UNTL Metadata: Description

 

Input guidelines:

·        Enter descriptive text and comments about the resource. A free text descriptive information can be taken from the item itself. This may be the content of a video, a text, abstract or other structured description, a container, notes written on the back of a photograph, etc.

·        The description should be specialized information not included in other elements, concise and precise, while keeping in mind that the exact form and completeness of the Description is flexible and should be appropriate for the nature and importance of the resource.

·        Avoid any commentary or interpretation of the item being described. But you can use additional Description elements for the same Description translated into another language, and a transcript of an accompanying audio commentary.

·        Since the description field is a potentially rich source of indexable vocabulary, care should be taken in describing content. For instance, in the first one or two sentences all non-textual items should be described so that a patron who is visually disabled will understand its intellectual content if this is not already clear from the title.

·        As a rule of thumb, describe the item using only the information in hand without doing any additional research unless it is believed that additional research and description is required for a patron to locate the resource or to understand the intellectual content of the resource. N.B only if necessary an Encyclopedia or other reference source can be used. For example, if the resource is an image of a country's President, you may want to add the dates that the person held that office. If specific information is included from a reference source that would not be considered common knowledge, cite the reference source.

Examples:

• Images from the Dennis photo Collections of UNTL. Dennis was heading the Government Documents Department of the UNTL from 19## to 19## and retired in 19##.
• This is a close-up shot of Christina wearing a miniskirt, and blue shirt. Christina was one of the best Cheerleaders of the University of North Texas Chile in 1990’s. She graduated in August, 1999 and Christina moved to London, UK where she is originally from.

·        A conical shaped stone representing the "navel of the world" sits on top of a square platform surrounded by stone archaeological ruins at Delphi. "According to ancient Greek myth, Zeus released two eagles, one from the east, the other from the west, and caused them to fly toward the centre. They met at Delphi, and the spot was marked by a stone in the temple; this stone was known as the 'omphalos' (navel)." (cf. "Delphi" Britannica Online. [Accessed 20 November 1998].)

·        A picture of Chinese Astronomy. “The Chinese had a working calendar as early as the 13th cent. B.C. About 350 B.C., Shih Shen prepared the earliest known star catalog, containing 800 entries. Ancient Chinese astronomy is best known today for its observations of comets and supernovas. The Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians were also active in astronomy. The earliest astronomers were priests, and no attempt was made to separate astronomy from astrology. In fact, an early motivation for the detailed study of planetary positions was the preparation of horoscopes.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, [Accessed 01 February 2003].).  

·        Black and white photograph of a man and a child in a blue jeans and cow boy huts, identified on back as Mr. David and Christina, on Bradley Street Ranch.

·        Narcissa Niblack (1882-1966), daughter of William C. Niblack, president of
Chicago Title and Trust, married James Ward Thorne (1873-1946), son of
George Thorne, a founding partner of Montgomery Ward and Company, in 1901.
She began organizing her collection of miniatures c.1930, displaying the
original 30 miniature rooms at a reception at the Chicago Historical Society
in 1932. (This information comes from a small catalogue, "Miniature Rooms by Mrs. James Ward Thorne at the Phoenix Art Museum)

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