Works Entity

This page documents the metadata fields available to the Works Entity, along with guidance on their use.

Fields

Unique Identifier

Assigned by the application; the URI.

Required: yes

Repeatable: no

Preferred Title

The name form preferred for the Sinai Data Portal and used as the display label for the entity.

• TBD: naming conventions used in Sinai

Required: yes

Repeatable: no

Original Language

The language in which the work was originally composed. Refers to a Language record

Required: no

Repeatable: no

• Cases where there are multilingual compositions?

Original Language Title

An expression of the work's title given in the language and writing system in which the work was originally composed

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Alternate Title

Variant forms of an entity's title, including as separate fields the title form itself and the language code for the title.

• Title required: the title form itself
• Lang required: the language code for the title

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Creation Date

The time span during which the work was composed.

• TBD: should this be associated date with a type, to regularize with other tables?

Sub-fields:

• Label required: a human-readable form of the date
• Normalized required: a machine-readable form of the date

Required: no

Repeatable: no

Description**

A concise, prose summary of the contents, context, or subjects of the work. Use for disambiguation between works of similar titles.

Required: no

Repeatable: no

Genre

The stylistic type or category to which the work belongs. Must refer to an existing Genre record.

• TBD: Genre may not be a separate record but instead a term list?

Required: yes

Repeatable: yes

Incipit

The opening words of the text proper of the work. Useful for disambiguation of similar titles.

Required: no

Repeatable: no

• Should we allow this for different versions?

Bibliography

A secondary scholarly source that provides information about the entity.

• Ref required: the Zotero URI of the bibliographic reference

• Cite_rg: A string representing the cited range within the bibliographic reference

• TBD: include a type for these bibliographic items to distinguish 'edition' vs 'translation' vs 'study/other'?

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Related Concept

An equivalent or closely matching concept in an external authority file.

Sub-fields:

• Name required: the uniform/preferred name form provided in the external authority file
• URI required: a web-addressable uniform identifier for the entity in the external authority file that corresponds to the given record
• Source required: the name of the authority service in which the related concept may be found.
  • [ ]TBD: term list. VIAF, LoC, Syriaca, Pinakes, HAF

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Reference Number

The uniform name, entry number, and source for the person in a standard reference list.

Sub-fields:

• Name required: the uniform/preferred name form provided in the reference list
• ID required: the entry number in the standard reference list
• Source required: the name of the reference list from which the number derives

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

• Note that the only distinction between Related Concept and Reference Number is that the former supplies a de-referencable URI for Linked Data purposes.

Associated Person

A person entity connected to the work resource through a given role. Example: authorship

Sub- feilds:

• ID required: the entity ID for the corresponding person record
• Role required: classifies the nature of the relation/association between the records
  • TBD: term list

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Associated Work

A related work entity connected to the work resource through a given role. Example: part-to-whole

Sub-fields:

• ID required: the entity ID for the corresponding work record
• Role required: classifies the nature of the relation/association between the records
  • TBD: term list

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Relationships from Other Records to Works

• Work witnesses might link to the work record they embody
• Other work records may relate through a given role to a work record (collections/part-to-whole, versions, etc.)