person(s) responsible for the intellectual content of the resource.
Date specifies one of two dates. The first, Date Created, identifies the date the resource was first posted on the Web. This element is mandatory. The second, Date Modified, identifies the date a substantially revised version of the resource was posted on the Web. This element is mandatory only when applicable.
Language indicates the language of the resource.
Subject contains one or more words or phrases (descriptors) selected from a registered controlled vocabulary to describe the subject of the intellectual content of the resource.
Five optional Dublin Core metadata elements (Audience, Coverage, Description, Format, Type) are briefly described below. Detailed guidance on their use in federal Web sites is found in Chapter 4, "Optional Elements."
Other optional Dublin Core elements exist. For guidance on the use of these elements, contact the Secretariat's Information Management Strategies Division (im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca).
Audience indicates for whom the resource is intended or useful. Values must be chosen from a registered controlled vocabulary.
Coverage indicates the extent or scope of the content of the resource. For federal Web sites, Coverage has been defined only in relation to geographic location. Values must be chosen from a registered controlled vocabulary.
Description gives a natural language account of the content of the resource.
Format describes the physical or digital manifestation of a Web resource. Values must be chosen from a registered controlled vocabulary.
Type indicates the nature or genre of the content of the resource. Values must be chosen from a registered controlled vocabulary.
keywords MetatagThe HTML keywords metatag contains additional words and phrases to serve as access points for search engines. Further guidance can be found in Chapter 4, "Optional Elements."
For the most up-to-date information, visit the Information Management Resource Centre (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi) Web site and click the link to the metadata page. The Information Management Resource Centre is a single-window source to information on metadata developments relevant to federal government Web sites.
See also Appendix A, "Web Resources on Government of Canada Metadata Policies and Practices."
Metadata managers are invited to seek further information from their organization's representative on the Government
On-Line Metadata Working Group
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/intro_e.asp).
If your department or agency is not represented on the Working Group, contact the Secretariat's Information
Management Strategies Division for advice on becoming represented
(im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca).
This chapter contains an introduction to metadata elements, provides guidance applicable to all elements, and explains the crucial role of controlled vocabularies in populating metadata elements.
Although Standard 6.3 of the CLF (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-06-03_e.asp) mandates the use of five metadata elements, a given department or agency may require a larger element set. This set may include optional Dublin Core elements, elements from other metadata standards, or locally defined elements.
Tools and procedures used to populate these elements will be determined by policies established by the department or agency and by the information system(s) used.
Although metadata information may be input using an electronic form, metadata embedded on an HTML page will look like this:
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<meta name="dc.title" content="xyz"> <meta name="dc.creator" content="xyz"> <meta name="dc.date.created" content="xyz"> <meta name="dc.date.modified" content="xyz"> <meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="xyz"> <meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gccore" content="xyz"> |
where xyz represents the metadata value.
The preceding template would be the same for all Web pages, whether pages are in English only, in French only, in both official languages, or in any combination of English, French and any other language.
When a Web page contains text in more than one language, elements are repeated to show multiple instances of the element, one for each language. It is unnecessary to repeat the Date element because the content is a numeric value.
For some elements (Subject, Audience, Coverage, Format and Type), values must be selected from registered controlled vocabularies, which are available on the Canadian Government-maintained Controlled Vocabularies and Thesauri Webpage on the Library and Archives Canada Web site (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html).
This edition of the Guide provides only HTML examples. While XML and XHTML are used in federal departments and agencies, there is currently no official Government of Canada guidance on the use of these mark-up languages. Future editions will have more guidance on their use.
Departments and agencies seeking information on XML and XHTML should consult their organization's representative on the Government On-Line Metadata Working Group (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/intro_e.asp). More information can also be found in the following documents:
Guidelines for implementing Dublin Core in XML
(http://dublincore.org/documents/dc-xml-guidelines/); and
Expressing Dublin Core in HTML/XHTML meta and link elements (http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-html/).
In HTML, all parts of the metadata information (except the values in the content=attribute) must appear exactly as
shown in the examples in this Guide, including upper and lower case, angle brackets and quotation marks. Although the
syntax appears to be in English, it is actually machine-readable code that must not be translated. Only text appearing
in the content=attribute should be recorded in English, French, or another language, depending on the language of the
resource.
The following statement is necessary for machine validation of the Dublin Core schema and must appear once in the
head of every Web resource:
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When using the Audience element, it may be necessary to use a second link. Please see section 4.1 for guidance.
For further information on the technical aspects of expressing Dublin Core, consult Expressing Dublin Core in
HTML/XHTML meta and link elements
(http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-html/).
Dublin Core expressed in HTML (e.g. meta name="dc.title") is always in lower case.
Values may be alphanumeric characters (e.g. upper and lower case, numbers and symbols). Values selected from registered controlled vocabularies, however, must be transcribed exactly as they appear in the controlled vocabulary being used, including case and punctuation.
The metadata for a resource is a description of the content of the resource. Whenever resource content changes, metadata developers must ensure that metadata still describes the content accurately.
This section is based on the Guide to the Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada.
The Controlled Vocabulary Sub-group of the Government On-Line (GOL) Metadata Working Group (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/cvsg-sgvc/intro_e.asp) has adopted the following definition of a controlled vocabulary:
A list of standardized terminology, words or phrases, used for indexing or content analysis and information retrieval usually in a defined information domain. It is characterized by consistent format, syntax and may include synonyms and cross.references. In a controlled vocabulary, one of a set of possible terms representing a concept can be used as the representative term for that concept. Consequently, all resources about, or pertinent to, that particular concept, within a body of information resources, can be indexed using this representative term.
