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Aberystwyth University
Department of Information Studies
MA Information and Library Studies
An examination of the challenges in retrieval of Ephemera in memory institutions, and potential solutions
Dedication
ContentsIntroduction...........................................................................................................................................7
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................8
Ephemera and research.....................................................................................................................9
Current Practices.............................................................................................................................10
Access & Retrieval.......................................................................................................................10
Arrangement of material.............................................................................................................12
Cataloguing standards.................................................................................................................13
Funding & Staff time....................................................................................................................15
Previous experiments......................................................................................................................15
Transferable practices.................................................................................................................17
Social tagging...................................................................................................................................18
Summary.........................................................................................................................................20
Methodology.......................................................................................................................................21
Case Studies.....................................................................................................................................21
Boundaries of the study...................................................................................................................21
Limitations of Case Studies and Interview...................................................................................21
Interviews....................................................................................................................................22
Summary.........................................................................................................................................22
Contributing factors in a cataloguing model........................................................................................23
User Groups.....................................................................................................................................23
Technological Capabilities...............................................................................................................23
What is affordable and available.....................................................................................................24
Practicalities; time, effort and funding............................................................................................24
Search Fields....................................................................................................................................24
Multilingualism................................................................................................................................25
Summary.........................................................................................................................................26
Introduction to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection......................................................................................27
The family background....................................................................................................................28
The date range: Historical events of importance..........................................................28
The postcards and the Irish language..........................................................................................29
The range of locations written from............................................................................................30
Original Organisation of the resource..............................................................................................30
Summary.........................................................................................................................................31
Case Study: the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales...................32
RCAHMW Structure.....................................................................................................................32
Organisation ideal........................................................................................................................32
Application to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection................................................................................33
Multilingualism............................................................................................................................34
Organisation and administration.................................................................................................35
Discussion: transferable elements...............................................................................................35
Summary.........................................................................................................................................36
Case Study: The John Johnson Ephemera Collection...........................................................................37
The John Johnson Ephemera collection...........................................................................................37
Organisation Ideal........................................................................................................................38
Standards.....................................................................................................................................38
Application to the Cassidy-Quinn collection................................................................................39
Multilingualism............................................................................................................................41
Organisation and administrative costing.....................................................................................41
Discussion: transferable elements...................................................................................................42
Summary of points..........................................................................................................................43
Outcomes: Preliminary model for cataloguing ephemera...................................................................44
Collection Level/Item Level cataloguing..........................................................................................44
Process work flow............................................................................................................................49
Digitisation and Social Tagging........................................................................................................50
Further areas of development.........................................................................................................51
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................52
My solution......................................................................................................................................53
Disadvantages..............................................................................................................................53
Future research...........................................................................................................................54
Appendices..........................................................................................................................................55
Appendix A: Contributing factors in a Cataloguing Model...............................................................55
Appendix B: Interview transcripts....................................................................................................57
Interview with Julie-Anne Lambert, Librarian of the John Johnson Ephemera Collection,..........57
RCAHMW Interview with Susan Evans, Archives & Library Officer..............................................59
Appendix C: Introduction to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection..............................................................62
Appendix D: RCAHMW Case Study..................................................................................................67
Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................71
References.......................................................................................................................................71
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................76
Table of Tables
Table 1: Common features of the John Johnson, and Evanion Collections..........................................16Table 2: Fonds structure for the message side of a postcard..............................................................33Table 3: Fonds structure for an image side of the postcard................................................................33Table 4: Collection Level catalogue format..........................................................................................45Table 5: Collection level description applied to Cassidy-Quinn Collection...........................................46Table 6: Item level description applied to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection.............................................47Table 7: Cataloguing workflow............................................................................................................49Table 8: Digitisation and Social tagging work flow...............................................................................50
Table of Figures
Figure 1: The Evanion Collection catalogue: Advanced search form...................................................55Figure 2: John Johnson Ephemera Collection: ProQuest catalogue search form.................................56Figure 3: Cassidy-Quinn family tree.....................................................................................................62Figure 4: PCIS006: Dr. Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland and the Gaelic League..............................63Figure 5: Census of Ireland 1901: Cassidy Family................................................................................64Figure 6: Dingle Bay Photograph.........................................................................................................65Figure 7: Dingle 1907...........................................................................................................................66Figure 8: Roodepoort Station..............................................................................................................66Figure 9: Collection level catalogue record..........................................................................................67Figure 10: Collection level catalogue record applied to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection........................68Figure 11: Item Level catalogue record applied to the Cassy-Quinn Collection...................................69Figure 12: Item Level Record with supplementary fields suggested....................................................70
List of Abbreviations
AACR: - Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules
AAT: - Art and Architecture Thesaurus
CEST: - Centre of Ephemera Studies Thesaurus
DDC: - Dewey Decimal System
EAD: - Encoded Archival Description
GAA: - Gaelic Athletic Association
ISAD (G) : - General International Archival Description
ISBD: - International Standard Bibliographic Description
JISC: -Joint Information Systems Committee
LCSH: - Library of Congress Subject Headings
LCTGM: -Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
LOC: - Library of Congress
MARC: -Machine Readable Cataloguing
NAF: - Name Authority Files
NLA: - National Library of Australia
NLM: - National Library of Medicine
NLW: - National Library of Wales
OCR: - Optical Character Recognition
RBMS: - Rare Books & Manuscripts Section
RCAHMW: Royal Commission on the Ancient Historical Monuments of Wales
RDA: - Resource Description and Access
Iconclass: - Classification system designed for art and iconography
Introduction
This study began as a digitisation project for a collection of family postcards from the 1900s. It
developed into an examination of the challenges faced in the retrieval of ephemera held by memory
institutions, and potential solutions.
The starting point to develop any solutions is to examine how well current cataloguing practices deal
with ephemera, leading to the first research question;
Examine current cataloguing of ephemera practices in archives and libraries
This study examines how institutions dealing with special collections catalogue material in the form
of case studies into the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
(RCAHMW), and the John Johnson Ephemera Collection, part of the Bodleian Libraries. Due to the
time and budget limitations, this study focuses on two case studies, but could be expanded to
further institutions to gain wider perspectives on general practices.
In each case study, the practices used by institutions were applied to the collection of family
postcards as a test collection, to identify the challenges, and areas to be improved, addressing the
second research question;
The application of these practices on a collection of postcards, to illustrate problems and
impracticalities of current cataloguing methods
Postcards, like many forms of ephemera, feature image and text with equal importance, making
cataloguing rules for text or image-only resources difficult to apply without compromising quality
records. A significant barrier to creating cataloguing rules which comprehensively record the
information contained in the resources, is the wide variety of items covered by the term ephemera;
resulting in the use of a variety of thesauri, controlled vocabularies, subject headings, and standards.
This variety makes a standardized set of cataloguing rules for ephemera difficult to envisage. This
introduces the third research question this study aims to explore;
To create a preliminary model for cataloguing ephemera which can be applied to any collection by
any institution.
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Literature ReviewDefining ephemera
In his extensive work with ephemera, Maurice Rickards proposed several definitions of ephemera,
the most enduring one being ‘the minor transient documents of everyday life’ (2001, p. i).
