Cataloging Cultural Objects:
A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images
www.vraweb.org/CCOweb/
Ten Key Principles
1. Establish the logical focus of each Work Record, whether it is a single item, a work made up of several parts, or a physical group or collection of works. Clearly distinguish between Work Records and Image Records.
2. Include all of the required CCO elements.
3. Follow the CCO rules. Make and enforce additional local rules to allow effective retrieval, re-purposing, and exchange of information.
4. Use controlled vocabularies, such as the Getty vocabularies and the Library of Congress authorities.
5. Create local authorities that are populated with terminology from standard published controlled vocabularies as well as with local terms/names. Structure local authorities as thesauri whenever possible. Record and document decisions about local authorities.
6. Use established metadata standards, such as the VRA Core Categories or Categories for the Description of Works of Art.
7. Understand that in the context of CCO, cataloging, classification, indexing, and display are different but related things.
8. Be consistent in establishing relationships between works and images, between a group or collection and works, among works, and among images.
9. Be consistent regarding capitalization, punctuation, and syntax. Avoid abbreviations, but when necessary, use standard codes and lists for abbreviations (e.g., the ISO abbreviations for countries).
10. For English-language information systems and users, use English-language data values whenever possible.
Cataloging Cultural Objects