Controlled vocabularies can apply to many different concepts, including the subjects, formats, types or intended audiences of resources.
The above definition recognizes that controlled vocabularies are used by at least two distinct types of users: first, by indexers, content analysts or metadata creators as analytical or descriptive tools; and second, by information users or information managers for retrieving or organizing information.
Controlled vocabularies help metadata developers describe information resources in a consistent manner. This consistency fosters two outcomes. First, it allows searchers of those resources to find information efficiently. Second, it allows information managers to separate unlike information resources and to collocate or bring together similar information resources.
The use of a controlled subject vocabulary can increase consistency of search results and is a more efficient and precise way of searching than full text because it retrieves all resources—and only those resources—that are about the subject being searched and that have been indexed with the appropriate controlled vocabulary terms.
By contrast, full text searching, although valuable for some purposes, is imprecise and often results in the retrieval of large amounts of unrelated information. Creators of information resources do not always use the same terminology to identify concepts, topics or subjects that searchers of resources in those areas use. For example, users looking for reports on the subject of heart attacks might perform a search using the term heart attacks. A full text search of a large body of health-related Web resources could yield any resources containing that phrase, regardless of the context in which that term is used. The term might have been used in passing in an article about cancer or even as an interjection on a totally unrelated topic. The search would not, however, retrieve a study on acute myocardial infarctions if that study did not also contain the words heart attacks in the text.
The following table shows Dublin Core metadata elements that require the use of registered controlled vocabularies.
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Element Name |
Obligation |
Sample Controlled Vocabularies |
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Subject |
Mandatory |
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus |
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Audience |
Optional |
Government of Canada Audience Scheme (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/aud-aud/docs/2003/schemfinal/schemfinal_e.asp) |
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Coverage |
Optional |
Canadian Geographical Names Database |
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Format |
Optional |
Government of Canada Format Scheme (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/fmt-fmt/docs/2003/schem_e.asp) |
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Type |
Optional |
Government of Canada Type Scheme (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/typ-typ/docs/2003/schem/schem_e.asp) |
A controlled vocabulary that has been registered with Library and Archives Canada or the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative that has a label for use as a value for scheme= is referred to as a scheme.
An organization may wish to adapt an existing scheme or develop a local scheme to achieve a more precise description
for local indexing and retrieval needs. For further information on these processes, consult the Guide to the
Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada. Any locally developed schemes
must be registered with Library and Archives Canada. Contact the Secretariat's Information Management Strategies
Division at
im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca for assistance in developing local schemes.
For resources that are available in both official languages, terms from registered English controlled vocabulary must be assigned to the English version, and French to the French version.
For each term in one official language there must be an equivalent term (or terms) in the other. This is straightforward when selecting terms from vocabulary lists with English and French equivalents, but it is more challenging when selecting from one list in one official language and from a different list for the other. Until formal guidance is available, contact the Secretariat's Information Management Strategies Division at im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca for advice.
Library and Archives Canada maintains a registry of authorized schemes at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html. Authorized vocabularies are available for the Audience, Coverage, Format, Subject, and Type elements.
Instructions on how to register a controlled vocabulary or thesaurus with Library and Archives Canada may be found at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-293-e.html.
Values from a scheme uniquely identified for use with one element may not be used as the content for another
element. For example, it would be incorrect to use a term from the Government of Canada Core Subject
Thesaurus (the default scheme for use in dc.subject) in the Coverage element. Only values from schemes registered
for use in Coverage should be used as content for that element.
Because schemes are linked to their elements, misuse negatively affects the reliability of search results and defeats the purpose of using metadata.
All element definitions are cited from DCMI Metadata Terms (http://www.dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms).
A name given to the resource.
The Title element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the title of the resource.
The title is taken from the authoritative source. For Web resources, this is the resource itself.
A title should convey the content of the resource as succinctly as possible.
For bilingual Web pages (i.e. welcome or splash pages), two separate instances of dc.title must be
used: one containing the English title and one containing the French.
To ensure that users can properly identify and understand titles as displayed in the Web resource as well as in
search results, each page on an individual Web site must have a unique title. The content of the dc.title value and the
HTML title element should be identical, except in title metadata for bilingual welcome pages (see section 3.1.6.4 for
examples).
Authors or Web resource creators should refer to the guidance on assigning document titles found the "Microcontent"
section of the Government of Canada Internet Guide
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/ig-gi/i-mo/bs-cs/bs-cs2_e.asp - b11).
To determine the content for dc.title, metadata developers should follow these steps:
1. Determine the HTML title element content and use this same content to populate dc.title. The HTML title
element can be found in the coded version of a page by selecting View > Source in Internet Explorer or View >
Page Source in Netscape. (Internet Explorer and Netscape are the most commonly used browsers in federal departments and
agencies.)
2. Depending on departmental or agency policy, enhance dc.title content if the HTML title is not sufficiently
informative. For example, an HTML title such as "About Us" or "Home Page" may be enhanced to provide context: "About
Us—Name of Department" or "Home Page—Name of Department."
3. Devise a title for dc.title if a Web page does not have an HTML title. When devising titles, identify
prominent wording found at the top of a Web page, either in text or in a title graphic, and use this wording as content
for dc.title. Again, depending on departmental or agency policy, prominent wording may be enhanced to provide
context.
HTML 4.01 Specifications (www.w3.org/TR/html401/) stipulates that
every HTML document have an HTML title element.
Departments and agencies should develop processes to ensure that no two pages have identical titles.
The following examples are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily represent actual Government of Canada Web pages.
3.1.6.1 HTML title as source for the title of the Web
page
http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/default.asp
The content of the HTML title—"CSA – Home Page of Canadian Space Agency" (found in the coloured bar at the top of
the browser screen)—may be used to populate dc.title.
