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Photo Org. - Summary (loooooooong)



I'm gonna give this a shot.  I got a lot of responses, and some have been
kind enough to save me the trouble of summarizing by letting me send their
entire message.  For those who haven't responded, I'm gonna have to try &
boil it down.  Wish me luck.

First off, there's not a lot of consensus.  Some hate extended numbering
systems, some love them.  Some think item-level is essential, others don't.
All suggested a good deal of advance planning to see if a scheme will work.
There were variations on metadata ideas, though those were more consistent.


One suggestion several made was to photocopy all the images & use them as a
catalog for visitors, to cut down on handling of photos. Scanning the photos
would probably do the same, and provide e-copies for other uses, but
requires more time, money, & a certain level of expertise.

Some notes from the responses:

1) Susan Searcy - She's used a more extended cataloging system with year,
collection #, image #, i.e. 2002-01-253; item level cataloging is useful
when people are involved, but pictures of buildings over time could probably
be grouped & cataloged together to save time & energy.

2) Bob Kudlay - A digitization grant allowed them to barcode each photo;
once the images were coded, it was the digital files and the accompanying
MARC records that were used to catalog them, with virtually no physical
rearrangement.  The barcode served as a call number as well as a catalog
record number.  He included websites: http://jtbowne.spfldcol.edu ;
http://ymcapostcards.spfldcol.edu which demonstrate the work in practice

3) Heidi Christein - used the ol' KISS ideal - there's no reason to get more
complicated than necessary, and one should keep researcher's approaches in
mind rather than any more complex approach

4) Jody Georgeson - works with a unique code for each photo, though with
only an alpha letter to indicate the grouping and a numeric to identify each
photo, then offered this list of metadata:

Photo #
Accession #
Year
Description
Location (where the photo was taken)
Negative (yes or no)
Photographer
Company (telephone company)
Copyright
Comments

For photos of buildings we add:
Street address
Role (administrative, central office, garage, etc.)
Date built
Date sold or razed

5) Tom Berry - He's gone with a straight # system - 1,2,3 etc.  The
exceptions are if he has a group of photos or a complete roll, he adds a
batch number & cross-references each photo from the roll to the batch.
Given that he works with equipment, metadata includes, model #, year,
modifications, & other equipment-specific info.

6) Peter Schmid - Suggests that large groups of photos of the same event or
item can be cataloged together, while frequently used or otherwise
significant ones should get item-level.  He does feel that a more extended
numbering system can track items so digital images and negatives can all be
found under the same number.  Incidentally, he's got a nice website
up:<http://www.providence.org/phs/archives/default.htm>
7) Gunnar Berg - they have an alphanumeric system with collection name,
photo number, then a dot# setup, where several shots of the same thing
are.1, .2, etc.
That pretty much covers what I have received, other than the ones I have
sent along to the list.  Apologies if I misstated anyone's opinions or
positions.  I'm perhaps more confused than I was earlier, but I do think the
end result will be an item-level catalog.  My intention is to scan (or have
scanned) all of our images.  Since my Inmagic database will allow direct
links to images, each image would be viewable within the database record, so
I'm a little less concerned than some about mixing up images.
The numbering thing is gonna drive me nuts, and I may just fake it somehow.
I've accessioned 20 years of negatives from our A-V dept. here, and they've
got their own system.  Fortunately it was in a DB already, which I imported
to Inmagic, so I'll have to fill in a lot of info but not do the basic
entry.  Their numbering system (month-year-job number) won't help for the
existing collection, so something else will have to be done.
So that's it - thanks to those who responded.  This was longer than planned,
but clearly it's a subject with depth.  Or depth of field.
DS
______________________________________
Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
David Taylor Archives
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
155 Community Drive
Great Neck, NY 11021
mailto:dsokolow@nshs.edu

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