CCO Naming Standards

Somewhat up to CCO standards:

From the Cincinnati History Library & Archives http://library.cincymuseum.org/starweb/photos/servlet.starweb

This appears to be a pretty alright catalog record for this photograph. It has a descriptive title which follows the conventions laid out in CCO 1.2.2.1 and 1.2.2.2.3. It avoids initial articles and follows the rules for capitalization. CCO 1.2.2.2.3, Names of Buildings notes, “For architecture, record a descriptive name, a name that refers to the owner, a dedication (for example, for a church), or a street address, as appropriate.” This title includes the dedication “Church of the Immaculate Conception,” as well as the Location, “Mt. Adams.” They could probably be more specific regarding the location, for instance saying “Mt. Adams, Ohio” or even recording the street address. The item type is not quite compliant with CCO, in their capitalization of “Glass negative” whereas CCO 1.2.1.1 recommends using lower case except for proper nouns. I think possibly however this capitalization issue could be chalked up to ‘local practice.’ It might also be worth noting that “Glass negative,” is neither an authoritative work type, nor is it included in their somewhat helpful “Glossary of Photo terms” linked on the left side of the page. I’d also take issue with their less-than-robust added entries. They ought to at the very least have included the authorized name for the church.

Not at all up to CCO standards:

From the American Academy in Rome Digital Humanities Center Photo Archive
http://dhc.aarome.org/collections/paestum/item/98304?position=57&list=4r-xYHLhlbGmb40j0ntSPjqB2RFhISRzny8Y6iZwim8

Old Title:[129255] [Paestum. The boys (Paestum, Italy)] [graphic]

New Title: Men Sitting on Stone Structure, possibly Teatro Circolare.

This title, [129255] [Paestum. The boys (Paestum, Italy)] [graphic] is far from compliant with the CCO naming standards. From the unique id at the front, which should be (and is) located elsewhere in the record, to the redundant locations and unnecessary brackets. Aside from the formal issues here is the descriptive part of the descriptive title “The boys.” Not only does it feature an ill-advised initial article, it also does little to describe the actual photograph. While the provenance of this collection is somewhat sketchy (this group of Paestum photos seems to have been found housed with another, unrelated collection), they seem to have been taken on an archaeological survey of Paestum, and there is enough detail in other titles that I have to believe they can identify the structure these men are sitting on, and if they can’t CCO allows for some uncertainty as noted in 1.2.2.2.4. I might say “Men Sitting on Stone Structure, possibly Teatro Circolare.”  They don’t even include an item or work type field, although their “physical details” field seems to serve the purpose. [Photographic print][black/white], while it does accurately describe the item, doesn’t seem to be from a controlled vocabulary. Again this may be chalked up to ‘local practice,’ or perhaps it’s an Italian cataloging convention that I’m not familiar with. Additionally, they seem to know who one of these men is, as they include a biographical note and an added entry. However they don’t say which person he is, or what exactly his relationship is to this collection of photos.