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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3.1.6.2 HTML title contains insufficient information
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/audience/cdn_e.asp
The HTML title "Canadians" provides little
context. Depending on departmental or agency policy, it may be necessary to enhancement the HTML title using the
graphical title. The content of dc.title may be enhanced with the organization name: "Treasury Board of Canada
Secretariat – Information for Canadians".
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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title availablehttp://www.vsi-isbc.ca/eng/policy/background.cfm
The source code for this page does not
contain an HTML title. The content for dc.title should be taken from prominent wording found at the top of a Web page,
either in text or in a title graphic.
Depending on departmental or agency policy, the content of dc.title could be "Voluntary Sector Initiative – Policy
Development".
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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3.1.6.4 Bilingual "Welcome" page
The HTML title indicates that the title of
the page is "Welcome to the LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA website / Bienvenue au site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES
CANADA". The content of dc.title is
English title: Welcome to the LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA website
French title: Bienvenue au site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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<meta name="dc.title" content="Bienvenue au site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA"> |
An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource.
At a minimum, the Creator element must include the department or agency responsible for the content of the information resource. The Creator element may be repeated for names of non.federal organizations that also have responsibility for content of federal resources.
The Creator element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the name of the responsible department, agency or non-federal organization.
Every responsible organization must be specified. The Creator element may be repeated when more than one department or agency is responsible for the information resource and when one or more non-federal organizations (e.g. provincial, territorial or municipal government departments, private sector businesses, not-for-profit groups) are responsible for the resource.
Levels in an organizational hierarchy should be separated with a comma (,), a period (.), or a semicolon (;). Punctuation should be used consistently according to guidelines established by the department or agency.
Abbreviations for organizational components should not be used (e.g. "Atomic Energy of Canada Limited" should be used, not "AECL").
For newly posted content, the current form of creator name for a department or agency must be used. However, the creator name assigned to static and unchanging resources, such as annual reports and other legacy documents, should not be changed even when the name of the authoring organization has changed. Such resources were created by the organization under its name at the time of publication; metadata should not be updated to reflect subsequent name changes.
Local metadata policy should include guidance on the level of organizational detail to be used when expressing dc.creator.
While use of the department or agency name alone is acceptable practice and is usually sufficient, the addition of organizational levels could be helpful or necessary. For example, lower levels in the organizational hierarchy should be included when a major organization is part of a larger department or agency and would not appear in dc.creator at all if the parent organization alone were used.
For example, the Geological Survey of Canada is part of Natural Resources Canada and would not appear in dc.creator if "Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada" alone were used. The following hierarchical structure includes the Geological Survey of Canada and shows hierarchical relationship to the parent organization.
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All department or agency names must be preceded by "Government of Canada" followed by the department or agency name(e.g.Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada).
For English-only Web resources, use the following:
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For French-only Web resources, use the following:
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where ddd represents either the name of the department or agency or the full bureaucratic hierarchy of the responsible organizational unit.
On bilingual pages, repeat the element for a department or agency in English and in French.
Examples of federal Web pages are provided in section 3.2.4.
In order to ensure successful retrieval of Web resources, it is important that the form of name of the originating department or agency be identical in all metadata records. Authorized sources for department or agency names must be used.
For department or agency names, the current form of name can be found in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Titles of Federal Organizations
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/sipubs/tb_fip/titlesoffedorg_e.asp).
This information is also available in French as Titres des organismes fédéraux
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/sipubs/tb_fip/titlesoffedorg_f.asp).
The form of name of Government of Canada organizational divisions and subdivisions can be found in the Government
Electronic Directory Services
(http://direct.srv.gc.ca/cgi-bin/direct500/BE).
An authorized source of terminology for provincial, territorial and municipal government departments has not yet been designated. To formulate names, specify the full bureaucratic hierarchy of the organizational unit that created and maintains the information resource. Begin with "Government of 'name of province or territory'" followed by the department or ministry name, the next major organizational division and any minor organizational division(s). At a minimum, use the name of the province or territory and the name of the next largest organizational unit, usually the department or ministry.
Examples:
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For municipalities, use the form of name given on the home page to name the jurisdiction (such as the city, town, or municipality) followed by the jurisdictional name with the name of the province enclosed in parentheses. End with the name of the unit responsible for the content.
Example:
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Non.government organizations responsible for the creation of an information resource may include associations, banks, unions, private sector businesses, and not-for-profit groups.
An authorized source of terminology for non-government organizations has not yet been designated. To formulate names, specify a hierarchy, starting with the largest unit, if this information is provided and obvious on the resource.
Example:
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An authorized source of terminology for individuals personally responsible for the authorship of an information resource has not yet been designated. To express a personal name, begin with the surname, followed by a comma, a space, and then add the first part of the name (e.g. initials, first and middle names) as they appear on the information resource.
Example:
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The following examples are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily represent actual Government of Canada Web pages.
3.2.4.1 For a resource in English
http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/inter/index_e.html
The responsible entity is Natural Resources Canada.
The content of dc.creator is "Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada".
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php
The responsible entity is the Geological Survey of Canada, a subdivision of Natural Resources Canada.
The content of dc.creator is "Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Earth Sciences Sector, Geological Survey of Canada". This text represents the full bureaucratic hierarchy of the unit responsible for the page. The full hierarchy is applied because some Web users may believe the Geological Survey of Canada to be an independent entity.
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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3.2.4.2 For a resource in French
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/inter/index_f.html
The responsible entity is Ressources naturelles Canada.
The content of dc.creator is "Gouvernement du Canada, Ressources naturelles Canada".
