"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these images because the end-users may very well view the work differently and therefore the cataloguer's description is obsolete.--There must be a structure when viewing a work to be catalogued.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.