Although this definition has persisted, Rickards identified that some individual pieces cannot be
described as either transient or minor (Rickards and Twyman, 2001, p. i), resulting in the
construction of the Encyclopaedia of Ephemera, in order to define types of ephemera more
adequately.
Disciplines and memory institutions have different definitions when it comes to considering
ephemera, while traditional libraries may only collect and curate printed material, subject disciplines
such as Film and Cinema history may look at material ranging from vintage posters to current movie
merchandise (Wickham, P., 2010, p. 316), crossing into 3-dimensional material. This creates issues
concerning the cross-over of material which is collected by libraries and museums, and maintaining a
collection of related items rather than separating by format.
In the context of memory institutions, ephemera can include book jackets, commercial ephemera
(advertising), pamphlets, entertainment and theatre programmes, greeting cards, posters and
collections of material relating to particular events or subject matters such as transport timetables or
the Millennium (Bodleian.ox.ac.uk, 2017). The definition of printed ephemera is different for the
librarian, archivist, museum curator, researcher, hobbyist and dealer (Kolbert, 1991, p. 27) and will
only become broader with the development of digital ephemera.
Despite the lack of an agreed definition of physical ephemera, further research could be done to
define what is counted as digital ephemera; do we judge it as simply an online version of the printed
ephemera, or include additions only available online. While there are projects like the Web Archive,
saving snapshots of internet sites, this is not an in-depth method of defining or saving what is
valuable of digital ephemera.
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Ephemera and researchThere is agreement among historians as to the value of ephemera as cultural documents (Andrews
434-450) and as a fragment of social history (Cocks and Rubery, 2012, p. 1). Ephemera, when it
survives, allows us to glimpse the material that we have chosen to forget. It exposes the cultural
practice of memory, marking the space between history as memorialised and the past as lived
(Mussell, J., 2012, p. 78). Academics have acknowledged that the transitory nature of ephemeral
publications can offer perspectives of social life and cultural developments of communities rarely
covered by mainstream collections including working class people, women, African Americans and
immigrants (Altermatt and Hilton, 2012, p. 174).
For instance, Mary Kelley’s Learning to Stand and Speak: Women, Education and Public Life in
America’s Republic uses a wealth of archival material and ephemera such as school catalogues,
gaining invaluable insight into the education of women in America (Barnhill, 2008, p. 128., Zboray
and Zboray, 2007).
Laura Lyons considers the lack of engagement with ephemera partly due to the difficulty in finding
the material, but determines in her study Ephemera and Irish Republicanism that due to the
timeliness and relation to history, ephemera can support or challenge official accounts of history
(Lyons, L., 2010, p. 407). The acknowledgement of the difficulty of finding ephemera for research
demonstrates a significant need for a better system of retrieval.
Shanna Benjamin gained access to unpublished postcards, photographs, letters and first manuscript
copies of an essay while researching for her book 'Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y.
McKay', which gave invaluable insight into the process of canonizing and compiling an anthology of a
previously neglected area of literature (2015, p. 19). Benjamin notes, that the Norton Anthology of
African American Literature represents a tradition of black writing, and McKay's unpublished history
symbolizes the potential of untapped ephemera (2015, p. 23). The use of ephemera here, is to
create a personal link to the subject using unique or rarely seen and accessed material, adding a new
dimension to the research topic.
The use of ephemera is not limited to academic research, but has been studied in marketing and
'brand management' in recent years. Market research is developing an interest in genealogies of
brands (Heller and Kelly, 2015, p. 397), which memory institutions such as the Museum of Brands,
Packaging & Advertising can support. Heller and Kelly argue that brand items and consumer objects,
largely regarded as trivial and ephemeral, can contribute to narratives of society and culture (2015,
p. 403) as well as giving insight into branding and marketing developments.
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Investigating personal family histories is becoming popular, thanks to programmes such as ‘Who Do
You Think You Are?’ and has seen the use of archives increase, and focus on specific lines of enquiry,
often linked to the historical context surrounding the users’ ancestors (Barratt, 2009, p. 11). This
interest has spawned a new type of historical research, termed ‘personal heritage’ which combines
the history of one’s ancestors with the story of where they lived, worked and died, interlaced with
the history of events in the local community (Barratt, 2009, p. 9-10). Ephemera, especially localised
material (e.g. local election leaflets, theatre production posters), can contribute to this research
area.
Smith and Rowley make a recommendation to researchers based on their examination of
digitisation of local studies collections that with increased access, more researchers in library and
information sciences, social sciences and history, can enrich their research and demonstrate the
value of local studies resources (2012, p. 279).
Current PracticesThe active collection of ephemera by libraries varies greatly from institution to institution; some
make encouraging provisions in their collection development policies, (LOC Collections Policy
Statements: Ephemera, 2008, p. 2), others collect items which fill gaps in existing collections and
noteworthy events and specific themes or genres (Bodleian.ox.ac.uk, 2015).
However, some institutions are reluctant to accept ephemera due to lack of space, or perceived
irrelevance to the institution's collection aims; for example, the National Library of Wales' collection
development policy states that only in 'exceptional cases' is it able to collect ephemeral material
(Collections Development Policy, NLW, 2016 p. 13).
Access & Retrieval There is disparity between institutions in practices concerning access, and retrieval of printed
ephemera. Copeland et al, (2006, p. 187) acknowledged in their project of cataloguing Pennsylvania
broadsides, that there are few standards or established practices for cataloguing ephemera,
resulting in a limited amount of literature on the subject.
It is clear that much of the variety in providing access to ephemera stems from the type of repository
and the requirements of their users (Hadley, 2001, p. 39).
This inconsistency persists from collections to item level; repositories which inventory at folder level,
can have clear titles, but make special annotations at item level for a particularly interesting or
valuable piece, despite not doing so for the rest of the material (Hadley, 2001, p. 47).
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Copeland's project team at the Pennsylvania State University, chose to catalogue Pennsylvania
German broadsides and Fraktur as individual items, reasoning that this would illustrate the depth of
the collection and provide consistent access, but subsequently made two exceptions. These
exceptions were due to the material in question being intellectually more valuable when kept
together rather than as individual items (2006, p. 190). This indicates the difficulty of creating a set
of comprehensive guidelines which can be universally applied to ephemera. The fact that some
material is more 'intellectually valuable' when kept together establishes the necessity for
cataloguers to consider the context and meaningfulness of the material they work with at an item
level.
Collection level descriptions have multiple advantages; they are time efficient, keeps material
together, and have the potential to enable a relatively serendipitous discovery for the user.
However, it does not have the benefit of the detail which item level description can provide, which
could result in missing an important item. Item level descriptions have the advantage of providing in
depth information facilitating finding a specific item, but are time consuming. Additionally, they
could be less helpful than a collection level description if a user is searching around a subject rather
than for a specific item.
The most successful methods of cataloguing, and providing access to ephemera collections, is a
specialised approach to the material at a collection level, or putting it in subdivisions. Hadley sets out
four elements which effective strategies for the access and description of visual ephemera, need to
consider;
(1) Explicitly reflect the presence of materials held by the repository;
(2) Are reasonably consistent across the repository’s holdings;
(3) Provide the type and level of information appropriate to the nature of the materials; and
(4) Anticipate the likely use of the materials. (Hadley, 2001, p. 49)
This paper was published in 2001, and makes no reference to technological advancements, such as
digitisation, or the use of thumbnail images, which can help with access, and increase awareness of
material the institution in question holds.
