As stated earlier in this guide, formatting your metadata properly is extremely important. Proper formatting ensures your descriptive metadata ends up in the final Archivematica-created METS file. Opening up your METS file and looking at the metadata in the <dmdSec> portion of the file (near the top) will show you if metadata import was successful. Take a look at the document You’ve Just Made an AIP: A Checklist (Permafrost users only) for more information.

Different metadata formats will show up in the METS file slightly differently. Dublin Core metadata imported via the interface, CSV, or JSON will show up in the dmdSec section and is identified as MD Type = DC in the METS file, and the Dublin Core schema and other documents are linked from METS.

Above you can see some of the DC metadata added, such as the title and the subject.

Custom metadata will show up in the dmdSec section of the METS file as MDTYPE =”OTHER”

Above you can see “tree type” as a custom metadata field.

Rights metadata shows up in the <rightsMD> portion of the file (further down, you can do a search for “rightsMD” to find it).

Above you can see that metadata has been added about a statute: the jurisdiction is “Canada” and the citation is “that legislation”.

Bag metadata will show up in the amdSec section of the METS file as pictured below:

If you are re-ingesting to add metadata to a transfer that did not include metadata, a new section will be added to the METS file and be described as “original”. If you are adding or updating metadata, a new section will be added to the METS file and be described as “updated”. If metadata already exists for an object or folder and new metadata for that object or folder is added, the old metadata will be overwritten during these updates and will be described as “original-superseded”. If you delete metadata using the XML metadata re-ingest option, the existing section will be given an updated description of “deleted”.

Taking the time to inspect all your metadata in the METS file is important, as sometimes the tiniest mistake can cause the metadata to not be structured properly.