Multilingual MODS form fields

Owned by Garrett, Chad G
Last updated: Nov 14, 2022 by MM Hanke
1 min read

List of form fields that allow users to specify the language of metadata entered. Click on the title of a form field to access more detailed documentation, for instance about the underlying MODS XML elements.

Please refer to the UT Libraries Metadata Documentation for guidelines and templates: UT Libraries Metadata Documentation

Digital Asset Level

  • Page:
    Contributor — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <name>

    Short definition: Person, organization, or event (conference, meeting, etc.) associated in some way with the resource.

    Input guidelines: At least one contributor name or "no attribution" statement required. Multiple Contributors can be added to an asset's metadata. Designate a primary contributor, even if only one contributor is entered. If one contributor has multiple roles, repeat entire Contributor section with new role term. To input name and type, use authority list of names (NAF, VIAF, or local authority). If no authority is available for personal names, input Last Name, First Name. For local authorities, enter authority URI with a description of the authority file. For role terms, input MARC 21 Relator terms (not codes), ULAN terms or local authority terms.
  • Page:
    Description — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <abstract>

    Short definition: A summary of the content of the resource.

    Input guidelines: Can include an abstract, table of contents, or account of described resource. This element provides end users with information about the digital resource that assists them in making a judgment about its likely usefulness, and also provides context, if needed, for controlled vocabulary used in the record. When creating a MODS record for a digital surrogate, record a summary of the content of the original resource. If only a portion of the resource was digitized, summarize only that portion. Do not include raw OCR output or full-text transcription of a textual or linguistic resource. At least one “eng” entry is required. Enter the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-3 language codes. The use of a content standard of choice is strongly recommended. Follow your unit/collection guidelines per Supervisor/Collection Owner.
  • Page:
    Form or Medium — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <physicalDescription><form>

    Short definition: A designation of a particular physical presentation of a resource, including the physical form or medium of material for a resource.

    Input guidelines: Characterize the form of the digitized or analog original using terms describing the material, support, or technique. Use authority control, e.g. AAT, TGM, LCGFT or locally controlled vocabularies. This field/element set is not used to describe the content of a resource. Use the Genre and/or Type of Resource elements to describe the content of the resource. If you do not use a controlled vocabulary, check the Type facet on the Collections portal to avoid spelling variants for uncontrolled terms.
  • Page:
    Genre — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <genre>

    Short definition: A term or phrase that designates a category characterizing a particular style, form, or content, such as artistic, musical, cinematic, literary composition, etc.

    Input guidelines: Describe the content of the resource (e.g.; daguerreotypes, short films, portraits). Use the Form/Medium field set to characterize the physical form of the resource itself. Designate a primary genre, even if only one genre is entered. Use authority control and enter term from a recommended vocabulary: Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Thesaurus for Graphic Materials, Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms, Library of Congress Subject Headings.
  • Page:
    Language — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <language>

    Short definition: A designation of the language in which the content of a resource is expressed.

    Input guidelines: Enter the full (English) language name in the Language Name text field, as found in the list of language Reference Names provided by SIL: https://iso639-3.sil.org/code_tables/download_tables. Capitalize the first letter of the name. If the asset does not contain linguistic content, enter "not applicable" (no capitalization). In the Language Code field, indicate the language of the resource by entering the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-3 language codes. If the language name is given as 'not applicable' (the asset does not contain linguistic content), use code 'zxx'.
  • Page:
    MODS Language of Cataloging — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <recordInfo><languageOfCataloging>

    Short definition: The language of the text of the cataloging in the MODS record.

    Input guidelines: Indicate the language of the text of the cataloging by entering the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-2b language codes.  Designate a primary language, even if only one language is entered.
  • Page:
    Place of Publication or Origin — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <originInfo><place>

    Short definition: Name of a place associated with the issuing, publication, release, distribution, manufacture, production, or origin of a resource.

    Input guidelines: Refer to content standards like RDA or DACS to determine which places to input. Indicate the language of the Place by entering the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-3 language codes. Designate a primary place, even if only one place is entered.
  • Page:
    Publisher — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <originInfo><publisher>

    Short definition: The name of the entity that published, printed, distributed, released, issued, or produced the resource, or a statement about publication/origin.

    Input guidelines: Input a named entity determined to be the publisher/originator for a resource or a statement about publication/origin. Descriptive standards such as RDA or DACS should be used to format the name of the publisher.
  • Page:
    Related Resource — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <relatedItem type="host" displayLabel="Parent work"> or <relatedItem type="series"> or <relatedItem> (no attributes)

    Short definition: Information that identifies other resources related to the one being described, excluding information entered for Source collection or Digital collection.

    Input guidelines: Enter information that identifies other resources related to the one being described. Identify parent works, series that the asset is a part of, or other general related resources that aren't otherwise captured by Digital Collection or Source Collection fields.

    Do not enter information about an asset's parent collection in the DAMS.

    Information about the DAMS parent collection of an asset is automatically added upon ingest.
  • Page:
    Repository — REQUIRED MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <location><physicalLocation>

    Short definition: The institution or repository that holds the original resource or where it is available.

    Input guidelines: Contains the name of the repository owning the physical original of a digitized resource. Controlled terminology, only the following values are currently permitted for this field/element:

    • Alexander Architectural Archives, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Architecture and Planning Library Special Collections, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Architecture and Planning Library, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Fine Arts Library, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Perry-Castañeda Library Maps, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    • University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin (default)
    • Walter Geology Library, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin

    If you need additional values for this field, please consult with the DAMS management team.
  • Page:
    Source Collection — MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <relatedItem type="source" displayLabel="Source collection" usage="primary">

    Short definition: Primary physical or digital collection the asset originated from. Distinct from Digital Collection.