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Arrangement of materialDespite acknowledging the variety of formats ephemera can take, there are some common
characteristics which are overlooked; the material is printed in connection to a particular event, or
an item which is of ‘current interest’ not intended to survive the topicality of the message
(Anghelescu, 2001, p. 63). As the most common characteristic of printed ephemera, this could
inspire an approach to organise ephemera around or in conjunction with traditional resources
covering the same topic.
This approach has been taken in specialist institutes such as the Bibliotheque de Forney in Paris,
which views ephemera as material which complements more traditional resources, and therefore
should not be separated (Casiot, 2006, p. 22), and are arranged using the same classification schema.
Similarly, the Wellcome Library use the same schema (National Library of Medicine) and Library of
Congress (LOC) subject headings as their books and pamphlets (Lowther, 2006, p. 10-12), while
physically separating ephemera into conservation box files. The physical separation of ephemera
from traditional resources, makes practical sense and maintains a relative ease of access for users,
due to keeping the same schema for all material.
While both institutions have kept to their standard schemas, they are specialist libraries, which can
limit the number of subjects covered, and avoids the issues libraries providing a broad range of
interdisciplinary resources to a certain extent.
In contrast to institution specific solutions, common practices were implemented across local
libraries and the National Library of Australia (NLA), for dealing with ephemera collections. This
practice consisted of compiling boxes of material catalogued at collection level rather than
individually (Dewe and Drew, 1993, p. 128), which is consistent with other institutions. This has been
implemented across a network of libraries rather than a specialist institution, demonstrating that a
higher level of consistency in organisation and access can be achieved. However, this approach does
have the disadvantage of missing the in-depth information item level description provides.
Although there is consistency in the arrangement of ephemera in the form of boxes of related
material, this focuses heavily on ease of access to the physical material, and skips over making the
material discoverable via the catalogue.
13
Cataloguing standards Classification schemes and cataloguing rules are essential to information retrieval and are therefore
the main focus for this study. A catalogue is a formal record of a collection, which can be used for
retrieval and inventory purposes (Taylor and Miller, 2006, p7) and should be;
- Flexible and up to date
- Constructed so that all entries can be quickly and easily found by users
- and economically prepared and maintained (Taylor and Miller, 2006, p. 10-11)
This includes encoding the catalogue record into a machine-readable format, after descriptive,
subject and authority processes are completed (Taylor and Miller, 2006, p. 18).
Cataloguing codes were initially developed to standardize cataloguing practices, and have continued
to develop towards Resource Description and Access (RDA), which is looking to link records working
towards international authority file (Taylor and Miller, 2006, p. 33)
In Ranganathan’s Classified Catalogue Code, he places the user at the centre of the library, making
the measure of a catalogue’s worth in its value to those searching it in finding information (Welsh
and Batley, 2012, p. 2). Lubetzky’s principles insisted on a rationalised approach to cataloguing
standards based on objectives and principles, leading to cataloguing policy needing to adopt a
streamlined approach (Welsh and Batley, 2012, p. 4), which, when applied to the variety found in
ephemera, is even more vital.
Copeland et al. (2006 p. 191) applied a combination of cataloguing standards to the material -
monographic broadsides, graphic materials, and manuscripts;
Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), and the Library of Congress Rule
Interpretations, for the monographic items
Consulted Describing Archives: A Content Standard for manuscript items
A hybrid approach for genealogical records like birth certificates using a manuscript format
and adding monographic elements in note fields;
And Graphic Materials: Rules for Describing Original Items and Historical Collections, for
graphic pieces
14
Cataloguing guidelines set out by the Australian National Bibliographic Databases, for non-book
resources, adopted RDA as the preferred cataloguing standard, and have a minimum requirement of
AACR2 level one for descriptive standards. They also use Machine Readable Cataloguing 21
(MARC21) as standard, which causes issues regarding to description, storage and access of material
held by visual arts libraries, with their solution being to include item notes unsuitable for specific
tags into the general note (Libraries Australia, 2015).
Tamiment library, of New York University, uses MARC21 format at folder level, and Encoded Archival
Description finding aids rather than item level access (Altermatt and Hilton, 2012, p. 180).
There is relative consistency across institutions in implementing AACR and MARC21, however as
demonstrated by Libraries Australia, and Copeland et al., they are not sufficient for visual material,
which can result in inconsistency in actual use of fields, such as extensive information held in 'Notes'
fields (Welsh and Batley, 2012, p.46-7, 147-157).
The changes in cataloguing standards from AACR to RDA has resulted in changes to the MARC21
format (Kiorgaard 2006, Bl.uk, Welsh and Batley 2012 p. 157) in order to accommodate RDA
features. These changes will certainly influence cataloguing practices and therefore must be
acknowledged, but as the focus is on current practices in ephemera, the overarching changes from
AACR to RDA and the implications thereof will not be considered in depth in this study.
With the exception of Copeland's project team at Pennsylvania State University, institutions
consistently catalogue ephemera using existing cataloguing rules and formats, and the disparity
comes in decisions to catalogue at collection or item level. Consistently, despite the proven value of
ephemera in research, the material only gets catalogued as the result of a project or grant funding,
again showing a lack of resources available to ensure consistent and ongoing cataloguing of non-
traditional resources.
15
Funding & Staff timeA critical issue raised by Altermatt and Hilton's report on the Tamiment library's project to provide
access to its printed ephemera collections, is that of funding. The project was funded by a grant,
leading the team to question, if 370 boxes of material can be backlogged within a twenty-year
period, how can this be prevented from reoccurring after the grant ends (2012, p. 191).
Efforts to improve access to hidden resources such as local archive material and ephemera have
increasingly relied on project-funded grants, meaning institutions encounter the problem of
maintaining access and time to devote to these collections once grant funding has ended.
Digitisation projects have similar aims to ephemera-related projects; preserving fragile or rare
documents, and to make these more accessible to users, and therefore has similar problems. Smith
and Rowley (2012, p. 273) note that digitisation is often implemented as a short- term project, and
that a long-term strategy would require significant funding, which similarly can be applied to
projects devoted to ephemera.
Previous experimentsEphemera collections contain multimedia items, often with aesthetic qualities which make them
good candidates for digitisation projects. However, the complications of cataloguing ephemera
demonstrated by Copeland et al. (2006) and Altermatt and Hilton (2012), combined with the short-
term nature of funding, must lead institutions to consider and anticipate the likelihood of use
(Hadley, 2001, p. 49), to prioritise collections for digitisation.
Two notable cataloguing and digitisation projects concerning ephemera are the British Library run
project of the Evanion collection in 2000, (Bl.uk, 2017), and the collaboration between the Bodleian
Library, ProQuest and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to digitise and catalogue the
John Johnson Ephemera Collection begun in 2008 (Bodleian.ox.ac.uk, 2017).
Both projects found that they needed to create bespoke cataloguing schemes, and to catalogue to
item level in order to note the extensive bibliographic information needed for ephemera. The
curator responsible for cataloguing the Evanion collection, Helen Peden, formulated her own
scheme keeping rules for cataloguing single sheets, AACR2 and International Standard Bibliographic
Description (ISBD (A)) in mind (Peden, n.d.). The John Johnson cataloguing schema uses a custom
format with extensive fields.
