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Metadata provenance

Review where a metadata value came from so you can decide whether to trust, keep, replace, or correct it upstream.

Why it matters

Use provenance when the origin of a value affects whether you trust, keep, or replace it. It is especially useful after automated or provider-driven changes.

Tag provenance popup showing a manual source and applied time
Hover or focus a supported metadata field to see its source and when that value was applied.

Large libraries often combine manual edits, file scans, scrapers, downloaders, analysis workflows, and extensions. Reviewing origin lets you distinguish an upstream mismatch from a local edit and decide whether to correct one field or the workflow that supplied it.

What to review

  1. Check which source supplied the field you are questioning.
  2. Compare that source with the record's provider identity and surrounding values.
  3. Decide whether the correction belongs on this record, in provider configuration, or in an extension workflow.
  4. Re-run automation on a small sample before applying the same correction broadly.

Correct the right layer

  • Edit the record for a one-off exception.
  • Change provider configuration for a consistent matching or mapping issue.
  • Correct the scraper, downloader, analyzer, or extension when it repeatedly supplies the wrong value.
  • Keep the source evidence when a derived view can present the value cleanly without rewriting it.