>> Kaleena Black:
Hello, everybody.
I'm Kaleena Black, and I work
in the professional learning
and outreach initiatives office,
and am so glad to welcome you
to our fourth and
fortunately final session
of this pilot double
take webinar series.
We're so glad that you're
joining us today, and welcome.
Just so you know,
we are recording.
This event will be recorded.
And any questions or other
participant contributions may be
made publically available as
part of the library's archives.
So if you've joined us before,
you know what this
series entails.
We have been exploring
intriguing images
from the Library of
Congress' collections,
and we've had the joy
of learning some research tips
along the way from experts
in the prints and
photographs division.
And we started this
series in January,
and we've had three wonderful
sessions, and will be sure
to post a link in the chat
later so you can revisit them
if you didn't have a chance
to experience them
in the beginning.
But we're glad you're here today
joining us for this session.
We're joined today by cataloging
specialist Arden Alexander
and processing technician Libby
McKiernan, and they're both
from the prints and
photographs division
and they have prepared
a great program for us.
So I know that you've
already gotten a head start
on saying hello and
sharing where you're from,
but we just want to make sure
that you are able to participate
with us via chat with our --
whether with responses
or comments or questions.
So if you haven't had
a chance to say hello
in the chat, please do so.
Let us know your first name and
where you're joining us from.
If everyone could just make
sure that in the to field,
if you select all panelists and
attendees, you can make sure
that everyone sees your message.
So just a quick shout out to
our colleagues in the prints
and photographs division who
are here with us today as well
as my colleagues
in the professional learning
office who'll be placing links
in the chat box as Arden
and Libby are presenting,
and can also field any general
questions that you may have.
But of course we'll have plenty
of time at the end for Q and A.
And so, with that, I'm
really excited to pass things
over to our presenters,
Arden and Libby.
>> Libby McKiernan:
Thank you, Kaleena.
Good afternoon, everybody,
and welcome to how should
we index this image.
I'm Libby McKiernan,
and as Kaleena mentioned
I'm a processing technician
in the technical
services section
of prints and photographs.
And I'm here to assist my
colleague Arden Alexander,
a cataloger, also in the
technical services section,
with today's presentation.
We're both really
looking forward
to sharing our experiences
and actually indexing some
pictures with you today.
So Arden will start
by discussing why we developed
our major indexing tool,
the thesaurus for
graphic materials or TGM,
as we'll be calling it.
And then she'll take us
through a look at its structure,
how to search for terms, and
discuss our indexing principles.
And then I will walk us
through some image examples
and show how we chose
subject terms.
And during that time we'll also
index some images together.
So you'll get to try
your hand at it yourself.
There will be plenty of time
for questions which you can put
in the Q and A, and
then we'll answer those
at the end of the session.
So we can go to the
next slide please.
To start us off, we thought
we'd give you a little taste
of the indexing exercises
to come.
So we'd like you to take a
look at this image and think
about what words come to mind.
So we'll do a quick -- like a
30 second look on this picture.
So take about 30 seconds to
really look at the image,
and then you can go ahead
and type the word or words
that come to mind in the chat.
Anything you notice that you
think would make a good subject
term you can go ahead
and put in the chat.
I'm already seeing some
great suggestions come in.
You guys are great.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
You guys are doing great.
You're really looking
at the image.
>> Libby McKiernan: All right.
So some of the suggestions
we're seeing.
Butterflies.
Butterfly collection.
They're all looking at
teachers, children, lessons.
These are all excellent
suggestions.
You guys are subject
indexing naturals.
>> Arden Alexander: Good eyes.
>> Libby McKiernan: Yes.
But hopefully after this
presentation you'll not only see
how subject indexing can
help you as a researcher,
but we also hope that
you'll feel more comfortable
and confident subject
indexing yourselves.
And with that I'll go ahead
and turn things over to Arden.
>> Arden Alexander: Thank
you very much, Libby.
So the Library of
Congress prints
and photographs division holds
over 6 million images
including photographs,
posters, drawings, and prints.
Because we are a large
general picture collection,
the images depict a wide
variety of subjects.
You can find many of our
images online in the prints
and photographs online
catalog that we call PPOC.
All the images we will
show today are in PPOC.
So one of the tools you can
find in PPOC is a thesaurus
for graphic materials
shown there on the right.
Next slide please.
TGM's a standard set of terms
that we use to index pictures
by subject and physical format.
By indexing with TGM, we help
researchers find the pictures
they need, as you will
see during this talk.
TGM reflects 100 years of
prints and photographs indexing
from our reading room files
shown here to online access.
So what kind of terms
can you find in TGM?
Well, we have subject terms for
objects like trucks, activities,
running, structures such as
skyscrapers, types of people
like photographers, and
for many other topics.
TGM also includes terms for
formats and genres of material.
These subjects include
architectural drawings
which is a physical format, and
landscape photographs, a genre
or a type of photograph.
If you're looking for words
for names of people, places,
and events and organizations,
the Library of Congress
provides a separate resource
to find these terms, the
[inaudible] authorities.
So now let's do a
quick poll question.
What TGM subject term do you
think appears the most often
in the prints and
photographs online catalog?
So your choices are A, gardens,
B, children, and C, dwellings.
>> Libby McKiernan: And I'm
going to launch this poll now
so you can see what
everyone says.
>> Arden Alexander: Okay.
So put your choices in there.
In to the poll.
>> Libby McKiernan: Give
you about 10 or 15 seconds.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
Great.
