>Re: The Small Museums Cataloguing Manual
A guide to cataloguing object, document and image collections.
Third Edition, 1996
Published by A rts Victoria - Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria,
Australia
Compiled by Caroline Carter
Archives Chapter by Bruce Smith
Edited by Ingrid Unger
ISBN 0 7306 9348 1
The manual is accompanied by an additional slim volume - Cataloguing
Supplements, which includes listings of:
a simple classification of historical objects
a classification for aboriginal material
a materials authority list & definitions
a production authority list & definitions
a descriptive terminologies list & definitions
This 'kit' is completed with cataloguing worksheets for objects and
photographs which can be used as a standard issue alongside the manual and
supplement.
This cataloguing kit - manual, supplement, worksheets - is being
distributed FREE OF CHARGE to all small museums in the State of Victoria.
For all others, the cost of the kit including postage to anywhere in
Australia is $20.00(AUD). I have not done a costing for the price of the
manual to be sent overseas, but if anyone is interested in purchasing one,
it will be $10.00 (AUD) plus the extra cost of postage and handling,
estimated to be around $30.00 total.
Please contact me via email on [log in to unmask], telephone 61 3
96516768, or fax 61 3 9651 6773, or write to Museums Australia (Victoria),
G.P.O. Box 4936, Melbourne, Australia, 3001, if you are interested in
purchasing the kit, and I will give you a set price for your destination.
Adrienne Leith
Museums Australia (Victoria)
In article <[log in to unmask]>, Barbara Palmer [BP]
><[log in to unmask]> writes
>>Some people may not know that there is a difference between subject
>>indexing, which is used in libraries, and object name indexing, which can
>>also be used in museums. Some indexing lists used by small museums may be
>>combinations of the two.
>>
>and then in article <[log in to unmask]>,
>Orycteropus afer [O a] <[log in to unmask]> writes
>>You make an excellent point about differentiating between subject
>>classification and object naming. This gets confused all of the time and
>>one sees museums trying to apply the Library of Congress Subject Headings
>>inappropriately. Further, there has been very little discussion about
>>terminology controls in manual systems versus terminology controls in
>>automated systems.
>
>I think that we have to be careful here not to mix two different
>problems:
>
>1. The difference between three related but distinct approaches:
>
> (a) A hierarchically-structured thesaurus of indexing terms,
> where each term represents a single concept and where terms can
> be combined at search time (post-coordinate indexing). This is
> most appropriate for use in an automated search system.
>
> (b) A list of subject headings, each of which may include
> several concepts combined together at the time of indexing (pre-
> coordinate indexing). This is most appropriate for displaying
> lists which will be browsed or scanned visually, either on
> screen, on paper, or as headings for files and index cards.
>
> (c) A subject classification, which is a way of grouping
> compound subjects so as to bring related material together. The
> most useful grouping is usually not alphabetical, so a symbolic
> notation is generally used to make it easy to maintain items in
> the agreed order.
>
>2. The difference between indexing objects and subjects. These are just
>two facets, which may occur in all three types of system noted in 1
>above. Other facets which may also be needed are places, materials,
>events, activities, and so on. "Subject" is rather ambiguous, as it may
>be taken to refer to all of these or just to names of disciplines or
>areas of study or activity.
>
>
>The mechanism for assigning consistent indexing terms to a record is the
>same whether the record is for an object, a person, a place or anything
>else. There should be a thesaurus or authority file which lists all the
>variant forms by which a concept may be sought, and specifies one of
>these forms as a "preferred term" which will be used to represent that
>concept for indexing purposes. Each of the concepts by which the record
>needs to be retrievable should first be identified and then a link made
>between that record and the preferred term for each of these concepts in
>the thesaurus.
>
>When we link an object record to an object name category such as "axes"
>or "woodworking tools", or a subject category such as "forestry" or
>"joinery" we are not necessarily saying that that these are precise,
>specific or exclusive terms for the object; we are saying that someone
>seeking objects which fall into those categories should look at this
>record. Use of a thesaurus of object names is no different in this
>respect from use of any other type of thesaurus.
>
>[BP:]
>>At the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, we are using an object name thesaurus,
>>which we have published, and we are currently developing a subject
>>thesaurus.
>
>I have seen the object name thesaurus, and it looks good and well-
>structured. I hope that the subject thesaurus will be closely integrated
>with it, so that they can be combined, and so that we can have links
>between them such as "shoes RT shoemaking".
>
>[BP:]
>>Museums Australia's Victorian branch have published "The Small
>>Museums Cataloguing Manual" which includes a simple classification of
>>historical objects.
>
>This sounds interesting. Can you give us bibliographic details and
>availability information, please?
>
>[O a:]
>>I think within the structure of an ANSI (AMerican National Standards
>>Institute) thesaurus, you can get pretty close to a universal terminology.
>
>If everyone compiling a thesaurus sticks to the principles set out in
>standards such as this (ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993; BS 5723:1987; ISO
>2788-1986) it will certainly be much easier to combine thesauri compiled
>by specialists in different subjects.
>
>Leonard Will
>
>--
>Willpower Information (Partners: Dr Leonard D Will, Sheena E Will)
>Information Management Consultants Tel: +44 181 372 0092
>27 Calshot Way, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 7BQ, UK Fax: +44 181 372 0094
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