This detailed book is a “how-to” guide to building controlled vocabulary tools, cataloging and indexing cultural materials with terms and names from controlled vocabularies, and using vocabularies in search engines and databases to enhance discovery and retrieval online. Also covered are the following: What are controlled vocabularies and why are they useful? Which vocabularies exist for cataloging art and cultural objects? How should they be integrated in a cataloging system? How should they be used for indexing and for retrieval? How should an institution construct a local authority file? The links in a controlled vocabulary ensure that relationships are defined and maintained for both cataloging and retrieval, clarifying whether a rose window and a Catherine wheel are the same thing, or how pot-metal glass is related to the more general term stained glass. The book provides organizations and individuals with a practical tool for creating and implementing vocabularies as reference tools, sources of documentation, and powerful enhancements for online searching.

This primer on the characteristics, scope, uses, and methods for building and maintaining controlled vocabularies for art and cultural materials explains how vocabularies should be integrated in cataloging systems; utilized for indexing and retrieval; and structured to group synonyms and arrange concepts into categories. The updated edition reflects recent developments in the field, including new national and international standards, current trends such as Linked Open Data, and revisions to the Getty vocabularies. The glossary and bibliography have also been updated.

Digital networking will make our global cultural heritage accessible to a widespread audience. To reach this audience, it is essential to create and employ terminology that brings consistency to the language used in information retrieval contexts. Introduction to Vocabularies highlights the crucial role that controlled vocabularies play in the description, cataloging, or documentation of cultural heritage information. The book stresses the importance of standards and the role of authority work in creating and managing vocabularies that would ensure integrated access. The book concludes with descriptions of three vocabulary databases developed by the Getty Information Institute. The Introduction to series acquaints professionals and students with the complex issues and technologies in the production, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage information resources.

In a visual and artifact-filled world, cataloging one-of-a-kind cultural objects without published guidelines and standards has been a challenge. Now for the first time, under the leadership of the Visual Resources Association, a cross-section of five visual and cultural heritage experts, along with scores of reviewers from varied institutions, have created a new data content standard focused on cultural materials. This cutting-edge reference offers practical resources for cataloging and flexibility to meet the needs of a wide range of institutions—from libraries to museums to archives. Consistently following these guidelines for selecting, ordering, and formatting data used to populate metadata elements in cultural materials' catalog records: Promotes good descriptive cataloging and reduces redundancy Builds a foundation of shared documentation Creates data sharing opportunities Enhances end-user access across institutional boundaries Complements existing standards (AACR) This is a must-have reference for museum professionals, visual resources curators, archivists, librarians and anyone who documents cultural objects (including architecture, paintings, sculpture, prints, manuscripts, photographs, visual media, performance art, archaeological sites, and artifacts) and their images.

A practical guide to the construction of thesauri for use in information retrieval, written by leading experts in the field. Includes: planning and design; vocabulary control; specificity and compound terms; structure and relationships; auxiliary retrieval devices; multilingual thesauri; AAT Compound Term Rules. The US ANSI/NISO Z39.19 Thesaurus construction standard is also covered.

"The first edition of Introduction to Imaging was published in 1995 and quickly became a standard textbook on the construction of digital image collections. The Visual Resources Association Bulletin praised it for setting forth "important basic principles and technical terms that anyone beginning an imaging project would need to know."" "Significantly expanded and updated, the revised edition of Introduction to Imaging allows curators, librarians, collection managers, scholars, and students to better understand the basic technology and processes involved in building a cohesive set of digital images. It also explores how to link digitized images to the information required to access, preserve, and manage them. Other topics include making data interoperable with other information resources and activities; developing strategies that do not limit or foreclose future options; and ensuring the longevity of digital assets. Book jacket."--Jacket.