>> Libby McKiernan: Give
folks a few more seconds
to let everyone -- thanks,
everyone who's voted so far.
All right.
So we're at 30 seconds.
So end the poll.
The poll results.
You can see them?
>> Arden Alexander: Yes.
I see them.
So it looks like the
top choice is children.
Okay. So let's go
to the next slide
and we'll reveal the answer.
So the answer is C, dwellings.
So dwellings appears
in PPOC 11,585 times.
By comparison, children
occurs 4,743 times,
and gardens only
appears 2,784 times.
I imagine that dwellings
appearing so often has a lot
to do with a great
number of architecture
and design collections that
we have here in the division.
So some examples are this
architectural drawing of a house
in California, this
elegant residence
on Long Island New York,
and this architectural model
of a Connecticut home complete
with miniature automobile.
So why did we develop
our own thesaurus?
Mostly it was because other
standard vocabularies did not
have many of the
terms we needed.
We wanted to create a
compact and easy to use list
of terms focused
on topics that come
up frequently in
visual materials.
The Library of Congress has
a large subject vocabulary
developed for indexing books,
but many of the terms we need
for indexing pictures
are not included.
For example, seen here,
many of our posters
in our collection will depict
symbols like peace signs.
But this term and
other symbols are not
in the [inaudible] vocabulary.
We also needed words for visual
conventions found in cartoons
such as ball and chain.
And we also wanted
to be able to index
for emotions like happiness.
So TGM's vocabulary will
evolve based on what we
and other institutions
are cataloging.
If indexers don't see what
they need, they can ask
that a new term be added.
So last year we added mangos
and picket signs based
on these images that
we cataloged.
So let's take a look
at how you can search
in TGM to find pictures.
As I mentioned before,
TGM is found in the prints
and photographs online catalog
in what we call a bucket.
It's over on the right.
I can click on the TGM listing
to get in to the thesaurus.
So let's say I want to look
for pictures of pumpkins.
So I've put that term in
to the TGM search box,
and here are my results.
I will click on pumpkins to
get the full term record.
So from here I can click
on the link under pumpkins
which says check
with pictures --
check for pictures
with this index term.
And that will retrieve all
the images that have pumpkins
as a subject term in PPOC.
So I found 82 images,
and I can scroll through
and choose which one I want.
So another way to search
is to start in PPOC rather
than in the specific TGM bucket.
So here I'm in PPOC,
and I've put pumpkins
in to my search box.
However this keyword
search brings up images
that have not been
indexed to pumpkins.
So, for example,
I found pictures
of a Pumpkin Island light
station, lighthouse,
because the word
appears in the caption.
But those images have nothing
to do with what I'm looking
for which is pumpkins.
So to narrow my search
back to images
which show actual pumpkins, I
select advanced search shown
in the upper right of the --
maybe we can go back
to the previous slide.
Yeah. There we go.
Thank you.
The next slide.
And there we go.
Yeah. Thank you.
Advanced search.
So up there in the upper right.
And then I'm going
to click on that.
And then I'm going to limit my
search to the subject field,
and also choose match exact
phrase and no variants.
So this advanced search
will bring me back
to my first results without the
irrelevant hits I got before.
So now let's take a look at
some of our indexing principles.
Subject indexing, as we know
it, is a two step process.
First subject analysis,
and second the selection
of the appropriate terms in TGM.
So subject analysis will
start with a careful reading
of an image, and you've
already done this by looking
at the first picture
that we showed.
You came up with a lot of
really great word choices.
So as you did then,
you'll take time
to closely examine a
picture using your visual
literacy skills.
So look for the main
focus of the image.
What people, structures,
activities,
and objects are depicted?
Examine the captions or titles
that can often reveal
important subject content.
And you can ask yourself, "Are
any well known people, events,
or organizations shown?"
Sometimes you may need
to do a little research
to identify these
individuals or events.
So one important principle
we follow is to index
for both what the image
is of, what it depicts,
and what it's about,
the background context.
So, for example, here's a
cartoon that shows banana peels
and feet as what the images are.
But when I read the captions
I learn it's actually
about international relations
between the United
States, Cuba, and Laos.
And also the presidential
transition
from President Eisenhower
to Kennedy.
So if I'm interested in pictures
of banana peels and feet,
I might want to see this image.
On the other hand, if
my research focuses
on President Kennedy and
his foreign relations,
I may also want to
discover this cartoon.
So we strive to index for both
what is shown and the context
to cover as many research
needs as possible.
So when you're finished looking
at a picture, the next step is
to go to TGM and
choose your terms.
So we choose the most specific
term available in the thesaurus.
So I would index this
poster with the term roses,
and not the broader
term of flowers.
We usually also do not index
for everything in the picture,
but keep to the main focus.
So I would not index this
picture with sailboats
as the boat is just a little
detail in the image up there
in the right-hand corner.
Also if the patron was searching
for images of sailboats,
they probably would not be
interested in this picture.
So our overall goal is to use
accurate and contemporary terms
which help the patrons
find what they need.
Now Libby's going to
show us some examples
of how we apply our indexing
principles to choose terms
in TGM, and we will
also get a chance
to do some indexing together.
>> Libby McKiernan:
Thank you, Arden.
Okay. So for our first
example here let's take a look
at this photograph from the
Toni Frissell collection.
So in prints and photographs
when we work to catalog an item,
and we think about applying
subject terms to an item,
we first want to ask ourselves,
"What is the picture of?"
