Creator and Contributor Definitions
Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether a person/organization should be included as a creator (primarily responsible for creating the item) or a contributor (secondarily or tangentially responsible for the item).
Creator or Contributor?
In some cases it depends on the kind of role.
A person or organization related to the item but not directly related to its creation is a contributor including:
donors
funders
sponsors
distributors
committee members (for theses and dissertations)
Some roles suggest, by definition, that a person or organization contributed to a piece of the item rather than the whole (contributor), such as:
annotators
author of introduction, etc.
research team members
assignees
witnesses (e.g., signed witnesses on patents or documents)
In some cases it depends on the item.
For example, a photographer might be a creator of:
a photograph (original negative or print)
a book of images
a slide image
But a photographer might be a contributor for:
a yearbook
a postcard (with correspondence)
a newspaper
Examples:
Kinds of Items |
Creators |
Contributors |
Example Records |
---|---|---|---|
photographic print |
the photographer |
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a copy negative (a picture of a photographic print) |
the photographer of the copy |
the photographer of the original print |
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a yearbook |
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also, if there are multiple organizations responsible for:
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a map |
depending on the kind of map: |
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a traced copy of a plat |
the person(s) who:
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the original:
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an opera |
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a single essay |
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a compilation of essays or articles in a book, journal, etc. |
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a film |
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a recital or musical performance |
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* Items marked with an asterisk are restricted to the UNT community - the records are viewable but non-UNT users cannot view/listen to the actual objects.
Other Notes
The UNT guidelines do not limit the number of creators or contributors. However, due to time constraints, we will sometimes choose a specific number for a project. For example, we might include all creators, but only the first five (5) contributors for all objects in a particular project, or only include contributors that have explicity-named roles other than “staff.”
For formatting guidelines, see the Creator page and the Contributor pages.