Obligation status of AGLS terms
AGLS metadata properties fall into four obligation categories:
- Mandatory: these properties must be present in all metadata records;
- Conditional: these properties must be present under certain circumstances;
- Recommended: there may be valid reasons in particular circumstances not to include these properties, but the full implications must be understood and carefully weighed; and
- Optional: these properties are truly optional.
Implementations that use Recommended or Optional properties must be fully interoperable with those that do not.
Although Australian Standard AS 5044 only requires the use of three mandatory properties to create a compliant AGLS metadata record, the Australian Government’s implementation of the standard mandates the use of additional properties by Australian Government agencies. These additional properties are required to support the portal's framework and any future initiatives that may require well-formed metadata for the description of Australian Government information and services. In all cases, it is recommended that agencies use as many metadata properties as necessary to enhance resource description and maximise discovery.
Obligation status
Obligation |
Applicable properties – AS 5044 (non-government) |
Applicable properties – Australian Government |
---|---|---|
Mandatory |
creator |
creator |
Conditional (see the following table for trigger conditions) |
availability |
accessibility |
Recommended (see the following table for guidance) |
description |
audience |
Optional |
All other properties |
All other properties |
Note 1: The date property or at least one of the related available, created, dateCopyrighted, dateLicensed, issued, modified or valid properties may appear in a metadata description to be a valid instance of date.
Note 2: The type property or at least one of the related aggregationLevel, category, documentType or serviceType properties may appear in a metadata description to be a valid instance of type.
Obligation status by property
Property |
AS 5044 (non-government) obligation |
Australian Government obligation |
---|---|---|
accessibility |
Optional |
Optional [see note 3] |
accessRights |
Optional |
Optional |
act |
Optional |
Optional |
aggregationLevel |
Optional |
Optional |
alternative |
Optional |
Optional |
audience |
Optional |
Recommended when the audience is not ‘all’ |
availability |
Conditional – Mandatory for offline resources |
Conditional – Mandatory for offline resources |
available |
Optional |
Optional |
bibliographicCitation |
Optional |
Optional |
case |
Optional |
Optional |
category |
Optional |
Optional |
conformsTo |
Optional |
Optional |
contributor |
Optional |
Optional |
coverage |
Optional |
Recommended [see note 4] |
created |
Optional |
Optional |
creator | Mandatory | Mandatory |
date | Mandatory [see note 1] | Mandatory [see note 1] |
dateCopyrighted |
Optional |
Optional |
dateLicensed |
Optional |
Optional |
description |
Recommended |
Mandatory |
documentType |
Optional |
Optional |
extent |
Optional |
Optional |
format |
Optional |
Optional |
function |
Recommended if subject is not used |
Conditional – Mandatory if subject is not used [see note 5] |
hasFormat |
Optional |
Optional |
hasPart |
Optional |
Optional |
hasVersion |
Optional |
Optional |
identifier |
Conditional – Mandatory for online resources |
Conditional – Mandatory for online resources |
isBasedOn |
Optional |
Optional |
isBasisFor |
Optional |
Optional |
isFormatOf |
Optional |
Optional |
isPartOf |
Optional |
Optional |
isReferencedBy |
Optional |
Optional |
isReplacedBy |
Optional |
Optional |
isRequiredBy |
Optional |
Optional |
issued |
Optional |
Optional |
isVersionOf |
Optional |
Optional |
jurisdiction |
Optional |
Optional |
language |
Recommended where the language of the resource is not English |
Conditional – Mandatory where the language of the resource is not English |
license |
Optional |
Optional |
mandate |
Optional |
Optional |
medium |
Optional |
Optional |
modified |
Optional |
Optional |
protectiveMarking |
Optional |
Conditional – Mandatory when not ‘UNCLASSIFIED’ |
publisher |
Conditional – Mandatory for information resources (optional for descriptions of services) |
Conditional – Mandatory for information resources (optional for descriptions of services) |
references |
Optional |
Optional |
regulation |
Optional |
Optional |
relation |
Optional |
Optional |
replaces |
Optional |
Optional |
requires |
Optional |
Optional |
rights |
Optional |
Optional |
rightsHolder |
Optional |
Optional |
serviceType |
Optional |
Optional |
source |
Optional |
Optional |
spatial |
Optional |
Optional |
subject |
Recommended if function is not used |
Conditional – Mandatory if function is not used [see note 5] |
temporal |
Optional |
Optional |
title |
Mandatory |
Mandatory |
type |
Recommended [see note 2] |
Mandatory [see note 2] |
valid |
Optional |
Optional |
Note 1: The date property or at least one of the related available, created, dateCopyrighted, dateLicensed, issued, modified or valid properties may appear in a metadata description to be a valid instance of date.
Note 2: The type property or at least one of the related aggregationLevel, category, documentType or serviceType properties may appear in a metadata description to be a valid instance of type.
Note 3: The accessibility property is not part of AS 5044-2010. It is included for testing purposes and should be regarded as conforming but unstable.
Note 4: (Australian Government agencies only): The coverage property or at least one of the related jurisdiction or spatial properties should be used when the spatial coverage of the resource is not the whole of Australia.
Note 5: (Australian Government agencies only): In the case of function and subject, at least one of those two properties must appear in a metadata description. In addition, the function property is Mandatory for collection-level descriptions and descriptions of services.