There are comprehensive solutions... One of the recent postings cautioned against using a "prefab key word list for a unique photo collection." Actually, there are many people employed by the Library of Congress and The Getty who spend their days solving this problem for us by figuring out what terms to use for "things" in visual materials, including photographs. Both the Library of Congress "Thesaurus for Graphic Materials" (LCTGM II) and the Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) are truly remarkable tools for providing subject access for visual materials. Both have, in the past year or two, been published in greatly revised new editions and without hesitation I will profess with undying enthusiasm, both of these "controlled vocabulary" sources are labor saving, profound, easy to use, well considered and absolutely the right thing to be using. The primary consideration for all of us to think about is the fact that, as we go online with Internet, Web or remote access to share data with a global public, we need to all be using the same words for the "things" and concepts in images. If we all spend our time making up our own vocabularies, I will never know what is in someone elses collection. Somebody once exclaimed, "What do you call it, a spittoon or a cuspidor?" From the LCTGM II: Spittoons UF Cuspidors BT Containers Furnishings RT Smokeless tobacco UF=Use for; BT-Broader Term; RT=Related Term For the isms, the LC Subject Heading also does a great job, providing a subject and proper noun authority for "things that aren't things," Like particular groups of American Indians. Specific Islands and other locations. These resources are relatively inexpensive, and more and more available online, either loadable on a PC or available on a searchable web site (LC). The primary gain is that in a few years, we will be able to do worldwide global searches on particular terms and experience bountiful returns because we are all talking the same language (vocabulary.) We have been using the solution of all three controlled vocabularies (LCTGM, AAT, LCSH) for the past four years of our digital imaging project and it is austounding how much more accessible collection materials are. To be able to find disperate materials from all areas of an institutions collections by a simple key word search is absolutely heartening. It really makes it feel that our professional efforts are creating real progress. I would encourage anyone doing image cataloging to have a look at the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials and Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus. Both are extremely valuable tools at a time when we can all begin to work together in the same direction--the future, by the way. For what it is worth... Robert MacKimmie Curatorial Director of Photography California Historical Society, San Francisco [log in to unmask]