Community Collections Metadata – JSTOR Forum Support

Forum can help scholars find your collections

We’ve kept the required data to a minimum, but the more information you can share, the more likely it will be that the widest possible audience can find objects from your collection.

On this page:

Required fields
Strongly recommended fields
Recommended fields
Why better data matters
Resource Type Values
List of Resource Types

Required fields

Identifier - an ID for the object that a scholar can use to ISSN, ISBN, DOI, OCLC
number, a local identifier, etc.

Strongly recommended fields

Source - name of the institution that provided the source/digitized content
Title - title of the item being described.
License - terms under which the digital object may be used by others. Recommended
best practice is to use a controlled statement from CreativeCommons.org.
Rights - copyright status of the digital object. Recommended best practice is to use a
controlled statement from RightsStatements.org. Note that under current publishing functionality the JSTOR "Rights" and "License" publishing target fields do not publish to JSTOR.
Resource Type - Setting Resource Type controls how your content will be displayed on JSTOR. You can select from a list of possible values, see the section below, and these match one of the Content Types supported on JSTOR e.g. Books, Images, Serials, Documents, and Audiovisual. If your collection consists primarily of images, or contains multiple kinds of content, please make sure to note that in the Resource Type field by selecting the best broad category of content for that object from the list of possible values. By default, Resource Type is set to Image.

The more detailed information you are able to provide, the easier it will be for users to search for and discover your content.

Recommended fields

Structural - how your objects are organized
- E.g. Volume, Issue, Text Directionality, Series, Container, Compilation
Descriptive - used for discovery and search
- E.g. Description, Abstract, Subjects, Dates, Locations, and Custom Fields

Why better data matters

Your data powers search, browse, and discovery on JSTOR. When calculating relevance and ranking results in response to user searches, we use selections of data coming directly from the information you provide. We also use structural data to organize users’ browse experience. And rights status is an increasingly important filter for users looking for content they can re-use.

Resource Type values

Select from the list of Resource Type values listed below in the second column.
Resource Type displays along with other item-level metadata on the content item page.
Resource Type also rolls up to a broad Content Type, which enables the narrowing of search results through facets on the JSTOR UI.
Publishing to JSTOR does not currently support audio or video content.

