FAQ - Agency/Bureau Names

Agency and Bureau Names

Data.gov and the GeoPlatform index agency and bureau names to provide search capabilities across the large number of metadata in each catalog. The use of consistent names for agencies and bureaus improves searching for data across the catalogs. For example, if a user was searching for data from the “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration” bureau and the metadata record listed the bureau as “NOAA David Skaggs Research Center” this record wouldn’t be found. The recommended source for agency and bureau names is Appendix C of the OMB Circular A-11 (“Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget”). This is a government circular that is revised and reissued periodically. The current version is from 2016. A searchable list of agencies and bureaus (sub-agencies) can be found in the Federal Register of Agencies.

FGDC Technical Guidance: Data.gov and The GeoPlatform Metadata Recommendations

Organization Name: Agency Name

Like controlled vocabularies, naming authorities to establish consistency in organizational reference. As such, federal agencies should directly and unambiguously follow guidance from those organizations whose mission and authority are to maintain lists of government and affiliated organization identifiers.

OMB agency names are available from Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget, Circular A-11, Appendix C.

Multiple Responsibility.organizationName elements can be used to include the agency and bureau names as shown below. Responsibility

Organization Name: Department of the Interior

Responsibility

Organization Name: United States Geological Survey

Central Point of Contact for the Resource

While there are many opportunities within the ISO metadata record to identify contacts, the inclusion of a Point of Contact enables Data. gov and the GeoPlatform to direct users to a single point of inquiry for the resource. To facilitate discovery by ‘organization’ within Data.gov and the GeoPlatform, the Point of Contact should be the agency directly responsible for the metadata publication. In addition to designating the publishing agency as the Point of Contact, it is important to designate the associated Responsible Party Role as ‘publisher’, as shown below.

  • Point of Contact: the agency responsible for publishing the resource MD_Metadata.identificationInfo>MD_Identification.pointOfContact>CI_Responsibility.organizationName (ISO 19115-1) MD_Metadata.identificationInfo>MD_Identification.pointOfContact>CI_ResponsibleParty.organizationName (ISO 19115)

    • Agency Role: the agency should be indicated as the publisher of the resource

MD_Metadata.identificationInfo>MD_Identification.pointOfContact>CI_Responsibility.role = “publisher” (19115-1). MD_Metadata.identificationInfo>MD_Identification.pointOfContact> CI_ResponsibleParty.role = “publisher” (19115).

UML Diagram

https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wiki/images/f/f8/CI_ResponsibleParty.png

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