Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group

The Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group (MACDG) is a loosely organized group of librarians who meet three times a year. Anyone interested in art and architecture or visual resources cataloging is welcome to attend. For more information or to add your name to the group's mailing list please contact the current secretary, Nathaniel Feis, at nfeis@artic.edu or (312)443-3526.

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
8th Meeting
Hosted by the Special Collections of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago
January 30, 2004

Attendees:
Cheryl Arvio, Art Institute of Chicago
Angela Falsey, Art Institute of Chicago
Nathaniel Feis, Art Institute of Chicago
Tom Hartmann, Harrington College of Design
Ben Kessler, University of Chicago
Karen Johnson, Judson College
Alice Maggio, Illinois Institute of Art
Dennis McGuire, Columbia College
April Trentham, Art Institute of Chicago
Jen Wolfe, student, University of Washington

The eighth meeting of Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened on Friday, January 30, 2004 at the Special Collections of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago with welcomes and introductions by those in attendance.

Announcement: The meeting began with Tom Hartmann announcing that Harrington
Institute of Interior Design has changed its name to the Harrington College of Design and moved to the following address:

Harrington College of Design
200 W. Madison,
Design Library, 3rd floor
Chicago, IL 60606

The library is open to everyone, generally 8 am- 9 pm (Fridays and Saturdays until 4:00).
Material is not loaned out, except to students and faculty/staff. The library is part of OCLC, but not in ILLINET.

Topic: How do you handle changes in LCSH subject headings? Do you change retrospectively, use new heading in new books only, or something else?

The scope note revisions made to Clothing and dress and Costume were given as examples. Illinois Institute of Art has a large fashion collection and this change means reclassing a lot of material. At Columbia, they are responsible to a consortium and must follow the changes.

Topic: Is anyone using the 22nd ed. of Dewey?

Only the Art Institute is making the switch to the latest edition of Dewey. The process by which Dewey is updated was discussed, as was the merits of Dewey vs. LC classification. The necessity of classification in light of online catalogs was also discussed.

Topic: Classing artists by century, nationality?

In Dewey, 709.04, for 20th century artists, is divided by movements and some media, while 709.05 for 21st century is not. The University of Chicago's visual resources are arranged by artist, by nationality before 1800 and alphabetically thereafter. At Columbia the decision is made by asking: in what century will the majority of the artist's work be completed?

The next MACDG meeting is tentatively planned for June 2004. Any librarians interested in hosting this meeting should contact Nathaniel Feis at the Art Institute of Chicago (nfeis@artic.edu or 312-443-3526).

Notes by Angela Falsey
January 30, 2004

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
7th Meeting
Hosted by the Cranbrook Academy of Art Library
October 17, 2003

Attendees:
Angela Falsey, Art Institute of Chicago
Nathaniel Feis, Art Institute of Chicago
Alba Fernandez, Indianapolis Museum of Art
Nicole Finzer, student, Indiana University
Terry Kerby, University of Michigan
Marian Lambers, College for Creative Studies
Nancy Steffes, College for Creative Studies
Beth Walker, College for Creative Studies

The seventh meeting of the Midwest Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened on Friday, October 17, 2003 at the Library of the Cranbrook Academy of Art with welcomes and introductions by those in attendance.

Topic: Do you catalog comic books as serials or monographs?
At Ryerson, if a series of comic books has a single title, issue numbers, or other characteristics of a serial, it is cataloged as a serial. Those with individual titles are cataloged as monographs. Checking the catalogs of other libraries with extensive holdings of comics was suggested. It was also mentioned that RLIN has a lot of copy for comics; checking OCLC's Worldcat was also suggested.

Topic: Do you catalog annual (biennial, triennial) exhibition catalogs as serials or monographs?
At Ryerson, they are cataloged as monographs if they are individually titled, feature named curators, or if they are catalogs from a small part of a larger exhibition. If the catalogs have one title, obvious numbering, and no individual distinguishing features, they are cataloged as serials. At the Indianapolis Museum of Art, they are all cataloged as monographs.