List of resource types

Content Type	Resource Type	Resource Type Definition / Details
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	3D Laser Scans	Results of laser scanning operations consisting of point coordinates (xyz) on an object's surface. The collection of these points is called a point cloud. When displayed on a computer screen point clouds provide a visual impression of the object surface. Individual point clouds of an object can be combined and processed to create a 3D model.
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	3D Models	Refers to three-dimensional scaled visual representations of physical objects or structures in digital form. The level of represented detail varies and is differentiated on a relative scale as high-, medium- or low- resolution. Surfaces of 3D models are represented by polygons, generally in triangle form.
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	3D Renderings
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Animations
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Audio Recordings
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Audiovisual	Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. Encompasses sound recordings, video, interactive resource or 3-D object, and multimedia (any two or more media types cataloged together, e.g. a recording of a speech and the written transcript of that speech).
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Geographic Information Systems (GIS)	Refers to combined software and hardware systems that relate and display collected information concerning phenomena associated with location relative to the Earth. They often have the ability to overlay temporal information or information related to geology, ecology, weather, land use, demographics, transportation, or other data on top of existing geographic base data.
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Photogrammetry
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Terrain Models
Audiovisual (not yet supported, currently rolls up to Images)	Video Recordings	Used for works presented in the form of a series of pictures carried on photographic film or video tape, presented to the eye in such rapid succession as to make it impossible to distinguish individual images and thus give the illusion of continuous, natural movement.
Books	Bibliographies	Lists of books or other textual materials arranged in some logical order giving brief information about the works, such as author, date, publisher, and place of publication; may be works by a particular author, or on a particular topic.
Books	Biographies	Written accounts of the lives of individuals.
Books	Book Chapters
Books	Books	Collections of wood or ivory tablets, or sheets of paper, parchment, or similar material, that are blank, written on, or printed, and are strung or bound together; commonly many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing; especially, when printed, a bound volume, or a volume of some size. Can be used as a specific resource type, or can be used if a more appropriate resource type is unavailable.
Books	Dissertations	Written treatises, or the records of a discourse on a subject, usually prepared and presented as the final requirement for a degree or diploma and typically based on independent research and giving evidence of the candidate's mastery of the subject and of scholarly method.
Books	Incunabula	Books, pamphlets, or broadsides printed in Europe before 1500/1501. They are distinct from manuscripts, which are documents written by hand. May be used for cradle books and incunables.
Books	Proceedings	Records of meetings of a society, conference or other organization, usually published, and frequently accompanied by abstracts or reports of papers presented.
Books	Reference Sources	Sources intended primarily for consultation rather than for consecutive reading.
Books	Sketchbooks	Books or pads containing sketches
Books	Scrapbooks	Blank books or albums designed so that a variety of items may be affixed to the pages, including photographs, clippings, and other memorabilia (Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus).
Books	Theses
Books	Yearbooks	Books published annually as a compendium, report, or summary of the statistics or facts of a calendar year and intended as reference books, limited to a special subject. Use also for school yearbooks, which provide information and often photographs relating to activities and the students at the school during the previous year.
Documents	Affidavits	Sworn statements in writing; especially made upon oath before an authorized magistrate or officer.
Documents	Briefs (Legal Documents)	Concise statements of the arguments of a party to a case in dispute, submitted to the court or other body hearing the case.
Documents	Catalogs	Enumerations of items, such as a file of bibliographic records, school courses or a list of art objects, usually arranged systematically and with descriptive details. Use for art museum or exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, course catalogs, product catalogs, catalogues raisonnés, accession catalogs, mail order catalogs, etc.
Documents	Circulars	Use for printed pieces such as notices or advertisements, usually in the form of single sheets or leaflets, intended for wide distribution to the general public.
Documents	Clippings	Illustrations, pages, articles, or columns of text removed from books, newspapers, journals, or other printed sources.
Documents	Constitutions	Documents embodying the fundamental organic law of government of a nation, state, society, or other organized body; laying down fundamental rules and principles for the conduct of affairs.
Documents	Correspondence	Any forms of addressed and written communication sent and received, including letters, postcards, memorandums, notes, telegrams, or cables.
Documents	Diaries	Books containing the daily, personal accounts of the writer's own experiences, attitudes, and observations.
Documents	Documents	Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. Text-based singular items that may be brief or shorter in length than a book or serial.
Documents	Essays	Short literary compositions on single subjects, often presenting the personal view of the author.
