Subject Indexing of Visual Resources: A Survey

Visual Resources ISSN: 0197-3762 (Print) 1477-2809 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gvir20 Subject Indexing of Visual Resources: A Survey Thomas H. Ohlgren To cite this article: Thomas H. Ohlgren (1980) Subject Indexing of Visual Resources: A Survey, Visual Resources, 1:1, 67-73, DOI: 10.1080/01973762.1980.9659021 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01973762.1980.9659021 Published online: 04 Jan 2011. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 8 View related articles Citing articles: 5 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=gvir20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University] Date: 12 June 2016, At: 09:26 SUBJECT ACCESS Subject Indexing of Visual Resources: A Survey Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. by Thomas H. Ohlgren ALTHOUGH THE FIELD OF ICONOGRAPHY, or the description, classification, and interpretation of the subject matter of art works, is at least as old as Johannes Molanus' De Pichtris et Imaginibus Sacris (1570), iconographers and archivists have failed to agree upon standards for classifying and describing art works or their photographic surrogates. What we seem to have inherited instead from Molanus, Vasari, and Ripa is the Italian principle of campanilismo; that is, the arrogant obsession with erecting the tallest campanile in one's city state. From our individual towers we may be able to see the ocean, but our visions are private and idiosyncratic, incapable of being communicated and shared with others. Instead of a series of harmonious structures with homologous parts, we have constructed mutually unintelligible Towers of Babel. The problem of standards, or more accurately, the lack of standards for describing the iconography of art works or their pictorial surrogates, is certainly the major problem facing archivists, curators, and art and slide librarians today. Because museums, special libraries, and photographic archives do not operate under a single governmental authority in the United States, a coordinated, cooperative approach to the solution of the problem of standards is totally lacking. Each institution or professional association erects its own campanile, ignoring its neighbors who share similar needs and concerns. The lack of cooperation among organizations is intensified by individual searches for governmental and private funding. The funding agencies rarely request that the scheme being developed at one institution, which has been blessed with a grant, be compatible with the schemes or approaches used at other institutions.' The New Golden Rule seems to be: He who has the gold. . . rules. The result, of course, is the confusion of indexing languages, or Babel. Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. 68 1 VISUAL RESOURCES Some light is at the end of the tunnel, but it is still very dim. The following brief survey concerns only those recent efforts to promote documentary standards for iconography. Given the large amount of activity in this area by many diverse groups, the survey does not pretend to be exhaustive. It is hoped, in fact, that the outline will inspire other groups and organizations to reveal their existences and to offer suggestions for future cooperation. In addition, the survey does not treat the work of the Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), of the Museum Computer Network (MCN), or of the Information Retrieval Group of the Museums Association (IRGMAI Great Britain), all of which, to my knowledge, have not developed specific standards for iconographic control. In January 1978, a panel, organized by Eileen Fry (Indiana University), on "Subject Access to Visual Images," was held at the College Art Association in New York. In addition to four presentations on individual computer-aided indexing projects, the panelists-Eleanor Fink (National Collection of Fine Arts), David Vance (Museum Computer Network), Betsie Young (Time-Life Inc.), and Thomas Ohlgren (Purdue)-addressed the problem of the lack of standards for subject access to art works or their photographic surrogates. They agreed that a thesaurus of subject descriptors for art works was needed to control indexing vocabularies, but, because of the lack of internationally agreed upon standards, each institution created its own authority list. There was the recognition, too, that if networking was to become a reality museums, archives, and libraries would have to adopt compatible indexing approaches. The meeting was also valuable in facilitating communication among a number of organizations sharing common interests in subject cataloging and indexing. The discussions initiated in New York were continued at the September 1978 International Conference on Automatic Processing of Art History Data and Documents, held at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. Thirty-five papers, representing computer applications in art history, archaeology, architecture, archival indexing, art bibliography, art theft detection, and iconography, were presented by researchers from thirteen countries.2 Those papers addressing the need for subject access to art works or visual resources are as follows: "Le Catalogage des biens culturels en France," by Michel Aubert (Minister; de la Culture et de l'Environnement, Paris); "Catalogue of Italian Art: Italian Painting," by Fabio Bisogni (Villa I Tatti, ~lorence);"Presentation des sgries docuVOLUME I, NUMBER 1 Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. Subject Access 1 69 mentaires des Archives Nationales concernant l'histoire de l'art la pe'riode contemporaine," by Ivan Cloulas (Minister; de la Culture et de SEnvironnement, Paris); "The Bodleian Project: Computer Cataloging and Indexing of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts," by Thomas Ohlgren (Purdue University); "La recherche par l'image," by Georges Delisle (Archives Publiques du Canada, Ottawa); "Iconographical Classification of Master Paintings from 1430-1810," by Hans Rahn and Rolf Maierhans (Foundation Slide Collection Rahn, Zurich); "Constructing and Editing an Alphabetical Index to the Iconographical Classification System ICONCLASS with the Aid of Electronic Data Processing," by L. D. Couprie (Kunsthistorisch Instituut der Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, The Netherlands); "Constitution et exploitation iconographique du Corpus de France," by Fran~oisGarnier des enluminures des ~ibliothg~ues (Institut de Recherche et d1Histoire des Textes, Paris); "Computerized Indexing of British Art," by Anne Marie Logan (Yale Center for British Art); and "Images sans Histoire: M6thode de description des images et classement informatique," by Maxime Preaud and Michel Rio (Bibliothb que Nationale, Paris). Although these participants discussed the need for providing subject access to museum artifacts, art works, and manuscript illuminations, there was considerable lack of agreement on how it should be done. The discussions centered on the following issues: a. the function of subject indices: administrative inventory control or user-oriented reference and research finding aids; b. the nature of the classification scheme: enumerated, prescriptive thesauri of iconographic descriptors or synthetic schemes which give indexers principles and rules to enable them to specify subjects as they arise; c. the form of the subject descriptors: natural language or encoded numeric signatures; d. the depth of the iconographic description: broad catchwords or indepth iconographic analysis; e. the format of the subject index: alphabetically-arranged allowing direct access or hierarchically-arranged allowing indirect access; f. the mode of storage, retrieval, and display: on-line, random access via computer terminal or the more traditional hard-copy medium. Although no consensus was reached on any of these important issues, the international conference at Pisa was not only an informative showcase of computer-aided projects involving subject access to art VOLUME I, NUMBER 1 Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. 70 1 VZSUAL RESOURCES works but also a unique opportunity to consider common concerns facing art historians, iconographers, and archivists throughout the world. In addition, two of the North American participants, Georges Delisle and Thomas Ohlgren agreed to organize a meeting on subject access in the United States. That gathering took place on August 19-22, 1979 at Dartmouth College as part of the joint meeting of the First International Conference on Computers and the Humanities and the Conference on Data Bases in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Those papers specifically devoted to discussions of subject access to visual resources included: "Prolegomena to a Computerized Iconographical Index," by Debra Miller (University of Delaware) and Mary Louise Krumrine (Pennsylvania State University); "Subject Access to Iconographical Data Bases: Theory and Practice," by Thomas Ohlgren (Purdue); "Procedures and Standards for Subject Cataloging and Retrieval in British Art," by Mary Jane Sobinski-Smith (Yale Center for British Art); "Subject Access to Photographic Reproductions of American Paintings at the National Collection of Fine Arts," by Eleanor Fink (National Collection of Fine Arts); and "Vocabulary Control in Iconography at the Public Archives of Canada," by Denis Castonguay (Public Archives of Canada). Space does not permit a detailed account of these papers? but three significant developments should be noted. First, Denis Castonguay, Documentalist in the Picture Division of the Public Archives of Canada, announced that the Picture Division, in cooperation with the National Inventory of Collections Program, was developing thesauri of subject descriptors for use by 150 Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal museums in coding information about some one million works of art. Once implemented, this national data base will be accessed by a network of thirty computer terminals scattered across the country. To date, thesauri for costume and architecture have been formulated. Each thesaurus is a structured vocabulary of terms using a three-level specificity arrangement. Still to be completed are thesauri for activities, artifacts, flora, fauna, insignia, landscapes, people, and transportation. Once completed, these thesauri could provide models for emulation by institutions in the United States and elsewhere. Second, Elisabeth W. Betz, Picture Cataloging Specialist in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, announced that she is modifying the terms in the Library of Congress Subject Headings list (8th. ed.). She is inventing new subject headings and adding subdivisions, qualifiers, and cross references to reflect the special requirements of their VOLUME I, NUMBER 1 Subject Access 1 71 Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. pictorial collection of encyclopedic scope. Once the new headings are established, they are entered into an authority file, which grows and changes as new material is cataloged. An attempt is being made to increase subject access to the approximately nine million photographs and prints, both documentary and artistic, in the Library of Congress collection. The subject headings generated by this important project could become a basic reference for a cultural, documentary, and sociological approach for indexers of visual materials everywhere.4 Third, following the three scheduled sessions, a group of twenty people met and formed the "Study Group on Subject Access to Visual Resources." This ad hoc group agreed to pursue collectively the following goals: a. to survey the existing iconographic classification schemes, authority lists, and thesauri in use and to compile a collection of this material; b. to establish a clearing-house of information about subject cataloging and indexing of art works or their photographic surrogates. (Copies of this material will be made available to all interested parties upon request); c. drawing upon current research in information theory, to establish a common critical nomenclature for describing and evaluating the various cataloging and indexing schemes; d. to convert samples of the various schemes into machine-readable form for computer-aided comparison and analysis; e. to disseminate copies of the various schemes to subject-matter specialists for evaluation and revision; f. to recommend a uniform set of standards for iconographic classification and description; g. to seek extra-mural funds to sponsor the project. If these goals are to be realized, the involvement and cooperation of many individuals, organizations, and institutions are needed. The Study Group has tentatively planned to meet again in Washington, D.C. during July 2527. Partial funding to defray the costs of the meeting has been received by Philip Leslie, Registrar of the Smithsonian Institution (who made the approach on the group's behalfl.5 Another meeting of great importance was the International Conference on Computerized Inventory Standards for Works of Art, held at the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa on November 1-3/1979.About one VOLUME I, NUMBER 1 Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. 