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Source Field

Field name: Your choice (default = “Source”)

DC Element: Source

Dublin Core defines this element as “a reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived.” For instance, Source could be the book or journal from which a scanned article was taken, or the name of the original collection or repository in which the scanned resource resides.

Examples of field names:

  • Source
  • Original Source
  • Collection
  • Repository
  • Image Source
  • Journal Citation

Examples of data:

  • Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Industries and Occupations Collection
  • Journal of American Reptiles, v. 53, no. 3 (Mar. 1989)

Recommended format:

  • Use a consistent style for citations to books or journals (MLA, APA, etc.)
  • Use a consistent form for names (same name, same form). See controlled vocabularies.

Recommended controlled vocabulary:

For the names of organizations:

  • Library of Congress/National Authority File (LCAF): List maintained by LC and other libraries. This is the largest file of names (over 4 million) and covers names from many different subject areas and disciplines. It is also the authority file used by the UW Libraries Catalog and all UW Libraries digital projects. You can find authorized forms of names in the Library of Congress Authorities by doing a Name Authority Heading search.
  • Union List of Artist Names (ULAN): Vocabulary maintained by the Getty Research Institute. The ULAN “contains around 220,000 names and other information about artists. The coverage of the ULAN is from Antiquity to the present, and the scope is global. The scope of the ULAN includes any identified individual or “corporate body” (i.e., a group of people working together) involved in the design or creation of art and architecture.”

For citations to books or journals:

  • To verify the correct title, publisher, year, etc., in your citation, you could check a large library catalog (like the UW Libraries Catalog or the Library of Congress Catalog) by doing a title or author search, or you could check a standard reference source (index or database) in your field.