Federal Records Management

Bulletin 2015-01 Appendix A

The tables below provide the minimum list of metadata terms necessary for describing permanent electronic records. These terms have been adapted from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) to support Federal records management of permanent electronic records. DCMI identifies 15 high level properties referred to as elements and additional properties referred to as terms, which may be used to refine the meaning of an element.

In the tables below, each metadata element is refined by one or more terms. All metadata terms included in the table are repeatable for an individual record, when applicable. They are not intended to exclude or supplant any additional metadata captured and maintained with Federal records. The vocabulary examples used in the tables are not comprehensive. NARA strongly encourages the use of controlled vocabularies, ontologies, data dictionaries, and standardized authorities, where applicable. Definitions and usage examples are included within the tables. The usage statement indicates whether a term is required and identifies the corresponding agency metadata that may be used to populate the field.

Identifier

Identifier [FileName]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/identifier

Label: Identifier:FileName

Definition: The complete name of the computer file including its extension (if present).

Examples: Img001.jpg

Imes_64.shp

Captions_for_photographs.xlsx

Usage: Mandatory. The file name of the record as assigned by an agency or a records management system. (See Appendix B for file and folder naming conventions.)

Identifier [RecordID]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/identifier

Label: Identifier:RecordID

Definition: The unique identifier assigned by an agency or a records management system. CFR 1236.20 (b)(1) requires that agencies assign unique identifiers to records.

Examples: 09-20-0167

ACCI14-250

Usage: Mandatory. A unique record identifier must be created and maintained by an agency or a records management system.

Title

Title

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/title

Label: Title

Definition: A name given to the record.

Comment: Typically, a Title will be a name by which the record is formally known.

Examples: National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission Public Session

Air Force Instruction, 11-201 Flying Operations, MARCH 2009

Usage: Mandatory. Titles are usually assigned by the creator and often appear within the record.

Description

Description

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/description

Label: Description

Definition: A textual description of the content of the record, including abstracts for document-like objects or content descriptions for audio or video records.

Examples: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta introduces the members of the Commission at a May 24, 2006, press conference in Washington, D.C.

This instruction implements AFPD 11-2, Flight Rules and Procedures

Usage: Mandatory. Information that describes the contents of a record.

Creator

Creator

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator

Label: Creator

Definition: The agent primarily responsible for the creation of the record.

Comment: Examples of a Creator include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name of a Creator should be used to indicate the entity.

Examples: United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Department of Defense. Pacific Command. U.S. Military Personnel. Advisory Division.

Day, William Rufus

Usage: Mandatory. When there is a known individual creator, use the individual’s name (e.g., Brennan, John O., 1955- ).

When the creator is collectively the Federal agency, use the agency name (e.g., United States. Department of Education).

Date

Date [CreationDate]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/date

Label: Date:CreationDate

Definition:

The date that the file met the definition of a Federal record. If a file (such as a case file, database or spreadsheet) holds multiple records created at different times, then this element should note the date the file was originally created and the span of dates should be recorded in the element Coverage [TemporalCoverage].

Comment: Date may be used to express temporal information at any level of granularity. Best practice is to use an encoding scheme, such as the W3CDTF profile of ISO 8601 [W3CDTF].

Examples: 1999-12-15

2004-12

2009

Usage: Mandatory. If the full date is unknown, year, month, and day (YYYY-MM-DD), year and month (YYYY-MM) or just year (YYYY) may be used.

Rights

Rights [Security Classification]

URI: http://dublincore.org/usage/meetings/2002/10/securityClassification.shtml

Label: Rights:SecurityClassification

Definition: The classification allocated to the record indicating its official security status.

Comment: The purpose of this qualifier is to facilitate proper and appropriate management of sensitive or security classified records.

Examples: Secret

Top Secret

Confidential

Usage: Mandatory. The current security classification of the record. If no security classification applies, the record should be labeled “unrestricted.”

Rights [Previous Security Classification]

URI: http://dublincore.org/groups/government/profile-200111.shtml

Label: Rights:PreviousSecurityClassification

Definition: The classification allocated to the record indicating its official security status prior to its current status.