Topic: Do you have an online catalog or a database for your visual library?
The University of Michigan and the College for Creative Studies both have databases.

Topic: Do faculty/curators try to dictate the location or classification of your collection's resources (images or books)?
The difference between cataloging print and visual collections was discussed. The cataloging of print collections differs from visual collections in that print collection cataloging generally follows more standards. Visual collection classification systems are usually homegrown. Although many of those in attendance hear these requests for different classification, and all keep the audience in mind when classing items, visual resource libraries are in a better position to accommodate patrons.

Topic: Are your slide collections digitizing?
The University of Michigan is digitizing images and migrating records from an 18-year-old in-house database to a digital asset management system. The entire collection won't be digitized, but they currently have about 250,000 records. ARTstor has expressed an interest in their digital image collection, but there are copyright issues to be resolved. The College for Creative Studies is looking into embedding images into their OPAC with Innovative Interfaces. It was noted that Saskia is now only offering digital photos, and that Kodak will be discontinuing its projectors. The Madison Digital Image Database was recommended.

Topic: Is anyone switching from DDC 21 to 22?
Ryerson Library is presently still using DDC 21. Indianapolis Museum of Art still uses an older edition of Dewey for consistency's sake. No one else present is using Dewey. The merits and difficulties of Dewey and LC classification systems were discussed briefly.

Topic: Subject headings: how do you handle 20th-21st century art?

University of Michigan has an "international file" for artists after 1945. The College for Creative Studies did away with geographic divisions for artists for 20th century on. University of Michigan does not use chronological subdivisions. Classing can almost be a question of personal preference; subject headings can assure access, especially in closed stack libraries. The difficulties of cataloging works on non-Western or "non-traditional" arts were briefly discussed.

The next MACDG meeting is tentatively planned for January 2004. Any librarians interested in hosting this meeting should contact Nathaniel Feis at the Art Institute of Chicago (nfeis@artic.edu or 312-443-3526).

Notes by Angela Falsey
10/17/03

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
6th Meeting
Hosted by the MacLean Visual Resources Center, Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, the Art Institute of Chicago
June 6, 2003

Attendees:
Sara Carter, prospective art-librarian/student
Kathy Evans, Purdue University
Nathaniel Feis, Art Institute of Chicago
Leigh Gates, Art Institute of Chicago
Shu Yong Jiang, Art Institute of Chicago
Ben Kessler, University of Chicago
Alma Koppedraijer, Art Institute of Chicago
Cheryl Mainard, Art Institute of Chicago
Lauren Noel, Columbia College
Armando Pequeno, Art Institute of Chicago
Maria Sheehan, Harrington Institute
April Trentham, Art Institute of Chicago

After an interesting and informative presentation by Doro Boehme, Special Collections Librarian, Sylvia Choi, Catalog Librarian, and Fred Hillbruner, Head of Technical Services concerning the Joan Flasch Artists' Book collection books at the John M. Flaxman Library, the School of the Art Institute and special cataloging issues raised by artists' books, we proceeded to our regular meeting.

The sixth meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened on Friday, June 6, 2003 at the MacLean Visual Resources Center, Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, the Art Institute of Chicago with welcomes and introductions by those in attendance.

We started off by continuing on the topic of artists' books. Most of those collections represented at the meeting do not have significant artist book collections, though these sorts of items are added occasionally. Columbia College has a loose definition of artists' books. When such items are cataloged, the subject heading "Artists' books" is assigned, but no access is added for the sorts of materials and processes which were utilized to create the book in question. But, this sort of detailed access, which is useful when dealing with a collection having as broad a scope as the Joan Flasch collection, may not be relevant for a library that only has a few artists’ books.

It was mentioned that there is no published guide dealing with the cataloging of artists’ books, nor is there any sort of workshop or class on the same topic of which anyone present is aware. There are, however, classes in cataloging realia and these practices combined with those of regular bibliographic cataloging, might help in cataloging artists’ books. It was suggested that a class in cataloging artists’ books might be the sort of thing that the MACDG could sponsor at some future date.