So that goes back to
what Arden was saying
about what is shown
in this picture.
So excuse me.
So with this image
most broadly we see
that we have two people
engaging in an activity,
and more specifically we see
that those people are nuns,
and that they are clamming.
We would then search TGM
for the term nuns as well
as the term clamming, and
they're both authorized terms.
So we would go ahead and
add them to the record.
And I suspect that this image
probably had some accompanying
descriptive information that
suggested it was clamming,
because it's not 100% obvious
looking at the picture.
But that is what they're doing.
Okay. So next slide please.
And with that we've pretty well
covered what this picture is
of so we would then ask
ourselves what is this
picture about.
So, in other words, in addition
to the concrete elements
depicted, is there an intent,
a theme, or a context
to consider
when looking at this picture?
And in this case probably not.
Based on the image itself
and the accompany descriptive
information, it really seems
to be just a lovely picture
of two nuns clamming.
So we'd probably
leave it at that.
Another thing we'd
want to consider
when subject indexing this
image is format and genre.
So this image is a photographic
negative on safety film.
So we would also apply the
TGM term safety film negatives
to the record.
And having these
format and genre terms
in the record is important
because it lets you
as the researcher then
narrow your search results
down to a specific format type.
So say, for example, you
are working on a project
that needs photographs
of President Kennedy.
Well, we have a lot of material
featuring Kennedy in some way,
a lot of which are actually
drawings or political cartoons
like that banana peel image
that Arden showed earlier.
But with the format terms in the
record it's now possible for you
as a researcher to search
for specifically photographic
material related to JFK.
But back to these lovely nuns.
Here you see the image
with its subject terms
as they would appear
in the record.
So one thing you may notice
are the locations listed next
to the terms nuns and clamming.
And some TGM terms can
be subdivided by location
which is what we've done here
with New York and Long Island.
And the idea with adding
in those subdivisions is
to make a more narrow access
point available to users.
So again say you're
a researcher.
You're really interested
in images of nuns.
But you're actually
just interested in nuns
from New York specifically.
Well, by adding in those
subdivisions it's now possible
for you to access that
specific group of images rather
than having to wade
through all the images
of nuns present in the catalog.
Okay. Next slide please.
All right.
So with this image we're going
to have you all take
a stab at indexing.
So we're going to -- if you
would look at this image
for about, we'll say,
one minute, go ahead
and examine the image.
Think about what would
make good subject terms.
And then you can go ahead
and pop those in the chat.
And you can feel free
to search TGM yourselves
for this exercise if you'd like.
We'll put the link in the chat.
Or you can just type in subject
terms and we can discuss whether
or not they'd show up in TGM.
So again we'll give
you about one minute.
I'm already seeing some
excellent suggestions show up.
>> Arden Alexander:
A lot of good terms.
Wow. Impressive.
>> Libby McKiernan:
This is great, guys.
And if we could go to the
next slide, we'll just add
in the title information
for you.
Okay. So here you have the image
with its title information.
High school locker room gloom.
And that does give you a little
more contextual information
for what's going on here.
So if there are any other
terms that come to mind,
we'll give you about
15 more seconds
to put those in the chat.
These are great, guys.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
>> Libby McKiernan: Okay.
So here's the slide showing
you how we chose to do it
in prints and photographs.
Arden, do you want
to go ahead and --
>> Arden Alexander: Sure.
Yeah. So here we take a
look at what the prints
and photographs indexers chose,
and we'll kind of compare it
with what your choices are.
You can see there's a lot of --
there's a lot of
similarities here.
The indexer, I believe,
they focused on the people
as that is the main
focus of the image.
So they chose the term
teenagers for their age group,
and then they chose the
term football players
for what they were engaged in.
In terms of the context,
football is an obvious choice.
They are not playing
football at the time,
but it's clear that
they have been.
They have been on the field.
So a lot of you did get --
did choose those kind
of -- those terms.
Excellent.
Another thing that I
notice a lot of you looked
at was the emotion
shown in the picture
which is a good thing
to key in on.
Plus also because
it's in the caption.
High school locker room gloom.
So it's telling you this
is not a happy picture.
And then from their
facial expressions
and the boy holding his
head in his hands it's clear
that something -- that
they were not happy.
Whatever happened on the field.
So in TGM the term for
this emotion is sadness.
So that is the emotion that they
were cluing on in this image.
So yeah. I see some
comments about defeat.
Would we index this to defeat?
And yeah. We don't really
know exactly why they're sad.
There could be other reasons.
Maybe someone got injured
or we don't really know.
And as catalogers we try not to
put in to things in our indexing
that we're not pretty sure
-- that we're not sure of.
We kind of used to
have an expression.
When in doubt, leave it out.
So since our caption here's not
really telling us the reason
for the gloom, we're
probably going to steer away
from things like defeat.
But in other cases if you had
more context you might be able
to use that term because
that's a good term as well too.
So I'm seeing a question
about routine indexing
terms that we choose.
Yeah. We do -- we
do look at things
like location would be
more of a term we'd go
to the [inaudible] authorities
for for geographic headings.
And we also we do
subdivide by date.
You notice there.
We do subdivide by date
to give people a chance
to search within those decades.
The only other term I
guess I'd look at here
that the indexers chose
is photographic prints.
So that's a format term, and
this is a photographic print
from this world telegrams
newspaper collection.
>> Libby McKiernan:
I'm seeing a question
about what would be a genre.
