L-40. Visual Materials Cataloging - Advance Reading List
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Preliminary Advices
Welcome to the Visual Materials Cataloging class! All students MUST read the required material before arriving in Washington in July. Yes, it’s about 400 pages in five sources, but much of the text is catalog records.
Optional readings are provided for those already familiar with the required readings. The full citation list serves as the course bibliography to help you pursue specific interests in greater depth. Ordering information is included for the core books. The online addresses are current through October 2014.
You are also asked to complete two exercises before the class starts. Searching for Pictures (3 hours) is at the end of this reading list. The second exercise, Looking at Pictures (30 minutes), is available as a PDF file.
I look forward to working with each of you!
Helena Zinkham
Prints & Photographs Division
Library of Congress
hzin@loc.gov; 202-707-2922 -
Required Readings
Descriptive Cataloging Tools
Association of College and Research Libraries. Rare Book and Manuscripts Section. Bibliographic Standards Committee. Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Graphics). Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2013. http://rbms.info/files/dcrm/dcrmg/DCRMG.pdf. DCRM(G) is the essential text for this course. Please read the entire volume for general familiarity with its content and bring the book with you to class. If questions or comments arise, feel free to email them to me between now and the date of the course.
Subject Cataloging Tools
Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Thesaurus for Graphic Materials. TGM I: Subject Terms. TGM II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms. Read the entire application guidelines for both TGM I and TGM II: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/toc.html and http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/. Also, browse some of the term entries, which are used to index the subject content, genre, and physical characteristics of visual materials. First published in 1987, the current thesaurus is available only on the web at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/tgm/.
Getty Research Institute. Art and Architecture Thesaurus. Choose various hierarchies to browse through in order to gain general familiarity with the thesaurus’ scope and format. First published in 1990, the current vocabulary is available on the web at: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/.
Petersen, Toni, and Patricia J. Barnett, eds. Guide to Indexing and Cataloging with the Art & Architecture Thesaurus. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Published on behalf of the Getty Art History Information Program. Read Chapters 1–3 (pp. 3–46), Chapter 5 (“Archives and Special Collections,” pp 87–100), and Chapter 8 (“Visual Resources,” pp. 163–179). Take a look at some of the sample cataloging records for architectural materials, photographs, prints, personal papers and manuscripts.
Library of Congress. Subject Headings Manual. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2014. Please read the Subject Cataloging Manual chapter on the subdivision “Pictorial Works” (H 1935), available at http://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/H1935.pdf.
Cataloging Practice
Zinkham, Helena. “Description and Cataloging.” In Photographs: Archival Care and Management, edited by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O’Conner. 164–206. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006.
Library of Congress. Network Development and MARC Standards Office. MARC 21 format for bibliographic data. 2 volumes. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1999–2014. Read about the following fields that are used often or with special settings when cataloging visual materials: Leader/06, fixed fields 007 and 008, fields 245$h, 300, 520, 530, 545, 655, and 856.
Basic familiarity with the MARC format is helpful for the course. If you need an introduction to MARC format conventions, please read Understanding MARC bibliographic: Machine-readable cataloging. 8th edition. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service in collaboration with The Follett Software Company, 2009. Available online at http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/umb/.
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Optional Readings
The following optional readings give you a chance to explore topics related to visual materials cataloging in greater depth. Select a few according to your particular interest areas to contribute to the class discussions. A more extensive list of readings is available in the “Visual Materials: Processing and Cataloging Bibliography,” at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/vmbib.html.
General
Dooley, Jackie M. “Processing and cataloging of archival photograph collections,” in Visual Resources 11:1 (1995): 85–101. Summarizes processing and cataloging issues for photographic archives: identifying nature and purpose of a collection; limitations of original order; control of negatives; mythical need for item-level records; choice of cataloging code; authority work problems; choice of subject thesaurus.
Malan, Nancy E. “Organizing Photo Collections: An Introspective Approach,” in A Modern Archives Reader, edited by by Maygene Daniels and Timothy Walch, 181–186. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1984.
Ritzenthaler, Mary L., and Diane Vogt-O’Connor. Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006. Includes illustrated chapters on visual literacy; acquisitions; arrangement; cataloging; preservation; reference services; legal and ethical issues of ownership, access, and use; duplication; digitizing; and outreach.
Schultz, John and Barbara. Picture Research: A Practical Guide. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.
Data Structures and Application Guidelines
Baca, Murtha, and Patricia Harpring, eds. “Art Information Task Force Categories for the Description of Works of Art,” Visual Resources11:3/4 (1996), special issue. The current CDWA is on the web at http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/cdwa/index.html.
Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and their Images. Visual Resources Association Foundation. First published in 2006, this tool is online with training resources and other aids, at http://cco.vrafoundation.org.