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/index_f.php
The responsible entity is the Commission géologique du Canada, a subdivision of Ressources naturelles Canada.
The content of dc.creator is "Gouvernement du Canada, Ressources naturelles Canada, Secteur des sciences de la Terre, Commission géologique du Canada". This text represents the full bureaucratic hierarchy of the unit responsible for the page. The full hierarchy is applied because some Web users may believe the Commission géologique du Canada to be an independent entity.
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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3.2.4.3 For a bilingual Web resource
The content of dc.creator is both "Library and Archives Canada" and "Bibliothèque et Archives Canada." On bilingual pages, repeat the element for the creator name in English and French.
Expressed in HTML as follows:
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A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the resource.
Two Date elements are required for Web resources: Date Created and Date Modified. These elements refer to the date a resource is posted on the Web. They do not refer to the date(s) relating to the content of the resource (i.e. the date the content was created or the period during which the content is valid).
The date the resource was first posted on the Web is expressed using dc.date.created.
The most recent date a substantially revised version of the resource was reposted on the Web is expressed using
dc.date.modified. This element is mandatory only when such a revision has been posted; otherwise, it is not used at
all.
The dc.date.created element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the date the resource was first posted on the Web, in the form YYYY-MM-DD; dc.date.modified is
expressed in the same way.
For federal Web sites, the World Wide Web Consortium is the authority for formatting the date value (see http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime). A scheme reference is not required.
The Date element is not used for dynamic Web resources (e.g. Web pages that are generated dynamically from a database).
For static Web resources, follow these steps:
a) use dc.date.created to reflect the date the resource is first posted on the Web; and
b) add dc.date.modified to reflect the date the resource is reposted on the Web after its intellectual content
has been substantially changed.
These rules apply whether the Web resource is English, French or bilingual.
The Date element is expressed as YYYY-MM-DD, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month of the year between 01 (January) and 12 (December), and DD is the day of the month between 01 and 31.
If only the year and month are known, enter "01" for the day, e.g. 2003-04-01.
If only the year is known, enter "01" for both the month and the day, e.g. 2003-01-01.
Since automated information retrieval systems retrieve on all eight digits of the international date, constructing dates in this manner will ensure the ability of systems to search and retrieve on either month and year or year only.
The dc.date.created value never changes.
dc.date.modified must be used in conjunction with dc.date.created. It cannot exist without dc.date.created.
The date used in the content of dc.date.modified cannot be earlier than or equal to the content for dc.date.created.
If a resource has no value for dc.date.modified, this element should not appear in the metadata record.
The content value of dc.date.created and dc.date.modified cannot be left blank. If the date of original posting is
not known, follow the department or agency's procedures for assigning an appropriate value.
For a Web resource first posted on May 6, 2003, and last substantially modified on December 20, 2004, the Date elements should be as follows:
On the original posting date, the content of dc.date.created is the date of posting:
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Any time after that date when punctuation or typographical errors are corrected and the resource is reposted, the
dc.date.created value is not changed:
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When the resource is reposted with intellectual content substantially changed, dc.date.modified is added to the
metadata. dc.date.modified reflects the date of posting of the changed version; dc.date.created is not changed:
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<meta name="dc.date.modified" content="2004-12-20">
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A language of the intellectual content of the resource.
The ISO 639-2 language encoding scheme must be used.
The Language element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is a language code and "ISO639-2" refers to the language encoding scheme mandated for use in the gc.ca domain.
If the Web resource is in one language, enter the appropriate language code.
If the resource is in more than one language, repeat the Language element using the corresponding code for each language.
The language codes are three-character lower-case alphabetic strings, usually based on the first three letters of the English form.
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English |
eng |
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French |
fre |
Codes for other languages may be found in Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html).
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<meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="eng"> <meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="fre"> |
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<meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="eng"> <meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="fre"> <meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="ger">
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The topic of the content of the resource.
Subject terms must be selected from controlled vocabularies or formal classification schemes registered with Library and Archives Canada or recognized by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. The scheme for each vocabulary employed must be identified in the metadata. (Source: Common Look and Feel Metadata Standard Definitions and HTML Examples, http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/clf-nsi-meta/clf-nsi-meta_e.asp)
The Subject element is expressed as follows:
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where abc refers to the scheme label for a registered controlled vocabulary, and def refers to the value or values chosen from that vocabulary.
Terms (words or phrases that describe what the resource is about) must be selected from registered controlled vocabularies (see section 3.5.1.1).
The title of the resource may not necessarily reflect the content of the resource. For example, the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is about male-female communication, not extraterrestrial life.
User needs must also be considered. Metadata developers should ask themselves "If I were searching for information using this term, would I want to retrieve this particular resource?"
Subject terms should be as specific as possible, not too broad or too narrow. Use of a broad term, such as dairy industry, to describe a resource on a specific topic, such as milk, would mean that users searching for information on milk would not find the resource. Similarly, terms for individual dairy products should not be used for a resource focussing on the dairy industry as a whole, even if particular dairy products are mentioned in the resource.
Use as many terms as are required to describe the resource accurately.
Multiple subjects from the same scheme may be included in dc.subject element. Values should be separated by a semicolon (;). A semicolon is used as a separator instead of a comma because a controlled subject term may include a comma.
Multiple subject vocabulary schemes may be used to supply terms for dc.subject. A separate dc.subject statement is required for each vocabulary. Only terms from controlled vocabularies for dc.subject can be used.
Each instance of dc.subject must include the scheme label assigned to a particular controlled vocabulary. The labels are part of the vocabulary descriptions in the registry of controlled vocabularies available at the Library and Archives Canada Web site (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html).