So a genre would be something
like political cartoons.
For example, this image
here is a courtroom drawing.
So that would be a genre.
So hopefully that
answers my question.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
Thanks, Libby.
>> Libby McKiernan: I'm
also seeing one more
about the football pictures.
I'm seeing what about fall
since football is in the fall.
Well, that -- fall itself is
not an idea that's particularly
represented in this photo
so I don't think I would
probably index to it.
It does tend to happen in fall,
but again this is kind of --
if you're researching fall,
this probably isn't
necessarily the image
that you're looking for.
And we also can't say for sure
that it's happening in the fall.
So.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
That's a good point.
I see another question about
maximum or minimum number
of subject terms, and
that's a good question.
We don't really have a rule.
We try to stick to the focus
of the image, as we said.
We wouldn't index
for everything.
Like we wouldn't probably
index for ladders.
So here they've chosen
four terms.
I'd say maybe we
average three or four,
but sometimes you
can have a picture
that really warrants a lot more.
Like say you had a well
known person in here.
You'd want to put their name in.
If you knew where the event
was, you want to put that in.
So it's not -- we don't really
have a maximum or minimum,
but we try to -- you know, we
try to average for focusing
on what's in the image and
then moving from there.
Thank you for the question.
Anything else, Libby,
you'd like to add?
>> Libby McKiernan: I think that
pretty well covers this one.
And if you have any --
we're going to move
on to the next image,
but if you have any other
questions, feel free to ask them
at the end and we'll be
sure to tackle those.
For this next image, we
have a courtroom drawing
by Bridget [inaudible]
and we have a few
really great collections
of courtroom drawings in
prints and photographs,
and I find that the courtroom
drawings are a really good
example of when context,
background information,
and the about of an image
are extremely important
in providing useful
subject access.
So just looking at this image
without any accompanying
descriptive information,
it's kind of hard to
say what's going on.
But thanks to the accompanying
descriptive information we know
that we have a drawing showing
Oprah Winfrey testifying during
the Texas Beef Group
versus Winfrey court case
in which Oprah was being
charged with liable and slander.
So knowing that contextual
information,
subject indexing then
becomes a little bit easier.
So we would first want to use
the LC name authority for Oprah
which we can then further
subdivide using trials,
litigation, etcetera which is
actually from an -- excuse me.
An appendix to TGM.
Which that's getting a
little bit in the weeds
so we won't cover
that appendix today,
but if you do have any questions
about it, either you can ask us
at the end or you can
reach out to us later.
Next I would probably search
TGM for the term trials
which does appear in TGM,
but is not used in indexing.
And so I'm directed to use
the authorized term legal
proceedings instead.
I will also apply the
TGM term courtrooms
since in this image
the courtroom is pretty
well represented.
And that's kind of
a judgment call.
For example, in that high
school locker room picture,
I wouldn't necessarily have
included the term locker rooms
because you didn't see
much of the locker room.
And in this one I feel like
you see a little bit more
of the courtroom, but there's
a little cataloger judgment
with that.
And then I would also apply
the TGM term liable and slander
in order to provide some
context for the image.
Finally I would apply the
term courtroom sketches
which would be a
format, and then --
which would be, excuse
me, the genre.
And then drawings which
would be the format term.
So finally here you have the
image with its subject terms
as they would appear
in the record.
Okay. So if we could go
to the next slide please.
It's your turn again.
So if you want to take about one
minute to examine this image,
go ahead and pop
your term suggestions
in the chat just
like we did before.
Again you can feel free
to search TGM yourselves
for this exercise.
Or, if you like, you can just
type the subject terms in.
And again we'll give
you about one minute.
Great suggestion.
Circus is well represented
which is definitely a good one.
>> Arden Alexander: Yes.
Acrobats. I see some names.
Ringling Brothers.
Raschetta brothers.
Thank you.
>> Libby McKiernan: These
are great suggestions.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
>> Libby McKiernan: And if we
could go to the next slide,
we'll give you the
title information.
So for this one the title's
printed pretty prominently
on the piece.
So I don't know that that's
necessarily giving you the most
additional information.
But if you have any other
terms that come to mind,
you can go ahead and
pop those in the chat.
We'll give you about
15 more seconds.
Stunts. That's a
good suggestion.
>> Arden Alexander.
Yes. That's leaping.
A lot of activity
going on there.
Clearly. It's a very busy scene.
>> Libby McKiernan: Yes.
Lithographic print.
That's excellent.
>> Arden Alexander: Blindfold.
That's -- yeah.
You look very carefully
at the figures there.
They are blindfolded
which is pretty amazing.
>> Libby McKiernan: All right.
These are great suggestions,
guys.
If we want to go to the next
slide, we'll see how we chose
to index it in prints
and photographs.
>> Arden Alexander: Okay.
So I think you all hit
on the main topics here.
They did choose Ringling
Brothers
out of the LC authorities
as a proper name
of the group who's
putting on the circus.
The -- you all looked at
circuses in terms as well,
and circuses and shows
is the term in TGM.
We link those two items together
because sometimes
it might not be --
might not be able to
tell which is which.
We wanted to link them together.
For the people which are
very prominent in this image,
as you've all noticed,
the terms --
one of the terms in TGM
is circus performers.
So they are obviously
members of a circus.
And then they're -- and
then they are acrobats.
So that's a more specific
term for the activity
that they're engaging in.
Now I saw a lot of -- you
also suggested terms more
for the activity.
