Metadata Standard Checklist

Updated January 2022

Below are the minimum metadata fields for the Alaska Region Metadata Standard 2022 update. Some data types such as geospatial data have additional metadata requirements.

Basic Information

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Title*	Required	Required
Status	Required	Required
Resource Type	Required; default is 'project'	Required
Point of Contact*	Required	Required; i.e. data steward
Custodian	Required	Required
Principal Investigator	As applicable	As applicable
Administrator	Best Practice	Best Practice
Administrative Region	Required	Required
co-Principal Investigator	As applicable
Originator (aka producer)		Required
Owner	Required i.e. data trustee	Best Practice i.e. data trustee
Contributor (i.e. partner organization)	Best Practice, if applicable	Best Practice, if applicable
Abstract*	Required	Required
Start Date*	Required	Required
End Date*	Required, if applicable	Required, if applicable

Citation Information

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Title	Required (autopopulated)	Required (autopopulated)
Acquisition Date		Best Practice, if applicable
Creation Date*	Required (or Date Updated)	Required
Date Updated	Required (or Creation Date)	Required, if applicable
Date Published		Best Practice for report or manuscript
Responsible party(s)	Required	Required
Principal Investigator	Best Practice
Publisher (organization)	Required	Required
Contributor (i.e. partner organization)	Best Practice, if applicable	Best Practice, if applicable
Online Resource	Best Practice, if applicable	Best Practice, if applicable
DOI Identifier	Best Practice, if applicable	Best Practice, if applicable

Metadata Information

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Metadata Status	Required	Required
Creation Date	Required (or Date Updated)	Required (or Date Updated)
Date Updated	Required (or Creation Date)	Required (or Creation Date)
Author	Required	Required
Publisher	Best Practice	Best Practice
Point of Contact	Required	Required

Keywords

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
ISO Topic Category	Best Practice	Best Practice
GCMD keywords*	Required	Required
Taxonomic Classification (ITIS)	Required, if applicable	Required, if applicable

Extent*

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
General Extent	Best Practice, if applicable	Best Practice, if applicable
Geographic Extent	Best Practice, if applicable	Required for geospatial data

Associations

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Associated Resource*	Required, if applicable	Required, if applicable

Distribution Information

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Distributor role	Required (default USFWS-AK)	Required (default USFWS-AK)
Online Transfer Name*	Best Practice	Best Practice
Description	Best Practice	Best Practice
Online Transfer URL	Required	Required
Online Transfer Function	Best Practice	Best Practice
Online Transfer size*	Best Practice	Best Practice
Distribution Format name, version, & compression*		Best Practice

Constraints Information

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Access Constraints*	N/A	Required, if applicable
Use Constraints*	N/A	Required, if applicable
License*	N/A	Open Access license is default

Dictionary

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Dictionary	N/A	Required, if applicable

Association Types

Metadata Field	Project metadata	Product metadata
Association Type	Required, if applicable	Required, if applicable

Contact Metadata

Metadata Field	Individual Contact metadata	Organization Contact metadata
Contact Type	Required	Required
Name	Required, or Position	Required
Position	Required, or Individual Name	N/A
Member Organization	Required	Best Practice, if applicable
Email Address	Required	N/A
Online Resource	Best Practice	Best Practice
Phone Number	Best Practice	Best Practice
Office Address	Best Practice	Best Practice

National Archiving Requirements

NARA requires a number of metadata elements for transfer of electronic records into the National Archive. These requirements are adapted from the Dublin Core metadata. For reference, required NARA fields are notes with an asterisk (*) in the checklist above. For further information, refer to NARA Bulletin 2015-04, Appendix A.