12.0 Administrative Metadata
Administrative metadata provides information necessary to allow a repository to manage
objects, such as when, how and by whom a resource was created and how it can be accessed.
Elements in administrative metadata can overlap with technical and perseveration metadata
because it share same purposes, i.e., to make the resources accessible in the future. Sometimes
technical and preservation metadata are also added as administrative metadata. For example,
METS includes technical and preservation metadata in its administrative metadata section, as
shown below:
•
•
•
•
Technical Metadata (information regarding files' creation, format, and use
characteristics),
Intellectual Property Rights Metadata (copyright and license information),
Source Metadata (descriptive and administrative metadata regarding the analog source
from which a digital library object derives), and
Digital Provenance Metadata (information regarding source/destination relationships
between files, including master/derivative relationships between files and information
regarding migrations/transformations employed on files between original digitization of
an artifact and its current incarnation as a digital library object).
<http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/METSOverview.v2.html#admMD>
Depending on the systems and structural metadata, administrative metadata can be added
directly into the structural metadata or linked as an outside source. Since the Library will have
separate sections of metadata for technical and preservation metadata, this document will
focus on providing guidelines on what should be captured in administrative metadata based on
METS and Dublin Core.
Table of Contents
12.1 Managing Metadata
12.2 Managing Digital Objects
12.3 Managing Rights
12.4 Managing Provenance
12.1 Managing Metadata
Metadata can be updated and changed over time, and administrative metadata records the
changes that have been made to the metadata. There are three different components of
information that should be captured for this purpose as identified in Dublin Core Metadata
Initiative’s
Administrative
metadata
<http://dublincore.org/groups/admin/proposal20030313.shtml>:
•
•
•
Metadata for the entire record
Metadata for updates and changes
Metadata for batch interchange of records
12.2 Managing Digital Objects
A main purpose of managing digital objects is to keep track of archival and access files.
Administrative metadata will capture the location of access copies, archival masters and their
formats, usually in the form of identifiers (see also best practices for identifiers). Access,
metadata, and archival files associated with a give digital resource typically will share the same
root file name (considered a best practice?); however, Handles and actionable URIs are
preferred as a more sustainable way to maintain linkages between online access copies and
archival masters. If DVDs for archival masters are made and stored (or other off-line archiving
done), information about the DVD, location and content, should be included in administrative
metadata as well as within the preservation application or archival tracking system (e.g.,
Archon?) itself.
As access systems proliferate and evolve, the Library also should keep track in administrative
metadata of the ways that a given digital object is being disseminated, used, and/or associated
with other digital content. Thus, an emblem may be disseminated on its own through a
specialized emblem portal and may as well be made available through CONTENTdm as a
component of the emblem book of which it is a part. Descriptive metadata for the emblem
(considered as a component of the digital object) may separately be disseminated from a third
system via OAI-PMH. Data may be available detailing frequency with which emblem is being
accessed and from where. While there are not right now consensus metadata schemes for
encoding these kinds of dissemination and use metadata, we should anticipate that these data
will need to be recorded and associated with digital objects as a form of administrative
metadata in the future.
Other detailed technical information will be captured in technical metadata.
12.3 Managing Rights
Another important component of administrative metadata is rights managements. This could
include information about copyright, access, use, licensing, and in-house reproduction. Right
statements can be applied at the collection level or item level, depending on the resources.
Though not entirely clear yet, approaches and schemes such as Creative Commons and MPEG
rights metadata should be considered and exploited as appropriate pending eventual
consensus around a dominant rights metadata approach for the Library’s digital resources.
12.4 Managing Provenance
Administrative metadata includes provenance of physical and digital resources, i.e., ‘any
changes in ownership or custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its
authenticity,
integrity,
and
interpretation
<http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmiterms/#terms-provenance>.’ Information that is relevant to the provenance includes name,
date and a short description of changes that have been made to the resources.