I think they were maybe flipping
or somersaulting,
things like that.
The indexer here did not
choose an activity term,
but that would be
definitely a choice.
I also saw somebody
chose barrels.
And, you know, I'd say
that would be another thing
that I might want
to take a look at.
There are a lot of
barrels in this image.
The indexer did not go down
that path, but this sort
of shows you some of the --
maybe the subjective
nature of it.
And also kind of what makes
it fun and challenging.
Not all indexers are going to
look at something the same way.
You didn't have a name for
the Raschetta brothers here
in the -- it's not in
the LC name authorities.
I see another suggestion
for portraits, and that --
actually that's something
that I might really
consider adding here.
Maybe portrait prints
because it's a print.
We have two portraits here.
We have Raschetta brothers
in the lower right,
and then the Ringling
Brothers in the upper left.
So I think that's
a good suggestion,
and I might actually go with
that if I was cataloging this.
So the format of this
material would be what's known
as a chromolithograph, and it
is a lithographic print popular
at that time.
And the genre is
it's a circus poster.
A type of poster.
So we have a lot of circus
posters in the division.
And we want to be able to
be sure people can find them
and bring them all together.
Do you have anything
else to add, Libby, or --
>> Libby McKiernan: Yeah.
I'm seeing a question,
"Why not advertisement?"
As it is an advertisement
for Ringling Brothers.
And I would just
say that I think
like the cataloger
choosing circus posters,
I think the idea is that that
was an even more specific form
of advertisement.
What do you think, Arden?
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
I guess -- I guess all of these
posters could be considered
advertisements, but maybe
we use advertisements more
for products.
I'm not sure that would
be something I could look
up in TGM and see.
I think we may more
traditionally use them for --
yeah -- for advertising
of products rather
than performances
because we have --
I believe we have things
like concert posters.
Other types of posters.
So but yeah.
It's a good idea.
It might be something
that one would consider.
But I think for this one they
were going to choose the genre
that was more closely
focusing on the circus posters.
But that's a good -- that's
a really good question.
>> Libby McKiernan: I also
saw a suggestion for portraits
because you have the portraits
so prominently displayed
for the Raschetta brothers
and what I'm assuming are
the Ringling Brothers.
I think that's a
really good suggestion.
I think again here is probably
just some cataloger judgment.
They chose not to do that,
but I think you could definitely
add that to the record.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
I agree, Libby.
I think that would
be a good addition.
>> Libby McKiernan: Okay.
So I think on to the next image.
All right.
So here we have a photo from
the National Child Labor
Committee collection.
So looking closely at this photo
we see that we have a group
of young boys shooting
craps on a city street.
So the key concrete elements
of this image can be boiled
down to those three things.
You've got boys,
craps, and the city.
And we want to make sure that we
apply subject terms that account
for those key elements.
So first we'd search
TGM for the term boys.
It is an authorized term.
So we can go ahead and
add it to the record.
Then we would search for
craps which appears in TGM,
but is not an authorized term.
So I'd be directed to
use the authorized term
gambling instead.
And then finally we'd
search TGM for cities.
So this is where I think things
can get a little bit confusing
because TGM has entries for
both cities and towns as well
as city and town life.
So at first you may
wonder, "Well, okay.
How do I know which
term to use?"
Well, in the entry for each term
there are notes that provide you
with more information
about how to use the term.
And by reading the
notes for each term,
you can see that cities
and towns should be applied
for images that focus
on structures, and city
and town life should
be applied for images
that focus on activities.
So for this image we
probably want to go
with city and town life.
Now I've been primarily
explaining
that from a cataloger's
perspective,
but I think this is a good
example of how as a user
if you familiarize yourself
with TGM and you understand how
to use TGM as a -- excuse me.
A resource in your searching.
It can really help you
turn up the results
that you're looking for.
So say you're looking
for images of the city
for a particular project, but
you're really looking more
for images of the living
conditions or the hustle
and bustle of the city.
Well, if you turn to TGM
with the search term
cities you'll see both
of these terms pop up.
And by reading the scope note
you'll know to go with city
and town life to get those
hustle and bustle images
that you're really looking for.
So really it can --
it can really help you
target your search.
And then again we want to
ask ourselves, "Is there any
about information
for this image?"
Well, this image is from a
collection on child labor.
So initially I would consider
adding a subject term for that.
But this picture itself is not
particularly about child labor
so in this case I would
probably leave it off.
And the idea being that
if a researcher's looking
for child labor images, they're
probably looking more for images
of children in the workplace,
children actually at work.
And this particular image
is just not quite that.
And then finally we index
for genre and format,
and for this image we
have both a glass negative
and a photographic print.
So we would apply those
terms accordingly.
And again here you have the
image with its subject terms
as they would appear
in the record.
I'll give you all a
minute to take that in.
And yes. It is a
Lewis Hine photo.
Great collection.
And I think we can go
on to the next slide.
Okay. So this is the
last image we're going
to subject index today,
and we thought we'd
give you guys a turn
to take a crack at it again.
So I'd like you all to
again take some time
to examine this image.
We'll give you about a
minute, maybe a little longer
since this is our last image.
And you can go ahead and
type any subject term ideas
in to the chat.
And again give you
about a minute.
>> Arden Alexander: Allergies.
That's a good one.
>> Libby McKiernan:
[Laughs] that is a good one.
[ Inaudible ]
>> Arden Alexander: Games.
That's interesting.
>> Libby McKiernan: Cats.
Kittens.
