## Qualifier Editor

Generally a Dublin Core Metadata Inititative (DCMI) qualifier can be either an element refinement or an encoding scheme and helps provide context or narrow meaning to a metadata value. This can be especially important when aggregating heterogeneous metadata. Any portal intent on sharing metadata with other digital library projects or portals should consider qualifying its metadata.

This software package provides for the qualification of the Dublin Core metadata fields with encoding schemes. The software is shipped with default values drawn from DCMI recommendations. Although these DCMI terms are provided for convenience, they are not required by the software. The software allows for the qualification of a particular field both at the metadata field and the record level. The Qualifier Editor is the first step in this process. Here administrators specify the encoding scheme and provide the machine readable specification URL (as maintained by DCMI or other standard maintenance organization) and namespace.

To add a new qualifier, simply add the name or value in the Name, Namespace and URL fields. Then click on the ``Add New Qualifier to List`` button. To edit, type the correct value in the appropriate field, check the box to the left, and click the ``Update Selected Qualifier(s)`` button. You may correct multiple entries simultaneously by correcting/editing the information, checking the box to the left, and clicking on the ``Update`` button. Adminstrators should enter all anticipated qualifiers for any metadata field. Use the Metadata Field Editor to apply each of these to a particular field and set default values.

DCMI recommended element refinement fields are handled differently by the portal software. These are supplied as default metadata fields. Simply enable all desired fields on the Metadata Field Editor page.

Note: Presently the Import, RSS, and manual export functions do not support DCMI Qualifiers. Qualified metadata is supported in OAI harvesting.

To delete a qualifier, click the button to the left of the qualifier name, and click the ``Delete Selected Qualifier(s) from List`` button.

Note: Removing a qualifier that is in use throughout the database may result in data loss.

For an up-to-date specification of all metadata terms maintained by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, including elements, element refinements, encoding schemes, and vocabulary terms (for example, DCMI Type Vocabulary) see the DCMI Metadata Terms document. These terms are also explained in the Dublin Core User Guide.

### See Also

- Customizing Metadata Fields