Lexical and Classification Resources
This page offers dictionaries, thesauri, classification schemes, and related matter primarily of use to those managing preservation libraries, imaging projects, documentation systems, etc.
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Lexical and Classification Resources
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"Terms used to describe condition of books are as varied and numerous as the creativity and imagination of bookmen can produce. When confusion reigns over descriptions by advertisers or quoters, dissatisfaction is the inevitable result. In an effort to promote agreement between buyer and seller in the descriptions used for the condition of books, AB first proposed in 1949 a set of terms that could serve as a standard in catalogue and mail-order transactions. A revised list of terms used in describing books follows as a suggested guide and reference for all book people"
"The Greenwich Lining Conference in 1974 was the first international conference where conservators discussed lining treatments and their consequences. At the conference, a glossary was issued with definitions of the words used by conservators in an attempt to move towards consistency in the English terminology used by conservators worldwide. In the glossary, lining was defined as the treatment where a new support is attached to the back of a canvas. Relining on the other hand was defined as the repetition of a lining. After the conference extensive research was done in structural conservation and a number of new lining methods were introduced. The question is whether the terminology used was now more consistent with the Greenwich definitions. The aim of this article is to establish how and when the words referring to lining treatment have been used from 1974 till now in an attempt to clarify to what degree the definitions from the Greenwich Conference have been accepted and used among conservators. The analysis is based on a search in the bibliographic database AATA Online resulting in 363 abstracts written by authors mainly from Europe and USA. It has been assessed whether the words in these abstracts and their titles have been used according to the Greenwich definitions or not. Surprisingly the investigation shows a decreasing consistency in the use of terminology. The consequences of the lack of consistency in the terminology are discussed."
"BCIN, the Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network, is the Web's most complete bibliographic resource for the conservation, preservation and restoration of cultural property. A worldwide network of libraries and documentation centres contribute data on their combined holdings, including previously unavailable material from private sources, to the BCIN database.
"Cited literature includes: books, published and unpublished monographs and serials; conference proceedings; technical reports, journal articles, thesesl audio-visual materials; software and machine-readable files
"Available online since 1987, BCIN is a trusted resource for professionals, museums and other heritage organizations. It now contains nearly 200 000 citations, including the first 34 volumes of the Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (AATA), published between 1955 and 1997."
"The Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network (BCIN) provides access to over 190,000 bibliographic citations for conservation literature. BCIN includes citations from the Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (prior to 1998), technical reports, conference proceedings, journal articles, books and audiovisual and unpublished materials. The database also includes previously unavailable material from private sources, as well as new information gathered by a worldwide network of contributors.
"BCIN was first initiated by the Getty Conservation Institute and ICCROM. It was launched in 1987 as a subscription database, available through the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). In May 2002, BCIN was made available free of charge on the CIN Web site, hosted by CHIN. The database interface, re-designed in 2002, includes both a simple and advanced search, and the ability to refine searches, among other features.
"The Art Restoration Dictionary (ARD) is a modern tool which combines the features of a glossary, thesaurus and multi-lingual dictionary, in a single user-friendly facility. It is available in both printed and software based editions.
"ARD contains chapters on Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Art History, the Theory of Painting, the Theory of Conservation and Technology Techniques, as well as chapters on procedures associated with restoration of easel paintings. It contains lists of organic dye sources, rots and fungi (along with their Latin their names), waxes, pigments, oils, lists of dilutants and solvents, acronyms for diagnostic, methods and also descriptions of lining methods, varnishing, retouching techniques and so-on."
A classic of bibliographic terminology, this book was first published by Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. in 1952. This new edition contains new material (and a an informative introduction) by Nicolas Barker. This is one of those dictionaries that are more than a reference work; it is extremely readable and worth reading from start to finish. In addition to definitions it contains a useful list of abbreviations commonly found in bookseller's catalogs, etc.
Important note:
Oak Knoll Press and the British Library have given permission to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers to make available for non-commercial use their latest edition of the classic book ABC FOR BOOK COLLECTORS by John Carter as revised by Nicolas Barker. ... You may access it for your own use, but may not distribute it under any circumstances."
See Oak Knoll Press for information on purchasing the print version.
"This provides a summary of most of the units of measurement to be found in use around the world today (and a few of historical interest), together with the appropriate conversion factors needed to change them into a 'standard' unit of the S I."
These bibliographies are produced as part of the Getty Conservation Institute's own conservation and scientific research projects or as part of specific collaborative projects in which the Institute is involved. Currently, over 6,500 citations are available for browsing, searching, printing, and downloading.