For example, terms from the eHealth Thesaurus must be identified with the scheme label gcicth and may not be used in an instance of dc.subject containing terms from the Core Subject Thesaurus and using the scheme label gccore.
According to TBITS 39.2, the default controlled vocabulary for use by federal departments and agencies is the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus (CST) (http://www.thesaurus.gc.ca). Other authorized vocabularies may be used, provided that a separate dc.subject statement is used for each vocabulary set.
The CST does not include specialized terminology used in specific and limited disciplines. It may be necessary to select additional terms from one or more specialized controlled vocabularies that are registered with Library and Archives Canada. Vocabularies registered with the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (http://dublincore.org) may also be used provided that equivalent terms in both official languages are available (see section 3.5.4.2).
Detailed guidance on the use of the CST is available at http://www.thesaurus.gc.ca/. For an introduction to controlled vocabularies and their characteristics, see section 2.3 of this Guide and the Guide to the Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada.
For more information on thesauri, consult the Thesauri and Controlled Vocabularies pages on the Library and Archives Canada Web site (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-280-e.html), or contact the Metadata Coordinator, Library and Archives Canada (web@lac-bac.gc.ca).
Recommended practice:
1. If a department or agency uses one or more authorized vocabularies other than the CST, it is highly recommended that one or more CST terms be selected as content for a separate instance of dc.subject. Using terms from the CST, even if they are very general in nature, facilitates cross-searching of all federal resources at the Canada site (http://www.canada.gc.ca/main_e.html).
2. If the CST meets the vocabulary needs of a department or agency most of the time, but useful terms are
identified that are not listed there, contact the Thesaurus Manager
(see http://en.thesaurus.gc.ca/contact_e.html) to discuss how
these terminological needs can be met.
3. If the CST, because of its general nature, is deemed unsuitable, consult the list of Government of Canada-maintained controlled vocabularies (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html) on the Library and Archives Canada Web site to see what other vocabularies are registered for use in the gc.ca domain. This list includes information about the vocabulary label names for use in the coding of dc.subject scheme attribute and provides links to the on.line versions of the vocabularies. See also Chapter 3 of the Guide to the Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada for criteria on evaluating controlled vocabularies for use with metadata.
If a controlled vocabulary other than the CST is used, the scheme label for that vocabulary must be present in that instance of dc.subject.
4. If none of the vocabularies registered in the gc.ca domain suits the terminological needs of a department or agency, consult the list of controlled vocabularies registered by the Dublin Core at http://www.dublincore.org.
Only vocabularies in the Library and Archives Canada or Dublin Core registries with equivalent terms in both official languages will be acceptable for use. Equivalent terms is used instead of translations because a concept in one language may not have an exact match in the other.
5. If none of these existing vocabularies is suitable, developing a customized vocabulary for local use may be an option. Consult the Guide to the Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada for information on creating new controlled vocabularies.
The following approaches should be considered:
Vocabularies developed in-house for use with dc.subject must be registered with Library and Archives Canada. For advice on registering a vocabulary, consult the Metadata Coordinator at Library and Archives Canada (meta_coord@lac-bac.gc.ca). See also section 2.3.5—Registration of Controlled Vocabulary Schemes.
The terms in specialized controlled vocabularies can be mapped to more general terms in the CST so that both specific terminology and more general CST terminology are part of the metadata. For example, an in-house vocabulary term such as aquacultural biotechnology could be mapped to Biotechnology, which is found in the CST. The metadata would contain two instances of dc.subject, one for the broad CST term, and one for the specific local vocabulary term.
See section 2.3.4 for information on language equivalents for resources that are available in both official languages.
Describing subjects using controlled terminology presents significant challenges. The correct selection of terms from controlled vocabularies may not be in the skill set of those responsible for managing Web resources. It is principally a skill of professional librarians and indexers. The challenge of selecting terms increases when more than one controlled vocabulary is used.
Managers are urged either to provide appropriate subject analysis training for their metadata developers or to obtain assistance from their departmental libraries or information resource centres when populating this crucial field.
For more information, see the Guide to the Development and Maintenance of Controlled Vocabularies in the Government of Canada.
http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/inter/index_e.html
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http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/inter/index_f.html
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http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/inter/index.html
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<meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gccore" content="Ressources naturelles; Climat; Forêt; Minéral; Métal; Carte; Énergie; Conservation de l'énergie; Géologie"> |
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<meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gcicth" content="TELENEUROLOGY; TELEPATHOLOGY"> |
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<meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gcicth" content="TÉLÉNEUROLOGIE; TÉLÉPATHOLOGIE"> |
For department or agency Web resources, optional means that the elements described below are not required for compliance with CLF Standard 6.3. The use of some or all of these, including other Dublin Core elements or non–Dublin Core elements, may, however, be mandatory within a particular department or agency.
All element definitions are cited from DCMI Metadata Terms
(http://www.dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms).
A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful.
Terms must be selected from an authorized controlled vocabulary.
There are two possible ways to express this element in HTML: dc.audience and dcterms.audience.
dc.audience
The Audience element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the label for a specific scheme and def is a value selected from the scheme to describe the audience for the resource.
Note: The use of dc.audience is to be considered a temporary method of expression that will change as Dublin Core
develops. The following method of expressing the audience element is preferred.
dcterms.audience
The Audience element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the label for a specific scheme and def is a value selected from the scheme to describe the audience for the resource.
The Audience element is defined by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative in a separate namespace. Departments or
agencies using dcterms.audience must include a second instance of the link element to support the HTML code. This
additional link element is the following:
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Recommended practice: It is strongly recommended that the Audience element be applied to all resources to which departments or agencies apply other mandatory and optional metadata elements when those resources are identified as being directed toward one or more particular audiences.
