Creating metadata for batch upload

eCommons staff will work with collection coordinators to upload multiple items to collections. Coordinators should refer to the Metadata tips page in this guide and to the README page in the metadata template for guidance on the meaning and content of metadata fields; this page provides additional information on the correct formatting of those fields. Templates employ data validation whenever possible, and we provide formatting guidelines (below) for manually entered metadata. 

Metadata templates available on the eCommons wiki (access restricted to current collection coordinators; please contact eCommons adminstrators to request access.

Metadata formatting

Some or all of the following fields (or slight variations on them) may appear in a metadata template.

  • File name:REQUIRED. Copy or type the file name exactly, including the extension (.PDF, for example). See the "Create List of File Names" tab for some tips on creating an error-free list of file names.
  • Collection_name: REQUIRED. Copy or type the collection name exactly. 
  • Collection_URL: REQUIRED. Copy or type the collection URL exactly.
  • Author (or Authors): RECOMMENDED. Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc. 
  • Editor: OPTIONAL. Use only for issue-level content (eg: table of contents). Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc.
  • Translator: OPTIONAL. Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc. 
  • Committee_chair_or_advisor: RECOMMENDED IF APPLICABLE. Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc. 
  • Committee_cochair: OPTIONAL. Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc. 
  • Committee_member:OPTIONAL. Format as: Lastname1, Firstname1|Lastname2, Firstname2 etc. 
  • Title: REQUIRED. Capitalize the first word and proper nouns; do not use all capital letters. 
  • Pub_year: REQUIRED. Format as YYYY, validated field.
  • Pub_month: OPTIONAL. Integer between 1 and 12, validated field. 
  • Pub_day: OPTIONAL. Integer between 1 and 31, validated field. 
  • Journal_or_series: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE. Full title of journal or series.
  • Vol_IssueNumber: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE. Vol. [#] (eg: Vol. 102).
  • Publisher: OPTIONAL. No formatting requirements. 
  • Relationship: OPTIONAL. Relationship to another item. For example, if an article is a review, should follow the format: "Review of: [citation of work reviewed]"
  • Citation: OPTIONAL. If previously published, enter citation information in any standard citation format. 
  • Language: OPTIONAL. Validated field.
  • COPYFN_Lang_code: OPTIONAL. Validated field; will auto-populate based on language selection.
  • Type: REQUIRED. Validated field. 
  • Access_Feature: Content features of the resource, such as accessible media, supported enhancements for accessibility and alternatives. Validated field.
  • Access_Sum: Recommended. A human-readable summary of specific accessibility features or deficiencies, consistent with the other accessibility metadata but expressing subtleties such as "short descriptions are present but long descriptions will be needed for non-visual users" or "short descriptions are present and no long descriptions are needed."
  • AV_Hazard: Highly recommended for a/v content. A characteristic of the described resource that is physiologically dangerous to some users. Validated field.
  • Mandatory_keywords: OPTIONAL. Some collections apply a standard keyword or phrase to every item in order to improve search results. These are in addition to author-supplied keywords. Separate multiple keywords with a pipe ("|").
  • Keywords (or Author_keywords): HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Separate multiple keywords with a pipe ("|").
  • Abstract: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Line breaks not allowed, but no formatting requirements. 
  • Description: OPTIONAL. No formatting requirements.
  • CC_license: (Creative Commons license). OPTIONAL. Validated field.
  • COPYFN_CC_URI: Auto-populates based on selection of CC_license.
  • Degree_discipline: RECOMMENDED IF APPLICABLE. Refer to Cornell Fields of Study.
  • Degree_level: RECOMMENDED IF APPLICABLE. 
  • Degree_name: RECOMMENDED IF APPLICABLE. Concatenation of Degree_name and Degree_discipline.
  • Embargo_end_year: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE. Format as YYYY, validated field. See eCommons Access policy.
  • Embargo_end_month: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE. Integer between 1 and 12, validated field. 
  • Embargo_end_day: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE. Integer between 1 and 31, validated field. 
  • Publisher_DOI: REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE.
  • Release_form_filename: REQUIRED if present. Copy or type the file name exactly, including the extension (.PDF, for example). Suggested file name structure: LastnameFirstname_YYYY_FERPA.PDF, LastnameFirstname_authorrelease.PDF, as appropriate.
  • Release_form_hdl: REQUIRED if applicable. If an applicable release form has been deposited to eCommons, include the complete eCommons handle for archived release form (e.g. https://hdl.handle.net/1813/….).