Bibliographies currently available for browsing:
- Archeological Site Management (completed 2003)
- INCCA - Contemporary & Modern Art (completed 2007)
- Lime Mortars & Plasters (completed 2003)
- Los Angeles Historic Resource Survey (completed 2006)
- Museums Emergency Programme (completed 2005)
- Panel Paintings Initiative (completed 2010)
- RecorDIM Initiative (completed 2007)
- Terra-Earthen Architecture (completed 2002)
"... describes the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images. CDWA includes 532 categories and subcategories. A small subset of categories are considered core in that they represent the minimum information necessary to identify and describe a work. CDWA includes discussions, basic guidelines for cataloging, and examples."
An online browser, giving complete access to an invaluable source of art terminology, including conservation terms, materials, processes, etc.
"The present glossary is the result of collaborative work between the Getty Conservation Institute and the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the research component of the Mosaics In Situ Project and was subsequently revised during course of technician training in Tunisia in collaboration with the Institut National Patrimoine.
"The objective of this glossary is to establish a common and unambiguous vocabulary for the recording of the conditions of and interventions on in situ floor mosaics. terms in the glossary are divided into CURRENT CONDITION, defined in written and illustrated, and CURRENT INTERVENTION, only defined in written form."
"Over 400 specialist terms on paper conservation and restoration are listed in English, German, Chinese and Korean. The 3 main aspects of the guide are a book's structure, material and tools and book binding and conservation. A missing word means that in one language there is no adequate translation known. Some illustrations and explanations are added for better understanding. Readers can check words by content and category, or look up chapter and page number of words from the index."
"The glossary is aimed at translators, interpreters and safety and health practitioners who need to read or write professional literature in more than one language."
"Occupational safety and health (OSH) is an interdisciplinary field, which uses specialist terms and expressions from subject areas as diverse as engineering, medicine, law, the physical sciences and psychology. This glossary includes terms from all these fields and more in about 2,600 main headings in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Other language versions are created by different OSH institutions all over the world."
"The CIS Thesaurus is the trilingual (English, French, Spanish) source of terms used to index the CIS bulletin and database. It can also supply "meta" tags for indexing Web pages, and its system of facet codes has been used to organize occupational safety and health libraries.
"The terms are organised hierarchically according to their specificity. Each term is associated with a facet code, which is a combination of letters or numbers that indicates the place of the term in the hierarchy. The CIS Thesaurus represents a slight variation from the "classic" thesaurus paradigm: because terms and their facets are not generally added to the thesaurus unless they have been used to index a document, it may happen that there is no generic term covering one or more terms at a particular level in the thesaurus, although there may be an even broader term further up the hierarchy."
"The Chantry Online Bibliographies Project is a key element of Icon's strategic plan to provide Icon members, the conservation community, and the wider public with a range of quality library services and research support from the Chantry Library."
"The aim of the Project is to provide a series of select annotated bibliographies of essential core sources about topics in conservation, compiled by specialists, which are easily accessible, and will give practical support to those working in conservation. Therefore, as a means of dissemination, online access to the bibliographies has been facilitated via the Chantry Library webpages. However, hard copies will also be available on request from the Librarian."
"Each subject bibliography may include sources covering: history, conservation materials, techniques and processes, practical and theoretical aspects, and case studies. Specialists have been asked to choose the key reference material in their specialism and to give a critical assessment of material and to indicate comparisons and relationships between sources."
"This Master Glossary is a Lexicon of Terms commonly used in the financial appraisal of audiovisual recorded media, which includes a wide variety of aural and visual recorded properties, their related rights and materials. Terms derive from the sometimes overlapping fields of: appraisal, communication, audiovisual media technology, video, broadcasting, television, radio, audio recording, library science, archives, film, photography, lab technology, literature, animation, museums, information science"
A rich enumeration of subject/classification descriptors pertaining to preservation, drawn from Applied Science and Technology Index, Art Index, Chemical Abstracts, Dewey Decimal, ERIC, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Library of Congress Subject Headings, AATA,, etc.
Lingua Franca: A Common Language for Conservators of Photographic. is an enhanced e-book, created by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), in collaboration with the Atelier de Restauration et de Conservation des Photographies de la Ville de Paris.
Lingua Franca: a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
It contains bilingual definitions of photographic processes, condition issues, treatment options, preventative care and technical studies. It also provides commonly used terms briefly defined and illustrated with photographs, videos and interactive features such as links to collection items, podcasts, videos, blogs and Flickr albums.
"The aim of the thesaurus is to present a consistent vocabulary for the use of all those who work with early bindings, built wherever possible on existing resources, but adapted for use in an on-line hierarchical environment that will allow terms that are not known to a user to be found. It is constructed around concepts (such as different bookbinding components, features, materials or techniques) that can be expressed by a number of language terms (labels). The thesaurus allows one concept to have more than one label, which allows the same concept to be searched for by the different terms that may have been used historically to describe it. It will also allow the concepts to be expressed in different languages."