On the topic of library projects -- particularly summer projects – it was noted that summer is a time when a library can accomplish many of the larger projects that can not be taken care of at other times of the year when the library is busier. Many libraries use this time for inventory or similar projects. The Ryerson Library’s circulation department is moving to the Innovative Interfaces, Inc.'s Millennium module in the near future. Also, Ryerson Library is continuing long term projects such as re-classing older titles. The MacLean Visual Resources Center is working on image presentation and reviewing cataloging. They are attempting to meet challenges presented by attempting to adapt their pre-existing cataloging into the models created by vendors. This is especially difficult in visual collections. The Art Department at Purdue University has begun documenting lectures and other events at the University on video and adding these videos to the collection. This raises many issues beyond cataloging, such as preservation of these materials for the future since these are the original recordings. Since this is a new area for them, they are still establishing their preactices.

With that the conversation segued into a discussion of online catalogs and how the catalogs are used. The Slide Library at Purdue University uses Filemaker as a database, as does the University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, however, the images are linked directly to the catalog records so that both image and record can be pulled up simultaneously. It was mentioned that is more difficult for a smaller institution or department to set-up this sort of synergetic catalog because it is difficult to find the technical and administrative support that is needed to get this sort of project underway.

The next meeting will likely be sometime in October. The time and place have not yet been set. Any librarians interested in hosting future meetings should contact Nathaniel Feis at the Art Institute of Chicago (nfeis@artic.edu or 312-443-3526).

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
5th Meeting
Hosted by the Design Library of the Harrington Institute of Interior Design
January 24, 2003

Librarians in attendance:
Anne Champagne, Art Institute of Chicago
Michael Donovan, Art Institute of Chicago
Angela Falsey, Art Institute of Chicago
Nathaniel Feis, Art Institute of Chicago
Leigh Gates, Art Institute of Chicago
Tom Hartmann, Harrington Institute
Shu Yong Jiang, Art Institute of Chicago
Karen Johnson, Judson College
Dennis McGuire, Columbia College
Alice Maggio, Dominican University
Cheryl Mainard, Art Institute of Chicago
Julie Marchenko, Northwestern University
Lauren Noel, Columbia College
Amy Trendler, Art Institute of Chicago
April Trentham, Art Institute of Chicago

The fifth meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened on Friday, January 24, 2003 at the Design Library of the Harrington Institute of Interior Design with welcomes and introductions by those in attendance.

1. Topic: When do you place copy work in the collection and when do you purchase slides?

The current practice at Judson College is to check with their three main distributors and see if they have an image, to purchase it and let the copy work go. If the image can not by easily purchased, the copy work is entered into the catalog, labeled, and moved to the permanent collection.

It was suggested that the amount of slides you buy be based on your budget. Judson College purchases available slides through a limited number of distributors. For the rest, Karen Johnson puts copy work into their regular collection. The Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia slide libraries also utilize this system.

2. Topic: How do you class digital photograph "albums" so that they are not lost amongst other photography collections? The word "albums" refers to monographs of mostly, if not all, photographic images.

At the Harrington Institute some patrons have requested books containing only digital photography. The concern was whether the library should separate digital photography from other photography books. It was suggested to use subject headings differentiating the books, for example a digital photography heading rather than creating a separate section for digital photography. A separate location may only be helpful for a small number of patrons and not in the libraryÕs best interest for future acquisitions, especially as the number of monographs containing digital photography increases. For the majority of patrons interested in the subject matter being photographed, rather than the specific photographic process, separate locations would not be beneficial.

Everyone appears to have adjusted to the revisions; no complaints or comments were voiced.

