6.
IMPROVING ACCESS:
Using Vocabularies: Theory into Practice
The Web provides an excellent testbed for demonstrating how vocabularies can enhance intellectual access in various applications. This chapter provides links to Examples of Vocabulary Practice, which you may use:
- to help you demonstrate the basic principles of vocabularies to colleagues,
- as models for system developers,
- to encourage collaborative projects in vocabulary building,
- to teach vocabulary practice to students,
- to create your own training exercises,
- to help persuade decision makers of the value of vocabularies.
NOTE: This chapter is a work in progress and we will be adding new links as we discover them. We invite you to help us build this section by sending your suggestions for Examples of Vocabulary Practice to the author at elanzi@ais.smith.edu
1. Vocabularies as Search Assistants
2. Vocabularies in Image Databases
3. Vocabularies in Library Catalogs
4. Vocabularies in Archival description and cataloging
1.
VOCABULARIES AS SEARCH ASSISTANTS
BIRON
- Bibliographic Information Retrieval Online
This database of the Economic and Social Research Council Data Archive
at Essex University (U.K.) incorporates the HASSET (Humanities and Social
Sciences Electronic Thesaurus)into the search interface. When you enter
your search term or terms, BIRON tries to match your keywords or descriptive
terms and geographical terms, against several thousand terms arranged
in associated groups in the HASSET thesaurus. When an exact match is found,
you learn how many studies have been assigned the matching terms. At this
stage you may elect to see the thesaural entry for the term which may
assist you in focusing your search. If no match is found, a list of similarly
spelled terms is presented from which you may select a search term. HASSET
is also an excellent social science thesaurus apart from its ability to
search BIRON.
Digital
Libraries Initiative (DLI)
The application of vocabularies as search assistants in cultural heritage
databases is a relatively new practice and most of the applications you
will see on the Web are in the prototype stage. The theory has long been
a research topic in artificial intelligence and information science labs,
yet most of the applications have surfaced in scientific databases and
commercial search engines. Fortunately, the arts and humanities sector
will benefit from recent research initiatives, such as the DLI is developing
intelligent search interfaces for digital collections using vocabularies.
The discussions in the "Semantic Research" and the "Interspace Prototype"
sections of the DLI website are especially relevant.
UCLA Fowler Museum
of Cultural History
The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History developed its prototype in
collaboration with Questor Systems, the museum’s collection management
system vendor. Users can refine searches for museum objects and images
by broadening or narrowing their topic. This is accomplished through a
hierarchical lexicon that is made available at the time of the query.
The search engine automatically includes synonyms and spelling variants
in the search.
2. VOCABULARIES IN IMAGE DATABASES
Holsinger
Studio Collection Image Database
The Holsinger Studio Collection Image Database is a prototype created
by the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia
Library. SGML tags were used to describe a set of photographs depicting
19th -early 20th c. life in Virginia. The catalogers used both AAT and
LCSH terms to provide topical access points.
Image
Directory
The Image Directory, an online publication of Academic Press, is a resource
of information on art images from a network of participating museums,
libraries, societies, and other institutions. Several features are available
to help image users find the precise information they need, including
daily updates and additions of new material, low-resolution images for
many entries, and direct links to the AAT and ULAN web browsers. Limited
access to the Image Directory is complimentary, but a paid subscription
is required to access complete image information.
National
Graphic Design Image Database
Developed at the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, a
division of the Cooper Union School of Art, the NGDA Image Database is
designed to electronically preserve and disseminate material related to
the history and theory of graphic design. The database uses the AAT to
describe design attributes for posters, advertisements, etc. The software
enables students, designers, and artists to access and input images and
analysis from web sites worldwide and aims to build a virtual visual encyclopedia
through an electronic community of educators. The public access version
displays data for all the records, but access to images is currently restricted
to select items. Educators interested in accessing the unrestricted version,
should contact Lawrence Mirsky, director of The Herb Lubalin Study Center
and the NGDA Image Database, at mirsky@cooper.edu.
SlideCat
The University of California at Santa Cruz SlideCat website includes 200,000
textual slide records and thousands of authority records. The categories
can be browsed (including subject, artist, people, site, etc.) or keyword
searches can be made. Sources for the authority files include AAT and
LCSH, however, they are not cited in the web version. This site also uses
the Santa Cruz Classification System.
SPIRO
Online Visual Database
The University of California at Berkeley Architecture Slide Library’s
SPIRO Online Visual Database uses a combination of AAT and local terms
to describe this teaching collection of architectural slides. The site
also includes a reference list of subject terms used in the database.
3. VOCABULARIES IN LIBRARY CATALOGS
IRIS: the Integrated Research Information System is the online catalog for the Research Library of the Getty Research Institute. IRIS displays bibliographic records of over 350,000 book and serial titles, as well as descriptions of approximately 3,000 archival and photograph collections. IRIS uses AAT terms in the form/genre descriptions for the collection. Subject keywords are taken from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
The National Art Library (London) staff collaborated with the AAT to create new subject terms in the area of book arts, including bookbinding and genre terminology. The AAT is the primary source of terminology for the NAL and a project to convert older subject headings in the catalog to headings using AAT terms is underway. The NAL catalog can be searched via telnet from their website.