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Table 1: Common features of the John Johnson, and Evanion Collections
Common elements John Johnson Ephemera Collection
Evanion Collection
Bespoke Catalogue schema Item Level Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Subject Heading Schemes LCTGM, ICONCLASS, AAT, ESTC, RBGENR, and CEST
Rickards’ Encyclopaedia of Ephemera, LCSH
Full Text Searching Image manipulation (i.e. zoom, rotation)
Key search elements Title/first lineDate from- toPlacesPrinting ProcessPrinter/publisherEngraver/lithographerIllustration subjectsSubjectNameKeyword(s)ShelfmarkPhysical formSpecial features
TitleStart YearEnd YearPlaceImprintPressmarkIllustrationsHeadingSubjectName Genre
(See Appendix A Figs 1 & 2 for full images of search forms)
Due to the Evanion collection catalogue being developed around the year 2000, the technological
capabilities of OCR, full text searching, and image manipulation are not available when compared
with the John Johnson Ephemera Collection.
Neither catalogue fully takes into account issues of multilingualism, which is an enduring problem in
traditional cataloguing. This may be due to a lack of necessity for the specific collections, or limit of
staff time, and is an issue this project will be considering, especially when applied to the Cassidy-
Quinn collection, which features English, Irish and French.
While both catalogues provide extensive bibliographic information, enabling more focused
searching, the platforms for images are less user-friendly than institutions who use image-based
social media platforms to host images; lacking features such as a rolling image gallery or browser.
17
Memory institutions are increasingly using established social media platforms to improve use and
access of images at a low cost. This can be applied to the display of digital surrogates of ephemera.
Additionally, online retrieval techniques such as social tagging can contribute to the organisation of
material, as well as increasing engagement.
Despite being inexpensive, social media platforms hosting digitised material increases the workload
of picture cataloguers, as experienced by the NLA, who provide each physical image with an
individual record in order to provide a link to the digitised item from the catalogue (Gatenby, 2010,
p. 146). This is especially relevant to ephemera collections which may include mixed image and text
items; resulting in decisions concerning cataloguing items a separate image and text records, or
creating a combined record.
The LOC uses Flickr as a platform for its collections of photographs, illustrations, bookplates and
other images, and includes basic bibliographic information under each image.
However, there are inconsistencies in the extent to which the images presented have been
catalogued, and its collections do not display the extent of bibliographic detail the John Johnson
Ephemera Collection provides. However, the presence of images which are available to browse
online, and their corresponding call numbers, makes the resource accessible online, as well as
pointing the user to the physical location.
Transferable practicesAlthough many of the institutions considered have similar or overlapping practices, many emphasize
the need to consider the specific characteristics of the collection and material, when cataloguing,
and the likelihood of access (Copeland et al. 2006, p. 187).
Ephemera should first be considered at collection level, to enable cataloguers to decide on how
much contextual information is necessary for the collection and items contained to be meaningful.
This takes into account that much of ephemera is more valuable to researchers when kept together
(Copeland, 2006, p. 190), as it is more likely to provide a broader image of social history. While an
item level description is often presented as the ideal, an in-depth collection level description may be
of more use to a user when considering ephemera, as the social context pieces of ephemera
demonstrate is often what is valuable to the researcher, rather than one specific item.
18
Item level descriptions are costly in time and effort, and depending on the size of the collection, are
impractical unless part of a specific, funded project. However, for items of significant value or are
particularly heavily used, special exceptions may be made on an ad hoc basis. Additionally, if images
of the material are available via an online platform the use of tags can contribute as an additional
layer of search terms for specific qualities or features of images.
The John Johnson printed ephemera collection's specialist catalogue is the most extensive in
applying descriptors to ephemera, despite missing provision for language, and therefore could be
viewed as almost ideal. However, the depth of knowledge and information provided by cataloguers,
and cost in terms of time, is too high for most libraries to be able to include in consistent and on-
going working practices. The collection encompasses a vast range of material, whereas smaller
institutions may have slightly more targeted collections, which could benefit from a more focused
version of the John Johnson catalogue.
Social tagging A significant development which could promote and ease access to ephemeral collections is the use
of image hosting platforms and social tagging.
Hong and Shao identify the emerging data generated by social media users as an opportunity for
resolving longstanding issues surrounding the indexing of videos and other multimedia (2012 p. 1),
supported by academic departments experimenting with the platforms as hosts for teaching and
research materials and resources (McWilliams, 2008).
Research into social tagging can be divided into three principal areas;
- Investigating users’ tagging behaviour;
- Analysing and refining tags;
- Regarding tagged multimedia as a knowledge base and exploring it in multimedia
understanding (Wang and Yang, 2012, p. 3)
A significant amount of papers in all three areas of study focus heavily on Flickr image retrieval and
tagging, rather than social networking sites (Van Laere et al. 2013, Qian et al. 2013, Strohmaier &
Kern 2012). Mussell notes that the success of Flickr in making visual material available is largely due
to the crowd-sourced tagging which has provided an environment where ephemera and multimedia
material is much easier to access (2012, p. 87).
19
Lui et al. proposed a batch tagging approach to reduce effort in tagging photo albums (Wang and
Yang 2012, p. 5); this could be used as a tagging equivalent of collection level description with any
additional tags to specific pictures as parallel to item level descriptive records. This could arguably go
some way to providing a semblance of hierarchy to tagging collections and photo albums, where the
batch tagging equals general fields or subject headings, and the item level tags create a further level
of detail replicating sub-headings.
Studies such as Ames and Naamen (2007), and Stivlia and Jörgensen (2009) provide insight into user
motivation for tagging content which can inform researchers of user needs and enhance existing
controlled vocabularies (Stvilia and Jörgensen, 2010, p. 2478, Peters, 2011, p. 89), and even provide
subject access to which LOC terms have not been assigned (Spiteri, 2016, p. 176).
In a comparison of Flickr tags and index terms, Abebe Rorissa identified that due to users becoming
accustomed to engaging in creating and indexing the resources, incorporating user-generated tags
into the process of indexing and retrieval is a significant area worth investigating (2010).
Additionally, sites such as Amazon, Goodreads and LibraryThing allow users to tag and classify items
in language which reflects their needs (Spiteri, 2016, p. 169) which demonstrates a user-centred
design which libraries could learn from and include in their retrieval designs.
However, there is a gap in research of evaluating official memory institution accounts. It would, for
example, be beneficial to examine accounts run by the National Libraries of Ireland and Wales
respectively, and the LOC, and identify similar and best practices.
Memory institutions’ use of tags for image retrieval could benefit from further research; while
studies identify consistency and accuracy of tags (McWilliams, 2008) as an issue in effective retrieval,
examining accounts run by libraries, museums and archives may yield interesting results, especially
where institutions allow users to contribute their own tags to ones assigned by the account holder,
limiting their degree of control.
A significant proportion of ephemera collections are valued due to their aesthetic quality and
therefore can benefit from digitization and online image platforms. The use of tagging and
folksonomies to inform the creation of subject specific controlled vocabularies could contribute to
cataloguing ephemera more effectively.