The Getty Thesaurus for Place Names came out with a new edition recently. Both English and vernacular names were listed. Which do (slide) libraries and patrons prefer? LC prefers the English version, but includes vernacular forms as references in its authority records. Also there are discrepancies within some of LC headings, for example a particular building with a non-English name is kept in itÕs vernacular form and then in parenthesis the English form of the place name is given. Northwestern University is trying to consistently use English names for its slide library. For extinct localities the ancient name is preferred by the Art Institute and Northwestern. Depending, however, on whether or not the location in question falls within a current jurisdiction. LC uses the current name for the locality. Columbia uses the English form for place names, but keeps the actual building names in the vernacular tongue. For specific art works, Dennis McGuire uses the original language of the title over the translated English version, but only if that title is present in the work being catalogued. The Art InstituteÕs slide library labels slides with both the original and English translated title.

The problem of attempting to catalog items in such a way that certain information will be available to instructors, but will not cause confusion for students searching the catalog was discussed. This is complicated by the need to catalog slides within a system that integrates many forms of media. The solution seems to be to get the students to perform limited searchs.

Several librarians discussed the problems with mapping non-MARC records from a local database into MARC format. Northwestern successfully completed this project. Columbia experienced some problems when they mapped records from non-MARC into MARC. For example, one multi-lined 500 note was separated into individual 500 notes for each line. Since Judson College currently has a small collection, Karen Johnson wondered if it would be better to attempt the switch to a MARC formatted system soon so that it will be easier to address the problems that come up as a result of the switch.

Amy Trendler will be mediating the session at Art Libraries Society of North America conference in Baltimore. The session --The Next Generation of Catalogers: Issues in Education and Training -- will be held on Monday, March 24,10-11:30 am.

As is the custom, there will not be a spring quarterly meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group because of the ARLIS and Visual Resources Association conferences. The next MACDG meeting will be held in May or June of 2003. Any librarians interested in hosting this meeting should contact Nathaniel Feis at the Art Institute of Chicago (nfeis@artic.edu or 312-443-3526).

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
4th Meeting
Hosted by the Cleveland Museum of Art
October 11, 2002

Librarians in attendance:
Lizette Benzing, Oberlin College
Anne Champagne, Art Institute of Chicago
Leigh Gates, Art Institute of Chicago
Christopher Handy, Cleveland Museum of Art
Hyosoo Lee, Cleveland Institute of Art
Stacie Murry, Cleveland Museum of Art
Diana Nichols, Kent State University Library School - Student
Sara Jane Pearman, Cleveland Museum of Art
Yunah Sung, Cleveland Museum of Art
Lori Thorrat, Cleveland Museum of Art

The October meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened on Friday October 11, 2002 at the Cleveland Museum of Art with Ann Abid welcoming those in attendance followed by introductions.

Are VR collections using same vocabularies and authority files as OPACs and museum collection management systems? No. Sara Jane noted that she doesn't use AAT, LCSH or LCNAF. She has discussed consistency/compatibility with curatorial departments and the registrar, but hasn't persuaded them to work with her to develop uniform cataloging standards. Leigh made the point that librarians see catalogs as finding aids, but curators don't see their databases as having only that limited function.

2. Topic: Authority control and shared cataloging in visual resources collections

Discussed the possibility of VR community setting up a NACO-like project for shared authority files. Mellon has recently funded a project for CMA, Harvard and UC San Diego to explore the possibility of shared VR cataloging -- both description and authority -- called Union Catalog of Artist Images (UCAI). The end product will be a database that includes images.

Lori talked about the possibility of the member libraries of Ohio Valley ARLIS developing a shared database for vertical file material. Described how CMA has cataloged all of their VFs into their OPAC.

4. Topic: Local database of artists
Hyosoo described a local database she has created at the Cleveland Institute of Art that indexes artists names included in exhibition catalogs for group shows. The database is extremely popular with their students. It's available on their website as "Contemporary artist index"
http://www.cia.edu/administrative/academicaffairs/library/default.asp

There was a discussion of the merits of using local classification systems vs. LC Classification. CMA is exploring the possibility of making the switch to LC.