The Audience element should be repeated, with the appropriate scheme label, for each audience type that applies to the resource.
For more guidance on the use of the Audience element, including the use of additional audience schemes, see the
Guidelines for the Dublin Core Metadata Element Audience and the Government of Canada Audience Scheme, 2nd
Version
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/aud-aud/docs/2004/dublin-core/dublin-core00_e.asp).
Recommended practice: It is strongly recommended that metadata developers use values from the
Government of Canada Audience Scheme
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/aud-aud/docs/2003/schemfinal/schemfinal_e.asp).
This scheme includes terms that describe a wide variety of users of Government of Canada Web sites.While it includes a
broad range of terms, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of audiences.
The Government of Canada Audience Scheme is registered as a controlled vocabulary with Library and Archives
Canada. The scheme label for the Government of Canada Audience Scheme is gcaudience.
Departments or agencies requiring that new audience terms be added to the vocabulary should address their enquiries
to the Secretariat's Information Management Division
(im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca).
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The extent or scope of the content of the resource.
Guidance is provided for spatial or geographic coverage only. The element must be populated with terms found in registered controlled vocabularies.
The Coverage element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the label for an authorized list of geographic names and def is a specific location chosen from the authorized source or set of geographic co.ordinates.
The Coverage element is used to spatially reference Government of Canada Web resources using descriptors from registered controlled vocabularies, authority files, or a spatial reference system like geographic co.ordinates. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) endorses element refinements that state whether spatial or temporal extent is being expressed. This section provides guidance for spatial coverage only.
Coverage is used when there is a distinct and definable spatial extent to the resource and there is a business requirement to enable the identification of the resource by its unique geographic location. When Coverage is used, the spatial information contained within the element can be used to perform powerful searches that allow a user to search on a specific location, exclude certain areas, sort by nearest location, and perform many other operations.
The following examples illustrate appropriate use of the Coverage element:
Example 1: Web resources on employment opportunities for various regions that contain information organized by area.
The Coverage element will contain geographic descriptors, geocodes, or spatial co.ordinates that define the areas referenced by the resource. This geographic information could enable a user to search on employment opportunities for a specific area.
Example 2: Web resources that identify national historical sites and contain information that specifies a geographic location.
The Coverage element will contain a geographic descriptor, such as a place name, postal code or spatial co.ordinates, that defines the location of the site(s). Such information could enable a user to search for historical sites within a certain radius or along a route of travel.
The Coverage element should not be used if the resource has no distinct and definable geographic extent or if there is no business requirement to use the unique spatial reference(s) specifically or inherently contained in the resource contents. For instance, it is not recommended to use the term Canada to describe federal government on.line resources that are Canadian but not directly related to geographic boundaries within Canada.
While each registered encoding scheme has its own method of expressing geographic names, certain general guidelines apply to the construction of these names for use in dc.coverage.spatial.
Sufficient detail must be provided to unambiguously identify the location. A place name must be expressed as a hierarchy, beginning with the largest geographical unit (usually the country name) and ending with the smallest.
Within the hierarchy of location information, geographic units should be separated by a semicolon (;). A semicolon is used as a separator rather than a comma because values in the encoding scheme may contain commas.
For example, the village of Kingston, P.E.I., would be identified using the Canadian Geographical Names Data Base as follows: Canada; Prince Edward Island; Queens; Kingston; Village.
Coverage must be populated using a controlled vocabulary, authority file or other registered scheme. Controlled
vocabularies or authority files recommended by these guidelines for usage with Coverage are registered with Library and
Archives Canada and can be accessed at
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html. All
recommended schemas are able to be translated to unique geographic locations, expressed as spatial co.ordinates. Named
geographies from known, controlled sources can be translated to simple geographic co.ordinates (a point) or more
complex geometries (bounding box, polygons or lines) through Web services, such as the CGDI Gazetteer Service (http://cgdi-dev.geoconnections.org/prototypes/cgdigaz/index.htm).
Departments and agencies are strongly encouraged to register with Library and Archives Canada other standardized geographic descriptors, geocodes or resources that may better meet their particular requirements. These will be assigned a unique scheme name that must be stated in every instance of Coverage.
The most appropriate choice of vocabulary depends on the resource being documented. More than one vocabulary may be used to describe a single resource.
The Coverage element must be repeated, using the appropriate scheme name each time, for every location described in the resource.
The language equivalency rule applies for place names. See section 2.3.4 for further information.
The following are examples employing encoding schemes currently registered for use with Coverage by Library and Archives Canada or the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.
Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (CGNDB)
http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php
This database contains the official names of Canada's provinces and territories, names of cities (inhabited places, towns, villages, etc.), topographical features, conservation areas, military areas, and First Nations communities.
To be identified unambiguously, the location must be constructed with the following components, in the following order: country name (i.e. Canada); province or territory name; administrative or geographical location name (e.g. district, county, township, municipality, section town); name of feature; feature type. The CGNDB provides further information on the definition of these components and the allowable values.
Using this encoding scheme, the dc.coverage.spatial metadata for a resource containing information on an employment opportunity in Peterborough, Ontario, would read as follows:
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Regions of Canada
http://geodiscover.cgdi.ca/gdp/util/etc/CanadaProvRegions.jsp
This vocabulary consists of Canada's provinces and territories, six large inter-provincial regions and 39 intra-provincial regions. The list provides names for commonly recognized areas within Canada. The boundaries are based upon census divisions or provincial and territorial boundaries and therefore have an associated geometry.
The location is constructed using the complete hierarchy given in the encoding scheme. The hierarchy is composed of the term Canada; then a province or territory name or the term Canadian Regions; then a more precise geographic location name, if applicable.