    Input guidelines: Input name and identifiers of a primary physical or digital collection context from which the asset originated. If you enter information about a primary digital collection as Source Collection, do not duplicate this information in the Digital Collection fields/elements.

    Recommended for digitized assets, especially those intended for public access. Collection names and identifiers should be as standardized as possible. Follow your unit/collection guidelines per Supervisor/Collection Owner. Enter URI, PID, and local identifiers when available.

    The title entered for Source Collection is used to generate a search facet in the Collections portal.

    Use consistent spelling for the Source Collection Title, as spelling variants or typos will result in separate facets being generated.

    Source Collection information is not required, but it is highly recommended to enter at least the title of a Source Collection. Consider supplying a collection name to facilitate browsing if now established collection name exists. Information in this field/element is currently the only structured information allowing to browse assets by their collection context in the Collections portal.
  • Page:
    Subject: Geographic Term — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <subject><geographic>

    Short definition: General geographic term that represents the primary topic on which the resource is focused.

    Input guidelines: One geographic term must be designated as primary for display/browse and/or citation purposes. Indicate the language of the geographic term by entering the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-3 language codes. At least one English ("eng") entry is required.
  • Page:
    Subject: Hierarchical Geographic Terms — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <subject><hierarchicalGeographic>

    Short definition: A geographic name given in a hierarchical form relating to the resource.

    Input guidelines: Use geographic name terms that are as specific as necessary or appropriate. First order political divisions may have different terms depending on the country. It is recommended to provide geographic terms that fall above the most specific term in the hierarchy (i.e. referring to larger geographic entities), to avoid ambiguity and to facilitate search and browsing.

    In general, use the term(s) most commonly used in the original language or its translation for a geographic entity. Form fields in a fieldset must be input in the same language.

    The following hierarchy levels are currently available in the DAMS:

    • country: Name of a country, i.e. a political entity considered a country.
    • region: Includes regions that have status as a jurisdiction, as well as regions incorporating more than one first level jurisdiction (e.g. Middle East).
    • state: Includes first order political divisions called states within a country, e.g. in U.S., Argentina, Italy. Use also for French départements.
    • territory: Name of a geographical area belonging to or under the jurisdiction of a governmental authority.
    • county: Name of the largest local administrative unit in various countries.
    • city: Name of an inhabited place incorporated as a city, town, etc.
    • city section: Name of a smaller unit within a populated place, e.g., neighborhood, city or local park, street, street address, zip/postal code, census tract number, or district.
    • area: Names of non-jurisdictional geographic entities. Use area for continents, islands (a tract of land surrounded by water and smaller than a continent but not itself a separate country), and extraterrestrial areas (any extraterrestrial entity or space, including solar systems, galaxies, star systems, planets and geographic features of individual planets). Area may be used for terms that do not fit neatly into other designations in this hierarchy.

    The Place Name facet on the start page of the Collections portal is generated from entries in the Subject: Geographic Term form field/<geographic> element.

    If you want to create a Place Name facet for an asset you are describing, copy one or more terms from the hierarchical description into the Geographic Term field/element.
  • Page:
    Subject: Temporal Coverage — REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <subject><temporal>

    Short definition: The time period, date, or date range the content of the resource is about.

    Input guidelines: Temporal Coverage may be expressed as a controlled subject term or as a structured date. Enter a named time period (Elizabethan), date (YYYY-MM-DD), or date range (YYYY/YYYY, YYYY-YYYY, YYYY to YYYY). Recommended authorities are AAT, LCSH and PeriodO. Input dates in structured format YYYY-MM-DD. If only part of a date is known, enter year and month only (YYYY-MM) or year only (YYYY). To record time intervals, preferably append a forward slash ('/') to the start date of the interval, followed by the end date of the interval, without spaces between dates and separator (example: 2012-05-29/2012-05-31).
  • Page:
    Subject: Topic — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element name: <subject><topic>

    Short definition: Topic the described resource is about.

    Input guidelines: At least one English topic term required. Use authority control if appropriate. If you do not use a controlled vocabulary, check the Topic facet on the Collections portal to avoid spelling variants for uncontrolled terms. Follow your unit/collection guidelines.
  • Page:
    Title — REQUIRED REPEATABLE MULTILINGUAL

    MODS Element: <titleInfo>

    Short definition: Name given to the resource to be described.

    Input guidelines: At least one Title with language attribute is required. Designate a primary title, even if only one title is entered. Variants of a Titles can be added to an asset's metadata, e.g. a translated title, alternative titles or uniform (authority-controlled) title forms. If entering additional titles, pay close attention to fields Title Type, Primary Title, and Authority. Input the title as it appears on the piece. Refer to content standards like CCO, RDA, DACS, or DCRM(x). For objects that don't have a title on the piece, provide a concise title that will assist end users in deciding whether to investigate a resource further. Otherwise, "primary title not available" will display in the DAMS. The subtitle may be included as part of the title or in an optional subtitle field to store and display the information as a separate element.

    Title type is optional but recommended if applicable:

    • Uniform title: A title or form of title that is chosen to identify a work and is an authorized access point representing the work.   For uniform titles, indicate authority NAF or VIAF in the authority field.

    • Alternative title: Varying forms of title associated with the item, whether or not the title is on the piece.

    • Translated title: A title that has been translated into a different language. 

    Indicate the language of the title by entering the appropriate three-letter language code from ISO-639-2 language codes.

Collection Level

🙋 Click here to create a DAMS service request