>> Arden Alexander: Grimace.
Ah ha. Yeah.
Facial expressions.
>> Libby McKiernan: Okay.
If we can go to the next slide,
we'll show you the
title information.
So here you've got
the title information.
Kittens crawling on
representative Peter Kostmayer
in his congressional office.
Which does give you a
little bit more information
about what's going
on in this photo.
So if you have any
other suggestions,
you can go ahead and add them.
Got about 15 more seconds.
>> Arden Alexander: Politicians.
See a name there.
Congressman.
Yeah. The caption does help
bring out some other topics.
Doesn't it?
>> Libby McKiernan: Yes.
Definitely.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
>> Libby McKiernan: All right.
I think we're ready to
go on to the next slide.
So here you have the image with
the subject terms as applied
in prints and photographs.
>> Arden Alexander: Okay.
So we'll go through and see
what they -- what did we choose.
Well, we did choose what a
lot of you also selected.
The name of the congressperson
here, Peter H Kostmayer.
Cats obviously is a major part,
as many of you pointed out.
The title says kittens.
Sorry. Kittens.
But in TGM it says when
-- if you have kittens,
you use the term cats.
So that's why that
was selected here.
We selected the term
legislators.
We actually don't have
the term congress members
or congress people in TGM.
We go for the broader
term legislators
because it can be
applied to legislators
of other bodies,
other countries.
And then we subdivide it, as
you can see here, by Washington,
D.C because your
caption says he's
in his congressional office.
So he's on Capital Hill.
Now they didn't -- a lot of you
brought out the humor aspect
or the -- I see discomfort,
emotion.
I think somebody might
have said it was scary.
So the indexer here kind of --
they didn't choose any of
those sort of emotional terms.
And I think the reason why is
because it's a little
bit ambiguous here.
The caption really doesn't
tell us, unlike the gloom image
that we saw before,
the locker room gloom.
So the -- what's going on
here could be is he afraid.
Is he mugging for the camera?
Is it meant to be
humorous intentionally?
My sort of -- my feeling would
be that maybe he's mugging
for the camera, and
it's meant to be sort
of a humorous picture, but I
guess I probably wouldn't want
to say that unless
I knew more context.
So I see a question here
about under subjects.
Does this mean that Kostmayer
was in the authorities?
Yes. That means that the
cataloger looked up his name
in the LC authorities, and
they found that this is the way
that the name is constructed
in the authority file.
So they would use this version
of the name, not
Peter Kostmayer.
It's Peter H Kostmayer.
Another thing that they indexed
for of course was the format.
And the indexer decided this
is a portrait photograph.
It's a print picture
of Kostmayer.
A portrait doesn't have to be
a posed portrait in the studio.
If it's a good picture
of somebody,
we sometimes will
index to portraits.
So that's what they did here.
And it's also a film negative.
It's hard to tell from the
image, but it's a film negative.
It's been scanned.
So you see a positive
image of it,
but it's actually a negative
and not a photograph.
So a question here about if his
name is not in the LC authority.
Well, in the prints and
photographs division, we can --
what we do is we put in what
we call a no conflict name.
That means that if I put
in a name of a person,
and that name doesn't
clash with any other name
in the LC authorities,
I can do that.
So we just want to be sure to --
the point of the authorities is
to distinguish between
different people
who might have similar names.
So yes. If I -- if
he wasn't in there,
I could try to find more
information about him,
and then put in the name
as long as it didn't clash
with anything else in
the LC authorities.
If we don't know who it is,
we've got to kind of step back
and probably not put
his name in unless --
I mean if you have the
time and resources,
sometimes we do try
to identify people.
You can see there's a date here.
Maybe there'll be some other
information for you can try
to track down who it is.
There's plenty of pictures
of congress people online.
If you had a hunch that maybe it
was Kostmayer, you could search
for images of him
and try to mesh them.
But yeah.
>> Libby McKiernan:
This particular image.
I was just going to say
this particular image is
from our congressional
quarterly role call collection.
And so for that we did
spend a good amount
of time identifying congress
people because we knew
that they were congress
people so it narrowed
down the field a little bit.
So it just kind of depends.
Other times you do have
collections where you just kind
of have to go with
unidentified male with cat.
>> Arden Alexander: Exactly.
Yeah. We have a lot of
unidentified people.
And, you know, it depends
on how much time we have.
But yeah. As Libby
said, we put a lot of --
we knew this was a
congressional collection
so we had a lead in there.
Somebody asked, "How
can you tell what kind
of photograph this is?"
I guess as the catalogers
we knew
because we were handling
the negatives, but yeah.
It's true if you're just
looking at it you'd have to look
at the record and see that it's
identified as a film negative.
It also does have that
sort of border around it
which sometimes [inaudible]
negative.
I don't know.
What do you think, Libby?
>> Libby McKiernan: If you
look really closely at the top
of the scan, you can see
the sprockets from the film.
So I would assume it was
probably 35 millimeter black
and white film.
But I imagine when cataloging we
would probably have some access
to the physical negative itself.
And so through that there are
different ways you can identify.
And if you're interested more
in photographic technique
identification,
I would highly recommend
Graphics Atlas,
and it's helped me a number of
times in determining what type
of photograph I have since there
are so many different formats.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
That's a very good resource.
Somebody has asked, "If
people are searching
and can give you additional
info, is there a way
to send you that info?"
Yes. We'll give you a link
at the end of the talk
to our ask a librarian, and we
always welcome identifications
and events, better dates.
