Subject Access to Visual Resources Collections: A Model for the Computer Construction of Thematic Catalogs

Searching through a resource collection for a particular type of visual image yields little more than frustration if the user lacks the knowledge of the specialized concepts that are the key to the collection’s system of classification. With Karen Markey’s innovative approach to subject searching, however, users will be able to translate an inquiry for a particular type of visual image into the appropriate symbolic theme or concept and will easily access any type of visual resource collection. Based on Erwin Panofsky’s work on meaning in the visual arts and the author’s study of users of iconographical research collections, this volume offers a step-by-step method of describing subject content in visual images. Markey’s model will enable museums, libraries, and art galleries to upgrade their services significantly.