LibGuides: Metadata Basics: Domain-Specific Standards

Overview

Different metadata standards have been developed to meet the needs of specific communities of practice, disciplines, or domains of knowledge. This page provides some prevalent examples, but is not a comprehensive list.

Arts & Humanities

Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA)
CDWA is a standard for the description of art, architecture, and other cultural works.
Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO)
CCO is a guide containing value standards for the description of art, architecture, archaeological artifacts, and other types of material culture.
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)
TEI is most commonly used for literary texts or manuscripts in the field of digital humanities.

Library & Information Science

Online Information Exchange (ONIX) for Books
ONIX is an international standard for representing and communicating book industry product information.
PBCore
PBCore is a metadata schema designed for sound and moving images.
Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS)
PREMIS is used for creating preservation metadata for digital objects.

Physical & Life Sciences

Crystallographic Information Framework/File (CIF)
CIF is a standard for archiving and reporting crystal structure data.
Darwin Core (DWC)
Darwin Core is an extension of Dublin Core for biological diversity data.
Ecological Metadata Language (EML)
EML a standard for the earth, environmental, and ecological sciences.
Flexible Image Transport System (FITS)
FITS is a standard used for astronomy image data.
NeXus
NeXus is an international standard for neutron, x-ray, and muon experiment data.
ISO 19115
ISO 19115 is an international standard for describing geographic information.
OpenGeoMetadata (OGM) Aardvark Schema
OpenGeoMetadata (OGM) is a metadata schema for geospatial resources.

Social & Behavioral Sciences

Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)
DDI is an international standard for describing social science datasets which includes a metadata specification, controlled vocabularies, and tools for working with DDI metadata.
Friend of a Friend (FOAF)
FOAF is a standard for social media and is focused on the relationships that connect people, places, and things described on the web.

Want More?

RDA Metadata Standards Catalog
A collaborative, open directory of metadata standards maintained by the Research Data Alliance.