I am very fond of the _Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Images_,
put together by the prints and photos department there.  I use it in a
very small historical society to catalog our photos, prints, postcards,
etc.  It is very easy to use, it supplies us with a reliable and
consistent source of subject headings, and my volunteers have no trouble
using it.  They do the majority of assigning of subject headings I am
sad to say. :( I don't have time, although it is one of my favorite
things.  I have even had high school kids use it.  If you really want a
variety of subject headings assigned to an image turn it over to a
creative and artistic teenager! :) Why waste your time coming up with
new subject headings when a leader in the field, who no doubt has more
time to worry about such things than you do and certainly has more people
to do the worrying, has already done it.  I will admit that once or twice
we did not like what they used so we wrote what we preferred in our copy.
Annotating it for our own use in our collection.  Also, it is hard to
imagine that you would come across too many things that they have not
also seen.  I would think this might also even hold true for the southern
hemisphere, due to the international scope of the LC collection.
I recommend the thesaurus -- it is a good thing.  Mary Mannix


Mary K. Mannix
Library Director
Howard County Historical Society
PO Box 109
Ellicott City, MD 21041
410-750-0370    410-955-3028 (fax)
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