collectedBy

CollectedBy is a metadata field used in catalogs and databases of museums, libraries, archives, and digital collections to identify the person or organization responsible for collecting an item. It is a component of provenance metadata that helps establish the history and custody of an object from the time of collection to its current location.

Usage and scope: The value typically records a collector’s name or an institution. It may reflect field collectors such as explorers or naturalists, or curatorial staff and donor institutions. The field is often repeatable to capture multiple collectors when appropriate. In many systems, CollectedBy is linked to an authority record for the collector (for example, a person or organization authority file) to support disambiguation and consistent attribution. It is usually augmented by related data such as collection date, collection location, and collection method.

Data modeling and standards: In contemporary metadata frameworks, CollectedBy can be a repeatable property that points to an agent resource or a free-text string when authority control is unavailable. It complements provenance and acquisition information and interacts with related fields like provenance, donor, and accession number. Using linked data or authority-controlled values improves searchability and data quality.

Challenges and considerations: Historical records may name collectors inconsistently or incompletely, leading to variants or multiple possible attributions. Normalization of names, handling of organizational changes over time, and ensuring accuracy across sources are common tasks. Privacy or sensitivity concerns can also influence what is recorded.

Overall, CollectedBy supports attribution, provenance research, and the traceability of objects within collections.