Exhibitions Publications Cataloguing Project

The project aimed to jump start cataloguing Drawing Room’s unique collection of printed books on contemporary drawing. It focused on creating detailed metadata for group exhibitions catalogues to facilitate online discovery.

In addition to making the catalogues more accessible Drawing Room hoped that this project would develop metadata workflows for volunteers and wider guidance for cataloguing the rest of the collection.

First Steps

In close discussion with the librarian our cataloguing volunteer and our Library Management System (LMS) customer account manager a full Marc21 RDA template was created inside the LMS alongside step by step guidance.  This template was amended throughout the project as the particular needs of both the form – exhibition catalogues – and the organisation and its various audiences became clear.  Templates are not one-stop solutions but with links out to openly available dynamic resources (like LCSH authorities, Jisc’s Library Hub and Marc21 guidance) they will enable Drawing Room to make informed cataloguing decisions and plan metadata enhancement projects in the future.

The template has also made cataloguing more accessible for our volunteers, and has sped up the process of cataloguing items substantially.

Process

The cataloguing process now begins with checking if a record for the item being catalogued already exists.  Some 800 records have been imported, but in most cases these are extremely basic records (figures 1 & 3). The original basic records are deleted, as is a more complex record if it is deemed more efficient to start with the template.  In most cases a new blank record is created from the template. The next step involves searching the public interfaces of the National Art Library, Jisc’s Library Hub Discovery and Worldcat for metadata records for the same item. Relevant information from the item and these sources are added to the new record, and generally enhanced again with further information from other online sources. This ranges from exhibition dates and venues, to exhibition descriptions and lists of exhibiting artists.

Results

A large number of exhibition catalogues have now been made discoverable via Drawing Room’s online library catalogue. The metadata for these print works meets library cataloguing standards and in many cases exceeds the level of required data in an effort to support the needs of both traditional and non-traditional art library users. The metadata is presented consistently and in accessible language in the online catalogue.

In searching aggregated metadata resources for each item it was possible to sense how much of Drawing Room’s collections overlap with other important art libraries. It is evident that some items are rare and some unique. Equally, it is clear that some items, although present in other collections, have not been well-described for discovery elsewhere. Approaching the collection consistently has allowed Drawing Room to make more items discoverable for everyone.

Future

Drawing Room’s library offers the library sector an interesting case study in specialist library practice, especially in terms of data analysis. The success of the project should allow for Drawing Room to plan discrete metadata enhancement projects for volunteers and art library postgraduates, whether transcribing names of artists, developing guidance for cataloguing works accompanying international art fairs, or creating bespoke subject vocabularies for drawing.

In conclusion, Drawing Room’s library offers a fantastic range of works in an open and welcoming environment and by continuing to focus on professionally cataloguing these works the library will continue to widen its audience and improve the accessibility of art libraries more broadly.