From time to time I donate objects to cultural institutions…
…there are a few conditions for this, which include providing evidence in various portals. As already written, I am of the opinion that this can promote civic participation… As there have been queries in the past, I have compiled some technical information for the portals mentioned in the list.
Technical details
The following section provides information on the provision of data for three important collaborative portals. As various software solutions, data conversions and other processes are used to create datasets, these cannot be dealt with in detail here. The following section is therefore mainly limited to the metadata fields required for data exchange.
If you need support for your organisation, please feel free to contact me.
German Digital Library (DDB)
The DDB uses formats that are common in the library sector for metadata provided by libraries. These are either MARC or METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Schema) used in conjunction with MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema). In Germany, there is also the Schema for the DFG Viewer (namespace dv).
A distinction must be made between two types of funding/sponsorship for the portal:
Sponsorship for digitisation
The documentation of the use of the <dv:rights> element in the DDB can be found here.
<mets:amdSec ID="AMD">
<mets:rightsMD ID="RIGHTS">
<mets:mdWrap MDTYPE="OTHER" MIMETYPE="text/xml"
OTHERMDTYPE="DVRIGHTS">
<mets:xmlData>
<dv:rights>
...
<dv:sponsor>Förderer</dv:sponsor>
...
</dv:rights>
</mets:xmlData>
</mets:mdWrap>
</mets:rightsMD>
...
</mets:amdSec>
The representation is as in this example.
Donation of an object (the digitisation template)
The situation is different if it is to be made clear that a book, for example, has been donated to an organisation. In this case, the details are stored in the MODS section (<mods:name>).
The documentation on the use of the <mods:name> element in the DDB can be found here. At the bottom of the page is an example of funding (digitisation) - MARC Relator fnd (funder)-
A donor can be specified as follows.
<mets:dmdSec ID="DMD">
...
<mets:mdWrap MDTYPE="MODS">
<mets:xmlData>
<mods:name type="personal" valueURI="http://d-nb.info/gnd/1143543866">
<mods:displayForm>Mustermann, Max</mods:displayForm>
<mods:role>
<mods:roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="code"
valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/dnr">dnr</mods:roleTerm>
<mods:roleTerm type="text">Spender</mods:roleTerm>
</mods:role>
</mods:name>
</mets:xmlData>
</mets:mdWrap>
...
</mets:dmdSec>
It is also possible to specify the Provenance:
<note type="ownership">Dieses Buch gehörte Max Mustermann</note>
museum-digital
As many institutions enter their data directly in museum-digital, it is of course possible to work directly with the input mask.
With direct entry, a donation can also be entered as part of the object history (in the ‘Administration’ tab, “Date of acquisition”, “As”). But this is not the only option: It is also possible to enter an acknowledgement or to use the Events ‘Ownership’ or ‘Transfer title’. More on this in the comprehensive manual.
However, it is also possible to transfer the information during data import.
For example, there is the field owner_previous for the CSV import, but the other fields (“Date of acquisition”, “As”) do not seem to be supported by CSV.
In principle, museum-digital also offers a tool for quality assurance.
Archivportal-D
In the archive area (and thus the Archivportal-D), the EAD (Encoded Archival Description) format is used in the 2002 version in accordance with the EAD(DDB) 1.2 application profile. There are currently no explicit fields for donors or sponsors.
Here too, a distinction can be made between a grant (for digitisation or indexing) and a donation:
Sponsorship
It is recommended to use the <odd> element for sponsorship.
The documentation on the use of the <odd> element in the Archive Portal-D can be found here.
<odd>
<head>Förderung</head>
<p>Free text funding information</p>
<odd>
The representation is as in this example.
Donation of an object
The donation of a physical object can be mapped via a provenance specification. The <origination> element is used for this purpose
The documentation on the use of the <origination> element in the Archive Portal-D can be found at [https://wiki.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/spaces/DFD/pages/25133352/origination).
<origination label="Provenienz">
<name source="GND" authfilenumber="1143543866">Mustermann, Max</name>
</origination>
The use of the <name> element is optional; it is used to link the provenance location with a standard data record.
The representation is as in this example.
Potential improvements
German Digital Library (DDB) - METS/MODS
MODS also allows you to enter the acquisition in the <mods:note> element with the type="acquisition" attribute; this can also be a donation / gift. This variant may be more precise, as type="ownership" only specifies one previous owner.
<mods:note type="acquisition">Donated by Max Mustermann</mods:note>
Archive portal-D - EAD
For EAD, information can also be stored in <acqinfo> instead of <odd>, as in this example from the Encoded Archival Description Tag Library Version EAD3 1.1.2:
<acqinfo>
<p>The collection (Donor No.
<num localtype="donor"> 8338 </num>
) was donated by
<persname relator="donor">
<part>Vonda Thomas</part>
</persname>
and
<persname relator="donor">
<part>Francine Farrow</part>
</persname>
in March 1995.</p>
</acqinfo>
Acknowledgements
- Joshua Enslin, museum-digital
- Timo Schleier and Stefanie Rühle, Library Centre of the German Digital Library
- Dr Denise Ruisinger, Archive Department of the German Digital Library
Updates
- Comments incorporated
- METS/MODS as metadata formats for libraries not DDB in general
- Distinction between digitisation funding (for DDB and Archivportal-D) and object donations clarified
- EAD version and application profile added