20
SummaryThe value of ephemera to researchers in multiple disciplines has been definitively proven, but the
resource suffers from a lack of sustained effort in cataloguing and being made accessible. The
majority of ephemera cataloguing and digitisation projects have been short –term projects related to
a specific topic or event, and suffer from the industry problems of a lack of funding or staff time and
is therefore often a low priority.
While projects like the John Johnson Ephemera Collection at the Bodleian library, and the Evanion
catalogue at the British Library have been successful examples of cataloguing and making ephemera
available, the methods of cataloguing have been specific and custom made for those collections. The
majority of studies are institute specific solutions, making this study into the creation of a generic
cataloguing model a useful contribution to cataloguing practices.
The additional consideration of online image retrieval and social tagging to improve and promote
access and engagement is an important facet for library resources in general, but could be especially
useful in accessing rare, and fragile items, and objects of aesthetic value including ephemera.
21
MethodologyCase StudiesEphemera is a relatively unexplored area of research, therefore case studies into the practices of a
specialist library institution focused on ephemera, and a specialist archive is necessary to provide a
real-world perspective to institutions’ approaches to cataloguing (Yin, 2014, p. 4).
The research questions aim to explore how and why current cataloguing practices in ephemera have
developed in these expert institutions (Yin, 2014, p. 29), and to create or refine a model for
cataloguing.
The methodology for this research consists of instrumental case studies providing insight into the
cataloguing practices of; the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
(RCAHMW), and the John Johnson Ephemera Collection at the Bodleian Library.
Boundaries of the studyThe study consists of two interviews concerning cataloguing ephemera, with the RCAHMW, and the
John Johnson Ephemera Collection, to establish current practices in a library environment, and an
archive, having first established the context of memory institution practices regarding ephemera.
The case study aims to identify current practices in cataloguing ephemera, and areas which
cataloguing schemes can be improved, for enhanced access for users. In order to identify areas for
improvement, I will be applying the outcomes to a collection of postcards.
The study will examine current practices and consider solutions to challenges identified, but will not
go into depth concerning technical solutions or software options available. However, exploration of
the implications and potential of some technological developments such as social tagging, will be
considered.
Limitations of Case Studies and InterviewThe case study is limited to an archive, and a library example, and could be extended to a wider
sample of memory institutions, in order to gain further perspective on current sector practices.
Due to the specialist institutions examined, the interview questions formed were specific, whereas in
a more extensive study with an increased sample of institutions, interview questions could be
changed towards a less informal, and more structured format.
22
Interviews Interviews with librarians and archivists responsible for the collections used in the case studies
provide valuable insight into the steps taken by institutions and the logic behind cataloguing
decisions. Interviews provide a practical look at the non-public side of the catalogue in real time, and
opportunities to discuss future goals for institutions.
To collect consistent information, interview questions for both Sue Evans, Archive & Library Officer
(RCAHMW) and Julie-Anne Lambert, Librarian of the John Johnson Ephemera Collection (Bodleian
Libraries) were prepared in advance to ensure focus on the research questions, and provided
opportunities to record personal views and perceptions (Yin, 2014, p. 106).
Using interviews to collect information can suffer from multiple issues including; Bias due to poorly
formulated questions, response bias, inaccuracies due to poor recall, and reflexivity (Yin, 2014, p.
106). To combat these disadvantages, I used a voice recorder to improve accuracy, and designed
questions to establish the facts of current practice, and open questions to encourage elaboration
concerning future practices (See Appendix B for transcripts of interviews).
A criticism of case study methods concerns its generalisability; a study based on a singular case
cannot be generalised (Punch, 2014, p. 122). Despite the specialist nature of Ephemera, library
cataloguing schemes and standards are developed with transferability within the sector in mind,
therefore concerns about generalisation in case studies can be neutralised to some extent.
SummaryThis study initially looked at two institutions for an in-depth view of cataloguing practices in use,
rather than a general view.
In identifying the disadvantages of case study methods, I have acknowledged that this study is one
that can be further expanded using questionnaires and wider sample institutions and collections, for
a more general view of cataloguing practices concerning ephemera.
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Contributing factors in a cataloguing modelUser GroupsThere is significant support and interest in using ephemera in research due to its ability to provide a
window into transitory society, in comparison to traditional resources, therefore a significant
percentage of the user group can be designated as researchers in the humanities and social sciences
in particular.
Another user group to consider is local studies researchers; local public libraries and archives able to
save material relevant to local elections, events, celebrations or history, need to make this material
available to researchers, especially in a period where libraries are under pressure to demonstrate
their value. Furthermore, the aesthetic quality of many ephemera collections can also be a point of
interest for artists and designers as elements of inspiration or reference.
Consequently, the user groups concerned with accessing ephemera are familiar with library or
archival catalogues to retrieve information resources. Although a basic level of information literacy
can be assumed from the majority user group, it is important to ensure the resources are searchable
to user groups which are unfamiliar with traditional retrieval techniques to improve engagement
with the material.
Technological CapabilitiesCataloguing schemas used by both libraries and archives can enable us to create and provide
comprehensive information and access points to resources. While developments in information
retrieval and technology have enabled memory institutions to seriously consider the benefits of
social tagging as a method of improving access further.
Social media and image hosting platforms allow us to create digital surrogates to help preserve the
original material, and engage with users online, as well as being able to be linked to institutions
home websites and catalogues at a relatively low cost. Online catalogues also go some way to
resolving issues of arrangement and meaningfulness, due to increased functionality of searching; i.e.
a collection arranged chronologically to express a narrative can also be searched by subject terms.
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What is affordable and availableThe costs of digitising material without causing damage to fragile material, depends on whether the
institution has access to an in-house digitisation unit, which could reduce costs.
Social media platforms are relatively inexpensive, and easy to use minimising costs of staff training,
and provide an open platform for staff to promote the collection using images, and provide the
opportunity for users outside the core group of researchers to access and engage with content.
Practicalities; time, effort and fundingTo maximise efficiency, one of the main obstacles to overcome is the variety of subject headings,
and thesauri used to create access points to the material. The compilation of a Thesaurus for
Ephemera terms (Morris, 2013) presents an opportunity to streamline assigning accurate terms to
the material. Additionally, although applying multiple classification schemes to the material
increases accessibility, it is not efficient in terms of staff time. When cataloguing different collections
of ephemera, it may be more practical to survey the nature of specific collections and apply the most
appropriate scheme, for example; if a collection is predominantly image based, the cataloguer
responsible would assign either Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Material (LCTGM) or
Iconclass as the principle thesaurus for the collection.
Search FieldsThe Evanion collection records feature twelve elements in their advanced search form using
keywords, date ranges, browsing, and advanced searches using indexed headings, names, genres,
and subject terms. It also provides linked indexes of Headings, Subject, Name and genre, enabling
users who are browsing or unsure of what they are looking for, to have an insight into the scope of
the content (See Appendix A, Fig. 1).
The John Johnson Ephemera Collection ProQuest project catalogue search provides users with a
form containing fourteen fields, and includes drop down lists to choose from and uses combinations
of classification schemes to define genres and subjects (LCTGM, RBMS, AAT, LCSH and Iconclass) (See
Appendix A, Fig. 2).