"The Language of Binding thesaurus can be used as a reference online resource that can be searched by keyword or alphabetically. The concepts contained in the thesaurus are, however, also arranged hierarchically, based on a class/sub-class relationship, which allows concepts to be retrieved by navigating down the hierarchies even if (their label (the term) is not known.)"
"INSCRIPTION is a collection of 'wordlists' maintained or recommended by the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH). It provides tools for comprehensive and consistent indexing of different aspects of the built and buried heritage. It includes, for example, standards for how to record the age and nature of a site. This in turn will help to answer both specific questions such as 'What is this site?', 'How old is it?' and more general enquiries such as 'What do we know about Roman villas?' INSCRIPTION thus complements the definitions of individual facts or 'units of information' about a site, event or resource that are recommended by FISH in 'MIDAS - a manual and data standard for monument inventories'. See the FISH home page for further details of MIDAS."
"English Heritage takes a leading role in setting standards for recording the built and buried heritage. By setting standards that can be adopted by everyone, we can make sure that all records are consistent. In other words, if everyone uses the same words to describe the same monument, archaeological object, building material, etc, then anyone using this common language can easily index, retrieve and understand these records. With this aim in mind, English Heritage is continually developing new thesauri to provide structure and guidelines for the standardisation of terms to be used when creating new records of the past.
"Now, in our drive to disseminate these standards and promote their wider use, we are making available seven separate online thesauri. A tailor-made suite of programs has been developed, which uses a database to create a series of web pages for any chosen thesaurus. These can be easily accessed using a frames-capable browser and regularly updated as new terms are submitted and approved by our Data Standards Unit."
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An excellent, highly usable, well-organized, and authoritative reference work with broader coverage than its title suggests
"ODLISi is designed as a hypertext reference resource for library and information science professionals, university students and faculty, and users of all types of libraries. The primary criterion for including a term is whether a librarian or other information professional might reasonably be expected to know its meaning in the context of his or her work. A newly coined term is added when, in the author's judgment, it is likely to become a permanent addition to the lexicon of library and information science. The dictionary reflects North American practice; however, because ODLIS was first developed as an online resource available worldwide, with an e-mail contact address for feedback, users from many countries have contributed to its growth, often suggesting additional terms and commenting on existing definitions. Expansion of the dictionary is an ongoing process.+
"Broad in scope, ODLIS includes not only the terminology of the various specializations within library science and information studies but also the vocabulary of publishing, printing, binding, the book trade, graphic arts, book history, literature, bibliography, telecommunications, and computer science when, in the author's judgment, a definition might prove useful to librarians and information specialists in their work. Entries are descriptive, with examples provided when appropriate. The definitions of terms used in the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules follow AACR2 closely and are therefore intended to be prescriptive. The dictionary includes some slang terms and idioms and a few obsolete terms, often as See references to the term in current use. When the meaning of a term varies according to the field in which it is used, priority is given to the definition that applies within the field with which it is most closely associated. Definitions unrelated to library and information science are generally omitted. As a rule, definition is given under an acronym only when it is generally used in preference to the full term. Alphabetization is letter-by-letter. The authority for spelling and hyphenation is Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition). URLs, current as of date of publication, are updated annually."
"ODLIS is available in print under the title Dictionary for Library and Information Science (Libraries Unlimited, 2004, ISBN 1563089629). Suggestions for expansion and improvement are always welcome. A substantial number of the terms in ODLIS have been suggested by its users. The dictionary is very much a work in progress--electronic text has the advantage of allowing incremental revision. The terminology of some fields within library science has yet to be fully developed in the dictionary, for example, business librarianship, media librarianship, music librarianship, and preservation. These areas will be tackled as time allows."
"Our system of classification consists of terms that artists assign to their work. Artists choose from Rhizome's vocabulary of new media terms as well as adding their own terms. When new terms reach a certain level of popularity they become part of Rhizome's vocabulary."
"The VocabWiki merges vocabularies developed by two arts organizations, Franklin Furnace and Rhizome, to describe new media artworks. The database is comprised of terms defined specifically for the description of performance and ephemeral installation art. As part of the Forging the Future initiative, guidelines were established for finding, applying, and creating those terms. The wiki serves as a platform where terms are continually defined and expanded upon in an ongoing collaboration between Franklin Furnace and Rhizome.
A glossary of of German and English library terms (searchable in either language)
"This glossary contains about 90,000 technical terms and abbreviations about libraries, books and data processing. It is intended to be a resource for librarians and other users."
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