Really appreciate that
because sometimes --
a lot of times our -- a lot of
times photographs don't come
with that much information.
So we're very happy when
people can use their knowledge
and their experience
to let us know more
about the pictures that we have.
So we'll be showing you that
like at the end of the program.
>> Libby McKiernan:
Definitely welcome it.
We have a number of things
that have been given
better description
because people have given us
some additional information.
So one point I wanted to make
about this picture is a lot
of you guys suggested kittens
which they do appear
to be kittens.
So I think it's a good point
about how TGM, if you --
if you want to make sure you're
getting the really full set
of search results, if
you had gone to TGM
and you searched kittens,
you'll be redirected to cats.
And then that will
tell you, "Okay.
I'll put cats in to my
search box instead."
And by doing that, you'll be
sure to get all of the pictures
because if kittens
isn't in the title,
you wouldn't necessarily get
that keyword search to pop up.
>> Arden Alexander: Yep.
That's a really good point.
>> Libby McKiernan: How often
are terms in TGM updated?
I'll let you field
that one, Arden.
>> Arden Alexander: Okay.
Well, we do review new
terms on a monthly basis.
However they're added to the
thesaurus on a quarterly basis.
So four times a year we're going
to be uploading all
the new terms
that we have added
to the thesaurus.
And people we -- most of
the terms are coming from P
and P catalogers, but we do
have outside institutions
that also are using TGM
and want to propose terms.
So we always welcome
that as well too.
So if any of you are interested
in adding to the vocabulary,
please send us your choices.
>> Libby McKiernan: These
are some excellent questions.
So I think we'll be
done with this image,
and we can transition over
to a full question session.
I'm seeing, "Do you
ever index for -- " Oh.
I lost it.
I'm going to check
just a minute.
Sorry. I have a touchpad
that I'm not used to.
Let's see.
Do you ever index for both
broad and narrow terms
like animals and cats?
I tend to try to just go with
the most specific term I can.
So if I index for cats,
it's kind of assumed then
that that is animals, but Arden,
I'll let you go ahead
and weigh in on this.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
That's -- yeah.
That's the general policy that
we have in the division is
that we're going to go for the
most narrow and specific term.
So cats rather than animals.
It's -- yeah.
That's kind of what we do.
We want to give people the
most specific information.
So if you're looking
for animals,
we might use the term animals
say if we had a picture
of many different
animals in one image.
Then we might go
for the term animals
because it would be too
labor intensive to add terms
for each individual
animal shown.
And animals is also a way
to gather all the
animal terms together.
So if you're looking
through the thesaurus,
you can see all the narrower
terms to animals that we have.
Anything else?
I see there is a question
about is TGM unique
to Library of Congress.
It is. It was developed
here in the prints
and photographs division
of the Library of Congress,
but it is used by many
other libraries and archives
in the United States
and also worldwide.
For example, the
national library
of Ireland uses a thesaurus.
National library of Sweden.
And then here in the United
States Denver public library
and many others.
We don't know all
the ones that do.
We -- when we hear
from them, we know,
but there's probably
many others out there
that we're not aware of.
Okay. So should we
go to the Q and A?
>> Kaleena Black: Yes.
Thank you both so much.
I see lots of great questions.
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
I see lots of questions
in the chat too.
>> Kaleena Black: Yeah.
Before we get to
those, I can see one
above that I think might sort
of address some of the questions
that are coming in now
which was about that photo
of the football players.
And the question was -- and
I lost the exact wording,
but it said something like, "Is
it confusing to use football
when they're not playing
football in the photo?"
So could you say a little bit?
I think that might get to
the sort of of versus about.
Could you say a little
bit about that inference
that the cataloger made?
>> Arden Alexander: Sure.
I think that you are correct
in that they are not
playing football,
and that football is a term
that we would generally use
when we actually see
the activity going
on in the stadium, and the
players kind of activity.
But I think in this
case they chose
to use it as a context term.
They had probably just come
off the football field.
It's what they were doing.
You know, again it's -- you
know, there's a judgment.
You know, cataloger's
judgment there.
And in this case
they chose to go
with the football indexing term.
That's a very good question.
It's the kind of choices that
we make on a daily basis.
It's fun. It's part of the fun.
So you have anything
to add, Libby?
>> Libby McKiernan: No.
I think that covers
that point very well.
I am seeing a question
about can you clarify
when to use LC authority
terms and when to use TGM?
And that's a great question.
In prints and photographs we
turn to the LC authorities
for essentially proper nouns.
So names of specific
people, events,
places, things like that.
And we use TGM for
basically everything else.
>> Arden Alexander: For
the subjects of the image
that are not proper names.
The LC authorities also has
names of wars, things like that.
So we are constantly using
that for those terms.
>> Libby McKiernan: Yes.
When indexing photographs
in particular,
is the type of camera ever
used included in indexing?
So I don't believe so.
We tend to just index
for the format type.
A daguerreotype, an ambrotype,
you know silver gelatin print.
So we do get pretty specific,
but we don't -- I don't believe,
and Arden can correct
me if I'm wrong --
I don't believe we ever
really use the camera
that has been used.
>> Arden Alexander:
I don't think so.
We often probably don't know
what type of camera was used.
They might be -- if
we have a collection
that has more information
about it, we might --
and the information
might say, oh,
the photographer used
these types of cameras.
But yeah. Usually a lot
of times we don't know
or that's information that would
require more in depth research.