The provision of drop down lists for users to choose from can encourage catalogue searching by
unfamiliar users, and engage with users browsing rather than conducting a focused search for
specific material. The ProQuest project catalogue was identified by Julie-Anne Lambert (2017) as the
ideal in terms of search functionality, in comparison to previous digital projects aimed at making
material in the collection accessible.
25
Both collections created their own cataloguing rules for ephemera, informed predominantly by
AACR2 and LCSH, with a similar amount of search fields, and have been relatively successful in
enabling users to access material otherwise hidden. While the respective institutions have created
successful schemes in relation to their own material, it is important to examine how many of these
rules are transferrable or applicable to general library cataloguing rather than being tailored to a
specific collection. One element that is overlooked by both collections, is the notation of different
languages present in the material.
MultilingualismThe John Johnson Ephemera Collection uses Iconclass to inform its cataloguing, which is a
classification scheme designed for art and iconography, and is multilingual using English, French,
German and Italian, while working towards Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch and Chinese. This is done by
creating the same hierarchical structures in each language. However, this can be problematic due to
differing linguistic structures which change over time, meaning direct translations of hierarchical
subject terms often do not create accurate or intuitive retrieval routes.
While classic cataloguing rules have struggled with incorporating multilingual capabilities in their
search terms, social tagging is less rigid and can therefore be used to tag items using multiple
languages as appropriate.
Technological developments in multilingual information retrieval are increasing due to the gap
between English and other languages such as Chinese and Spanish narrowing among internet users
(Chu, 2010, p. 161), with standards like Unicode being developed to code characters, letters and
symbol in any language aiding interoperability. As they develop, these standards will have a greater
impact in global resource sharing.
Currently, the Library of Congress Name Authority Files (NAF) uses ‘see also tracings’ for writers who
choose to write under multiple different names. Using the example of Agatha Christie, Welsh and
Batley (2012, p. 66) demonstrates the linked bibliographic identities;
Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976
Mallowan, Agatha Christie, 1890-1976
Westmacott, Mary, 1890-1976.
In some library management systems, it is possible for a search for ‘Kristi, Agata’ to link to the
authorized heading of Agatha Christie (Welsh and Batley, 2012, p. 68). Although, this is dependent
26
on the library management system in use, there is some scope to improve the recall of resources by
linking alternate spellings of bibliographic identities.
When considering tagging or describing the Cassidy-Quinn collection, at Item level items containing
Irish language could be tagged using the language terms (I.e. Eire instead of Ireland/Irish) to indicate
this. A collection level description may include tags or descriptors in both languages to reflect
elements in the collection as a whole.
Institutions working in a bilingual environment, such as the National Library of Wales (NLW) and the
RCAHMW, have explicit fields for Welsh/English translations of subject terms, which are helpful in
considering the specific collection of postcards, but not for a general set of cataloguing rules for
ephemera.
SummaryA cataloguing scheme for ephemera must balance the high level of detail needed to create
meaningful records, and the pressures on staff time and funding which libraries are experiencing.
Furthermore, it is vital for a catalogue to be consistent, and easy for users to navigate.
Therefore, a cataloguing scheme must be;
Efficient and streamlined; less combinations of thesauri and classification schemes
Keyword searching, advanced searching with a minimum of twelve fields, image browsing as
appropriate
Easily searchable for all users
Elements such as multilingualism and interoperability, and the use of social tagging, will improve
with further technological developments and implementation in memory institution’s day-to-day
working practices.
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Introduction to the Cassidy-Quinn CollectionFor this project, I have scanned a collection of postcards from the 1900s into a digital format,
including both the image and written sides in order to mimic a 'digital surrogate' collection, and plan
to apply the aims set out to this material to demonstrate the practical problems of classifying and
providing accessing collections of ephemera. Further references to this collection will be entitled the
‘Cassidy-Quinn’ collection, referring to the two main correspondents.
As postcards, the resource combines text and image in a ratio that varies from each item, meaning
that decisions must be made concerning whether the collection as a whole is catalogued as one
type, or the type is assigned at item level. Additionally, the postcards contain postage stamps and
dates, which I have excluded from considering in detail due to Philately having a dedicated
catalogue, however Clinton (1981, p. 31-32) notes that if postage stamps are excluded in postal
ephemera, then what of postmarks and handstamps.
Copeland's team at Pennsylvania State University catalogued items which combined text and image
as text because the images, although relatively large in proportion to the text, do not stand on their
own and the textual portions are crucial to the documents in conveying the meaning (Copeland et
al., 2006, p. 190).
For a collection of ephemera to be meaningful, certain contextual information must be set out.
Research which has used ephemera focus on illustrating particular events or significant social
changes, therefore cataloguers need to provide a set minimum of information, such as the relevant
time period and social context.
As detailed below, there is a large amount of context about the social and political changes during
the time that this correspondence took place which has an impact on its significance and meaning,
turning an unorganised bundle of postcards, into an interesting resource demonstrating social
relations, language use, and travel in the 20th Century. To send postcards in Britain which were
entirely covered by the picture on one side, was only possible from 1902 onwards (Clinton, 1981, p.
37) making this collection, and the locations they range from, relatively early examples of long
distance postcards.
As this is a personal collection, I have enough knowledge to set out its background without much
further research. However, providing this depth of context for an institutional collection, relies on a
certain amount of knowledge from cataloguers or previous records, or time for staff to conduct
research into the collection.
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The family backgroundThe correspondence is from my mother’s side of the family, both branches of which came to the
English midlands from Ireland in the 1800s. The information about the family comes from sources
including official census records and family knowledge.
There is an increase in public interest in family history, and online availability of census and ancestry
records, admittedly mainly behind a paywall1. This increase in resources available could improve
linking data to enrich material like these postcards, turning them into a valuable resource for
research in family history, or as illustration of wider social history.
The postcards are addressed mainly to Mary Adelaide Quinn, my great-grandmother, with a few
addressed to other members of the family (See Appendix C, Fig.3).
The date range: Historical events of importanceThe majority of the postcards are written and sent to Mary Quinn between 1905 and 1912, with
others from 1938 to 1942. This sets the correspondence within the date range when Ireland was
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1922), and includes the turbulent
political events of the effect of The Great Famine (in the 1840s, leading to mass emigration), the
Home Rule campaign, and World War One.
Groups such as the Gaelic League, and the nationalist movement aimed to maintain and revive
traditional Irish cultural forms and of the Irish language (Barbour and Carmichael, 2003, p. 37). The
family were aware that John Thomas Cassidy was a member of the Gaelic Athletic Association
operating in mainland Britain, and made the effort to learn Irish, which supports the idea of that he
at least sympathised with the Irish nationalist cause. This could be further supported by an image of
Douglas Hyde, first president of Ireland, a leading figure in the Gaelic revival and president of the
Gaelic League, appearing on one of the postcards (See Appendix C, Fig. 4)
The Great Famine was responsible for a huge increase in emigration from Ireland especially from the
west, to the United Kingdom. Such was the increase, that by 1851, 25 % of Liverpool’s population
was Irish-born (MacRaild, 2011, p. 49), causing social tensions including discrimination and prejudice
against Irish workers (Bielenberg, 2015, p. 24) complicated further by prejudice against Catholicism.
