Visual Resources
Metadata
Jenn Riley
Metadata Librarian
IU Digital Library Program
A birds-eye view of image
cataloging
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Both general and subject-specific expertise
needed
Standards still very much in development
“Title” isn’t necessarily obvious
Works are frequently anonymous
Art image cataloging tends not to be integrated
into “traditional” cataloging operations
No tradition of cooperative cataloging
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Selected types of metadata
standards
Structure standards
 Content standards
 Data value standards (controlled
vocabularies)
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Selected structure standards for
visual resources (sort of)
Categories for the Description of Works of
Art (CDWA)
 Visual Resources Association (VRA) Core
 Dublin Core (DC)
 MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC)
 Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
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CDWA
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More of a framework than a structure standard
Museum focus
381 categories
Smaller number considered “core”
Indicates when values generated from:
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A small controlled list
An external authority file
Consistent formatting
Managed by the Getty
CDWA Lite expressed as an XML Schema
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VRA Core (1)
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Developed under the auspices of the Visual Resources
Association
Each record denoted as referring to a Work or an Image
17 data elements
No element required
All elements repeatable
Various fields have recommended controlled
vocabularies
More general in focus than CDWA
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VRA Core (2)
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VRA Core 3.0
 Current
version
 XML DTD
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VRA Core 4.0
 Currently
in beta testing phase
 Should be released by the end of the year
 XML Schema
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Dublin Core
“Core” elements for any type of resource
 Used primarily in digital asset
management systems covering many
types of resources
 Best used as a “lowest common
denominator” format when necessary,
rather than a native metadata format
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MARC and EAD
Not designed specifically for visual
resources
 Tend to be used in environments with
small VR collections, in a library or archive
context, respectively
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Selected content standards for
visual resources
Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO)
 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd
edition (AACR2)
 Graphic materials : rules for describing
original items and historical collections
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CCO
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Developed under the auspices of the Visual Resources
Association
Can be used in museum, library, and archive environments
Currently in draft; release scheduled for 2006
Designed to be compatible with both CDWA and VRA Core
Recommends providing separate values for indexing and
display for each class of data element
All headings are post-coordinated
For representational works, recommends plural forms of
headings when multiple instances of the object appear, and
singular forms of headings when one instance of the object
appears
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AACR2
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Chapter 8 covers graphic materials
Poor match between AACR/ISBD areas of
description and data needed for image
retrieval
Not centered around unique cultural objects
Not adequate for cataloging large quantities
of images at an item level
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Graphic Materials
Meant to supplement AACR2 rules
 Follows the ISBD areas of description
 Covers description only, not access points
 “Equal attention” to item-level and
collection-level cataloging
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Common fields subject to authority
control
Names
 Subjects/forms/genres
 Geographic places
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Some controlled vocabularies for
names
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Union List of Artist Names
(ULAN)
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Mostly creators of art, but
also some performance
artists and donors
Personal and corporate
names
Accessible through the
Getty Web site
Contributions vetted
through the Getty
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Library of Congress
Name Authority File
(LCNAF)
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Not restricted to any given
domain
Personal and corporate
names
Accessible through OCLC
(and others)
NACO participants
contribute new records
themselves
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Some controlled vocabularies for
subjects/forms/genres
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Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
Iconclass
Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic
Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I)
Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic
Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic
Terms (TGM II)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
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Subject access to art images
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“Ofness” [1][2] vs” Aboutness” [1][2] *
Image catalogers traditionally more comfortable with
interpretive acts than book catalogers
Little if any text from which to take concepts
Some challenges *
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what does “subject” mean? – i.e., what kinds of property of works
should be indexed?
what kinds of method should be used to determine the subject(s)
of works, and…
to select terms that represent those subjects?
*of vs. about examples, and list of challenges from Jonathan Furner’s presentation on CCO at ALA 2005,
<http://www.ala.org/ala/alcts/alctsconted/alctsceevents/alctsannual/COO_Furner.pdf>
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Some controlled vocabularies for
geographic places
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
(TGN)
 National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
GEOnet Names Server
 Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH)
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How to create VR metadata
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No standard mechanism
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Museum databases
MARC catalogs
Digital asset management systems, e.g.,
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Luna Insight
CONTENTdm
But mostly homegrown systems!
Slide libraries tend to use local databases in the
FileMakerPro platform
Current interest in collaboration, cooperative cataloging,
and sharing software is changing this situation rapidly
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More information
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These presentation slides and handouts:
<http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/~jenlrile/presenatations/slis/05spring/l566/>
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CCO session at ALA 2005:
<http://www.ala.org/ala/alcts/alctsconted/alctsceevents/alctsannual/catculturalprog.htm>
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Visual Resources Association <http://www.vraweb.org/>
Eileen Fry, IU Slide Librarian, fryp@indiana.edu
jenlrile@indiana.edu
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