Cataloging Protocols

EMBTA's rules for DCMI Elements are below:

Title

Subject

Description

Creator

Source

Date

Contributor

Rights

Relation

Format

Type

Coverage

Identifier

 

Title

Definition:

Name or label of an item. Typically, a Title will be a name by which the item is formally known. (For example, for the Peter Lely portrait of Margaret Hughes, use “Portrait of an Unknown Woman”--the title used by the Tate Gallery--rather than “Portrait of Margaret Hughes,” which Wikipedia calls it.)

EMBTA Rules:

Only one title may be assigned to each item.  If an item has more than one potential title, list alternate titles in the Notes element field.

If there is no official title, consult any available resources and formulate a title combining appropriate major terms that a user is likely to search (5-10 words).  For example, “Isometric Reconstruction of Playhouse, Probably Drury Lane.”

If you have created a new title, do not include information that will be captured elsewhere in the cataloging process (e.g. date, format, etc.)

Avoid using initial articles (for examples, “the,” “a,” etc.) unless it forms part of the official name (for example, “An Actress at her Toilet, or, Miss Brazen Just Breecht” retains the “an” since it is part of the official title).

Do not italicize or enclose the title in quotation marks when entering it in the Title field.  However, titles that incorporate the title of another work (e.g. Playbill for Cymbeline at Covent Garden) should use italics or quotation marks as necessary. Use quotation marks only to acknowledge spoken dialogue. 

Capitalize and punctuate according to American conventions: capitalize everything except prepositions and initial articles.  If there is an important alternate title (e.g. an interesting archaic spelling printed on the item, etc., list it in the Notes field).

If titling a portion of an entire work (e.g. King Lear, Act 2 Scene 4) follow the title of the larger work with a comma.

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Subject

Definition:

Subject terms identify the topics, themes or common threads that may be found in an item.  Subjects are meant to help highlight the major people, texts, and ideas that unify items in the EMBTA catalog.

Subjects can include

1. Names (personal, family, corporate name)

Garrick, David, 1717-1779

Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774. She stoops to conquer

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Tempest

2. Titles (as they form part of the subject of the item or are represented by the item)

Arden of Faversham

3. Geographic locations

Spell out entire State and country names.

Santa Barbara (California)

London (England)

4. Topic (themes that are apparent in the item)

Theater architecture, Sweden

Muses (Greek deities) in literature

 

EMBTA Rules:

Consult first the established list of EMBTA LCSHs to see whether any are applicable to the item.

If none are applicable, or if further Subject Headings are needed to capture relevant information about the item, look in the LC Authority File or in Class Web.

Try to use 3-4 (no more than 5) LCSHs for each item.

In assigning LCSHs, the following factors should inform your decisions:

Consider whether the item is primarily about or related to

  1. a play

if so, give the LCSH for the play’s title, including the playwright, if known: “Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Tempest” etc.

  1. a literary genre and period

if so, give the LCSH with a century: “English drama--16th century” etc.  Do not use the subject headings that add “Elizabethan,” “Restoration,” etc. to the heading.

  1. a dramatic character

if so, give the LCSH for that character: “Ophelia (Fictitious character),” “Falstaff, John, Sir (Fictitious character)” etc.

  1. a theater

if so, give the LCSH for theaters or for the specific theater if applicable: “Theaters--England” or “Globe Theatre (London, England: 1599-1644)” etc.

  1. a historical figure

if so, give the LCSH for that person: “Webster, John, 1580?-1625?”

if a person's name changes over the course of his/her lifetime, give the LCSH as it appears in the LC database and include the alternate name(s) in another relevant field [title, description, etc].

  1. an issue or idea

if so, give the LCSH for that idea: “Gender identity in literature,” “Actors--England--History” etc.

N.B. Do not give a Subject Heading for the author/artist who created the item; list author’s name under Creator.  For example, a biography of Shakespeare would give Shakespeare as a Subject, but list the author as the Creator.

In the case of  film clips, paintings, photographs and other depictions of performances, directors should be listed as Creators.  Actors should be listed as Contributors, and may also be listed as Subjects (biographical/historical figures). For depictions of “ensemble” performances, name as Subjects only the 1-4 actors who portray the most important characters in the scene--all others should be listed as Contributors only. (This does not apply to portraits of actors, playwrights, or other figures who appear “as themselves”--only to actors in performance.)

 
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Description

Definition:

Describe briefly what the item is “about” or depicts.

More than one type of description may be useful for an item. Content description is required; scholarly description is optional.

Also includes any important information about the item that cannot be recorded in another field (e.g. an important note or marking on the item itself, an alternate title, etc.) or a clarification of information expressed in another field (e.g. a fuller explanation of 'IsVersionOf' from the Relation field).

EMBTA Rules:

Content description: In natural language, describe the central action of the item and its central figure(s); foreground features; and finally background features. Move from left to right and top to bottom. Your description should be 50 words or less. 

When an expert description exists online, provide its link at the end: "See a fuller description from ***." Be sure to set "Target" to "Open in new window."

Scholarly Description: (Use “Add Item” for this additional description.) Include here information about the significance of elements of the item or its provenance. Your scholarly description should be 100 words or less.

When clarifying information from another field, keep your explanation under 50 words if possible.

When entering additional information that has not been capture in another field yet, identify pieces of information with a tag like the following:

Alternate title:

Written on [item; verso, recto, etc]:

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Creator

Definition:

Creators include authors, artists, illustrators, designers, architects, etc.--anyone who is responsible for creating the catalogued item (as distinct from Contributor, see below).  

EMBTA Rules:

Use LCSH authority record.

