Provide metadata in a Google Sheet
Overview
Providing your item metadata within a Google Sheet is the recommended format. This ensures your data is stored in a secure and readily accessible location.
Each row will contain all the available metadata you have for a single item. There are some mandatory fields that need to be included to upload items. We also have a number of recommended and optional fields we advise you to populate, if you have that information available.
Here's a simple example of how CSV metadata for 3 items would look in a spreadsheet:
itemid |
title |
description |
creator |
filetype |
filespec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p1 | George Washington | The first president of the United States | Sam Jones | image | george1.jpg |
| p2 | John Adams | The second president of the United States | Jeff Ross | image | john1.jpg |
| p3 | Thomas Jefferson | The third president of the United States | A. Richardson | image | thomas1.jpg |
If you have multiple digitizations for the same item, then you should include these as subitems.
Each item and subitem must be identified by a unique and long lived identifier (ID). Once an item or subitem is assigned an ID, you will be unable to change it.
Templates & Examples
To help get you started, below are templates and prefilled examples of Google Sheets.
| Templates |
| General CSV |
| Art CSV |
| Fashion CSV |
| Inventions and Discoveries CSV |
Create your Google Sheet
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Choose the template most suitable for your needs, it will open in Google Sheets
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Select File > Make a Copy
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Add a name for your copy and click OK, it will open in a new browser tab. All changes you make in this spreadsheet will be saved automatically to your Google Drive.
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Following the guidelines in the header row of your spreadsheet, complete one row of information for each item you have uploaded
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Add additional fields if necessary, by inserting new columns. Your Sheet should only contain one tab