Page 241 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Information Analysis and Repackaging

Notes The two most common sets of terms consulted by image collection organizers are the Art and
Architecture Thesaurus and ICONCLASS. The AAT was created by the Art History Information
Program (AHIP) and is trademark of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The AAT contains extensive art and
architecture terms (although it does “skimp” on the terms used to describe images in the fine arts).
It is organized in a hierarchical way, lists words with definitions, and contains notes on usage.
The AAT provides a flexible base for “defining” an image. Most image collections that use the AAT
use it as a supplement of some sort in conjunction with other vocabulary lists they have created for
their individual collections. ICONCLASS, on the other hand, is not as flexible: “[ICONCLASS] takes
everything, absolutely everything, you can think of. Then divides it into one hierarchical and
interlocking set of broad categories with examples.” ICONCLASS was developed by Professor H.
Van der Waal to deal with the traditional iconography of art history. It contains codes that represent
various iconographic elements used in cataloguing descriptions. The codes are difficult to remember
(you have to look them up in the nine volume set), and because of the interlocking nature of the
system, additional codes are difficult to incorporate. Cataloguers cannot always say what they want
to say using these codes.

Conclusion
It is clear that there is a need for a universal vocabulary and authority control in image collections.
Many computerized projects have experienced problems in trying to define what information should
be contained in specific fields (e.g., What do you put in the location field? Do you use the location of
the object depicted in the image, or the location of the holding institution, or maybe the location of
the stored surrogate image?). The problem of what type of vocabulary to use in the description of
art or architectural images has not really been addressed in the on-line image systems we have
seen.
Controlled vocabulary and authority have been more of an issue for individual image collections.
Controlling the vocabulary used is a very important aspect of future organization of advanced
image collections. The realization that standards were needed not only for consistency within one’s
own image collection but also for future collaborations with other institutions’ image collections
resulted in the creation of the AAT and ULAN. Additional projects are also in progress, such as the
Visual Resources Association project to develop standards for descriptive elements. Conforming to
the vocabulary used in ULAN and the AAT are both good beginnings. However, if AAT is to be
used for future cataloguing, the terms will need to be expanded. Still, I feel the AAT is the most
useful tool for describing art, architecture, and museum objects, and for controlling the consistency
of vocabulary in database indexes.

Vocabulary Control Tools

All STAR applications provide for controlled vocabularies for subject headings, personal and
corporate names, places, products, and classes - any field where input can be selected from a finite
list.
Customers can control the content of their vocabulary authority databases and create new authorities
using the built-in tools—for standalone use or use with STAR applications, such as those in the
Knowledge Management and Library Automation product families. Both flat authority files and
ANSI standard thesauri are supported.
STAR/Thesaurus follows the ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993 Standard. It supports the use of imported
thesauri and taxonomies, as well as the creation of new hierarchical vocabularies.

Vocabulary Control
As discussed earlier, the installation and effective operation of an autonomous IS depends in practice
on tight vocabulary control through the use of a rigid syntax and restricted lexicon. The effect this
has is to very tightly constrain the range of possible directions a conversation can take, and to limit

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