In order to create an accurate list of filenames for your batch upload, we highly recommend using an automated method as opposed to manually typing the filenames or copying and pasting them one by one. You can then copy and paste the list of filenames with extensions into your template.

PLEASE NOTE that these methods will create a new file in your directory which must be removed before pasting the list into the metadata template.

Also note:

  • File names should not include spaces or special characters. More information on file naming best practices.
  • File names in the metadata must match actual file names exactly, and include the file extension.

Windows

How to create a file list at a command prompt

  1. In Windows 10, click start and type “cmd” and “Enter” to open the Command Prompt
  2. At a command prompt, locate the drive that contains the folder whose contents you want to list. For example, if you want to create a text file that contains a list of the contents of a folder on drive C, type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

c:

  1. At a command prompt, locate the folder whose contents you want to list. For example, if you want to create a text file that contains a list of the contents in the Windows folder on drive C, type the following commands at a command prompt, and press ENTER after you type each command:

cd\
cd windows

  1. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER, where filename is the name of the text file that you are creating:

dir /B > file.txt

For example, if you want to create a file named Windowsfolderlist.txt, type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

dir /B > windowsfolderlist.txt

NOTE: The text file that you create is located in the folder that you are in when you follow these steps. In the earlier example, the Windowsfolderlist.txt file is located in the Windows folder.

  1. Use a text editor, such as Notepad, to view or print this file.

NOTE: You cannot export or print a list of the files that are contained in a folder in Windows Explorer.

(Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/196158/how-to-create-a-text-file-list-of-the-contents-of-a-folder)

Use an application

  1. Download application “File-List-tool.bat"
  2. Copy and paste “File-List-Tool.bat” into the directory you wish to make a list of.
    1. If your computer security shows warnings, select “Run Anyways” or otherwise grant permissions to the application.
  3. After running, you will notice a new file named “file-list.txt” has been created in the directory. This is an alphabetical list of files in the directory.

Mac

How to make a file list with TextEdit

  1. Choose Finder (at the top of the screen) > Preferences, then click Advanced.
  2. Select “Show all filename extensions.”
  3. Open the folder whose contents you want to list.
  4. Press “Command-A” to select all items in the folder
  5. Press “Command-C” to copy the list
  6. Open TextEdit by opening the Finder, selecting “Applications” and opening TextEdit
  7. Choose Format > Make Plain Text
  8. Press “Command-V” to paste the list of files with extensions into the document.
  9. Save the document.

How to make a file list using Terminal

  1. Open the Finder, click on Applications, and open the Utilities folder
  2. Open the Terminal application
  3. In the Terminal, locate the folder whose contents you want to list. For example, if you want to create a text file that contains a list of the contents of a folder on the Desktop called “Example”, type the following commands at a command prompt, and press ENTER after you type each command:

cd Desktop
cd Example

  1. To make a list of the files in the folder “Example” type:

ls > file-list.txt

NOTE: The text file that you create is located in the folder that you are in when you follow these steps.

When a user browses a collection, items are displayed in reverse chronological order in which they are uploaded into eCommons (newest items first), even for items uploaded in batch. If default display order is important to you, you must order your items in the metadata template with those you want to appear last at the top of the spreadsheet, and those you want to appear first at the bottom of the spreadsheet. 

