Avant Garde Cataloging

Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Standards to Better Serve Arts Library Patrons

What isavant-garde?
“Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo,” …“The vanguard, a small troop of highly skilled soldiers, explores the terrain ahead of a large advancing army and plots a course for the army to follow. This concept is applied to the work done by small collectives of intellectuals and artists as they open pathways through new cultural or political terrain for society to follow.” –Wikipedia
a term taken from the French which originally applied to the foremost part of an army, or vanguard, and was used in this sense in English from the 15th to 19th century. However, since the early 20th century it has been used to describe contemporary pioneers or innovators in any of the arts and also signifies work which challenges accepted standards. –Oxford Companion to Western Art (via Oxford Art Online)

pushing of the boundaries/ work which challenges accepted standards
a small troop of highly skilled soldiers/ small collectives of intellectuals and artists/ contemporary pioneers or innovators
explores the terrain ahead and plots a course for the army to follow/ open pathways through new cultural or political terrain for society to follow

Who am I?
catalogsofbabes.wordpress.com

What is the purpose of cataloging?

What is the purpose of cataloging?
FIND
IDENTIFY
SELECT
OBTAIN

There are several objectives that direct the construction of cataloguing codes.
The highest is the convenience of the user.
0.1. Convenience of the user of the catalogue. Decisions taken in the making of descriptions and controlled forms of names for access should be made with the user in mind.
Statement of International Cataloging Principles, April 10, 2008 version from the IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code, http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/icc/imeicc-statement_of_principles-2008.pdf

Cataloging is a user service.
Librarianship is a service profession
The highest objective is the convenience of the user
It is important that we support and integrate known user behaviors into our library catalogs, but how?
Research
Observation
Surveys
User needs assessment
2010 is the Year of Cataloging Research

What are artistic patrons looking for, and how are they looking for it?
Information needs
Information seeking behavior

Surveys over time have identified five areas of information that appear most commonly sought by artists:
Inspiration
Specific visual image needs
Technical knowledge (“how-to”)
Marketing & career guidance
Current trends and events
What are they looking for?
Hemming, W. S. (2008). The information-seeking behavior of visual artists: a literature review. Journal of Documentation, (64)3, 343-362.

visual and physical collection browsing
visual information over textual formats
human reference assistance rather than self-navigated catalogs and indexes
How are they looking for it?
Joan M. Day and Elizabeth McDowell, “Information needs and use of art and design students,” Education Libraries Bulletin, 28, No. 3 (1985): 31-41.

Where current cataloging falls short
Disparate media and material types
Unfamiliar classification and vocabulary
Focus on text-based & known-item searching
Failure to incorporate IFLA criteria
Lacks of arts context, focus

Bridging the gap

Include all material types
Include all material types

Support physical browsing

Classification for browse-based access

Alternative classification

Tweaking Standard Classification

Support virtual browsing

Enhanced metadata

Improved subject access

Questions?
Rachel “Ivy” Clarke
rclarke@fidm.com
archivy.net
catalogsofbabes.wordpress.com
Images from Veer, FIDM Library (Los Angeles) or screenshots of respective websites.
Material for this presentation based on “Cataloging and Classification for Art School Libraries: Challenges and Considerations,”
in Handbook of Art &Design School Librarianship,
forthcoming from Facet in May 2010

Avant Garde Cataloging

by Rachel Ivy Clarke on Jan 13, 2010

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Avant Garde Cataloging — Presentation Transcript