Overview of Data and Metadata

This overview shows the mandatory and (strongly) recommended data and metadata used in the LIB Data Center for a complete data set and for each data unit (e.g. a biological individual or an insect box). Links are given to controlled vocabulary and international standards. The list is based on the ABCD TDWG standard and the GFBio ABCD Consensus Document.

• mandatory - bold text
• highly recommended - italic text
• recommended/optional - plain text

• Title - A short, concise title of the whole data set (e.g. title of project or publication)

• Description - Longer description of the project (e.g. the Abstract)

• Author/Creator - The main researcher involved in producing the data (e.g. PI) or the author of the publication.
  • Name
  • E-Mail
  • Affiliation

• ContentContact - Person, who can answer questions and feedback about data or restriction on use of the data. This contact normally represents supplier or custodian of the dataset.
  • Name - Name of content/administrative person
  • E-Mail
  • Affiliation

• Owner - Entity (Person or Organisation) having legal possession of the data collection content (for entire data set, not for individual units).
  • Organisation
  • Name
  • Email

• License - The license is a contract between the person or institution publishing and the subsequent user, which regulates the conditions of the subsequent use. We recommend public licenses (e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0).

• Terms of use - Defines conditions under which the data may be analised, distributed or changed. (see: Terms of Use of LIB Data Center)

Author/Creator, Content contact and owner can be one and the same person or two or three different.

• Source institution - Unique identifier (code or name) of the institution holding the original data source (in doubt = owner organisation). Used as first part of record identifier.

• Source of record - Name or code of the data source within the source institution (unique within the institution; e.g. collection name, short dataset name). Used as second part of record identifier.

• Unit identifier - A unique identifier for the unit within the data source (e.g. collection number, barcode). Used as third part of record identifier.

• Record Basis - A term indicating what the unit record represents (e.g. Preserved Specimen), using controlled vocabulary.

• Scientific taxon name - Name of identified taxon according to Code of Nomenclature.

• Higher taxon name - The scientific name of a taxon with a rank higher than Genus which is commonly used to classify the group the unit belongs to, using controlled vocabulary.

• Higher taxon rank - The taxonomic rank of the higher taxon, preferred: kingdom.

All information about the occurrence of the unit.

• Locality - Information on collecting/recording location

• Country - Name of country of location (if continental locality)

• Named area - Name of marine area or for geographic, geomorphological, geoecological or administrative areas

• Site longitude - Longitude expressed in decimal degrees (WGS84 format)
• Site latitude - Latitude expressed in decimal degrees (WGS84 format)

• Date - Date of the collecting or observation event (in format yyyy-mm-dd)

• Gathering agent - responsible person for collecting/recording (if fieldNr. mandatory)

• Collector's field number - original identifier assigned by collector/observer; if available, but only with gathering agent

In measurements or facts information about measurements (e.g. length, temperature) is provided. It always contains the identifier, the measured value and the unit for the measurement.

• Measurement/fact - Kind of measurement or fact, the identifier

• Value - Measured value

• Unit - Measurement unit

Please provide for each multimedia object:

• Creator - Name of person, who has produced the multimedia object. Does not imply copyrights or other rights.

• Copyright - Person or institution, who holds the copyright.

• License - Public license (e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0) for each multimedia object.
• License holder - Person or organisation, which holds the license rights.

• File format - type / format of the digital object

• File URL/URI - web address of the digital object (if applicable)