Dublin Core. Metadata Initiative. http://dublincore.org/. Visual information was the focus of a workshop described by Stuart Weibel and Eric Miller (OCLC) in “Image Description on the Internet: A Summary of the CNI/OCLC Image Metadata Workshop, September 24 – 25, 1996, Dublin, Ohio,” for DLib magazine, January 1997.
Encoded Archival Description Version 2002. http://www.loc.gov/ead/ead.html. The Society of American Archivists developed this standard. The site provides links to an online tag library, application guidelines (1998), finding aid websites, and helper tools and files.
Fox, Michael J., and Peter L. Wilkerson. Introduction to Archival Organization and Description. Getty Information Institute, 1998. Also online at http://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/0892365455.html?imprint=gtrs&pg=2&res=20?imprint=gtrs.
Gill, Tony, Anne J. Gilliland, Maureen Whalen, and Mary S. Woodley. Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information. Version 3.0. Getty Research Institute, 2008. Includes a crosswalk of schemes for visual materials, most of which come from the art and museum communities: CDWA, CCO, CONA, VRA Core, MARC, MODS, Dublin Core, DACS, EAD, Object ID, CIMI, and FDA. Also online at http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/intrometadata/crosswalks.html.
RLG. Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials. Mountain View, CA: RLG, 2005. Also online at http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/culturalmaterials/RLG_desc_metadata.pdf.
Best description of the metadata concepts: structure, content & values, and format.Thornes, Robin. Introduction to Object ID: Guidelines for Making Records that Describe Art, Antiques, and Antiquities. Getty Information Institute, 1999. Outlines the minimum information needed to identify stolen art objects. The “Object ID” project is online at http://archives.icom.museum/objectid/about.html.
Visual Resources Association. VRA Core Categories, Version 4.0, Visual Resources Association, Data Standards Committee, 2007.
Descriptive and Subject Cataloging
Dooley, Jackie M., and Helena Zinkham. “The Object as ‘Subject’: Providing Access to Genres, Forms of Materials, and Physical Characteristics” In Beyond the book: Extending MARC for Subject Access, edited by Toni Petersen and Pat Molholt, 43–80. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990.
Harpring, Patricia. Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies: Terminology for Art, Architecture, and Other Cultural Works. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2010. Also available online at http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/intro_controlled_vocab/index.html. General information on controlled vocabularies and authority work, with details about the Getty vocabularies: Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), and Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA).
McRae, Linda, and Lynda S. White, ed. ArtMARC sourcebook: Cataloging Art, Architecture, and their Surrogate Images. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998. Includes architectural drawing cataloging examples.
Orbach, Barbara. “So that others may see: Tools for cataloging still images.” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 11:3/4 (1990): 163–191. Explains the core information needed to provide access to pictures and illustrates how multi-level descriptions (collection, group, and item) fit together.
Shatford, Sara. “Analyzing the subject of a picture: A theoretical approach.” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 6:3 (1986): 39–62. Provides a framework for understanding the different kinds of subjects in pictures.
Shatford, Sara. “Describing a picture: A thousand words are seldom cost effective.” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 4 (1984): 13–30.
Yale University Library. Orbis Visual Materials Cataloging Manual: Single Items & Multiparts. 2014. Online at http://web.library.yale.edu/cataloging/visual-materials-collections.
Physical Characteristics and Preservation
Baldwin, Gordon. Looking at Photographs: A guide to technical terms. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, in association with British Museum Press, 1991.
Gascoigne, Bamber. How to Identify Prints: A complete guide to manual and mechanical processes from woodcut to ink-jet. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986. Any edition.
Goldman, Paul. Looking at prints, drawings, and watercolours: A guide to technical terms. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1989.
Image Permanence Institute. Graphics Atlas. 2004–. Online at http://www.graphicsatlas.org/. Covers print, photographic, photomechanical, and digital media.
Kissel, Eléonore & Erin Vigneau. Architectural Photoreproductions: A manual for identification and care. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press and The New York Botanical Garden, 1999.
Northeast Document Conservation Center. Preservation 101: Preservation Basics for Paper and Media collections, 2015. Includes photographs, prints, and drawings.
Electronic Imaging and Access
Besser, Howard, with revisions by Sally Hubbard and Deborah Lenert. Introduction to Imaging. Revised edition. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2003. Also online at http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/introimages/index.html.
Ostrow, Stephen E. Digitizing historical pictorial collections for the Internet. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 1998. Also online at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/ostrow/pub71.html.
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Exercise: Searching for Pictures
(Web Catalog Sampler)
Compare general approaches to cataloging pictures by selecting two or three search terms from the following list. Then, use those terms as queries in five online catalogs to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their descriptive records and access designs. A list of Online Picture Catalogs is available through the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division website: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/223_piccat.html
farm
sunrises & sunsets
Indians
caricature
industrial
hammer & sickle
Columbia
photographs
doors
love
Washington
postcards
sewing
war
Niagara Falls
Currier
children playing
good & evil
Battle of Gettysburg
Curtis