1 i.e. Findyourpast.com, Ancestry.co.uk
29
The correspondence is written in multiple languages, with the most common after English being
Irish. The poorest and rural areas of Ireland were hit hardest by the Great Famine. These were also
the areas where the Irish language was traditionally the majority language, causing an increased
decline in the language (O'Huallachain, 1995, p. 31). The death of an estimated one and a half million
people, while a further million emigrated in the following five years, a great proportion of which
were Irish Speakers (Price, 1985, p.40) further impacted the regular use of Irish.
The postcards and the Irish languageThe presence of Irish in the postcards is a point of interest in socio-linguistic studies, demonstrating
the value of this resource in academic research. The writer of the majority of the Irish cards is from
the generation who did not speak Irish as their first language. The correspondence and translations
imply that Mary wrote back in Irish, which is unusual considering the Quinn family were an earlier
wave of Irish emigration and therefore would not have been brought up around native Irish.
The rule of Ireland under British government included the setting up of National Schools, which was
a factor in the decline of the Irish language (Tissier-Moston, 2010, p. 91-92). The schools taught
solely in English, and prohibited speaking Irish at all, creating a generation who were at least/only
educated in English (O Dochartaigh, 2000, p. 9).
Class has an impact on the decline of the Irish language; if you could only speak Irish, you were less
likely to be educated and have the chance to improve your social standing. In census records of the
Cassidy family in 1901 (See Appendix C, Fig.5), Michael Cassidy Sr was a teacher in the National
schools, and speaks both Irish and English, implying that the family were bilingual, however family
knowledge asserts that he did not teach or encourage his children to speak Irish.
The Irish writer most often is John Thomas Cassidy, who did not speak Irish fluently as a first
language, despite his father being bilingual. From family knowledge, we know that Michael Cassidy
Sr discouraged speaking Irish due to class prejudices, and economic opportunities, making John
Thomas’ learning the language surprising. Preliminary translation work on the postcards’ contents,
discovered that John Thomas is learning Irish as an adult, due to grammatical mistakes, and the use
of less sophisticated handwriting in the Irish script.
Learning Irish would not have had value in terms of further employment or economic opportunities
for any of the family living in England, therefore the cards could support the idea of learning the
language out of a sense of national identity. This is further supported by the photographs of family
holidays to Dingle, County Kerry (See Appendix C, Fig. 6 & 7), in the most western point of Ireland;
during a time period where the county would have been majority Irish speakers, with a sizable
30
portion of the population being monoglot Irish speakers. It has some history as a location for people
to travel to in order to learn and improve their Irish, due to being part of the Gaeltacht.
The range of locations written fromThe postcards are sent from a wide range of locations. The regular correspondence is between
Birmingham and Ireland, with cards coming from Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, France, and Italy.
The locations are a topic of interest in the narrative of these cards, and could act as a starting point
for researching these travellers, and why they may be in those locations. The wide range of locations
can provide an insight into the Irish diaspora, or as source material for events happening in the
country at the time for example; there are postcards sent from South Africa in 1906 which mention
being ‘stationed’ implying the writer is part of a military presence (See Appendix C Fig. 8).
Original Organisation of the resourceThere are 185 postcards, and 26 photographs; my initial step in organising the cards was to put them
into a photographic album with non-acidic paper.
The lack of uniformity in postcards is the main issue with organising them consistently. This includes;
- Different addressees and addresses
- Some are dated, and some are not
- Different senders
- Special greetings cards especially Valentines, and St Patrick’s Day cards
I chose to organise the cards which had writing present using the address, and dates where possible,
and then do the same with the postcards that only had an address with no further written content.
This has separated them into various collections; the later postcards of 4 from the 1930s, the
‘Hospital cards’ while the recipient was in a sanatorium, and later a recuperation home in
Llandudno, and the bulk of the cards which are sent to two separate addresses in Birmingham.
Although many of the postcards depict prints or photographs of landscapes, a significant amount
have portraits, illustrations and greeting cards, which could be arranged together on an online
platform, to be more user-friendly than chronological arrangement. The cards could be also
organised by sender which could improve the narrative content of the correspondence.
After scanning the postcards, I created and assigned record numbers aiming to keep the correct
image and written side together. This led me to give the written and image sides corresponding
identifiers; i.e. the first postcard in the series would have two identifiers; the written side as
PCWS001, and the image side as PCIS001. To present the two sides of the postcards and a clear
31
transcription or translation of the content in one record, I found the best presentation to be
combining these into a PDF file.
Summary
The introduction to the Cassidy-Quinn collection demonstrates the wealth of contextual information
which can be provided, and how it can add to the value of the material for researchers. This
collection for example includes references to military presence in South Africa which could be useful
to history academics, and examples of an Irish learner’s writing in the 1900s which could interest
linguistic scholars.
Postcards are an excellent example of the diversity of ephemera causing problems for cataloguing,
as set out above, there is huge variety within the resources’ textual information, and the mixture of
text and graphic material in contained in one item can complicate cataloguing processes.
This chapter has also provided a frame of reference to the collection to which I will be applying
current practices and formats to.
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Case Study: The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of WalesIn this section, I will first consider the application of archival cataloguing methods to the Cassidy-
Quinn collection, using examples from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical
Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). Subsequently, I will consider the implications and feasibility of
these standards in a general model for cataloguing ephemera.
RCAHMW StructureThe RCAHMW's remit is to document the changes to the landscape of Wales, and therefore has a
specialised system for cataloguing whereby the catalogue entries are attached to and rely on the site
data record (Evans, 2017).
The catalogue follows archival structures of fonds; Collection level> Group Level> Sub-Group Level>
Batch Level> Item Level. This enables an elevated level of granularity for collection items which is
useful when considering the diversity associated with ephemera. The multiple levels allow for the
inclusion of detailed description and high levels of contextual information which can improve the
'meaningfulness' and use of ephemera. However, it does have the disadvantage of being highly time-
consuming, and requiring a prominent level of knowledge of the material.
Organisation idealEvans (2017) states that the ideal for ephemeral material similar to this collection, would be to
digitise it and make it available online, which is something the RCAHMW has previously done with
Coflein, an online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales containing details of sites
and an index to drawings, manuscripts and photographs.
When asked to elaborate further concerning digital surrogates, especially concerning social tagging,
Evans was enthusiastic stating that while some moderation is necessary, problems of inaccuracies or
'malicious' tagging are in fact minimal. Citing the 'People's Collection Wales'2 as an example, users
are engaged and want to create accurate tags to improve or supplement retrieval tools.
2 https://www.peoplescollection.wales/
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Application to the Cassidy-Quinn CollectionApplying these standards to my material enabled or entailed making decisions on the organisation of
the cards. Firstly, the overarching collection level is titled: the Cassidy-Quinn collection. It was
necessary to divide the cards into sub-categories of address sent to (i.e. a group of cards sent to an
address in a hospital is a Group level description). Subsequently, cards sent to the same address but
from differing locations – the key ones being from Ireland, South Africa, and Brazil- make up sub-
group level descriptions.
I designated Batch Level as determining the individual card in the collection, and the Item Level
record as pertaining to the specific image or written side.
