Project Title: Artists’ Books Collection
Department/organizational unit(s): Digital Library Services
Mentor Name(s): Nicole Saylor
Brief project description: The University of Iowa Libraries has developed a large and growing collection of artists' books by local, national, and international artists. There are currently well over a thousand titles, and titles are added frequently. While a few titles are unique, most of these books are produced in editions, and similar copies are held by other libraries. At the same time, they tend to have many of the tactile and visual characteristics of unique works of art (drawings, paintings, sculpture), and it is largely these characteristics that make them of interest to students and faculty.
Libraries generally catalog artists’ books as they do other books – author, title, physical description, and so on – but this typically fails to capture their artistic qualities, and the catalog records are of limited value as an aid to retrieving them. There is little standard descriptive language as yet, though some fixed and shareable vocabulary is emerging.
This project would explore ways to increase access to the collection by enhancing catalog records with more useful descriptive language (metadata) and with images. The records might be built in InfoHawk or in a ContentDM database, and the project will have to explore pros and cons as well as current practice at other institutions with similar collections. The fellow would work with the metadata librarian and the staff of Special Collections to collect information, evaluate options, and design procedures for enhanced cataloging of these objects.
Examples of key activities:
- Examining the collection to identify and prioritize items for description
- Creating project plans for the online collection
- Digitally photographing items (or, in some cases, scaning them)
- Metadata creation (work with metadata librarian and Special Collections staff to establish descriptive standards)
- Web page content and design work
Number of students that can be accommodated: 1 person
Duration: Fall 07 and beyond
Training: Prerequisite skills: Basic computer skills
Acquired skills: Working knowledge of CONTENTdm, PhotoshopCS, and Adobe Contribute software; collection development skills; experience using Dublin Core; digitizing photograph and paper documents; HTML/web design skills, research and writing skills
Software/Hardware Involved: CONTENTdm, PhotoshopCS, Contribute 4.0, Digital camera
Tangible end product, if any: Online digital collection