Please do note that the user can change the order in which items are displayed, and that with subsequent batch uploads, the newest items will always appear at the top by default.

 

Language codes

Value Language
en_US English (United States)
en English
ar Arabic
bn Bengali
my Burmese
ca Catalan
zh Chinese
da Danish
nl Dutch
fr French
de German
he Hebrew
hi Hindi
hu Hungarian
is Icelandic
it Italian
ja Japanese
jv Javanese
ko Korean
la Latin
ml Malay
mr Marathi
ne Nepali
pt Portuguese
pa Punjabi
ro Romanian
ru Russian
es Spanish
ta Tamil
te Telugu
tr Turkish
ur Urdu
vi Vietnamese
other Other language
   

Accessibility features

Content features of the resource, such as accessible media, supported enhancements for accessibility and alternatives. Controlled values:

  • alternativeText: Alternative text is provided for visual content (e.g., via the HTML alt attribute).
  • bookmarks: The work includes bookmarks to facilitate navigation to key points.
  • captions: Indicates that synchronized captions are available for audio and video content.
  • ChemML: Identifies that chemical information is encoded using the ChemML markup language.
  • describedMath: Textual descriptions of math equations are included, whether in the alt attribute for image-based equations, using the alttext attribute for MathML equations, or by other means.
  • displayTransformability: Display properties are controllable by the user. This property can be set, for example, if custom CSS style sheets can be applied to the content to control the appearance. It can also be used to indicate that styling in document formats like Word and PDF can be modified.
  • highContrastAudio: Audio content with speech in the foreground meets the contrast thresholds set out in WCAG Success Criteria 1.4.7. The success criterion the audio meets can be appeneded, but is not required: no background, reudced background or switchable background.
  • highContrastDisplay: Content meets the visual contrast threshold set out in WCAG Success Criteria 1.4.6 [nb: 4.5:1 for AA].
  • largePrint: The content has been formatted to meet large print guidelines. The specific point size may optionally be added as an extension. The property is not set if the font size can be increased. See displayTransformability.
  • longDescription: Descriptions are provided for image-based visual content and/or complex structures such as tables, mathematics, diagrams and charts.
  • MathML: Indicates that the resource is formatted using MathML, an XML-based specification for describing mathematical expressions so that they can be displayed, manipulated and shared over the World Wide Web.
  • readingOrder: The reading order of the content is clearly defined in the markup (e.g., figures, sidebars and other secondary content has been marked up to allow it to be skipped automatically and/or manually escaped from.
  • structuralNavigation: The use of headings in the work fully and accurately reflects the document hierarchy, allowing navigation by assistive technologies.
  • taggedPDF: The structures in a PDF have been tagged to improve the navigation of the content.
  • transcript: Indicates that a transcript of the audio content is available.
  • unlocked: No digital rights management or other content restriction protocols have been applied to the resource.
  • none

Accessibility hazards

A characteristic of the described resource that is physiologically dangerous to some users. If none of the hazards are known to exist instead of calling out each nonHazard it is recommended to use "none". If the content has hazard(s), include positive assertions for the hazards it has and negative assertions for the others.

Controlled values:

  • none: Resource has been found to not have flashing, motion simulation or sound hazards.
  • flashing: Resource flashes more than three times a second; it can cause seizures
  • noFlashingHazard
  • motionSimulation: Resource simulates motion; it can cause a user to become nauseated
  • noMotionSimulationHazard
  • sound: Resource contains certain sound patterns, such as ringing and buzzing, which can cause seizure; or abrupt loud noises which can cause pain.
  • noSoundHazard
  • unknown: Resource has not been evaluated for the presence of hazardous content.

Accessibility summary

A human-readable summary of specific accessibility features or deficiencies, consistent with the other accessibility metadata but expressing subtleties such as "short descriptions are present but long descriptions will be needed for non-visual users" or "short descriptions are present and no long descriptions are needed."