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
3rd Meeting
Hosted by the Evanston Public Library
June 21, 2002

The June meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened at 9:35am on Friday June 21, 2002 at the Evanston Public Library. 8 librarians were in attendance.

The Evanston Public Library houses the largest collection of art books in the area's public library system. The library is a potential resource for Chicago-area patrons looking to check out art books, particularly because of the reciprocal borrowing agreement between the Chicago and Evanston Public Libraries. The collection is fairly broad and includes books on local artists.

Discussion on this topic revealed that while generally additional subject headings are not added to titles with an artists' name heading, catalogers will add them if the additional heading is very specific. Most everyone agreed that they would not add headings such as "Sculpture, American," but would consider adding headings such as "Glass sculpture, American." It was noted that the focus of the collection is important to consider: a library with few books on landscape painting, or painting in general, may be more likely to add headings such as "Landscape painting, American" to records.

When is a book of photographs classed as a photography book and when does it go with the subject of the photographs (either in 779 or a different subject number 900s, etc)? This question is easier for art libraries to answer because a given title has undoubtedly been purchased for the photography and not the subject matter, but for public libraries and general collections the answer is not so clear. As several of those present reported, titles may be divided between subject and photography until it becomes apparent that the photographer is an "artistic" photographer. Titles would usually then be classified by photographer. The point was made that in terms of classification for browsing collections, sometimes it is best to leave titles in the "wrong" locations for better browsing, but that reclassifying is sometimes necessary and can increase circulation. The general consensus was that these questions must continue to be answered on a case-by-case basis.

The problem of name headings that become big lists and tend to offer little help to the patron looking for "a book on Picasso" was discussed. The idea of the classed catalog was raised, but here built numbers could prove to be a problem and some libraries have ongoing reclassification projects or simply classification problems that would interfere. Still, the classed catalog could be used to divide big headings into smaller groups based on medium, but this would require patrons to have a better understanding of call numbers. Placing limits on searches to find keywords in the title (i.e. prints, drawings, paintings) was also suggested.

The next meeting of the MAC discussion group will be September 2002 at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The discussion group does not meet during the first quarter of the year due to the fact that the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and Visual Resources Association (VRA) conferences are scheduled during this time. For proceedings of the 2002 joint ARLIS/NA, VRA conference in St. Louis (March 20-26), including minutes for the Cataloging Discussion Group held at the conference, see http://www.arlisna.org/conf2002/Conftoc.html

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
Notes for the 2nd Meeting
Hosted by the Columbia College Library
December 7, 2001

The second meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened at 10:05am on Friday, December 7, 2001 at the Columbia College Library. Twenty catalogers were in attendance.

While some of those present confessed to having no written scheme, most use a modified classification system such as Simon-Tansey (from the University of California-Santa Cruz) or Fogg (from the Fogg Art Museum). Exceptions are often made for faculty preferences, and in some cases librarians work closely with the faculty on issues related to classification. It was noted that the interests of the faculty affect the classification system and that the system must respond to the patrons. As a result, no one model can be identified because every system is influenced by the faculty, the users in general, and the curriculum. But while most agreed that the system should respond to the users, it was also noted that the response should not take the form of dividing the collection into drawers of slides for each professor. Furthermore, the system cannot be modified to fit every request, as sometimes individual users' needs and wants are not good for the collection as a whole. Most advocated the idea of an overarching system that may be modified in its smaller components. Still, some cited the difficulty in cases where there is precedence for making special arrangements for individual users. But if all else fails, most agreed that they can fall back on the catalog as a record of holdings, however those holdings may be arranged. As a cautionary note, it was observed that classification should not be driving cataloging, and vice versa. The issue of catalogs that combine print and visual resources was raised in this context. There were few cases in which the two are truly combined in one catalog, although OCLC's Worldcat is one of these cases. More often visual resource and print catalogs are separate.

