Participants in VIA contribute their locally created cataloging in a common metadata format. Because VIA serves as a union catalog for many institutions with different kinds of visual materials and different research perspectives, the data elements in the VIA metadata format are more general than those in the contributors' local data. The OLIVIA support team can help new contributors determine how to map their existing data into the VIA format.
The metadata format defined by the VIA Access Working Group draws upon many nascent standards, particularly the Visual Resources Association Core Categories. XML is used as the transport syntax, and the VIA DTD and associated files are available from the Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems. The relationship of VIA metadata to existing standards is explained in The Development and Context of VIA Metadata Standards.
| VIA Record Field | Required** | Repeatable** | Definition/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record ID | Y | N | The unique identifier for the container, i.e. for the grouping of one or segments. It will consist of an alphabetic code for the contributing system, followed by the identifier assigned by the local system. Contributing system codes are assigned in consultation with the HUL Office for Information Systems. |
| VIA Segment Field | Required** | Repeatable** | Definition/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Segment type | Y | N | Group, Work, Surrogate |
| Item ID | N | Y | |
| - - Type | n | n | Term or phrase specifying type of ID |
| - - Number | y | n | Local or other identifier |
| Classification | N | Y | |
| - - Type | n | n | Specific scheme (e.g. LC, ICONCLASS) |
| - - Number | y | n | Classification number |
| Title | Y* |
Y | * Required for groups, or for works when there is no group, but not required for works under groups or for surrogates. |
| - - Type | n | n | Display text identifying the kind of title, e.g. "Translated title:" |
| - - Title text | y | n | Title of the group, work, or surrogate. All kinds of titles, including actual and supplied ones. |
| Work type | n | y | Kind of work described |
| Creator | N | Y | When this element is used, either the Name or the Nationality subelement must be present. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| - - Name | n | n | Name of creator |
| - - Dates | n | n | Birth, death, and/or activity dates of creator |
| - - Nationality | n | y | Nationality or culture of creator |
| - - Role | n | y | Creator's role in production of the work, group, or surrogate |
| Production | N | Y | When this element is used, at least one of the subelements must be present. |
| - - Place of creation | n | y | Place of creation or publication. |
| - - Publisher | n | n | Publisher |
| Date: structured | N | Y | Date the work was created, structured for retrieval. Will not be displayed. May include a single date or a beginning and ending date to express a range. |
| - - Begin Date | y | n | Single date or beginning of date range, expressed as 4-digit year |
| - - End Date | n | n | End of date range, expressed as a 4-digit year |
| Date: free text | N | Y | Textual statement of creation date(s) to be used for display only. |
| State/Edition | N | Y | |
| Description | N | Y | Free text description of work being described |
| Physical description note | N | Y | Free text -- includes quantity |
| Dimensions | N | Y | Free text -information about the size, shape, and scale of item, mat, plate, etc. |
| Personal Name | N | Y | |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| - - Name | n | n | Name of person |
| - - Dates | n | n | Birth, death, and/or activity dates of the person |
| - - Nationality | n | y | Nationality or culture of the person |
| - - Role | n | y | Specific relationship of the person to the group, work, or surrogate. E.g., owner, sitter, donor, etc. |
| Corporate Name | N | Y | |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| - - Name of body | y | n | Name of a corporation or government body associated with the work |
| - - Role | n | y | Specific relationship of the corporation or govt. entity to the work, group, or surrogate |
| Place Name | N | Y | Specific geographic locations as a subject of the material |
| - - Place | y | n | Geographic entries, including political jurisdictions, natural features (bays, deserts, mountains), geographic and celestial bodies, archaeological sites, cemeteries, parks, etc. where they are the subject of the material. See also "Production: Place of creation" and "Location" elements for other types of place information. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| Topics | N | Y | |
| - - Topic | y | n | Subjects, encompassing general terms found in LCSH; systematic names of families, genera, species in botany and zoology; chemical compounds; names of events or holidays; names of objects or classes of objects; names of deities, etc. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| Style/Period | N | Y | |
| - - Style/Period terms | y | n | Terms identifying a style, historical period, group, school or movement whose characteristics are represented in the work, group, or surrogate. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| Nationality/Culture | N | Y | |
| - - Nationality/Culture terms | y | n | Terms identifying a style, historical period, group, school or movement whose characteristics are represented in the work, group, or surrogate. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| Materials and techniques | N | Y | What the object(s) was made of and how it was made |
| Notes | N | Y | Any type of textual note. Consider including a label to specify the type of note, e.g., "Provenance:" |
| Location | N | Y | |
| - - Type | n | n | Display text identifying the relationship of the location to the work, etc., e.g. "Previous site:" |
| - - Location Name | y | n | Specific geographic location or site where the object was found, previously located, etc. |
| - - Source | n | n | Thesaurus or other source of controlled vocabulary. Contains codes drawn from a prescribed list. |
| Repository | Y* | N | *Required to be present
in each container, but not in any given segment. Institution where the group, work, or surrogate is housed. When this element is relevant and used, the Repository Name subelement must be present. |
| - - Repository Name | y | n | Name of institution where object or image is housed. When the institution is at Harvard/Radcliffe, the repository name will be drawn from a controlled list. |
| - - Note | n | y | E.g., location within repository. Free text. |
| - - Repository ID | n | y | Identifier assigned by the repository |
| Copyright | N | Y | When this element is used, at least one of the subelements must be present. |
| - - Statement | n | y | Textual statement of copyright. |
| - - Link | n | y | URL or URN link to copyright statement |
| Image | N | Y | Images from the collection or of the work being described. When this element is used, either the Inline Thumbnail Link or the Image Link subelement must be present. (Both may be present.) |
| - - Caption/Note | n | n | Specifying what the image depicts (e.g. verso, detail of hand, x-ray). May include size of file referred to in the Image Link subelement (e.g. 128 KB). |
| - - Thumbnail Restriction | n | n | Flag (Y/N) for system use to determine whether user must be validated to view the thumbnail image. Not for display |
| - - Thumbnail Link | n | n | For a thumbnail image. As data comes from the repository, this will be a filename. When loaded into VIA, the filename will be converted into a URL or URN link. |
| - - Image Restriction | n | n | Flag (Y/N) for system use to determine whether user must be validated to view full image. Not for display |
| - - Image Link | n | n | URL, URN link to image |
| Related Works | N | Y | |
| - - Title/Description | y | n | Works related to the object(s) described |
| - - Relationship | n | n | Relationship between the object(s) described and the related work. |
| Related Information | N | Y | |
| - - Description | n | n | Description of further information located outside of VIA. E.g., may link to fuller metadata record in repository's local system, if Web-accessible. |
| - - Link | n | n | URL or URN link to related information |
**For all fields in the VIA Segment table, Required and Repeatability are to be understood as follows:
- Uppercase Y/N are used to give the rules for use within the segment, and are used with bolded data elements
- Lowercase y/n are used to give the rules for the use of a subelement within the context of an element.
For example, subelement "Role" marked "Repeatable: Y" means it may be repeated within the "Creator" data element, while the subelement "Name", marked n, may not be repeated within one occurrence of the "Creator" data element. However, the larger element "Creator" may itself be repeated, so that the subelement "Name" may appear more than once in the record as a whole.