Tulane University Digital Library Metadata Guidelines

The Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF) file provides authoritative data for names of persons, organizations, events, places, and titles. Its purpose is the identification of these entities and, through the use of such controlled vocabulary, to provide uniform access to bibliographic resources.

The VIAF® (Virtual International Authority File) combines multiple name authority files in numerous languages and from dozens of nations into a single OCLC-hosted name authority service.

The Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) for artist’s names is useful for artists not described in the Library of Congress Name Authority File.

Name and Title Sources identifies databases and lists containing standard names of persons, organizations, families, and meetings and standard titles for resources and assigns a code to each database or list. The purpose of this list is to enable the source of an authorized form of a name or resource title in a metadata records to be indicated by a code.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) includes all Library of Congress Subject Headings, free-floating subdivisions (topical and form), Genre/Form headings, Children's (AC) headings, and validation strings* for which authority records have been created. The content includes a few name headings (personal and corporate), such as William Shakespeare, Jesus Christ, and Harvard University, and geographic headings that are added to LCSH as they are needed to establish subdivisions, provide a pattern for subdivision practice, or provide reference structure for other terms.

Controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles for MEDLINE/PubMed. Also used in the Library Catalog.

Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Material I is also known as TGM I.

ISO 3166 defines internationally recognized codes of letters and/or numbers used to refer to countries and subdivisions. These are ideal to use when contributing records or data in multiple languages or for an international audience.

The Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF) file provides authoritative data for names of persons, organizations, events, places, and titles. Its purpose is the identification of these entities and, through the use of such controlled vocabulary, to provide uniform access to bibliographic resources.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) includes all Library of Congress Subject Headings, free-floating subdivisions (topical and form), Genre/Form headings, Children's (AC) headings, and validation strings* for which authority records have been created. The content includes a few name headings (personal and corporate), such as William Shakespeare, Jesus Christ, and Harvard University, and geographic headings that are added to LCSH as they are needed to establish subdivisions, provide a pattern for subdivision practice, or provide reference structure for other terms.

Geographic Areas list identifies separate countries, first order political divisions of some countries, regions, geographic features, areas in outer space, and celestial bodies. The list's codes are one-to-seven lowercase alphabetic strings that serve as identifiers.

The GeoNames is a geographical database which covers all countries and contains over eleven million placenames that are available for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Each toponym has a unique URL with data about it represented in RDF/OWL triples, making these ideal for use in data intended for use in Linked Data projects or databases.

The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) for geographic names not found elsewhere or if the TNG term is deemed more appropriate.

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) for GIS coordinates.

Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) is for genres of objects. This thesaurus is still in progress and may cover very specific genres better than general forms objects may have.

Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Material II (TGM II ‐ Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms) is an older thesaurus that covers many of the same terms as the LCGFT. Use this only if the appropriate term is not found in LCGFT.

The Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) was created to describe images created as works of art or that document architectural works.

Name and Title Sources identifies databases and lists containing standard names of persons, organizations, families, and meetings and standard titles for resources and assigns a code to each database or list. The purpose of this list is to enable the source of an authorized form of a name or resource title in a metadata records to be indicated by a code.

ISO 639-2 is the alpha-3 code for representing languages. This document is a crosswalk between the ISO 639-2 codes and ISO 639-1, English name of the language, French name of the language, and German name of language.