Nonbibliographic

Nonbibliographic is an adjective used to describe information, data, or resources that are not primarily focused on bibliographic description or the identification of publications. In library and information science, bibliographic data identifies a work (title, author, publication date, publisher), while nonbibliographic data describe aspects of the object or its access that do not belong to the citation of the work itself.

In practice, nonbibliographic metadata covers attributes such as format (PDF, MP4, JPEG), file size, technical specifications, rights and licensing, access restrictions, provenance, and location or holdings information. It may also include item-level details like barcodes, accession numbers, preservation status, or embargo dates. This type of data is often stored in separate records (such as item or holding records) or as non-citable notes within digital object records, enabling retrieval and management without altering the core bibliographic description.

Nonbibliographic information is essential across contexts such as digital libraries, archives, and museum collections, where users need to discover and access items whose bibliographic description is insufficient to convey all relevant characteristics. By separating bibliographic descriptions from nonbibliographic metadata, repositories can improve discovery, access control, preservation, and interoperability with metadata schemas and discovery tools.

See also: bibliography, metadata, cataloging, digital libraries, archival description.