72 1 VlSUAL RESOURCES hundred specialists from Canada gathered to hear papers on various computer applications to the description of art works6 Six of the papers surveyed ways in which data processing techniques were being used in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Japan to store, retrieve, and analyze information about art works: "Computers and the Fine Arts in the United States," by David Vance (Museum Computer Network); "Computers and Iconographic Control in France," by Anne-Marie Guimier-Sorbets (Universite de Paris); "Computers and the Museum in Japan," by Akifumi Oikawa (University of Tsukuba, Japan); "The RIP0 Experience," by Tan Tram Tinh (Universit6 Laval); "Subject Index Related to an Audio-Visual Collection," by Catherine Goldsmith (Art Gallery of Ontario); and "Automation and Museums in Europe," by Goren Bergengren (The Nordic Museum, Stockholm). Those papers devoted to the development of standards for descriptive and subject cataloging of the paintings, watercolors, prints, and posters in the Picture Division of the Public Archives were as follows: "The Computer: Passing Fad or Thorough-going Revolution?'by Raymond V6zina (Conservateur des oeuvres d'art); "Standards for the Descriptive Cataloguing of Works of Art in the Picture Division," by Douglas Schoenherr (Public Archives); and "Vocabulary Control for Subject Access to Canadian Iconography," by Denis Castonguay (Public Archives). The meeting concluded with the creation of a working group on Canadian iconography. The importance of the work being done at the Picture Division cannot be overstated; the descriptive and subject standards being developed there will be a major contribution to the creation of international standards for documenting works of art. Two additional meetings merit mention in this brief survey. At the 80th Annual Conference of the Art Libraries Society of North America, held in New Orleans on January 26-30, 1980, a session, "Thesauri of Art Subject Terms: Design and Application," was held. The principal papers were: "Thesaurus Construction and Its Implications for Computerized and Manual Literature Retrieval," by Pat Molholt (Folsom Library, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), and "Why a Thesaurus of Art Terms?" by Toni Petersen (Editor, RILA). The speakers announced that the Council on Library Resources had funded their project to create a thesaurus of art and architecture terms, providing "a hinge between objects and their replicas/representations and the bibliography of the description/ history of the works of art." Finally, a symposium on "Archival Automation: Future Access to the VOLUME I, NUMBER 1 Visual Resources 1980.1:67-73. Subject Access 1 73 Past" was held at the University of Maryland on ApriI 25-26, 1980. The meeting addressed computer applications in modern archives and manuscript repositories. According to the publicity brochure, the meeting used "the case-study method to illustrate current trends in archival automation at several institutions which are pioneering in computer applications to records management, the problems involved, plausible solutions, and considerations for future development of automated access and retrieval of primary, unpublished resources." In conclusion, the preceding selective survey reveals that providing subject access to visual resources is rapidly becoming the major goal of a large and diverse number of individuals, institutions, and organizations. One clear message stands out: now that the process of communication among groups has at long last begun, we must seek to coordinate our activities. The task will not be easy, but I am confident that Visual Resources: A n International Journal of Documentation will play a major role in the complex coordination process in providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. Notes This article is a revised version of a paper given at the International Conference on Inventory Standards for Art Works, held at the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa on November 1-3, 1979. Another draft of this paper was reprinted in Picturescope (Spring 19801, pp. 20-2. 1. A notable exception is the request in the National Endowment for the Humanities' "Research Resources Guidelines" (1979) that the entries in computer-generated bibliographies and catalogs be compatible with the Library of Congress Machine Readable Cataloging Project (MARC), the standards issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), or similar international standards. The problem is, of course, that international standards for indexing iconography do not presently exist. 2. The transactions of the conference are available in two volumes from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa for ten dollars a volume. 3. The papers are being published in the Proceedings o f the Conference on Data Bases in the Humanities and the Social Sciences by North-Holland Publishing Company (335 Jan Van Galenstraat, l? 0 . Box 103, 1000 AC Amsterdam, The Netherlands) in 1980. 4. The 478-page list is now complete. It has not yet been determined when and in what form it will be made available. Individuals interested in offering letters of support for this project should send them to Ms. Betz at the Library of Congress. 5. Anyone interested in the work of the group should write to the coordinators: Kevin Roddy (Medieval Studies, University of California, Davis, CA 956161, Elisabeth Betz (Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540), and Thomas Ohlgren (Department of English, Purdue, West Lafayette, IN 47907). 6. The proceedings of this meeting will be available from the Picture Division in 1980. VOLUME I, NUMBER 1