Most names will include birth and death years: “Hogarth, William, 1697-1764”

If creator name does not appear in the LC name authority list, construct name as follows:

Last name, First Name, YYYY-YYYY, e.g. Doe, John, 1900-2000

If creator is living, enter name as Last Name, First Name, birth year-, e.g.  Doe, John, 1900-

If birth and death dates of creator are unknown, then simply include the name of the creator (Last name, First name), e.g.  Doe, John

After entering the person’s name in LCSH format, add his/her title or role in brackets.

Doe, John, 1900-2000 [Engraver]

Doe, John, 1900-2000 [Costume Designer]

Ambiguity

If the creator’s identity is ambiguous (e.g. a portrait attributed to Peter Lely by some sources and not other), list the name under Contributor instead.

If creator is unknown, list as "unknown." 

Multiple Creators

If multiple creators are responsible for an item, use the “add input” button in Omeka to add multiple creators.

Multiple creators should be entered in alphabetical order by last name.

N.B.: To determine the creator, consider the primary artifact being cataloged.  In the case of a photograph, ask yourself whether the item of interest is the photograph itself, or whether it is the item (such as a costume or building) photographed.  In the former case, the photographer should be listed as the creator, while the costume designer or architect should be listed as a contributor.  In the latter case, the photographer or architect should be the creator; the photographer the contributor.

The case of multiple creators, and the distinction between creators and contributors can be illustrated by the case of the engraving “Mr. Savigny in the Character of Oroonoko.”

Since the primary item being cataloged is the engraving itself, the creators should be the engraver (Charles Grignion) and draftsman (John James Barralet).  The actors, director, and anyone else involved in creating the scene depicted may be listed as contributors.

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Source

Definition:

The larger collection or resource from which the item was derived, and the identifier used by that collection or resource for the item (if known).

EMBTA Rules:

If the item comes from Davidson Library’s Special Collections, use “UCSB Davidson Library Special Collections, [call number]”

If the item comes from a book, use an MLA-style citation.

If the item comes from elsewhere on the web, link to its original location.

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Publisher

Definition:

The person or organization responsible for publishing the item in a material and/or digital format. The Publisher field may be used as many times as necessary to capture the item’s publishing history.

EMBTA Rules:

When known, give name of publisher and place where the item was published.

If the particular item has been published in both material and digital formats, give both publishers by using the “Add input” button, and move chronologically.

For “modern” publishers, give the name of the individual or publishing house, including location in parentheses, e.g. “W.W. Norton & Co. (New York)”

For digital publishers, give the name of the individual or organization as a hyperlink.

For early modern publishers’ imprints enter all printer/publisher information exactly as printed on page (i.e. retain spelling, abbreviations, and give the full entry).

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Date

Definition:

Original date of creation,  publication, or performance (whatever is pertinent to the item), or an approximate date range for the same.

EMBTA Rules:

Dates may be expressed as single dates, uncertain dates, or as closed or open date ranges.

List a single date in the following format:

YYYY-MM-DD

YYYY-MM

YYYY
(If a specific date is unknown, just list the year)

List uncertain dates followed by a question mark:

YYYY?

List a closed date range in the following format:

YYYY-MM-DD/YYYY-MM-DD (or just YYYY/YYYY, etc.)

List an open date range in the following format:

Start date only (meaning either the end date is unknown, or that it hasn’t ended): YYYY-MM-DD/

End date: /YYYY-MM-DD

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Contributors

Definition:

Contributors include individuals who have contributed to (rather than created) the intellectual or artistic content or production of the item.

EMBTA Rules:

Add information in these fields whenever available. After entering the person’s name in LCSH format, add his/her title or role in brackets.

Examples:

Doe, John, 1900-2000 [Actor, Gloucester]

Doe, John, 1900-2000 [Costume Designer]

If a name does not appear in existing Library of Congress authority files, create one based on naming convention described in Creator field above.

N.B. See note above in “Creator” field to help make the distinction between Creator and Contributor.

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Rights

Definition:

Any special restrictions or access rights information to be included here.

EMBTA Rules:

After evaluating the copyright/licensing status of the item, choose the appropriate Rights Statement from the list.

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Relation

Definition:

An expression of the item’s relationship to another item (another play, a larger work, or some specific source material).

 

EMBTA Rules:

Use this element primarily to express relationships among items in EMBTA.

N.B. "Is Version Of" includes idea of adaptation, e.g. Throne of Blood IsVersionOf Macbeth.

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Format

Definition:

The file format of the item.

EMBTA Rules:

Enter the file extension (JPG, PDF, etc.) into this field.

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Type

Definition:

The nature of the item as best described by the DCMI Type Vocabulary in Omeka (Document, Moving Image, Oral History, Sound, Still Image, Website, Event, Email, Lesson Plan, Hyperlink, Person, Interactive Resource)


EMBTA Rules:

Enter item Type in the main admin page, and then again in the Omeka Item Type Metadata menu which will allow you to make any further specifications (Text, Original Medium, Dimensions--according to item Type).

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Coverage

Definition:  

A range of dates and/or a geographical area pertinent to the item.


EMBTA Rules:

Include geographic location where the item was created/performed, if relevant.  This can be useful also for describing the dates of a performance run.

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Identifier

Definition:  

The filename of the file that corresponds to this item.

EMBTA Rules:

Use common sense to choose three words from the item title that are most important to identifying it or distinguishing it from other items that may have similar titles; e.g. “Portrait of Unknown Woman, probably Margaret Hughes” becomes “portrait_margaret_hughes.jpg.”

In the case of items with fewer than three words in the title, add numerals if needed to distinguish from other similar filenames, e.g. “othello_1.doc” “othello_2.doc”

Do not use capital letters, and use underscores where there would otherwise be blank spaces.

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