VRA Core Categorie

sVisual Resources

Association Data Standards

Committee Project

Presented by:Hilary EvartDena Weigel BellJoel TaylorKelsey Smith

American Library Association, New Monterey Hotel, Asbury Park, N.J., June 25, 1919

Visual Resources Association- History

•1968: annual College Art Association (CAA)

conferences began

•1970’s: Art Libraries Society of North America

(ARLIS/NA) was formed

•1983: VRA’s first official meeting in

Philadelphia

•Today: VRA has over 600 active members

Visual Resources Association- Philosophy

“The Visual Resources Association is a

multi-disciplinary community of image

management professionals working in

educational and cultural heritage

environments. The Association is

committed to providing leadership in the

field, developing and advocating

standards, and providing educational

tools and opportunities for its members.”

VRA Core Categories V3.0- Introduction

VRA Core is…

•A flexible, open-ended, metadata content

standard

•Designed as an “element” set or database

vocabulary terms

•Categories are intended to document:

Works of visual culture

The images that document those works

Who uses VRA Core Categories?

•Slide librarians

•Catalogers of images

•Museums

•Curators of visual materials

collections

The Albrecht-Kemper Museum

VRA Core Goals:

•To enable good descriptive cataloging

•To create a place for sharing

documentation

•To improve access

•To aid in further research & education of

visual resources

•To promote interoperability between image

databases

VRA Core- Interoperability Examples

Database Designer•Records can be accessed by other VRA

compliant programs

Search Engine Designer•Search engine designed with the ability to

“read” VRA

VRA Core & Dublin Core- Compliance

Compliant with Dublin Core Metadata

Initiative specifications

•Uses Dublin Core vocabulary terms

Ex: Subject, Creator, Date

•Follows the DCMI “1:1 principle”

Only 1 object may by described within a

single record

Bernhard Eversburg summarized the 1:1 principle:

Make metadata one to one, just one per item, is the task. Rather less, more's a mess! "But what's an item", now you ask? If that's in doubt, do none.

From “International Metadata Initiatives: Lessons in Bibliographic Control,” Priscilla Caplan

Library of Congress

VRA Core Categories V3.0: How it Works

•Work entered in table

•Table linked to records through a database

•All categories need not be used

•No minimum amount of elements

•Elements are repeatable

•No specific order

•Flexible and customizable

“The Line at the Butcher's Shop”- Edouard Manet

Use of controlled vocabulary is recommended

•Ex: Subject CategoryAATTGMIconclassSears

VRA Core Categories V3.0: How it Works

“Night, the "L" Train”- Edward Hopper

All VRA categories and qualifiers are repeatable

A record describing a woodcut print could have multiple Type entries

•Type = print•Type = woodcut

A record describing a WPA poster could have multiple Subject entries

•Subject = Libraries, Illinois- 1930’s to 40’s•Subject = Screenprints, color- 1930’s to 40’s

Images courtesy of Library of Congress

Record Type and Relation

Record Type:

Created to distinguish between a visual “work” and an “image.”

Work:

“A physical entity that exists, has existed at some

time in the past, or that could exist in the future.”

Image:

“A visual representation of a work.”

Work Relationships: 2

Types •Essential relationship:

Described work contains referenced work

•Informative relationship:

Works can stand independently

Relationship is informative but not essential

•VRA recommends reciprocal links between two works

VRA Core Categories, Version

3.0 •Record Type•Type•Title•Measurements•Material•Technique

•Subject•Relation•Description•Source•Rights

•Creator•Date•Location•ID Number•Style/Period•Culture

VRA Record: Example #1 Work Title: Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois,

United StatesAlternate: Edith Farnsworth House Classification: KX1221.9 (Loeb Library, Harvard Design School) 182 P 693 4 F (Harvard Fine Arts Library, Visual Collections - Slides and Digital Images) Work Type: houses Creator: Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig (1886-1969)Germany, Germany, architect Production: Plano, Illinois, United States Date: 1945-1950 Topics: glass; steel Surrogate 63 of 100   Title: Ext. Entrance facade Classification: 182 P 693 4 F Work Type: color slide Repository: Harvard Fine Arts Library, Visual Collections - Slides and Digital Images 2004.00164Record Identifier: olvsite1178

VRA Record: Example #2Work Title: Folly Item Identifier: S10.23.2 (Accession Number) Work Type: Print Creator: Pierre Alexandre Aveline (1702-1760) Date: c. 1737 State/Edition: R. 28 Dimensions: 30 cm x 34.4 cm plate Nationality/Culture: French; French Materials/Techniques: Etching & engraving Note: Anonymous Fund for the Acquisition of Prints Older than 150 Years Repository: Fogg Art MuseumHarvard University Art MuseumsRecord Identifier: HUAM229082

VRA Record: Example #3Work Title: Menacing Head Item Identifier: BR34.28 (Accession Number) Work Type: Print Creator: Paul Klee (Münchenbuchsee near Bern, Switzerland- 1879 - 1940, Muralto-Locarno, Switzerland) Date: 1905 State/Edition: Kornfeld 18 Dimensions: 20.6 cm x 15.4 cm plate Nationality/Culture: Swiss; Swiss Materials/Techniques: Ink Etching Note: Anonymous Gift Repository: Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art MuseumsRecord Identifier: HUAM90318

Questions?