4. VOCABULARIES IN ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION AND CATALOGING
Duke
University Papyrus Archive
This archive provides online access to texts about and images of Ancient
Egyptian papyri. Read the online article, "Cataloging the Duke Papyri"
first to get an overview of the methodology used to create the database.
This site is an excellent example of how data standards work together
(e.g., MARC, APPM, AACR2, LCSH and AAT) to facilitate information retrieval
in multiple environments (the Web, an OPAC,and an institutional catalog).
5. VOCABULARIES IN MUSEUM DOCUMENTATION
Mystic
Seaport - Museum of America and the Sea
Mystic Seaport is a good example of an institution-wide effort to integrate
information from its library, archival, and museum collections. Mystic
Seaport is employing several strategies to accomplish this - in the area
of vocabualries, the staff contributes terms to the AAT. These terms (together
with local terms) will be used to provide access points into the collections
databases.
Categories for the Description of Works of Art
This demonstration of how the Categories for the Description of Works
of Art (CDWA) can be applied in documentation practice was created
by the Getty Information Institute. Note how the AAT, ULAN, TGN, and ICONCLASS
are used in multiple categories to describe a work of art.
Conway
Library Index - Architecture
This index to a microfiche collection of a photoarchive for the history
of architecture is a publication from Emmett Publishing. The web version
allows you to sample the index interface and retrieve up to three results
per search. Editor, David Austin, (Art & Architecture Librarian at
the University of Illinois at Chicago) used a maximum of two AAT terms
per photograph to help users find object types. The search form also includes
a pop-up authority list of AAT terms used to index the photographs. The
ULAN was consulted for spellings of names and dates of existence for people.
A single version of the spelling of the name was chosen where multiples
were found in the list.
A significant part of this guide, created by David Austin (Art & Architecture
Librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago), is a photo-by-photo
database index of the contents of the microfiche publication of the DAI's
photographic archive. The index includes the name of an item; a description
of the view of an item; the name of a monument; the name of a site; the
name of a region; the name of a country; the name of a repository; the
repository's designation (inventory number); the name of a creator to
whom the object is attributed; term or terms related to the item's classification
(from the AAT); term or terms related to the item's iconography (from
ICONCLASS); the location of the photo on the microfiche; and a credit
for the original photo's source, including a photo or negative number
when possible.
Vocabulary
"browsers" are applications that give users access to the content
of a vocabulary in an online environment. Other web resources, such as
online catalogs and databases, can take advantage of this by providing
users with links to vocabulary browsers to assist in searching. Below
are a few examples.
Art
& Architecture Thesaurus Browser, maintained by
the J. Paul Getty Trust, contains the most up-to date AAT terminology.
The ability to search individual words in scope note is an added feature.
CHIN
Art & Architecture Thesaurus Browser
This AAT web browser, created by the Canadian Heritage Information Network,
is available as part of the Research and Reference Information Resources
package - tools for historic, terminology, and documentation research.
A free 30-day trial subscription is available or you can view a sample
AAT record without a subscription.
ICONCLASS Browser is a tool developed by the ICONCLASS Research & Development Group (IRDG) at the Universities of Utrecht and Leiden. It is intended for those engaged in iconographical research or in the documentation of images, particularly for people working with ICONCLASS in computer projects. ICONCLASS is an iconographic classification system, i.e. a collection of ready-made definitions of objects, persons, events, situations and abstract ideas, that can be the subject of a work of art.
RLIN
Art & Architecture Thesaurus Browser
An AAT browser is offered by the Research Libraries Group as part of its
RLIN database package of authority files. The online AAT candidate term
form is also accessible from this site. An RLIN or Zephyr subscription
account is required to use the RLIN authority files.
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Browser, maintained by the J. Paul Getty Trust, contains the most up-to date TGN information.
Union List of Artist Names Browser maintained by the J. Paul Getty Trust, contains the most up-to-date ULAN information.
8. MULTILINGUAL VOCABULARIES
CHIN
Religious Objects Collections Database
The database includes over 300 records of religious objects and images
is sponsored by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Ministére
de la Culture de la France. The site currently displays descriptions in
both French and English and CHIN is developing a multilingual lexicon
that will allow navigation across the collections. A free 30-day trial
subscription is available or you can view a sample record without a subscription.
Multilingual
Egyptological Thesaurus
This thesaurus has been compiled mainly for the (computerized) documentation
and retrieval of museum objects and is a collaborative product of the
Computer Working Group of the International Association of Egyptologists
(IAE) and the Comité International pour l'Égyptologie (CIPEG)
of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The browser provides terms
in English, German, and French with future plans for Arabic, Italian,and
Spanish. Note the numerical codes that link the same term in each language.
