Terminology and Search Tools to help you find archival collections and digitized cultural heritage materials on the Web.

1. February 20, 2014
HIST 6002
Gena Chattin, Digital Initiatives Librarian
Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

2. Who Can Help?

Gena Chattin, Digital Initiatives Librarian
(M-F 8-4:30 by appointment)
 E-mail: gchattin@uno.edu
Phone: 504-280-6554

General Reference
(Usually, same hours as the library.)
 E-mail: libref@uno.edu
Phone: 504-280-6549
IM: http://library.uno.edu/helpfiles/ask.cfm (chat box on site)
Twitter: @ekl_library or #unolib

UNO Library Website and Catalog: http://www.library.uno.edu
Digital Collections at UNO: http://libguides.uno.edu/ekldigital
Archives and Manuscripts at UNO:
http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/lacol_findingaids.cfm



3. TERMINOLOGY
It is useful to know certain library and archival terms whether searching for
physical or digital collections. Our software uses a lot of this jargon, which
can make a difficult research task even harder.
Arm yourself with terminology!

4. Special Collections, Archives, and Manuscript
Collections
(Often used interchangeably, but some organizations may
make distinctions.)
Special Collections
Archives
Library items separated
Materials created or
from the main collection
received by a person,
usually due to rarity,
family, or organization in
fragility, value, theme, etc. the conduct of their affairs
(examples are rare books,
and preserved due to
manuscripts, papers,
enduring value or as
etc.).
evidence (i.e. business
records, personal papers,
etc.)
Manuscript Collections
Usually indicates mixedmedia collections of
predominantly
unpublished materials.
May include typescripts,
photographs, diaries,
scrapbooks, news
clippings, printed works,
and more.

5. Institutional Repositories
Software/system housing digital materials produced by an
organization
(i.e. dissertations, creative work, datasets, and research).
For example:
UNO ScholarWorks
http://scholarworks.uno.edu

6. Finding Aid
A document that describes an archival and/or
manuscript collection including:
 its history,
 its “provenance” (where it came from, how it came to be
here, where it’s been before),
 its location,
 and, sometimes, an inventory.
At UNO, these are often called “inventories,” although
an inventory is only a part of a full finding aid.
A finding aid encoded as XML may also be referred to
as: “EAD” (Encoded Archival Description)

7. For Example:
the Marda Burton Collection
(http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/inventories/370.htm)
Can you find:
 Inclusive Dates? Bulk Dates?
 Biographical Note?
 Series List?
 Container List?
 Boxes?
 Folders
 Items? (NOTE: Item-level processing is unusual. See
http://archives.lib.cua.edu/findingaid/dubois.cfm for an example of a
finding aid at item level.)

Index Terms?

8. Catalog / “OPAC”
(Online Public Access
Catalog)
A searchable database of all the materials a
library/an organization has.
UNO Library Website: http://library.uno.edu
Archival materials may or may not appear here depending on the
organization. UNO’s currently do not, but we’re working on it.

9. Searching a Catalog for an Archival
Collection:

10. Metadata
Metadata is the data that describes materials (“data about
data”) and comes in many different formats/standards. There
are three main types, and you may see these terms in a
digital library/online catalog:

Descriptive Metadata: describes the material (i.e.
URL/location, physical attributes, title, creator, etc.)

Structural Metadata: gives structure to the materials and
identifies relationships between them (i.e. book chapter,
page, paragraph, photo caption, etc.)

Administrative Metadata: technical data such as
scanner used to create digital file, resolution, file format,
copyright and license information, etc.

11. What is a Digital Library?
a software/system housing digital collections (which house
digital objects (which may contain digital items))
CONTENTdm is the software used by the LOUISiana
Digital Library. The CONTENTdm object model goes
something like this (see next slide):

12. Digital Collection
Digital Object
Digital Item
A group of digital
Abstract Concept: a
Part of a digital
materials with
work that has been
object. For example,
enough description to digitized (i.e. a book, a book (digital object)
make them
a photograph, an
contains many pages
searchable. Materials music album, etc.). (items). Or the record
are usually related
May contain one or
for a photo (digital
somehow.
many digital items
object) may have
(i.e. images, song
scans of the front
(i.e. a collection of
tracks, metadata
and back of the
books)
file/description, etc.). photo (digital items).

