Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies: Terminology for Art, Architecture, and Other Cultural Works

This detailed book is a "how-to" guide to building controlled vocabulary tools, cataloging and indexing cultural materials with terms and names from controlled vocabularies, and using vocabularies in search engines and databases to enhance discovery and retrieval on line. Also covered are the following: What are controlled vocabularies and why are they useful? Which vocabularies exist for cataloging art and cultural objects? How should they be integrated in a cataloging system? How should they be used for indexing and for retrieval? How should an institution construct a local authority file? The links and relationships in a controlled vocabulary ensure that relationships are defined and maintained for both cataloging and retrieval, clarifying whether a "rose window" and a "Catherine wheel" are the same thing, or how "pot-metal glass" is related to the more general term "stained glass." Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies provides organizations and individuals with a practical tool for creating and implementing vocabularies as reference tools, sources of documentation, and powerful enhancements for online searching.