The semester has come to an end and the final project produced for this class is up and running… Well, it’s still a work in progress, but it’s on the way to being a fully functioning picture database.

www.imagearts.ryerson.ca/jsheptytskyzall/CathNewTimes/index.html

View in Firefox or Safari

The site is simple, and set up to offer a few basic details about the project.
The navigation structure is as follows:
Home – identifies the site’s purpose
Blog – link to this blog
Database (maybe a bit of a misnomer, as it was meant to contain the search function) – instead, the page contains the form used to input information into the database.
Collection – displays all the images in the database in sequential order. Previous/Next buttons are available on the bottom of each record.
Links- offers a few links to museums of interest. This section will be significantly expanded to include a long list of bookmarks which I’ve been compiling over the year.
Contact – a way to reach me
The last, blank square functions as a button from the home page only and links to a basic author query.

The database is designed specifically for the Catholic New Times images, but can likely be applied to any collection of a similar nature; containing a variety of subject matter but from a consistent production source, like press images.

The field definitions were taken from a number of sources, including the Getty, Library of Congress and Dublin Core.

The database fields are as follows:
Image Title
Creator/Author
Alternate Author Date – specified to be input in (mm-dd-yyyy) format
Medium – User can choose between: Photograph and other. This is in order to limit input of objects not specific to the collection. Everything which is not a photograph, such as a caption note or clipping would be classified in other and further reviewed for its inclusion in the database.
Process- The user can choose between RC and Fibre Gelatin Silver or Digital print. Again this is specific to the content of the collection as it would not contain other historical material. An Other field allows the cataloguer to input unidentified prints or reproductions. This field could be omitted entirely, however it may be of useful for identifying preservation concerns of certain materials.
Caption
Caption Verso
The user is prompted to use LC Authorities to identify subjects.
Subject – Person
Subject – Place
Subject – Topic
Inscription Recto
Inscription Verso
Both of these fields can be used to identify any important markings on the image.
Size The size properties are broken down to image size and paper size. This is important if an image is to be displayed or housed. The unit of measurement, mm is a choice specific to the medium. The Getty suggests choosing an appropriate unit and keeping it uniform, mm are often used for photographs.
Image Height (mm)
Image Width (mm)
Paper Height (mm)
Paper Width (mm)

There is one other field that should potentially be included, however we did not address it in class. The database does assign a unique ID number to each record, but it the collection being catalogued already has a numbering system in place, such as accession numbers, this would be included. Other fields may include the item location or notes, which would address this type of information.