Documents	Field Notes	Notes, often in books, kept by researchers or surveying parties while on site.
Documents	Finding Aids	Documents, published or unpublished, listing or describing a body of records within a records center or archives, making them more readily accessible and comprehensible to the user.
Documents	Government Documents	Documents made or received by an agency of government and maintained in the conduct of government business.
Documents	Hearings	Meetings or sessions in which testimony, evidence, or arguments are presented in a formal setting, usually before an official.
Documents	Historic Copies
Documents	Histories	Use to designate chronological records of events, as of the life or development of a people, country, or institution.
Documents	Interviews	Statements, transcripts, or recordings of conversations in which one person obtains information from another such as for research purposes, publication, or broadcast.
Documents	Legal Documents	General term for documents having legal relevance.
Documents	Letters (Correspondence)	Pieces of correspondence that are somewhat more formal than memoranda or notes, usually on paper and delivered.
Documents	Manuscripts	Handwritten documents; may also be used to distinguish certain documents from published or otherwise printed documents, as in the cases of typed personal letters or a typescript from which printed versions are made.
Documents	Memoirs	Narratives or histories autobiographical in nature or stressing the author's personal experience of the events.
Documents	Memorandums	Documents recording information used for internal communication.
Documents	Minutes	Records of what was said and done at meetings or conferences.
Documents	Musical Works	Various forms of printed music, including sheet music, music scores, music books, songbooks, and song lyrics (with or without musical notation). Note: Use narrower term "Sheet Music" specifically for sheet music only.
Documents	Notes	Brief statements of a fact or experience, written down for review, or as an aid to memory, or to inform someone else; also includes short, informal letters.
Documents	Oral Histories	Works that record interviews conducted to preserve the recollections of persons whose experience or memories are representative or are of special historical or social significance.
Documents	Pamphlets	Complete, non-periodical printed works generally of few pages, sometimes with a paper cover.
Documents	Poetry	Literary and oral genre rooted in the compressed and cogent imaginative awareness or associations of experiences, ideas, or emotional responses and arranged under an organized criterion of meaning, conscious and unconscious expression, symbolism, formal or informal pattern, sound, and rhythm. The genre encompasses narrative, dramatic, satiric, didactic, erotic, and personal forms.
Documents	Policy Documents	A course of action or principles adopted or proposed by a government or an organization
Documents	Press Releases	Official or authoritative statements giving information for publication in newspapers or periodicals.
Documents	Programs (Programmes)	Brief outlines or explanations of the order to be pursued, criteria for participation, or the subjects embraced in a given event or endeavor. Includes lists of the features composing a dramatic or other performance, with the names of participants.
Documents	Records	Recorded information, regardless of medium, created, received, and maintained by an agency, institution, organization, or individual in pursuance of its legal obligations or in the transaction of business.
Documents	Reports	Documents containing presentations of facts or the record of some proceeding, investigation, or event.
Documents	Resolutions	Formal expressions of the opinion formed by some superior authority on matters referred to its decision and forwarded to inferior authorities for their instruction and government.
Documents	Reviews	Reports or essays giving critical estimates of a relatively recent work, performance, or event.
Documents	Screenplays
Documents	Sheet Music	Music printed on unbound sheets of paper.
Documents	Speeches	Documents containing the text of any public address or talk.
Documents	Testimonies	Solemn declarations, usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official, reduced to writing.
Documents	Timelines	Chronologies in graphic linear form, either vertical or horizontal, listing important events or other phenomena, such as dominant styles, for successive years or periods within a defined historic period, often limited to a particular culture or region.
Documents	Transcripts	Copies transcribed from an original text or document and also for written records of words originally spoken, such as of court proceedings, broadcasts, or oral histories.
Images	Aerial Photographs	Photographs of the earth’s surface taken from an aircraft or other airborne platform, typically for the purpose of generating maps using photogrammetric methods.
Images	Artifacts	Generally, objects or other things made or modified by humans, typically manually portable products of human workmanship, such as tools, utensils, objects for personal adornment, or art, as distinguished from natural remains. In archaeology, an artifact is an object made by a human culture and later recovered by an archaeological endeavor. May be used for "cultural artifacts." May also be used if a more specific resource type term is unavailable.
Images	Built Works	A general term used to refer to freestanding buildings, components of buildings, complexes of buildings, other structures, or a man-made environment, typically large enough for humans to enter, serving a practical purpose, being relatively permanent and stable, and usually considered to have aesthetic value. Use for architecture.
Images	Cartoons (Humorous Images)	Pictorial images using wit to comment on such things as contemporary events, social habits, or political trends, usually executed in a broad or abbreviated manner.
Images	Ceramics	Visual works and other articles made of ceramic, especially art works in the form of sculptures, vessels, and other decorative and utilitarian objects (e.g. pottery) made of bone china, porcelain, or stoneware. Ceramic ware, earthenware, porcelain ware, and brick products are examples of ceramics.