Comment: Many official documents have their security classification reduced over time. The ability to search on current and previous markings allows a user to locate records that have changed their classification.

Examples: Secret

Confidential

Top Secret

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. This element must be populated if the security classification has changed.

Rights [AccessRights]

URI: http://dublincore.org/groups/government/profile-200111.shtml

Label: Rights:AccessRights

Definition: Legal or other rights an individual has to access the record or that regulate the agency's right to release or provide access to the record.

Comment: Repeatable field containing information documenting any restrictions related to information access that apply to the record. These are described in the General Restrictions section at 36 CFR 1235.20, and listed at 1256.40 through 1256.62.

Examples:

Restricted Access

FOIA (b)(3) Statute

38 U.S.C. § 7332 (Records of patients being treated for certain conditions)

Unrestricted Access

Usage: Mandatory. This element must be populated with any access restrictions that apply to the record as well as the information access or privacy laws or regulations on which the restriction is based. Acceptable terms for restrictions are listed on NARA’s website at: http://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/lcdrg/authority_lists/specificaccesslist.html. If no restrictions exist, the record should be labeled "unrestricted."

Rights [UsageRights]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights

Label: Rights:UsageRights

Definition: Information about copyright and trademarks rights held in and over the record.

Comment: Typically, rights information includes a statement about various property rights associated with the record, including intellectual property rights. Agencies should indicate any licenses obtained in the creation of the record.

Examples: Copyright

Trademark

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. This element must be populated with any usage rights associated with an individual record.

Rights [RightsHolder]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/rightsHolder

Label: Rights:RightsHolder

Definition: A person or organization owning or managing intellectual property rights relating to the record.

Examples: Copyright held by John Doe, staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times.

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. The person or organization responsible for any rights applied to a record. This element must be populated if any security, access, or usage rights are associated with an individual record.

Coverage

Coverage [SpatialCoverage]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/spatial

Label: Coverage:SpatialCoverage

Definition: The geographic extent or scope of the content of the record.

Comment: Spatial topic and spatial applicability may be a named place or a location specified by its geographic coordinates. A jurisdiction may be a named administrative entity or a geographic place to which the record applies. Where appropriate, named places can be used in preference to numeric identifiers such as sets of coordinates.

Examples: Washington (D.C.)

Panama Canal (Panama)

Los Angeles (Calif.)

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. Populate this field if materials have a geographic focus or if the record contains a considerable body of information about a geographic location.

Coverage [TemporalCoverage]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/temporal

Label: Coverage:TemporalCoverage

Definition: The temporal extent or scope of the content of the record.

Comment: Temporal topic is a date or date range.

Examples: 2006-05-31 to 2008-05-31

2006-07 to 2013-04

2006 to 2011

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. Populate this field if the record includes information describing a span of time. Best practice is to use an encoding scheme, such as the W3CDTF profile of ISO 8601 [W3CDTF].

Relation

Relation [HasPart]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasPart

Label: Relation:HasPart

Definition: A related record that is either physically or logically required in order to form a complete record.

Comment: Best practice is to identify the related record by means of a string conforming to a formal identification system.

Examples: Shapefile compound record file (lmes_64_shp) has related individual parts: lmes_64.shp; Imes_64.shx; lmes_64_shp_xml.xml

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. Populate this field with the FileName or RecordID of any related record(s) when the file is composed of multiple files that form a logical record.

Relation [IsPartOf]

URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf

Label: Relation:IsPartOf

Definition: A related record in which the described record is physically or logically included.

Comment: Recommended best practice is to identify the related record by means of a string conforming to a formal identification system.

Examples: Shapefile component file (lmes_64.shx) is part of a compound shapefile: lmes_64_shp

Attached file (FMC2013-045.pdf) is part of an email: FDA Memorandum_Circular_No._2013-045.eml

Usage: Mandatory when applicable. Populate this field with the FileName or RecordID of any related record(s) when the file is a necessary component of another logical record.

Updated: April 15, 2015

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