Literature Review


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Literature was needed in the description of the collection.It was important to identify the elements necessary for creating a complete bibliographic record of the items.For this, publications were used that were geared specifically for the creators of handspun materials.In these, based on table of contents and tables (as found in Roth and Shultz, 20) terms for classification were determined from the headings used by spinners and weavers.From the combination of Roth and Shultz and Field, the hierarchy for the classification of animal fibers amongst other fibers is determined as shown in Sample 8. Classification was taken into account by the Mitchell article that states that the true power of a classification system lies in the context and relationships it provides for each topic.This idea further enhanced the need for a hierarchy that does not limit by notations but instead allows the searcher to search effectively with Natural Language Processing.

Once the elements were determined, it was necessary to examine different literature sources that research the different options for organization of collections.Particularly, sources like Gaynor and Taylor encouraged one to look at alternatives to MARC and LCSH headings.Gaynor argued that SGML be used as an encoding standard for museums and archives over MARC because of MARC’s inability to accommodate hierarchically structured information (this article was also relevant in that CDWA is in the process of encoding with SGML).In the case of Wiebel discussing Dublin Core, she notes that the ease of Dublin Core was created for the authors of Internet documents to create metadata without extensive training.A similar argument for the use of Categories for the Description of Works of Art, the website states that the categories were designed specifically for art specialists, exactly the type of users who will be working with this collection of handspun animal fibers.

Vocabulary control was examined through the research of Taylor and Sauperl who each created hypotheses around information seeking behaviors of catalog users.Taylor advocated for the use of a single thesauri due to the fact that searchers might miss some of the titles owned by a venue if they only search under one subject heading of one thesauri when there is another heading in a different thesauri phrased differently.Sauperl states the importance of considering three different areas when determining the subject headings, regardless of how many thesauri used:1.) the document 2.) how the document will be retrieved, and 3.)how the document fits into the existing collection.These two citations were influencial in making a decision to primarily use a single thesauri that was relevant to the collection.

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