Images	Coins	Pieces of metal stamped by government authority for use as money. Use for coin money and numismastics.
Images	Contour Maps	Maps showing elevation and the configuration of the ground by the use of contour lines and usually lacking other detail.
Images	Costume/Fashion	Objects worn or carried for warmth, protection, embellishment, or for symbolic purposes. It includes main items of dress, undergarments, and outer garments. Also included are types of armor, vestments (and other ceremonial garments), uniforms, and accessories (e.g., "headgear," "footwear", "evening bags," "parasols"). May also include hairstyles and personal adornment belonging to a place/culture, time period, class, or special occasion. May also be used for fashion design (e.g. couture fashion) and costume design [e.g. costumes (plural) - ensembles intended to create an appearance characteristic of a particular period, person, place, or thing, especially for theater/stage or motion pictures/film].
Images	Digital Images	Digitally encoded images stored and displayed in as “picture elements”, better known as pixels. Digital images can be generated directly by means of a digital camera or by scanning hard copy images.
Images	Drawings	Visual works produced by drawing, which is the application of lines on a surface, often paper, by using a pencil, pen, chalk, or some other tracing instrument to focus on the delineation of form rather than the application of color.
Images	Engravings	Use specifically for prints obtained from an engraved printing surface. Historically, has sometimes been used loosely to refer to all prints.
Images	Etchings	Prints made from an etched printing plate.
Images	Exhibitions/Installations	Exhibitions are organized displays of works of art, crafts, natural history, science, or other items of cultural interest. They are usually named and temporary. May also be used for exhibits, expos, expositions, world’s fairs, and showings. Installations are artworks that are typically site-specific with a three-dimensional aspect, designed to have a particular relationship with their spatial environment on an architectural, conceptual, or social level. Use also for public art, land art, and art intervention. Installations may also mean elements of exhibitions (such as exhibit design, graphics, exhibit cases, objects on display, etc.).
Images	Furniture	Movable or fixed objects or equipment, which may be either functional or ornamental, particularly objects for sitting, reclining, or storage, such as chairs, beds, tables, cabinets, etc., in a dwelling, business, or public space.
Images	Historical Models	Use for models that are intended to represent how something, as a building, a ship, or a city, looked at a previous time. For drawings or full-scale new objects or structures made with similar intent, use "reconstructions."
Images	Illuminated Manuscripts	Handwritten manuscripts that have been decorated with gold or silver, brilliant colors, designs, or miniature pictures. Although prevalent in Islamic and Asian societies, the longest tradition of illuminating manuscripts was in Christian medieval Europe, from the 6th-16th centuries, when the art was superseded by printed illustrations. Generally, the manuscripts were both 'historiated', or decorated with relevant paintings, and 'illuminated' in its original sense, meaning decorated with calligraphic initial capital letters using gold leaf. Over time, the term 'illuminated' came to refer to any illustration or decoration in a manuscript. Illuminated manuscripts played a major role in the development of art, partly because of the manuscript's portability in carrying artistic developments from one region to another.
Images	Illustrations	Refers to pictures or diagrams that clarify or provide an example or visualization. They usually accompany a text; the term is most often used to refer to pictures in books or published journal.
Images	Images	Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. Flattened representation of a visual work in the form of a photograph, scan, or born-digital image file.
Images	Individual Laser Scans
Images	Line Drawings	Drawings in which forms are indicated primarily by lines, with few or no areas of continuous tone.
Images	Maps	Refers to graphic or photogrammetric representations of the Earth's surface or a part of it, including physical features and political boundaries, where each point corresponds to a geographical or celestial position according to a definite scale or projection. The term may also refer to similar depictions of other planets, suns, other heavenly bodies, or areas of the heavens. Maps are typically depicted on a flat medium, such as on paper, a wall, or a computer screen.
Images	Models (Representations)	Refers to scaled representations of objects or structures, usually three-dimensional.
Images	Mural Paintings	Painted decorations or scenes that dominate or once dominated a wall (or ceiling) surface. Mural painting techniques may also include fresco and graffiti.
Images	Negatives (Photographic)
Images	Ortho-images or Ortho-photos
Images	Outline Drawings
Images	Paintings	Unique works in which images are formed primarily by the direct application of pigments suspended in oil, water, egg yolk, molten wax, or other liquid, arranged in masses of color, onto a generally two-dimensional surface.
Images	Panoramas	Pictorial representations with very broad horizontal ranges of view. The term is also used specifically for photographs that show a wide view produced by a panoramic camera or by joining photographs together.
Images	Pastels	Works of art, typically on a paper or vellum support, to which designs are applied using crayons made of ground pigment held together with a binder, typically oil or water and gum.
Images	Photogrammetric Images	Analog or digital photographs captured with calibrated amateur cameras or specialised metric cameras
Images	Photographs	Still images produced from radiation-sensitive materials (sensitive to light, electron beams, or nuclear radiation), generally by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass, or metal. It does not include reproductive prints of documents and technical drawings, for which descriptors found under "<reprographic copies>" are more appropriate. Photographs may be positive or negative, opaque or transparent.
