Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading List
Visual Materials Cataloging
Helena Zinkham
Preliminary Advices
Welcome to the Visual Materials Cataloging class! All students MUST read the required material before arriving in Charlottesville in June. Yes, it's about 400 pages in 8 sources, but much of the text is catalog records.
Optional readings are provided for those already familiar with some of 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 as of March 2009.
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) will be mailed to you when your course registration is accepted.
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
- Betz, Elisabeth W. Graphic materials: Rules for describing original items and historical collections. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1982. 155 p. With updates, 1996-1997.
- Describing archives: A content standard. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004.
- Anglo-American cataloguing rules. 2nd edn, 2002 revision. Chicago: American Library Association, 2005 update (cumulated pages).
- Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Thesaurus for graphic materials. TGM I: Subject terms. TGM II: Genre and physical characteristic terms. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1995. Rev. edn. 556 p.
- Petersen, Toni, ed. Art and architecture thesaurus. 2nd edn. 5 vols. NY: Oxford University Press, 1994. "Published on behalf of the Getty Art History Information Program."
- Library of Congress. Library of Congress subject headings. 30th edn. 5 vols. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2007.
- Zinkham, Helena. "Description and cataloging." In Photographs: Archival care and management, Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O'Conner. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006, pp 164-206.
- Library of Congress. Network Development and MARC Standards Office. MARC 21 format for bibliographic data. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1999-2007.
Descriptive Cataloging Tools
This is the Library of Congress cataloging code for photographs, prints, and drawings and the essential text for this course. Please read the entire volume for general familiarity with its content and bring the book with you to Charlottesville. If questions or comments arise, feel free to email them to me between now and the date of the course.
The text is also available from the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division website. http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/gm/graphmat.html
Read the introduction and the summary of each element. Please bring a copy of DACS with you to Virginia.
Web link: http://www.archivists.org/catalog/pubDetail.asp?objectID=1279
Read Chapter 8 "Graphic Materials" (pp 200-219) and bring it to class. (It is not necessary to bring the whole AACR2 volume.) If you are unfamiliar with AACR2, also look at Chapter 1 for general background, and Chapter 21.0, .1, .16, and .17 for information on headings.
Subject Cataloging Tools
The printed volume is no longer published. The current thesaurus is available only on the web at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/tgmiquery.html. Read the entire application guidelines for both TGM I and TGM II, http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ 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.
Petersen, Toni, and Patricia J. Barnett, eds. Guide to indexing and cataloging with the Art & architecture thesaurus. NY: Oxford University Press, 1994. "Published on behalf of the Getty Art History Information Program."
In the Guide, 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. In the AAT itself, choose various hierarchies to browse through in order to gain general familiarity with the thesaurus' scope and format. The current vocabulary is available on the web. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/index.html
Library of Congress. Subject Headings Manual. 4 vols. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2008 cumulation, with updates.
Please read the Subject Cataloging Manual chapter on the subdivision "Pictorial Works" (H 1935), which is enclosed. If anyone needs a refresher in LCSH basics, please get one before July. One published resource is: Library of Congress subject headings : Principles and application, by Lois Mai Chan. 4th edn. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2005. 568 p.
Cataloging Practice
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. You can use the “MARC 21 format for bibliographic data” (2008). http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic
Basic familiarity with the MARC format is necessary for the course. If you need an introduction to MARC format conventions, please read Understanding MARC bibliographic: Machine-readable cataloging. 7th edn. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service in collaboration with The Follett Software Company, 2003. Also on the web. http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/umb/
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.
- Dooley, Jackie M. "Processing and cataloging of archival photograph collections," in Visual resources 11:1 (1995), pp 85-101.
- Malan, Nancy E. "Organizing photo collections: An introspective approach," in
A modern archives reader, ed.
by Maygene Daniels and Timothy Walch. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1984, pp 181-186.
- Ritzenthaler, Mary L., and Diane Vogt-O'Connor. Photographs: Archival care and management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006. 529 p.
- Schultz, John and Barbara. Picture research: A practical guide. NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991. 326 p.
- Baca, Murtha, and Patricia Harpring, eds. "Art Information Task Force Categories for the Description of Works of Art," Visual resources 11:3/4 (1996), special issue.
- Cataloging cultural objects: A Guide to describing cultural works and their mages. Chicago: American Library Association, 2006. 396 p.
- Dublin Core. Metadata Initiative. http://dublincore.org/
- Encoded Archival Description: Application guidelines (Version 1.0). Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1999. 308 p. Also on the web: http://www.loc.gov/ead/ag/aghome.html
- Fox, Michael J., and Peter L. Wilkerson. Introduction to archival organization and description. Getty Information Institute, 1998. 66 p.
