Modelling of digital object keywords

[marksparkza]

Keywords linked with data submissions using DataCite "subjects" are not systematically constrained to any vocabularies, which limits their utility in filtering and faceting applications. DataCite does provide an optional "subjectScheme" property for identifying the vocabulary for a keyword, but the value for "subjectScheme" is neither constrained by the schema nor systematically used in ODP metadata records. The problem is complicated by our use of DataCite "subjects" for translating ISO19115 properties that do not have a counterpart in DataCite.

The proposal is to create a record-term association representing the set of keywords for a digital object, and extend the record API such that this set of keywords may be created and maintained independently of the digital object record itself. Keywords associated with a digital object would then be written to the appropriate fields ("subjects" in DataCite, various properties in ISO19115) when validating or publishing the digital object's metadata.