Contact Requirements Summary
The following compiles all of the required and recommended contact information for project and product metadata. This information is also listed in the specific metadata sections in the manual.
Locations for Contact Information
Once your contacts have been created in mdEditor, there are five places in a metadata record where you should add contacts.
Please see the corresponding sections for which contacts should be added where.
- Main Tab / “Point of Contact” section
- Main Tab / Citation / “Responsible Parties” section
- Metadata Tab / “Contacts” section
- Funding Tab / “Allocation” section. For Projects only.
- Distribution Tab / “Contacts” section. For Products only.
Main / Point of Contact
Role | Contact | Required? |
---|---|---|
pointOfContact | SA National Data Steward | Required |
pointOfContact | Your Region Data Steward | Best Practice |
pointOfContact | Data Steward | Required |
custodian | Data Custodian | Best Practice |
principalInvestigator | Project PI | Best Practice |
administrator | FWS Project Officer | Required |
administrator | FWS Region | Required |
administrator | FWS Program | Best Practice |
Main / Citation / Responsible Parties
This must include a point of contact, but may also include other responsible parties such as funders, partners, collaborators, and contributors. Collaborators could be intellectual participants while contributors could be intellectual and financial participants.
Role | Contact | Required? |
---|---|---|
principalInvestigator | Project PI | Required |
Metadata / Contacts
Role | Contact | Required? |
---|---|---|
author | See Notes Below | At Least One is Required |
publisher | Default is FWS | Required |
pointOfContact | FWS Data Steward | Required |
Regarding Role of “author”
- The author does not necessarily have to be the data steward (e.g., imported FGDC metadata can list the original author).
- “Author” can be an individual or an organization.
- You can enter your regional or program data manager as the “author”. If you prefer, you can use a generic data manager contact rather than an individual name.
- At least one contact with the role of “author” is required.
Funding / Allocation (for Projects only)
Source (Required)
Add the relevant contact for the “source” of the project funding. Source should be an organization, not an individual. For FWS projects, the default source is U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Regions or programs should be added as the funding “administrator” in the Other Contacts field.
Recipient (Required)
Add the relevant contact for the “recipient” of the project funding. Recipient should always be an organization, not an individual. For example, the Principal Investigator would not be listed as the recipient, but their organization would be. If there are multiple recipients for a project, they should be added as separate allocations.
The Principal Investigator may be added n the Other Contacts field as “principalInvestigator.”
Distribution (for Products only)
- Add the relevant contact for “distributor” of the product.