Using this encoding scheme, Coverage for a resource containing agricultural output statistics for Canadian prairie farms would read as follows:
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Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/index.html
The TGN can be used as a source for foreign place names. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative prefers this vocabulary.Since the TGN contains only English terms, use another authoritative source to record international place names in French, such as a good dictionary or the Répertoire de vedettes-matière (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/19/index-e.html) to select equivalent French terms. Do not identify a scheme.
To be identified unambiguously, the location must be constructed using the hierarchy given in the encoding scheme, starting at the "nation" level and including all lower levels. The "hierarchy root," "facet" and "continent" levels are omitted. The TGN provides further information on the construction of location hierarchies.
Using this encoding scheme, Coverage for a resource involving plans for a war memorial in Exeter, England, would read as follows:
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For the French Web page, the Coverage element would read as follows:
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http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists/list-en1.html
ISO 3166 can be used as a source to identify foreign country names. This authority list is registered with the DCMI as a source for country names. Complete place names should be used in preference to abbreviations or symbols.
Using this encoding scheme, Coverage for a resource on the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Southeast Asia (China, the Philippines and Singapore) would read as follows:
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<meta name="dc.coverage.spatial" scheme="ISO3166" content="PH"> <meta name="dc.coverage.spatial" scheme="ISO3166" content="SG"> |
http://www.dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-point
DCMI Point is a scheme for uniquely identifying a point on the Earth's surface using its geographic co.ordinates. DCMI guidance provides further details on how to use this scheme.
Using this encoding scheme, Coverage for a resource on Grand Valley, Ontario, Canada, would read as follows:
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http://www.dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-box/
DCMI Bounding Box is a scheme for uniquely identifying an area on the Earth's surface by defining its geographic limits as a bounding box. DCMI guidance provides further details on how to use this scheme.
With this encoding scheme, Coverage for a resource on Prince Edward Island, Canada, would read as follows:
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An account of the content of the resource.
The Description element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the description of the resource.
An accurate, clear, concise and objective description helps users determine whether a resource will be useful to them.
The words in a description can be indexed by search engines. The text is often displayed in search results. As a general rule, descriptions should be no more than 100-120 words in length. Because only the first few lines of a description may be displayed in a listing of Web resources, it is important that the most significant information be contained in the first few sentences.
Word or character length of description may be dependent on department or agency policies or search engine requirements. Some search engines will index all words in a description but only display the first portion of the text.
description and dc.descriptionDepartments or agencies using HTML may wish to use both HTML description and dc.description as some search engines
ignore dc.description. In such cases, the content values for both must be identical.
Departments or agencies are urged to develop their own organizational guidance for writing descriptions based on Guidelines for Writing Descriptions for Government of Canada Web Sites (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/references/meta-descrip/meta-descrip00_e.asp).
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/trains/index-e.html
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http://www.collectionscanada.ca/trains/index-f.html
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<meta name="dc.description" content="Le Système d'aide au démarrage d'une entreprise (SADE) est un guichet unique
d'information sur le démarrage d'une entreprise au Canada. Le site Web couvre plusieurs sujets, notamment les études de
marché, le financement, la fiscalité, la préparation d'un plan d'affaires, tous essentiels au démarrage d'une
entreprise."> |
The physical or digital manifestation of the resource.
Terms must be selected from a registered controlled vocabulary.
Format is indicated by the file extension of the program or application used to create the resource
(<dc.format>: Guidelines,
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/fmt-fmt/docs/2003/guidelines-lignes-directrices_e.asp).
The use of the Format element is essential in the creation of metadata for multimedia digital collections that contain a multitude of file formats and applications. The metadata can be embedded in the resource itself or stored externally in a metadata repository.
The form of expression for the Format element will depend on the technical environment of local implementations.
The Format element is not repeatable.
The Format element should not be used unless an organization has the ability to manage metadata in a database or a repository.
Every distinct resource should have distinct metadata. Metadata contained in the source code of an HTML resource describes the HTML resource itself. It does not describe resources linked to, or displayed on, that resource. As a result, metadata that does describe a sound, video, other textual non-HTML format, etc., linked to an HTML resource should not be stored in the source code of that HTML resource.
This situation may be confusing. A photo or image (using the .gif or .jpeg file format) appears to be part of the HTML resource in the Web browser; indexers may wish to describe that picture in the metadata for the HTML resource. It is important, however, to separate the metadata for these resources. Metadata for non-HTML resources will likely have to be stored and managed in a database or a repository.
For more guidance on the use of dc.format, see dc.format: Guidelines at
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/fmt-fmt/docs/2003/guidelines-lignes-directrices_e.asp.
Recommended practice: It is strongly recommended that metadata developers use values from the
Government of Canada Format Scheme
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/fmt-fmt/docs/2003/schem_e.asp).
This scheme includes terms that describe a wide variety of Web site formats.
The Government of Canada Format Scheme is registered as a controlled vocabulary with Library and Archives Canada. The scheme label for the Government of Canada Format Scheme is gcformat.
The Government of Canada Format Scheme is intended to encompass all formats found on federal Web sites.
Departments or agencies requiring that new formats be added to the vocabulary should address enquiries to the
Secretariat's Information Management Division
(im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca).
The nature or genre of the content of the resource.
Terms must be selected from a registered controlled vocabulary.
The Type element may describe the purpose or functions of content; it does not describe the subject (i.e. what the
resource is about) or the format (physical or digital manifestation) of the resource (GOL Metadata Working Group,
<dc.type> Sub-group, Final Report, November 6, 2002,
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/typ-typ/docs/2003/finalrep-final/finalrep-final_e.asp).
