Slide Indexing Guidelines
Our Slide Indexing Guidelines are based on a combination of the Dublin Core and VRA Core Metadata attributes.
There are currently 14 indexing attributes available for metadata input, but the following six MUST BE completed in order for images to be considered for submission into the digital archive:
- Collection
- Title
- Creator
- Date
- Submitted By
- Copyright Status
Supplying as much indexing information about your images as possible will help to maximize the searchability of our online digital library. Therefore, we've chosen the following 14 attributes to use when describing images that are housed in our library. We ask that those who are interested in submitting a collection fill in as much information as possible about their image based on these core attributes:
- Collection: The name designated to a series of images based on an all-encompassing characteristic of such images.
Example: Collection- Victorian_Shaker - Title: The primary title or identifying phrase given to a work or image. For complex works or series, the title may refer to a discrete unit within the larger entity (a print from a series, a panel from a fresco cycle, a building in a temple complex) or may identify only the larger entity itself. If only referring to the larger entity in the Title attribute, designate the specific part of the unit in the Interpretation attribute.
Example: Title- Schiller House or Title- Schiller House, Interpretation- Family Room - Creator: The name(s) of the entity primariy responsible for designing, creating, producing, manufacturing, or altering the work. Can refer to a person, organization, or service.
Example: Creator- A.W.N. Pugin or Creator- Christopher Dresser, Chubb & Co - Period: A defined style, historical period, group, school, dynasty, movement, etc. whose characteristics are represented in the work.
Example: Period- Gothic Revival - Date: A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the work. Dates should be expressed numerically with the exception of generalized centuries.
Example: Date- 1910 or Date- 1876-1877 or Date- Mid 19th C. - Style 1: The nature or genre of the work, which can be referred to in terms of the name of the culture or adjectival form of a country from which the image originates or has been associated with.
Example: Style 1- Neo-Classicism or Style 1- Viennese - Style 2: The specific part of nature or genre of a work assocated with a larger genre
Example: Style 1- Neo-Classicism, Style 2- Neo-Gothic, Middle Ages - Subject: Terms or phrases that describe, identify, or interpret the work and what it depicts or expresses. They can be proper names, geographic designations, generic terms describing the material world, or topics (e.g., iconography, concepts, themes, or issues.
Example: Byzantine icons - Location: The geographic location and/or name of the repository, building, site-specific work or other entity whose boundaries include the work.
Example: Location- NY or Location- Neitzsche Archive in Weimar, Germany - Artifact Description: A free-text note about the work, including comments, description, or interpretation, that gives additional information not recorded in other attributes.
Example: Artifact Description- Chair & Table or Artifact Description- La Mer Mahogany Cabinet - Interpretation: A secondary description of the information recorded another attribute (e.g., Title, Artifact Description) or a free-text note that refers to the material aspects, nature, location, etc of an work that is not recorded in previous attributes.
Example: Artifact Description- Student Room, Interpretation- Table or Artifact Description- Sideboard, Interpretation- Wood and Japanese paper - Submitted By: The name of the entity responsible for contributing the images for submission to the archive
Example: Submitted By- John Smith - Copyright Status: Information about the rights held in and over the image that refer to property statements and usage.
Please note:
- All information can be repeated between different indexing attributes. For example, works with no title may require a description based on values that define the object type, materials, original location, ownership, etc. Values used in the Title attribute may be repeated in other attributes used to describe the work.
- Only attributes that are relevant to a specific work should contain data. There is no need to fill every attribute, and including "N/A" or "Unknown" should be avoided.
DOWNLOADS
For the Excel Indexing Template, click here
For a printable .pdf version of these guidelines click here