ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following annotated bibliography is on creating good metadata for visual images--practices, standards and methodologies. I began my search for articles on Wilson Web, found through the Library Literature and Information Science Full Text journal at Ryerson University.


1. "Cataloging Cultural Objects: Toward a Metadata Content Standard for Libraries, Archives,
and Museums." Technical Services Quarterly 24, no. 1 (2006): 73-5. Library and
Information Science, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article is a report of the ALCTS CCS Program from the American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, June, 2005. It contains valuable information on Metadata standards for all digital collections, including image-based ones in museums. This report in the article explains new found data about what the American Library Association things should be a standard for metadata in today's changing world.

2.Attig, John et al. "Context and Meaning: The Challenges of Metadata for a Digital Image
Library within the University." College and Research Libraries 65, no. 3 (May
2004):251-61. Library and Information Science, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article tackles the challenges and needs for strong, rich metadata in digital collections in the university environment. The article also discusses three metadata schemas, VRA, Dublin Core and MRS as well as about the Mellon-funded project, the Visual Image User Study at Penn State and how it has created a centralized image delivery service. It also discusses the use of discipline-specific vocabularies for metadata.

3. Murphy, James L. "Link It or Lump It: Basic Access Strategies for Digital Art
Representation." Journal of Library Administration 39, no. 2/3 (2003): 139-60. Library
and Information Science, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article discusses how to represent digital art as metadata. It includes suggestions for picking certain standards such as MARC21 and why it is important to maintain standards for metadata as well as cataloguing these metadata pieces. While it talks about operating digital art collections as a whole, it does discuss the uses and purposes as well as standards for metadata. Since digital art is a new concern, this article addresses the best way to approach creating metadata for these new art objects.

4. Huithwaite, Ann. "AACR2 and Other Metadata Standards: The Way Forward." Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 36, no. 3/4 (2003):87-100. Library and Information Science, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article discusses several important popular metadata standards in use today such as Dublin Core and the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, which are both very popular today. Not only does it go over what they are, but gives suggestion as to what type of collections they are used for and what they're strengths are. This is important to check out what types of metadata standards are used in different types of collections and how they are used before picking one for a digital collection.

5.Ercegovac, Zorana. "Special topic issue: integrating multiple overlapping metadata
standards." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50, no. 13 (1999):
1165-223. Library and Information Science, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article discusses how to deal with a potential complicated issue when there are several different metadata standards in use and how to deal with it. Ideally, one collection should use only one standard, but in some smaller institutions, this might not be the case. This is how to deal with these kind of problems and how to troubleshoot going forward to change the metadata to the same standards so they are compatible in collections.

6. Ahronheim, Judith R. "Descriptive metadata: emerging standards." Journal of Academic
Librarianship 24, no. 5 (1998): 395-403. Library and Information Science, via Wilson
Web, click on here for link.

he writer discusses standards for the creation and sharing of metadata that aim to allow better specification of resource content and enhance the use of Web resources. She reviews cross-disciplinary metadata activity and considers individual communities that are developing standards that will be of interest to the academic library community. Moreover, she provides a basic resource list that should supply up-to-date information on the standards discussed.

7. Campbell, D. Grant. "Metadata, Metaphor, and Metonymy."Cataloging and Classification
Quarterly 40, no. 3/4 (2005): 57-73. Library and Information Sciences, via Wilson Web,
click here for link.

This articles discusses a distinction common in literary studies that is used here to distinguish between metadata applications for discovery and metadata applications for use. Metadata systems for resource discovery, such as the Dublin Core, are continuous with the traditions of bibliographic description, and rely on a principle of metonymy: the use of a surrogate or adjunct object to represent another. Metadata systems for resource use, such as semantic markup languages, are continuous with the traditions of database design, and rely on a principle of metaphor: the use of a paradigmatic image or design that conditions how the user will respond to and interact with the data.

8.. Baca, Murtha. "Fear of Authority? Authority Control and Thesaurus Building for Art and Material Culture Information." Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 38, no. 3/4 (2004): 143-51. Library and Information Sciences, via Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article discusses the tools used in authority control of metadata and how they have evolved over the years. It also gives examples how metadata without authority control and give bad results for end-users. Collection-specific thesauri and subject indexes, and vocabulary-assisted searching and query expansion are also discussed.