The Type element is expressed as follows:
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where abc is the label for a specific scheme and def is a value selected from the scheme to describe the type of resource.
The Type element is used to describe general categories, functions, or genres of Web resource content. It is not to be confused with the Format element, which describes the physical or digital manifestation of a resource, or with the Subject element, which describes the topic of a resource.
Including a value for dc.type helps users find the information by giving them an additional way to narrow their
search queries. When users select a resource type along with other terms (such as title, subject, or date) in a search
query, they will be able to narrow their search for an event, presentation, report, policy, etc. For example, a user
can reduce the results of a subject search for information management by also selecting the type
event or policy.
The Type element must be repeated, with the appropriate scheme label, for each type that applies to the resource.
Recommended practice: It is strongly recommended that metadata developers use values from the
Government of Canada Type Scheme
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/typ-typ/docs/2003/schem/schem_e.asp).
This scheme includes terms that describe a wide variety of resource types found on Government of Canada Web sites.
The Government of Canada Type Scheme is registered as a controlled vocabulary with Library and Archives Canada. The scheme label for the Government of Canada Type Scheme is gctype.
While the Government of Canada Type Scheme includes a broad range of terms, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of types.For information on adding terms to the gctype scheme, see the Process for Updating the GoC Type and Aggregation Level Schemes Draft (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/typ-typ/docs/2003/type/type_e.asp).
Organizations may also request the inclusion of new resource types by contacting the Secretariat's Information Management Strategies Division (im-gi@tbs-sct.gc.ca).
For more guidance on the use of the Type element, see dc.type Sub-Group: Usage Guidelines (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/typ-typ/docs/2003/usage-util/usage-util_e.asp).
The National Flag of Canada
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/df1_e.cfm
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Le drapeau canadien
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/df1_f.cfm
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Canadian Heritage welcome page
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca
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<meta name="dc.type" scheme="gctype" content="page de bienvenue"> |
dc.type element termsThe Type element is repeated for each individual term.
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<meta name="dc.type" scheme="gctype" content="geospatial material"> |
HTML keywords metadata contains additional words or phrases to serve as access points for search engines. This
metadata may be useful in the context of local information management systems. Keyword values can be natural language
terms that are not part of a controlled vocabulary. Whether and how keywords are used depends on local metadata access
policies and search engine configuration.
The keywords element is not a Dublin Core element.
For guidance on the use of keywords, please see CLF Best Practices
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-06-03_e.asp).
CLF for the Internet—Navigation and Format, Standard 6.3
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-06-03_e.asp)
CLF for the Internet— Official Languages, Standard 7.8
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/inter/inter-07-08_e.asp)
Government On-Line Metadata Working Group
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/mwg-gtm/intro_e.asp
Information Management Resource Centre (IMRC)
Metadata
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/meta_e.asp)
Government of Canada Metadata Guidance
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/meta-cdn_e.asp)
Common Look and Feel Metadata Standard Definitions and HTML Examples
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/clf-nsi-meta/clf-nsi-meta_e.asp)
Government of Canada Metadata Framework
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/meta/frame-cadre_e.asp)
Information Management Glossary
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/glossary/glossary_e.asp)
Framework for the Management of Information in the Government of Canada
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/fmi-cgi/index_e.asp)
Library and Archives Canada—Controlled Vocabularies and Thesauri
Thesauri and Controlled Vocabularies
(http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-280-e.html)
Implementing a Controlled Vocabulary on Government of Canada Web Sites
(http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-294-e.html)
Canadian Government-maintained Controlled Vocabularies and Thesauri
(http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-281-e.html)
Registering a Standardized Vocabulary
(http://www.collectionscanada.ca/8/4/r4-293-e.html)
Management of Government Information
Policy on the Management of Government Information
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/ciopubs/TB_GIH/mgih-grdg_e.asp)
Treasury Board Information Management Standard (TBITS)
TBITS 39: Treasury Board Information Management Standard, Part 1: Government
On-Line Metadata Standard
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/its-nit/standards/tbits39/crit391_e.asp)
TBITS 39: Treasury Board Information Management Standard, Part 2: Controlled Vocabulary Standard
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/its-nit/standards/tbits39/crit392_e.asp)
The following is an example of how required and optional metadata elements would appear in the HTML source code for an English sub-site of Health Canada. Required elements have been highlighted in bold face.
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<link rel="schema.dcterms" href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"> <meta name="dc.title" content="Conferences - eHealth Resource Centre"> <meta name="dc.creator" content="Government of Canada, Health Canada, Office of Health and the Information Highway (OHIH)"> <meta name="dc.language" scheme="ISO639-2" content="eng"> <meta name="dc.date.created" content="2000-00-00"> <meta name="dc.date.modified" content="2003-03-17"> <meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gcicth" content="Health care; Information and communications technologies; Telehealth; Health informatics; Databases"> <meta name="dc.subject" scheme="gccore" content="Conferences; Health care; Databases; Meetings"> <meta name="dcterms.audience" scheme="gcaudience" content="educators"> <meta name="dc.coverage.spatial" scheme="gcgeonames" content="Canada; Ontario"> <meta name="dc.description" content="Links to information and communications technologies in health, conferences, tradeshows, and workshops"> <meta name="description" content="Links to information and communications technologies in health, conferences, tradeshows, and workshops"> <meta name="dc.type" scheme="gctype" content="resource list"> <meta name="keywords" content="conferences, health care, healthcare, information and communications technologies, information and communications technology, ICT, ICTs, telehealth, health informatics, databases, meetings, e-health, ehealth"> <title>Conferences - eHealth Resource Centre</title> |
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