Content Statements

Overview

Content statements are a recent strategy used in digital collections to provide context to materials that contain harmful content or used harmful metadata/language in the past. A number of items in our Collections Portal and in our wider holdings have such content. In the interest of providing richer and more useful metadata to our users, as well as internally tracking the kinds of harmful content we have in our collections, the following statements have been developed below.

These statements and practices have been created by Devon Murphy, Karina Sánchez and Theresa Polk. They have been adapted into a general guide by Devon Murphy, and are subject to change at any time. For more information or questions, contact Devon Murphy, Metadata Analyst, at devon.murphy@austin.utexas.edu

Example for UT Collections Portal (including HRDI)

Evaluate the collection

• What kinds of harmful content or terminology are present?
• How frequent do they appear across the collection? Across a particular resource?
• What power or historical dynamics are at play?
• Are the individuals present or described in the collection still living?
• What is the relative research value of the materials? 

Use the statement(s)

Enter the content statement in the first Description field; make sure it is separate from other descriptions. This ensures it appears first in the full record display.

Currently, descriptions do not appear in search lists on the Collections Portal or on the shared collections viewer in Primo.

If the item will be published as "metadata only," add a General Note field using the note text template. 

Example for TARO

Evaluate the collection

• What kinds of harmful content or terminology are present?
• How frequent do they appear across the collection? Across a particular resource?
• What power or historical dynamics are at play?
• Are the individuals present or described in the collection still living?
• What is the relative research value of the materials?

Use the statement(s)

For the most visibility to users, enter the content statement in the abstract element under the archdesc parent element. This element appears on search lists in TARO and in highlighted collections on the front page. There is no limit to how much of the abstract is displayed; the content statement and the descriptive abstract text will both be displayed.

You can also repeat the content statement in the scope and content element, if desired. A secondary warning can be helpful for complex finding aids that have long abstracts or biographical sections. Use headings to separate the content statement from the rest of the scope and content.

Make clear any access restrictions in the Collection Restrictions section; be sure to use consistent text across finding aids.