So part of what we're trying
to do is to make available
to the public as many of
our pictures as we can,
you know in a timely
and efficient manner while
giving you accurate information.
But a lot of times as catalogers
we don't have the time to go
in depth in to the
different topics,
but that's a really good
thing to think about too.
Thank you.
I see a question about
how does staff deal
with obsolete terminology in
previously cataloged items.
And that's a very good question.
So we try to keep
TGM up to date.
As you know, language
is always changing.
So what may have been used by
the photographer in a caption
in 1920 is -- may not be the
term we're going to use today.
So we do change our terms
if our terms are updated.
And we do follow a lot what the
Library of Congress is doing
because they are also
trying to stay on top
of how terminology is changing.
Sometimes we may put a cross
reference in to TGM to say,
you know, instead of this term,
we want you to use another term.
So we do try to stay up to date.
When it's in the caption,
we don't change the caption.
If somebody writes
a caption with a --
if the photographer
had written a caption
with an antiquated word,
we're not going to change
that caption, but we
will have a note to say
that this caption
came from the item.
We didn't write the caption.
So that's [inaudible]
in indexing,
but that's part of it too.
Do you have anything
else, Libby?
Or -- these other questions?
>> Libby McKiernan:
I'm seeing a question
about why not separate format
and genre in separate fields.
Are you required to
index a term for each?
Do you want to --
>> Arden Alexander: Yeah.
Actually in the --
as librarians, we catalog in
what's known as the MARC format.
So actually in the
cataloging module when you're
in there they are actually
in separate fields.
So the subject goes in to one
field, and the genre will go
in to a separate field, but
they can all be searched
in the subject field.
So when you're in PPOC
you go in to subjects
and you'll find both of those.
But the way that it's
fielded in the MARC format,
this may get a little
[inaudible] the weeds here,
they are actually
in separate fields.
And I saw another
part of that question.
You're asking so
many good questions.
This is wonderful.
Thank you for your
enthusiasm and interest.
>> Libby McKiernan:
Here's a great question.
So do you ever include the
names of the cartoonist
or photographer if
there's a name authority?
So we do if it's the creator,
but it wouldn't be in --
again going back to what Arden
was saying, if we're cataloging
in the MARC format, that's a
different field than the subject
because it's the
creator of the work.
So the creator would go in
what we call the 100 field.
So they are represented
in the record,
and you can search for them.
It's just not in
the subject fields
which are what we've
been covering today.
>> Arden Alexander: Right.
Right. They're not the
subject of the image.
They are the creator, the artist
or the photographer/designer
who created the image.
So I see a question about the
number of photographs in TGM.
Do you mean the number of
terms in TGM or the number
of photographs in
the online catalog?
If you could clarify, I'd
love to answer your question.
Photographs.
Oh. Okay. So in the
division we have 6 million --
over 6 million images.
So in PPOC you can find
information about most
of those images,
but you'll find --
but digitized you're going
to find about a million --
a little more than a million.
Let's double check here.
Yeah. A little more than
over a million images
digitized individually.
So yes. Not everything
we have is digitized.
We're working on it.
We're working really hard.
But we haven't quite
got there yet.
>> Libby McKiernan: Let's see.
When you gave the statistics on
how many children were indexed,
what was the body of images?
So that's -- I mean
that covers all children
that were subject
indexed in the catalog.
So that could be over
many, many collections.
Photographs, drawings.
That's over everything that
we have in the catalog.
>> Arden Alexander: Yes.
So yes. Your department
is very busy.
Yes. We certainly are.
We need your help.
So send in those index terms
or updates to our records.
That would be fantastic.
It's like yeah.
We have a lot of things.
>> Libby McKiernan: Always.
Yeah. I mean we have a
huge number of items,
and we have a huge number
of items that are cataloged.
But we have to pick
and choose the level
of cataloging that
we do for items.
So not every item gets subject
fields like we've been doing.
It's a lot to keep up
with, but it's fun.
>> Arden Alexander: So I see
a question about workshops
or unpaid internships.
You might want to check out the
society of American archivists.
I think they have workshops on
cataloging visual materials.
Also the rare book
school of the University
of Virginia has workshops.
Unpaid internships.
You might want to -- we do
have interns in the prints
and photographs, the
Library of Congress.
So you might want to send
us a ask a librarian.
You can see the link on
the screen right now.
Ask a librarian.
You could send us a query
there, and we could try
to help you out with that.
And we're always, you know,
eager to encourage
folks to help us index.
>> Kaleena Black: Great.
Well, thank you both so much.
This has been great and
it's -- thank you, everyone,
for chiming in with your
questions and comments.
Libby and Arden, hopefully
you'll have a chance
to review them a
little bit more closely
because they were really
just like buzzing in.
And of course if there's any
other questions or comments
that come up, please
do reach out to us.
The ask a librarian
link was posted
in the chat box a little bit
ago, but it's here on screen,
and these slides
and the recording
of this event will be
posted on our website soon.
So thank you, Arden and Libby,
for that wonderful
presentation today.
We really appreciated you
spending your time with us,
and sharing your expertise,
and giving us a glimpse
in to your cataloging approach
and also a window in to some
of the detective work
that you also are doing
with these images.
And thank you all
again for joining us.
As I mentioned, this
was our final webinar
in this series, pilot series.
And it's been great to
work with the prints
and photographs division on
this series, and we really hope
that you'll be able to
join us at a future event.
And, with that, have a
great rest of your day.