13. In action!
Orleans Parish School
Board Collection
Minute Books:
Object = Volume
Item = Page Image
Volume: 9/9/1862 –
11/29/1863 (“Object
Description”)
Section: MeetingPublic School, Second
District, 9/9/1862
(“Desciption”)
PAGE LINK:
http://cdm16313.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15140coll4/id/9991

14. Research Tools:
Now that you know the lingo, where do you find
the collections?
Two main types of search tools for primary
sources:

Systems that Search Finding Aids

Systems that Search Digital Collections and/or
Library Catalogs

15. Tools that Search
EVERYTHING:
WorldCat
(searches library catalogs “worldwide”)
Two flavors of WorldCat:
 FirstSearch WorldCat (Subscription Database – Go
through UNO Library Website):
http://libguides.uno.edu/databases/w and scroll down

Open WorldCat (Free Version – Get there through
Google or however you like): http://www.worldcat.org/

“Subject” searches can be very powerful in WorldCat if
you use a controlled vocabulary (i.e. Library of Congress
Subject Heads)

16. WorldCat (FirstSearch) Search
Screen

17. Digital Collections

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
(everything)
http://dp.la

Hathi Trust
(book collections, partnership of several large academic
and research libraries)
http://www.hathitrust.org/

Internet Archive
(everything from old magazines to concert recordings –
check the source in the metadata)
http://www.archive.org
 Internet Archive “Wayback Machine”
(archives of old websites)
https://archive.org/web/

18. Digital Collections (cont.)

Library of Congress: American Memory
(digitized materials from the Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

National Archives Online Public Access
(digitized materials from NARA)
http://www.archives.gov/research/search/

Getty Research Portal
(Digitized texts, rare books, and related literature. Contributors
include the Getty, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.)
http://portal.getty.edu/portal/landing

19. Digital Collections (cont.)

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
(Searchable database of photos held by the Library of
Congress. Digital versions may be available where copyright
allows.)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

OAIster
(Searchable database of freely available digital libraries,
institutional repositories, and online journals.)
http://oaister.worldcat.org/ or http://www.oclc.org/oaister/

20. Finding Aids:
(In addition to some of the above
resources and Web search engines…)

ArchiveGrid
http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/
Spotty history, support. Currently a beta
site. Not fully supported but is still
updated with new archival collections.

21. State and Regional
Resources listings, resources:
Library of Congress

State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online
Encyclopedias, Historical and Cultural Materials
Collections (grouped by STATE):
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/statememory/

State Resource Guides (Library of Congress
holdings organized by STATE):
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/states/

Library of Congress Virtual Programs and Services
(Library of Congress Holdings and External Sites
organized by TOPIC):
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/

22. International Resources

Europeana
http://www.europeana.eu

France: Gallica (BNF – Bibliothèque Nationale
Française)
http://gallica.bnf.fr

Germany: Deutsche National Bibliothek
http://www.dnb.de/EN/Netzpublikationen/netzp
ublikationen_node.html

United Kingdom: The British Library
http://www.bl.uk
(Collections tab – Digital collections)

23. Louisiana and UNO-Hosted
Resources
UNO:


Portal to all UNO Earl K. Long Library digital collections:
http://libguides.uno.edu/ekldigital
UNO EKL Finding Aids:
http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/lacol_findingaids.cfm
LOUISiana Digital Library: http://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org
Historical Archives of the Louisiana Supreme Court:
http://libguides.uno.edu/lasupremecourt
KnowLA: Encyclopedia of Louisiana History, Culture and
Community (LEH): http://www.knowla.org
Louisiana Secretary of State: Historical Resources:
http://www.sos.la.gov/HistoricalResources/Pages/default.aspx

24. Which source to find…
• Bootlegs from a 1993 Grateful Dead concert in Ohio?
• A list of the state digital library projects in Alabama?
• A scan of a 17th century printing of Traité de la mécanique by René
Descartes?
• A finding aid for the Salman Rushdie collection (which you think is at
Emory University but you’re not sure…)?
• A photo of Richard Nixon posing with Elvis Presley?

25. Search Tips!
When searching (esp. in WorldCat), here are some
helpful terms to try searching in addition to your topic:









sources
documents
correspondence
interviews
personal narratives
speeches
pictorial works
diaries
oral histories

26. Search Tips! (cont.)
Topic/Subject Searches – “Controlled Vocabularies!”
Library of Congress Authorities – http://id.loc.gov or
http://authorities.loc.gov
Includes:
 Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
 Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) – people,
companies, etc.
 Thesaurus of Graphic Materials (TGM)

27. Search Tips! (cont.)
Controlled Vocabularies (cont.)
Getty Vocabularies (The Getty Research Institute) –
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/
 Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
 Cultural Objects Name Authority – search on “Mona
Lisa” or “La Gioconda?”
 Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
 Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) – search using
“Titian” or “Tiziano Vecellio?”
Sometimes you can click on subject terms in the search
results and be taken to a list of items classified under that
term.

28. Where to find out…

Whether it’s better to search for
“Burnett, Chester Arthur, 1910-1976” or
for “Howlin’ Wolf, 1910-1976?”

Whether it’s better to search for “St.
Louis,” “Saint Louis,” or “Saint Louis
(Mo.)?”

29. Questions?
Gena Chattin
gchattin@uno.edu
504-280-6554
http://libguides.uno.edu/webprimarysources
Please fill out survey (five questions!), and hand them to
me before you go. Thanks!