C: Subject

Definition: The topic of the content of the resource.

Obligation: Mandatory.

What is this element?

The Subject element should tell the searcher what the resource is about. Typically, a subject will be expressed as keywords, key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic of the resource. Searchers can use the Subject element to find resources relating to a particular topic. For example, to find all resources related to "pests".

Selecting values for the subject element

Always keep the user in mind. Ask yourself, "if I were searching for information using this term, would I want to retrieve this particular resource?"

• Analyse the resource being described. Don't read the whole thing, but use the title, the contents, or any information about the resource to work out what the subject is of the resource as a whole.
• Be aware that the title does not always reflect the content of a resource. For example, the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" is about male-female communication, not astronomy.
• Use the most specific term you can find. Choose at least one term, but it is strongly recommended that you don't use more than five.
• If one available term is too general, select another as well - so that between the two terms your resource is more accurately defined.
• Be specific; do not use terms that are too broad, or too narrow.
• Using a broad term (e.g. "Oceans") to describe a resource on a more specific topic (e.g. "Pacific Ocean") would mean that users searching for information on "Oceans" would retrieve all information about all oceans - a possibly overwhelming set, not directly relevant to their search. Conversely, terms for individual oceans should not be used for a resource focusing only on "Oceans"' as a whole - even if particular oceans are mentioned.
• Do not repeat variations of terms, synonyms, case or tense, or alternate spellings.

A more detailed explanation is in ISO 5963 : 1985 "Documentation -- Methods for examining documents, determining their subjects, and selecting indexing terms".

Subject and Other Elements

Subject should tell the user what the resource or service is about, not who it is for (Audience).

Use in conjunction with Function. Function is about the role of the resource; Subject is about what is being focused on.

Type is used to describe the way the content is presented. For example, don't use 'Maps' as a subject if the resource is a map, in this case put 'Image/map' in the Type element. Do use 'Maps' as a subject term if the resource is about maps, mapmaking, cartography etc. Similarly, a set of statistics should have 'Dataset' as the Type not the Subject.

Coverage is used where the scope of content is limited to part of a range (e.g. of place and/or time aspects) of the content of the resource. It can be thought of as a secondary dimension of Subject serving as a limiting trait.

Repetition

When choosing from more than one controlled value list, repeat the element so that each set of subject terms is labelled with the identifier for the list selected from.

Qualifiers

Controlled vocabularies

Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.

Resources being described within the NZ Government should use the Subjects of New Zealand (SONZ) thesaurus.

Resources being described for the Government portals must use the Subjects of New Zealand (SONZ) thesaurus.

If the subject of an item is an individual or an organisation, use the NZGLS Agent schema.

Other subject thesauri may also be used if they are registered with the NZGLS maintenance agency [Archives New Zealand]. For metadata intended solely for Government web portals, this will be necessary only for specialist areas, such as scientific terms.

Encoding Schemes

Subjects of New Zealand (SONZ)

Choose at least one SONZ term. It is strongly recommended that you don't use more than five.

Selected NZGLS Agent Encoding Scheme Components

The NZGLS Agent Encoding Scheme is a set of components of contact information for persons or organisations. Components are optional and should only be used when they give useful information. The components most likely to be appropriate are:

Examples