Images	Plan Views	Refers to depictions or photographs showing structures or sites seen from directly above. For scaled orthographic drawings specifically, use "plans (drawings)."
Images	Plans (Drawings)	Refers to drawings, sketches, or diagrams of any object, made by projection upon a flat surface, usually a horizontal plane. The term is particularly used to refer to drawings or diagrams showing the relative positions of the parts of a building, or of any one floor of a building, projected upon a horizontal plane. The term can also be used for a set of drawings for a project. For general reference to depictions or photographs showing structures or sites seen from directly above, use "plan views." For representations of portions of the Earth's surface use "maps".
Images	Plans: Elevation & Sections
Images	Playbills	Programs or posters announcing a theatrical performance.
Images	Postcards	Cards on which a message may be written or printed for mailing without an envelope; often having a pictorial image or photograph on one side.
Images	Posters	Notices intended to be posted to advertise, promote, or publicize an activity, cause, product, or service; also, decorative, mass-produced prints intended for hanging. For small printed notices or advertisements use circulars
Images	Prints	Pictorial works produced by transferring images by means of a matrix such as a plate, block, or screen, using any of various printing processes.
Images	Reconstructions	Use for drawings that propose how something may have looked at a previous time, and for full-scale new objects or structures based on historical, archaeological, or other similar evidence. For models made to represent how something looked at a previous time, use "historical models."
Images	Redrawings
Images	Renderings	Use for architectural drawings, usually perspectives or elevations, showing shadows, textures, sometimes colors, often executed with watercolor washes, and showing some setting. Intended as visualizations of the full conception of the project.
Images	Rock Art	Use for paintings or carvings worked on living rock.
Images	Rock Engravings	Images carved or inscribed into living rock with relatively linear incisions.
Images	Rock Paintings	Use for paintings on living rock.
Images	Rubbings	Images made by placing a material such as paper or cloth over a relief, incised, or textured surface and rubbing.
Images	Satellite Images	Digital images produced by imaging the earth’s surface from an earth orbiting platform. Images are generally in digital form and captured by a scanning device. Space born image sensors typically record infrared radiation in addition to visible light.
Images	Schematic Drawings	Diagrammatic drawings done early in the design process of an architectural project, usually drawn to scale and showing the entire project.
Images	Sculpture	Three-dimensional works of art in which images and forms are produced in relief, in intaglio, or in the round.
Images	Sketches	Use for rough or summary art works; less finished than studies. Though sketches are often in the drawing medium, the term "drawings" in general implies more finished works than does "sketches.”
Images	Slides (Photographs)	Positive transparencies in mounts suitable for projection, usually 35mm film in a mount of 2 by 2 inches.
Images	Specimens	Individual samples or units that are deliberately selected for examination, display, or study, and are usually chosen as typical of their kind.
Images	Stereoscopic Photographs	Refers to two images of the same object or scene captured from different positions. This emulates the process of human 3D vision which is, at least partly, based on the fact that the brain receives two separate images of a viewed scene. The effect of three dimensionality can be achieved when viewed through a stereoscope or similar devices.
Images	Tracings	Images made by tracing, which is copying of a transparent or translucent piece of paper, cloth, or other material.
Images	Watercolors	Refers to two-dimensional works of art, usually on a paper support, to which pigment suspended in water is applied with a brush to create an image or design.
Images	Jewelry	Ornaments such as bracelets, necklaces, and rings, of precious or semiprecious materials worn or carried on the person for adornment; also includes similar articles worn or carried for devotional or mourning purposes.
Images	Stained Glass	Visual works made of transparent or semi-opaque colored glass, generally in the form of a window, autonomous panel, or lampshade. Generally the glass is primarily made of "stained glass (material)" as opposed to painted glass, but there may be painted details. Pieces of the window or other item are held together by strips of lead.
Images	Stickers	Adhesive-backed slips of paper or similar thin material, usually bearing messages or designs.
Images	Textiles	General term for carpets, cloth, fabrics, and other works made of textile materials, which are natural or synthetic fibers created by weaving, felting, knotting, twining, or otherwise processing. May also be used for works of art or high craft that employ textile as a medium (a.k.a. textile art).
Serials	Articles	Literary compositions prepared for publication as an independent portion of a journal, magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, or other work.
Serials	Journals (Periodicals)	Periodicals containing scholarly articles or otherwise disseminating information on developments in scholarly fields.
Serials	Magazines (Periodicals)	Periodicals containing articles, essays, poems, or other writings by different authors, usually on a variety of topics and intended for a general reading public or treating a particular area of interest for a popular audience.
Serials	Newsletters	Periodic reports on the activities of a business or organization.
Serials	Newspapers	Papers that are printed and distributed daily, weekly, or at some other regular and usually short intervals and which contain news, editorials and opinions, features, advertising, and other matter considered of general
Serials	Periodicals	Publications issued at regular intervals of more than one day.
Serials	Serials	Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. Publications issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely.