Director, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Visual Resources Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Curator of Visual Resources, Department of Art History, University of California, Berkeley, California Mary Elings.
PURPOSE
Cataloging of Cultural Objects (CCO) takes us to the third step by providing standards for data content. On the other hand, the cultural heritage community in the United States has never had similar published guidelines to meet the unique and often idiosyncratic descriptive requirements of unique cultural objects.
AUDIENCE
Based on existing standards, Cataloging Cultural Objects provides guidelines for the selection, classification, and formatting of data used to populate metadata elements in a catalog record; this manual is designed to promote good descriptive cataloguing, shared documentation, and improved end-user access. It is also intended to inform the decision-making processes of catalogers and builders of cultural heritage systems.
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
Each chapter deals with one or more metadata elements and begins by describing the relationships between the elements contained in the chapter. Therefore, in the discussion and data presentation sections, the guide is less prescriptive and instead makes recommendations that clarify the implications of using one approach over another.
CCO and AACR
However, to avoid repetition of large blocks of information, the text occasionally directs the user to a relevant section or chapter elsewhere in the guide. However, many issues are complex and variation in the requirements and capacities of different institutions is unavoidable.
Ten Key Principles of CCO
WHAT ARE YOU CATALOGING?
In the simplest cases, the work is no longer in the hand, but captured in a photograph. Panofsky is the creator of the image and may be credited as such in a creator field in Image Registration.
WORKS AND IMAGES
A particularly complex but not unusual example can be found in the archives of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. The answer to the question "What am I cataloging?" it triggers other choices in the cataloging process and helps distinguish work data from image data.
What Is a Work?
A photographic image, especially of three-dimensional works, can shift or obscure the emphasis by adding other works to the picture frame or by changing the perspective captured in the image. If the cataloger chooses to catalog the photograph by Panofsky, the work is the photograph, the creator is Panofsky, and the subject is the manuscript.
What Is an Image?
The 19th-century photograph was originally intended to be a surrogate for the plaster cast (and by extension for Trajan's Column), but that photograph is also now considered a work in its own right. In the most simple solution, the digital image is an image (surrogate) for the photograph, which is a work; the subject of the photograph is the plaster cast, which is a work; the subject of the plaster cast is the Column of Trajan, which is also a work.
Relationships between Work and Image Records
Cataloging Images of Complex Works
Cataloging Images of Architecture
MINIMAL DESCRIPTIONS
Cataloging Depth: Specificity and Exhaustivity
The content of the records in any given information system will necessarily reflect the level of subject matter expertise of the cataloguers. For example, a cataloger should list a material as stone instead of striped slate if he or she is unsure of the specific material.
Core Elements and Minimal Records
The CCO discusses a subset of elements from the VRA Core Categories, which in turn are a subset of the CDWA metadata elements. The chapters in Part 2 address cataloging issues related to all the essential elements for descriptive metadata (administrative metadata is not covered).
Elements for a Work Record
Although the core elements of the CCO map onto the core categories of the CDWA, the CDWA contains elements that are not included in the CCO; some institutions may require elements beyond the scope of both. For example, a museum cataloger may have a wealth of information about a work, its provenance or conservation history that is not sufficiently covered by either the VRA key categories or the CDWA key metadata elements.
Elements for an Image Record
Elements for a Group, Collection, or Series Record
RECORD TYPE
CCO recommends using a Record Type element, although this is administrative rather than descriptive metadata and therefore outside the scope of this manual. Record Type indicates the level of cataloguing, based on the material's physical form or intellectual content.
RELATED WORKS
As an initial step in cataloging the work, determine the level of cataloging that is appropriate for both the work and the goals of the cataloging institution.
Intrinsic Relationships
Complex works often require separate Work Records for the parts as well as for the whole. CCO recommends creating separate work records for each item in the series and for the entire series whenever possible.
Extrinsic Relationships
In these cases, an individual Record of Work should be made for each building and a separate record should be made for the complex, linking the data together through complete relationships. If an institution actually owns such materials, it will certainly make separate records for plans, sketches, and so on.
Displaying Relationships between Works
DATABASE DESIGN AND RELATIONSHIPS
Database Design
Types of Relationships
Building the Relationships
If the database uses a hierarchical model in the geographic authority file, the fact that Florence is in Tuscany and Italy can be entered into the work record. This type of functionality not only saves time for the cataloger (who does not have to type Italy every time he or she uses the term Florence in a work record), but also allows users to find everything in Italy or in Tuscany without having to specify Florence and every other town in Tuscany in a search.
