UM-1.3
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Entity types
Main Page > User manual > UM-1 System overview > UM-1.3 Entity types
An entity is an object about which an information system collects data. the DCB's architecture include a number of entity types, but from the user's point of view there are four main types with which they will interact:
Resource descriptions
- Provide contextual information about library holdings.
- Are aranged into hierarchical levels (collections, series, files, items).
- Include data elements based on Dublin Core and MODS.
Authority records (actors)
- Provide descriptions of the actors (corporate bodies, persons and families) that interact with resources as creators, custodians, subject access points, etc.
- Are linked to resource descriptions in the DCB by events delimited by start / end dates. Through events, 1 actor can have 0, 1 or many relationships to 0, 1 or many resources; and 1 resource can have 0, 1 or many relationships to 0, 1 or many actors. Event relationships link authority records (descriptions of actors) and resource descriptions.
organizations
- Provide descriptions of repositories that preserve and provide access to resources.
- Are actors that hold resources. Like all actors, an organization has its own authority record. But its characteristics as a repository (e.g. its opening hours, research services, contact information) are described separately in an institution record. The elements that are inherited from its authority record are: Authorized form of name, Other forms of name, Parallel forms of name, History, Mandates/Sources of Authority, and Administrative structure.
Terms
- Provide controlled vocabularies used throughout the system (e.g. as access points or in drop-down value lists).
- Are organized into separate taxonomies.