9. McCallum, Sally. "MARC/XML Sampler." International Cataloguing and Bibliographic
Control 35, no. 1 (2006): 4-6. Library and Information Sciences, via Wilson Web, click
here for link.

The close relationship of MARC/XML to the recent ISO standards work associated with MARC in XML is described. Sketches of interesting applications follow with uses that range from MARC/XML as a switching format to a maintenance tool to a record communication format for new XML-based protocols.

10.Dean, Rebecca J. "FAST: Development of Simplified Headings for Metadata." Cataloging and Classifcation Quarterly 39, no. 1/2 (2004): 331-52. Library and Information Sciences, va Wilson Web, click here for link.

This article discusses the use of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and their use. In recent trends, driven to a large extent by the rapid growth of the Web, are forcing changes in bibliographic control systems to make them easier to use, understand, and apply, and subject headings are no exception. The purpose of adapting the LCSH with a simplified syntax to create FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) headings is to retain the very rich vocabulary of LCSH while making the schema easier to understand, control, apply, and use

"It all Begins with a Cataloguer" (Week 5)

And I do like that they spell it the British way. This chapter, "It all begins with a Cataloguer" is from Introduction to Art Image Access from the Getty Institute. It was a dense reading and a lot on how cataloguers must think and work and how they must develop a methodical way of researching and describing art in order to make it accessible to the end-user. The cataloguer and the end-user are closely linked in the process of cataloguing art. What the cataloguer does will inevitably affect how the end-user searches the catalogue and what results they will have within their searches.

There were several key points in the reading involving the cataloguer and tips on how the calaloguer can do their job:

1. Two elements which good cataloguing depends on are structure and methodology. Structure centers on what the cataloguer knows about the general practices and rules of analysis/classification along with his/her knowledge and experience. Methodology is dependent on a good cataloguing structure as well as the cataloguer's ability to apply metadata standards, controlled vocabularies and classification systems.
2. The cataloguer's "perspective" must be that of a professional viewer/analyst so that all subjective elements are ignored and only structure and consistency are followed when viewing an image for the first time.
3. The FIRST STAGE in the cataloguing process is initial exposure to the work--a formal analysis and interpretation. It is important that the cataloguer does not view subjectively, because emotions can affect how the image is described. There must be a degree of formality when viewing these images because the end-users may very well view the work differently and therefore the cataloguer's description is obsolete.--There must be a structure when viewing a work to be catalogued.
4. The first stage in the cataloguing process corresponds with Erwin Panofsky's "three levels of image description." Structure in viewing an image is a learned process that involves training the brain both to slow its natural inclination to focus on selected subjective elements and to see the entirety of the work with all of its constituent parts.
5. After viewing, the critical stage of analysis and interpretation follows. Cataloguers who are best at this stage are those with good generalists and have knowledge of most subjects. Cataloguers with highly specialized knowledge will often produce records with too narrow of a focus that lack access points that end-users would likely use. The is bad for cataloguing
6. Cataloguers also do not use only the work of art of their analysis and interpretation, they draw on external sources about the work as well. They can come from wall labels, reference works, literary works and so on. But formal education is the most important external source a cataloguer can bring to the process of analysis and interpretation.
7. DO NOT FORGET TO RECORD SEEMINGLY OBSOLETE INFORMATION. relationships change over time and things can become important in time.
8. CONTEXT also adds to understanding of the subject matter. When works are from a narrative sequence this is especially important.
   
9. Three additional indirect sources of information for the cataloguer involve the ARTIST, DATE and STYLER of the work of art. Sometimes in image classification it is hard to distinguish subject matter and what tangentially related to content (ie. style, date)
10. When classifying a work of art in a catalogue, STANDARDS ARE IMPORTANT. They are infact, the most important part. Some standards such as the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules are often used in classification.
11. Free-text descriptions in catalogue system enable the cataloguer to give a very detailed mental image of the subject matter of the work of art...BUT they give inconsistency. It is better to use controlled descriptors, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), which make it easier to search for end-users.

