Description

Definition: A textual description and general account of the resource. (FAILTE)
Obligation: Compulsory
Type of element: Free text

Entry guidelines

This is a basic, textual description of the resource. It is essentially intended to describe the material that is available on the web itself.

However, where a resource with limited web presence has been selected because of its importance as a substantial or very useful resource, then the description should concentrate on the resource itself, rather than the web page.

Individual characteristics of a resource can be mentioned here. The description is intended to be brief and concise, and it should be original work. It may be based on existing descriptions of the resource, but these should be edited, to ensure that only information that is useful to FAILTE and its end users will be stored in the database. Advertising phrases should be avoided.

Factors such as the content of the resource, any additional technical information that can be described, and relevant additional information about the creators of the resource can be recorded as part of the description. Also, any information about how to locate the resource from within the web page for which the URL has been recorded can be included in this entry when it is not immediately obvious where the learning and teaching material is from the URL which has been recorded. Educational aspects of the resource will not be described here, however, since another element is to be used for the description of such characteristics.

The element will be used as an introduction to the resource for the end user, since it will be displayed with the information about resources which is initially presented to the end user in the search results.