Coverage

• Element Name
• Where Can the Coverage Information be Found?
• How Coverage Works in the Metadata Form
• How Should the Coverage be Filled in?
• General Coverage Guidelines
• Place Name(s)
• Time Period
• Dates
• Other Examples
• Comments
• Resources

Element Name

Coverage

Where Can the Coverage Information be Found?

In many cases, the item must be read/examined to find coverage information but itmay come from:

In some cases coverage dates and places may come from accompanying or supplementary information.

How Coverage Works in the Metadata Form

Parts:

1. Coverage type -- drop-down menu
2. Coverage -- text field

Note: Some coverage information (place and time period) open in a pop-up modal

Repeatable?

Yes - to include different kinds of coverage information, click 'Add' to repeat all field parts

Coverage location (Place Name) can be repeated to include multiple places

Coverage eras (Time Period) can be repeated to include multiple eras

Coverage dates can only be expressed as: (1) a single date or (2) a single date range

How Should the Coverage be Filled in?

General Coverage Guidelines

• Multiple places and time periods may be included when relevant
• Coverage is about content and may or may not be the same as the creation time and place of the item

Place Name(s)

Time Period

• Time period refers specifically to the browse structure used for Portal records
• Time period(s) should be chosen from the Portal controlled vocabulary to reflect the era(s) of the content
• In cases where the years of the time periods overlap, always use the most generic era unless a more specific one applies
  
• It is important to include the time period whenever possible in Portal records for browsing

Dates

• Include exact dates when known
• Use the 'Date' field if there is a specific date or a single general month/year associated with the content
• Use the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' fields when the item is about a range of time
• Use proper formatting:

Other Examples

 Drawing: Bird's eye view of Denton, Denton County, Texas : 1883

    Place Name: United States - Texas - Denton County - Denton
    Time Period: new-sou : New South, Populism, Progressivism, and the Great Depression, 1876-1939
    Coverage Date: 1883

Map: Hispania nova

    Place Name: Spain
    Place Name: Mexico
    Time Period: eur-tex : European Explorers in Texas, 1519-1689

Letter to Cromwell Anson Jones, 19 may 1869

    Place Name: United States - Texas - Galveston County - Galveston
    Time Period: civ-war : Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1876
    Coverage Date: 1869-05

Photograph: 1918 Morning After

    Place Name: United States - Texas - Denton County - Aubrey
    Time Period: new-sou : New South, Populism, Progressivism, and the Great Depression, 1876-1939
    Coverage Date: 1918-04-15

[Bell County Ex-Confederate Association Ledger]

    Place Name: United States - Texas - Bell County - Belton
    Time Period: new-sou : New South, Populism, Progressivism, and the Great Depression, 1876-1939
    Start Date: 1888~
    End Date: 1920

[Letter to Johnson Moorhead from H. T. Hathaway]

    Place Name: United States - Kansas - Reno County - Turon
    Time Period: new-sou : New South, Populism, Progressivism, and the Great Depression, 1876-1939
    Coverage Date: 1888

French World War I poster

    Place Name: France
    Start Date: 1914
    End Date: 1917

Comments

• Although the coverage element appears to repeat information that could also be placed in other elements, such as subject/keywords and date, it is needed to provide the best interoperability with other metadata and resource-sharing systems.
• It is strongly recommended that both coverage place(s) and coverage time period(s) be included in order to facilitate the browse structure for Portal records, and to provide the best interoperability with other metadata and resource-sharing systems.
• Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is defined in the proposed standards from the Library of Congress: Extended Date Time Format

• For coverage place names, the following continent names can be used in place of countries (derived from the CIA World Factbook):

Africa

Antarctica

Australia/Oceania

Central America and Caribbean

Central Asia

East & Southeast Asia

Europe

Middle East

North America

South America

South Asia

Back to Coverage Place Names

Resources

• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
• UNT Coverage Time Period Controlled Vocabulary
• Library of Congress Extended Date Time Format
• CIA World Factbook