Overall, a good cataloguer has knowledge and expertise in this field and structure will lead to a useful catalogue for the end-user. A cataloguer must always have the end user in mine.

The second half of this week's reading was " A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections" from NISO. This .PDF file was a good 38 pages of reading and a lot to go over. It includes case studies from Illinois State Library, New Jersey Digital Highway Project and from the University of Oregon. They also have early chapters on COLLECTIONS, OBJECTS, METADATA and PROJECTS. I didn't read through the entire file, but did a broad general overview. There are several useful links to go to in the file for more information and research if going into creating your own digital collection. There are principles and guidelines to follow in each chapter as well.

It's a very in-depth and useful guideline for the future. If there is no need for it now, I recommend saving the file and using it in the future.

Understanding MARC Bibliographic (Week 4)

This reading was very heavy on definitions of the MARC 21 code--all of which is new to me. I had some trouble completely understanding and remember the number for tags and what the indicator was used for from tag to tag. That was the biggest challenge. However, I will list the top ten points that I gathered from the reading in hopes that I will be able to look back on this as a quick notes instead of always having to refer to the Library of Congress's Understanding MARC Bibliographic. But, if you're going to jump into using the MARC 21 system--as I am about to--it does give you a heads up on the basics of MARC 21 and what it looks like written.

And the most important points that I think will help me when working with MARC 21:

1. TAGS: Tags are 3-digit numbers that are followed by the names of the fields they represent. Some are repeatable and some are not.
2. INDICATORS: Indicators explain in fields where they are used. They are one-digit numbers. They follow the tag and there are two character positions, one for Indicator 1 and Indicator 2. It is possible that one will be undefined for that specific tag, in which case, it will be marked with the character #.
3. SUBFIELD CODES: all the data in each field (starting with 010) is divided into subfields. These subfields are preceded by a delimiter code combination. The delimiter shown in the LOC exercise is the character $. EVERY FIELD HAS A SUBFIELD "a" (shown "$a"). The subfields are usually represented by a letter, rarely by a number.
4. Examples of most frequently used tags in a MARC 21 record: 010 Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN), 020 International Standard Book Number (ISBN), 100 personal name entry or Author, 245 title information, 250 edition, 260 publication information, 300 physical description, 440 series statement/added entry, 520 annotation or summary note, 650 topical subject heading, 700 personal name added entry (joint author, editor or illustrator)
5. Tags divided into hundreds are quick ways to tell what the entry is about: 0xx control information, numbers, codes; 1xx main entry; 2xx titles, editions, imprint; 3xx physical description; 4xx series statements as shown in the book; 5xx notes; 6xx subject added entries; 7xx added entires other than subject or series; 8xx series added entries
6. Access points are headings where a user or librarian can search in an online catalog for a record. Most access points are found in: main entries, series statements, subject headings, added entries that aren't subject or series and series entries.
7. Authority Control means to follow the recognized or established form. The best authority is the Library of Congress Name Authority File.
8. Parallel Content is found in fields that require authority control and in fields that use parallel tag construction, such as the 6xx field, the subject heading field. The parallel content is as follows: x00 personal names; x10 corporate names; x11 meeting names; x30 uniform titles; x40 bibliographic titles; x50 topical forms; x51 geographic names.
9. Leaders are the first 24 characters of a record. They are important and have assigned meaning, but they are only meant for the computer to use.
10. MARC records are now available for distribution through file transfer (FTP). This is what is important about using MARC 21 in libraries and not developing an in-house system. Using MARC 21 allows for information sharing between libraries and ensuring that the "tagged" records are correct and full of strong information that follow all rules and guidelines.

Much of the rest of the read was full of what each tag means and what the two indicator characters mean for each tag. And also what each subfield means for each tag. It was a lot of good information, but best to be read over and understood while doing. As I have learned, sometimes doing is the best way of learning. Now that I have some background information, I can continue on. I have the ability to read a MARC record and now I am going to learn to write a coherent record.