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SA Metadata Creation Guide draft
  • Introduction
  • Roles & Responsibilities (draft)
  • Goals of SA Data Management
  • SA Science Metadata Catalog
  • Projects, Products, Contacts
  • Non Duplication Policy Guidance
  • Workflow
    • Metadata From Scratch
    • Metadata From ScienceBase
    • Metadata Editing / Re-Publishing
    • PTS Considerations
  • Settings
  • mdEditor Metadata File Management
    • Import
      • mdJSON
      • sbJSON
      • FGDC
    • Export
    • Copy Records
  • Metadata Requirements Checklist
  • Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
  • Project Entry Guidance
    • Main Tab: Project
    • Metadata Tab: Project
    • Keywords Tab: Project
    • Taxonomy Tab: Project
    • Extent Tab: Project
    • Documents Tab: Project
    • Funding Tab: Project
    • Associating Records: Project
  • Product Entry Guidance
    • Main Tab: Product
    • Metadata Tab: Product
      • data.gov Guidance
    • Keywords Tab: Product
    • Taxonomy Tab: Product
    • Extent Tab: Product
    • Lineage Tab: Product
    • Distribution Tab: Product
    • Constraints Tab: Product
    • Dictionaries Tab: Product
    • Documents Tab: Product
    • Associating Records: Product
  • Co-funded Project Requirements
    • Collaboration Protocol
    • Sub-Project Protocol
      • Sub-project of FWS Region or Program Project
      • Sub-project of CASC Project
    • Co-funded Protocol
      • FWS co-funded Projects
      • FWS/CASC Projects & Products
      • CASC Responsibilities
      • LCC Examples
  • Contact Entry Guidance
    • Summary Contact Requirements
    • Individual Contacts
    • Organization Contacts
  • Publish
    • Requirements for Publishing
    • Testing Publishing
    • How to Publish
    • Re-Publishing
  • Archiving Requirements
  • Trouble-shooting Tips
    • QA/QC Fixes
      • QA/QC Resources
  • Bulk Editing Resources
    • Injector Script: Funding
    • Injector Script: Distribution Links
  • Help
  • Glossary of Terms
  • Documentation Guide
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  • General Info on Contacts
  • Best Practices for Contacts
  • mdEditor Contacts Seed File
  • Importing Contacts from ScienceBase

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Contact Entry Guidance

PreviousLCC ExamplesNextSummary Contact Requirements

Last updated 4 years ago

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Contacts are individuals or organizations that can be referenced in project and/or product metadata and in other contacts. Contacts contain information such as the names of individuals or organizations, email address, physical address, website, and phone number so that viewers of metadata can communicate with those affiliated with a metadata record. Contacts also enable users to know who is involved in the creation and maintenance of projects and products, funding of projects, and creation and maintenance of metadata.

General Info on Contacts

In mdEditor, contacts are created separately from individual records and then stored within a library in mdEditor. Once contacts have been entered or imported into mdEditor, they can be used in any metadata record. Editing a contact in the mdEditor contact library will update the contact information included in any metadata record that uses that contact. Editing a contact in mdEditor will also update contact information on ScienceBase once the record is published.

You should maintain a single list of your contacts. Having duplicate copies of the same contact is not desirable. It can create confusion and unnecessary duplication errors as you edit and manage your metadata records.

Copying contacts will change the ID and the name (the name will be “Copy of ….”) but all the other information will remain the same in the copy.

It is recommended that you leave contacts in mdEditor between work sessions. This allows you to readily add contacts to projects and products.

It is recommended that when you export records, you also export your entire contact list. If you do not export your contact list, and you later import a record that contains a contact not in your library, you may receive an error and have to re-enter the contact to that record. This can cause duplication errors.

Best Practices for Contacts

  • Always spell out acronyms and organization names.

  • Make sure your contacts are loaded and accurate in mdEditor before creating or editing your metadata records.

mdEditor Contacts Seed File

The "contacts seed file" contains pre-filled information and standard naming conventions for FWS, common federal agencies and partners, and generic Data Stewards. This file is quickly imported into mdEditor and is intended to provide consistency for SA metadata records across the regions for common contacts and reduce the amount of processing needed before records go into the Science Catalog.

SA headquarters maintains a 'seed' list of contacts that can be found in the page.

Importing Contacts from ScienceBase

When you import a ScienceBase record, mdTranslator will automatically load all sbJSON contacts into Main/Citation/Responsible Parties. You MUST review this to check for errors and inconsistencies introduced during translation. Delete any duplicate or extraneous contacts or any errors. Then continue with edits to meet requirements, follow best practices, and add other contacts as desired.

SA HQ ScienceBase community item