Relationship Type and Reciprocity
Repeatable Fields
Display and Indexing
Some systems allow you to move by hyperlinks from indexing terms to other working records indexed by the same terms. Even if the system does not have this feature, displaying the indexing terms helps end users become familiar with the indexing vocabulary.
How to Decide on a Database Design
For example, a description of an object may be more important than a detailed physical description of a work displayed in a collection of visual resources. A detailed description of the image may be important to the end user, which should be reflected in the structure of the database.
What Is the Purpose of the Database?
AUTHORITY FILES AND CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES
The purpose of authority control is to ensure consistency at cataloging level and that the user. The purpose of this discussion is to highlight problems, not to suggest a single solution that will work for every institution.
Authority Files
The details of how the authorities are constructed and how they interact with each other and with the work and image records are critical issues to be decided by the cataloging institution. Each cataloging institution must devote sufficient time and resources to appropriate analysis and solutions.
Controlled Vocabulary
Controlled vocabularies must be tailored to work well with a specific situation and specific collection or collections. The general term still life, for example, will not be a broader term for the specific term flower in the thesaurus, so both must be included in the work record.
How to Create Authority Records
It is especially important to include broader terms when a thesaurus will not be used in retrieval or when the general term in a thesaurus is not necessarily a parent of the more specific term. If the sources do not agree on the preferred form, go down the list of preferred sources (in the terminology section of each authority chapter) and use the name or term found in the highest source on the list of preferred sources.
Cataloging vs. Retrieval Issues
For example, an end-user search for Le Duc should retrieve records that contain both Charles Leducand and Johan le Duc.5 If your search system does not support such versions, you must add those versions to your authority record or work record (if do not have an authority file). Wellington.6 If your system does not support such versions, add the versions to your authority record or to the work record (if you do not have an authority file).
Source Authority
Your retrieval system must accommodate end users' use of terms and names in natural or reverse order. Record information consistently in the Source Authority or in free-text source notes, using the rules in CDWA, AACR, and the Chicago Manual of Style.
Other Authorities
EXAMPLES OF WORK RECORDS
The field names and data values in the example do not necessarily represent a record for that work in the Getty Museum database. The field names and data values in the example do not necessarily represent the record for this work in the Getty Research database.
CCO ELEMENTS
Required Elements
LIST OF ELEMENTS
- ABOUT OBJECT NAMING
- Discussion
- Terminology
- CATALOGING RULES
- Rules for Work Type .1 Brief Rules for Work Type
- Rules for Title .1 Brief Rules for Title
- PRESENTATION OF THE DATA
- Display and Indexing
- Examples
- ABOUT CREATOR INFORMATION
- Discussion
- Terminology
- CATALOGING RULES
- Rules for Creator .1 Brief Rules for Creator
- Rules for Creator Role .1 Brief Rules for Creator Role
- PRESENTATION OF THE DATA
- Display and Indexing
- Examples
- ABOUT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Discussion
- Terminology
- CATALOGING RULES
- Rules for Measurements .1 Brief Rules for Measurements
- Rules for Materials and Techniques .1 Brief Rules for Materials and Techniques
- Rules for State and Edition .1 Brief Rules for State
- Rules for Additional Physical Characteristics .1 Brief Rules for Inscriptions
- PRESENTATION OF THE DATA
- Display and Indexing
- Examples
- ABOUT STYLISTIC, CULTURAL, AND CHRONOLOGICAL INFORMATION
- Discussion
- Terminology
- CATALOGING RULES
- Rules for Style .1 Brief Rules for Style
- Rules for Culture .1 Brief Rules for Culture
- Rules for Date .1 Brief Rules for Date
- PRESENTATION OF THE DATA
- Display and Indexing
- Examples
- ABOUT LOCATION AND GEOGRAPHY
- Discussion
The changing use or characteristics of the work can be explained in the descriptive note (see Chapter 8: Description). For the preferred title, use a concise descriptive title in the language of the catalog record (English in the United States). For the preferred title, use a concise title in the language of the catalog record (English in the United States).
There are two methods of referring to the title of the whole in the record for the part. Refer to the title of the whole in the title of the part, if possible. Select the most commonly used name in the language of the catalog record (English, in the United States).
This information includes a description of the technique, medium and support used to create the work. Include the weight of the part when it is relevant (for example, for a coin or a megalithic stone). Include the media of the artwork shown in the book if known (for example, illuminations in the manuscript).
Write other terminology in the language of the catalog entry (English in the United States). The date of the work must be recorded in the free text field with a label. If necessary, write a more complete description of the work style in the Description element (see Chapter 8).