- Gill, Tony, Anne J. Gilliland, and Mary S. Woodley. Introduction to metadata: Pathways to digital information. Online edition, Version 2.1.Getty Research Institute, undated.
- RLG. Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials. Mountain View, CA: RLG, 2005. 67 p. Also available online at http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/culturalmaterials/RLG_desc_metadata.pdf
- Thornes, Robin. Introduction to Object ID: Guidelines for making records that describe art, antiques, and antiquities. Getty Information Institute, 1999. 72 p.
- Visual Resources Association. VRA Core Categories, Version 4.0, Visual Resources Association, Data Standards Committee, 2007 http://www.vraweb.org/projects/vracore4/index.html
- 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, ed Toni Petersen and
Pat Molholt. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1990, pp 43-80.
- Lanzi, Elisa. A Guide to enhancing access to art and material culture information. Revised by Patricia Harpring, 2000. On the web: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/introvocabs.
- McRae, Linda, and Lynda S. White, ed. ArtMARC sourcebook: Cataloging art, architecture, and their surrogate images. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998. 294 p.
- Orbach, Barbara. "So that others may see: Tools for cataloging still images," in Cataloging and classification quarterly 11:3/4 (1990), pp 163-191.
- Shatford, Sara. "Analyzing the subject of a picture: A theoretical approach," in Cataloging and classification quarterly 6:3 (1986), pp 39-62.
- Shatford, Sara. "Describing a picture: A thousand words are seldom cost effective," in Cataloging and classification quarterly :4 (1984), pp 13-30.
- Baldwin, Gordon. Looking at
photographs: A guide to technical terms. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, in association with British
Museum Press, 1991. 88 p.
- Gascoigne, Bamber. How to identify
prints: A complete guide to manual and mechanical processes from woodcut to ink-jet.
London: Thames and Hudson, 1986. 208 p.
- Goldman, Paul. Looking at prints,
drawings, and watercolours: A guide to technical terms. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1989. 64 p.
- Jürgens, Martin. Digital print identification web
site: 2004.
- Kissel, Eléonore & Erin Vigneau.
Architectural photoreproductions: A manual for identification and care. Newcastle, Del.: Oak Knoll
Press and The New York Botanical Garden, 1999 121 pp.
- Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Thesaurus for graphic materials. TGM II: Genre and
physical characteristic terms. Includes extensive
bibliography for ephemera, cartoons, posters, photographs, prints, etc. On the web:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/bibl.html
- Mustardo, Peter, and Nora Kennedy. Photographic preservation: Basic methods of safeguarding your collection.
(Technical Leaflets Series no 9) Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, 1994. 36 p.
- Northeast Document Conservation Center. Preservation 101: Preservation basics for paper and media collections, 2006, http://www.nedcc.org/education/online.php. Includes photographs, prints, and drawings.
- Reilly, James M. Care and identification of 19th-century photographic prints. Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak Company, 1986. 116 p.
- Besser, Howard, and Jennifer Trant.
Introduction to imaging: Issues in constructing an image database. Santa Monica, CA: Getty Art History
Information Program, 1995/1996. 48 p. Also on the web:
http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/introimages/index.html
- Collaborative Digitization Program. Digital toolbox, 1999- . http://www.bcr.org/cdp/digitaltb/index.html
- Denver Public Library. About the digitization and cataloging program at the
Denver Public Library, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant report, June 2002, modified and updated for
web presentation April 2003.
- 32. Hurst Associates. Digitization 101 blog, http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/
- Ostrow, Stephen E. Digitizing historical pictorial collections for the internet. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 1998. 36 p.
- Sandore, Beth, ed. "Progress in Visual Information Access and Retrieval," in Library trends 48/2 (1999), special issue, pp 283-524.
General
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.
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.
Data Structures and Application Guidelines
Selected sections and sample records are online at http://www.vrafoundation.org/ccoweb/index.htm
Includes a crosswalk of nine schemes available for visual materials, most of which come from the art and museum communities: CDWA, Object ID, CIMI, FDA, MESL, VRA Core, REACH, MARC, and Dublin Core. Also on the web.
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/crosswalks.html
Best description of the metadata concepts: structure, content & values, and format.
Descriptive and Subject Cataloging
Physical Characteristics and Preservation
Electronic Imaging and Access
Includes a digital resources list, conference news, and more.
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 | caricture |
industrial | hammer & sickle | Columbia | photographs |
doors | love | Washington | postcards |
sewing | war | Niagara Falls | Currier |
children playing | good & evil | Battle of Gettysburg | Curtis |