Several librarians indicated that their documentation was either currently available online (although in some cases it is only accessible internally) or that they were moving in this direction. It was mentioned that Web Dewey will allow library's to annotate their copies, but some wondered if this wouldn't open the door to huge maintenance projects. However, maintaining the notations should be easier in the online environment than it would be in print. Some of those present have had the experience of taking on a job when there was no manual or only outdated information and had to piece together or create documentation. Others wondered about using local notes in authority records to record information.

The question of how much local variation there was in practice was brought up and most agreed that they were trying to get away from non-standard practices, although many come from libraries had used some non-standard practices in the past. It was generally agreed that adhering to standards made things simpler in general and could make creating and maintaining documentation easier as well. The idea of using a "best example" system of actual records in place of written instructions for various art cataloging practices was put forth, but it was generally agreed that notes and written instructions used in conjunction with examples is preferable, particularly for the purposes of training. This raised the specter of training and the question of whether librarians used their in-house documentation for this purpose. The group was split on this issue, with some making heavy use of documentation in the training process and others using a train-as-you-go method of instruction and examples. Finally, it was noted that a "guide to good practice" was being developed as part of the VRA core project Some of the problems encountered in this endeavor are the difficulty of determining the entity when cataloging images and creating standard titles.

Some librarians review all records while others perform spot checking or rely on training and make the quality of output a cataloger's personal responsibility. It was generally agreed that the question of whether or not to review depends on the situation. For the Northwestern University slide library the quality of the data is more important than the time devoted to review (usually 3-4 hours per week). The library has recently standardized some practices and is adding records based on slide labels, so review has been deemed necessary, particularly to insure uniformity among subject heading selection. In this case automated reviews in the form of reports run on the catalog(one of the most common forms of review among those that do not review records on an individual basis) were not possible. At the MacLean Visual Resources Center they proof one another's work and they feel that this provides a forum for discussion. For some it was important that the cataloger's initials appear in the record to insure that questions that may arise later about a record may be directed to the person responsible. Some library systems automatically mark a record, but in others initials must be manually inserted. Finally, it was noted that reviewing output was also a management issue and that at some point one must accept a level of variety in cataloging.

A discussion of the value of subject headings in visual resource collections was an offshoot of the previous topic. The idea of not using subject headings for visual resources was proposed to eliminate the problem of reviewing cataloging for subject heading conformity. In the absence of subject headings titles would provide access. It was argued that subject headings for images are nebulous at best and not worth the effort, but others argued that subject headings were helpful for studio art students and other non-art history students, faculty outside of the art history department, and other types of users. Again, the user population will affect the practice. As for the types of subject headings used for image collections, these ranged from modified Library of Congress Subject Headings to homegrown systems to short lists of broad headings (i.e. portrait photography). Some felt that the subjects users would be looking for (i.e. political corruption) would not be covered by LCSH headings, but others advocated LCSH because the headings can be used to cross reference the visual resources catalog with the main library catalog.

A further offshoot of this discussion dealt with the Art and Architecture Thesaurus and the question of whether or not anyone was using it to catalog books. Most agreed it was too costly to use for books because AAT terms would need to be created for virtually all incoming copy cataloging, and some felt that the terms in AAT were simply inadequate. However, AAT headings were used recently in a project at the University of Chicago to catalog a collection of broadsides, manuscripts, and related materials on the American West. In cases where the bibliographer preferred an AAT term these were added to the record and coded appropriately, but LCSH were used for the bulk of the project.

The last topic of discussion was the education of visual resources librarians. While acknowledging that few library science programs offer courses in the field of visual resources or art librarianship, most felt that the MLS was a worthwhile degree. As to the usefulness of an art history degree, those present came from different backgrounds themselves and they cited examples from both sides: catalogers with M.A.s who were terrible at cataloging images, catalogers without M.A.s who were excellent visual resource catalogers, and vice versa. Some wondered if the visual resources librarian of the future would be a "digital image manager" without MLS or M.A., but others felt future visual resources librarians would need digital management training in addition to an MLS.

Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group
Notes for the Inaugural Meeting
Hosted by the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries
September 7, 2001

The first meeting of the Midwestern Art Cataloging Discussion Group convened at 10:40am on Friday September 7, 2001 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nearly twenty-five catalogers were in attendance.

1. The first topic of discussion was the issue of electronic resources and their relationship to the catalog. In particular, the question of whether online resources should appear in records in the catalog if they also appear in a separate online or electronic resources page on a library's web site was discussed. The situation of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, which serves a variety of audiences with different levels of access, was highlighted. On the one hand the idea of the catalog as a record of all resources owned or accessed by the library is attractive, but on the other hand the reality of the complicated availability of some of these resources to users makes such an approach difficult. Some suggestions for dealing with different levels of access in bibliographic records included explanatory notes, and citing the URL but making it inactive (for cases in which only the reference staff may access a resource). It was also suggested that BI sessions and sites could make users aware of online resources instead of including records for these resources in the catalog.

It was noted that the University of Chicago original or copy catalogs many online resources, both fee-based web services and "free" web sites chosen by selectors or requested by users. Aggregator databases are the only exception to this policy, and in this case the library is looking into purchasing bibliographic records from the vendors for the parts of their aggregate sites. For those sites with restricted access notes are sometimes added to the bibliographic records along the lines of "available to subscribing institutions only."

2. The changes in LCSH for art and architecture were discussed. A quick overview of the changes prefaced progress reports. [For more information on the changes themselves, see the instruction sheets (http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/artcat.html), the weekly lists on the CPSO's web site beginning with Weekly List 05, Jan. 31, 2001 (http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/ ). For examples of the changes, see Sherman Clarke's web site (http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/9783/artcat/revshex.html)] Most libraries have switched to the new format for new records, but not all have begun changing headings on older records. Approaches to the changes varied: some had to make the changes to records on a individual basis, some have library systems that can make global changes, and some consortium members must wait for their consortia to make the changes. It was noted that duplication of headings results when using global change functions, but this was considered less important than making the change to the new format.

3. The relationship between visual resources and online catalogs was discussed. The Northwestern University Art History Slide Library catalog has been available online as a Voyager catalog for a year now. The catalog is not integrated with the main library's catalog, but the slide library's catalog is offered as a link from the main library's page. In the future digital slides will be available in the catalog, but access to these will be restricted. Since the catalog has been made available more off-site and non-art history users have used the collection, placing somewhat of a strain on the staff, but these patrons tend to use different parts of the collection than the art history department.

4. The issue of image protection was raised. It was noted that the Berkeley slide library restricts images by size--offering only a thumbnail image. More often slide libraries watermark images or restrict access to members of the institution. It was noted that slide librarians try to work with copyright restrictions, but there is not enough staff time to deal with rights in such a way as to make the library's holdings available to all. As a result, there is a great deal of repetition among holdings because images are not accessible outside of each institution. The AMICO database and similar projects may be the wave of the future, providing a basic collection that is enhanced by images acquired for local demand and use.

5. MARC for images was discussed. The Northwestern University Art History Slide Library has mapped MARC to the VRA core tags. Columbia College is beginning a project to map their old format to MARC and convert their database. Clean up of the newly mapped and converted records will be a significant part of the project. Columbia will also be converting from a local thesaurus to LCSH for their image collection. Northwestern University has been successful in using LCSH for images although occasionally fudging with LCSH to create more appropriate headings.

6. The question of an all digital image collection was broached. Most felt there was a long way to go before this becomes a reality. The cost, technical limitations, the need for electronic classrooms, and traditional methods of teaching art history were cited as factors against digital image only collections. The portability of slides and projectors and the fact that slides were used in spaces outside the art history classroom were also mentioned. On the other hand, some have found that a push for digital images has come from within art history departments where multiple users often compete for the same images.

The next meeting of the MAC discussion group is tentatively scheduled for December at Columbia College.