Therefore, the written side of a postcard sent to the hospital address would be organised thus;
Table 2: Fonds structure for the message side of a postcard
Collection level: Cassidy-Quinn CollectionGroup level: Hospital CardsSub-Group level: Not Applicable
Batch level: PC003Item level: PCWS003
The Image side of a card sent from Brazil would be:
Table 3: Fonds structure for an image side of the postcard
Collection level: Cassidy-Quinn CollectionGroup level: 120 St Saviours Road CardsSub-Group level: BrazilBatch level: PC088Item level: PCIS088
While the RCAHMW does hold postcard collections, scanned and catalogued at item level, the
organisations' interest is in the image on the postcard rather than the text (Evans, 2017), making
cataloguing a simple case of attaching the item level record to a site data record. However, Evans
does suggest that creating a code for the type of message on postcards, I.e. personal message,
greetings, official correspondence, or updating family members of a location, could be a useful
category for searching postcards by content.
34
The tables used by the RCAHMW to hold their information are free text, and have a high character
limit, meaning a transcription of the message can be provided at item level, and enable us to pick
out keywords for quick access searches. Evans (2017) suggested that separate tables should be used
for data; people, dates and addresses, and content; the subject matter of the message and
transcriptions (See Appendix D, Figs. 9-12).
While the provision of transcriptions can add further value to a resource, it is also time and labour
intensive, and therefore not practical to include in everyday processes. However, there is some value
in free-text fields when cataloguing ephemera. As previously discussed, much of the value in
collections of ephemera is directly linked with the social and historical context it was produced in
(Cocks and Rubery, 2012, p. 1), therefore providing this context in the form of the ‘Scope’ field may
be more valuable to the user, and less time consuming for the cataloguer.
MultilingualismThe RCAHMW has corresponding Welsh and English language fields, which helps represent the
bilingual nature of the country, but mainly refers to material which is either one language or the
other. However, in the Cassidy-Quinn collection, the content of each record is bilingual in a true
sense of featuring both languages in one dialogue moving between the two. Evans (2017) originally
suggested dividing the material by language, but considering the mixture of languages found on each
written side, advised a drop-down menu with options of the languages featured, or 'mixed'.
Other Welsh institutions have similar approaches to dealing with bilingualism, such as the Welsh
Political ephemera collection, in the NLW, which has fields denoting 'Language of material' and
'Language and script notes'. The inclusion of these fields may have been influenced by the material
itself, where most Welsh political parties create bilingual content as a rule.
Although the Welsh Political Ephemera Collection has not been digitised, the NLWs' photographic
collections are viewable in their library catalogue, or on the institution's Flickr account. The Flickr
account includes a variety of tags in both Welsh and English, with relevant consistency
demonstrating how tagging can contribute to multilingual browsing.
Organisation and administrationWhen organising postcards, and general correspondence, the presence and acknowledgement of a
narrative is important. While collections are not consistently complete, or present both sides of a
35
conversation, the chronological order offers value, and needs to be considered when separating
items into batches or related subject matter. If the material is restricted into batches too tightly,
then the interaction across the correspondence can be lost.
However, creating meaningful content and maintaining continuity is problematic when creating
groups and sub-groups by address; the hospital cards are a small subgroup, but if taken together
with the subgroup of cards sent to a convalescence hospital in Llandudno twenty years earlier, they
can point the researcher on to a lifelong ‘affliction’ which from family knowledge was suspected to
be depression. Similarly, the multiple cards sent from South Africa, featuring notes such as 'I'm
stationed here' etc, point to a connection with the army during the Boer War. The content may not
be grouped together chronologically, but has more meaning and value when grouped by theme. This
is where creating a code for the type of message, to be used as a search field could improve specific
or thematic searching.
While chronological order is important for the physical material, if the collection is available online,
the user would be able to search by theme or date range according to their needs, reducing the
problem of preserving continuity.
Discussion: transferable elementsMuch of the interview with Susan Evans, Archive and Library Officer (RCAHMW), focuses on the
structure of their cataloguing system, and my specific collection of postcards. While the discussion
has helped to develop possibilities for cataloguing the collection, how transferable these practices
are to a generic cataloguing model for ephemera is debatable.
The amount of hierarchical levels used in archival standards indicate the need for high levels of staff
time and knowledge of the material. Therefore, examining archival standards has been beneficial by
considering supplementary search fields, which could be included in a cataloguing model. However,
the level of detail provided by the catalogue record format used by the RCAHMW reflects the
specificity of their remit to document the archaeological, architectural and maritime heritage of
Wales, and therefore is too distinct to transfer into a general cataloguing model. Contextual
information provided in sub-category records can be provided in general descriptions of collections
hosted online, allowing the item records to contain information directly referring to a singular item.
36
SummaryThe cataloguing format and process of the RCAHMW is useful in informing the organisation of a
collection into sub-categories which provide more accurate or detailed search terms when related to
the type of material. It has confirmed the need for both collection level descriptions, and item level
descriptions in order to provide and maintain the meaningfulness of the material. Although the
amount of hierarchical levels in the RCAHMW, would not be necessary in cataloguing the Cassidy-
Quinn postcard collection, they do raise an important point.
If a generic cataloguing model for ephemera needs to provide rules for both a collection level
description and an item level description, the context provided by a collection description must
necessarily increase in each subdivision, which could potentially result in a more time-consuming
process than item level cataloguing, in terms of staff time and knowledge required.
Despite the value discussed in cataloguing the image side, and written sides of postcards as separate
items, for a more in-depth record of each side’s content, it is impractical to attempt cataloguing the
two sides separately, and keeping track of corresponding sides. Therefore, a cataloguing format
which provides fields to catalogue information contained in text, and note the qualities of the image,
would be especially useful for cataloguing ephemera, where items are often preserved due to their
aesthetic qualities.
Points to take forward:
1. Collection level description and item level description needs to be considered
2. Approaches to mixed text and image material
3. Advantages of using free-text for some elements
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Case Study: The John Johnson Ephemera Collection
In this section, I will explore the various experiments and projects applied to the John Johnson
Ephemera collection held by the Bodleian libraries, then consider the feasibility of using the results
of these experiments to inform a general model for cataloguing ephemera.
The John Johnson Ephemera CollectionJohnson began collecting printed ephemera from the 1930s until his death in 1956, assembling over
1.5 million items divided into 680 subject headings (Bodleian.ox.ac.uk, 2017), with a strong focus on
material produced in the 18th to early 20th century. It includes advertisements, handbills, playbills
and programmes, menus, greeting cards, posters and postcards, and has been the subject of
multiple projects to make the material more accessible as technology has evolved. These projects
have included;
- Broadside Ballads Online; a digital collection of English printed ballad-sheets from between
the 16th and 20th centuries
- The Toyota Transport Project - containing all motoring material in the collection and 1000
sample images from other transport sections, and was the Bodleian’s first digital project
- VADS: Political Cartoons and Trades and Professions Prints; an image based site which is also
available through the Visual Arts and Humanities Data Services
- An Archive of Printed Ephemera – in collaboration with ProQuest, which catalogued and
digitised 67,754 documents from the collection, focusing on; Nineteenth-Century
Entertainment, the Booktrade, Popular Prints, Crime, Murder and Executions, and
Advertising.
The project in collaboration with ProQuest is the most recent project and includes full text searching
using Optimal Character Recognition (OCR), and is the project chosen by the John Johnson Librarian
as the most successful experiment thus far. Therefore, I will be focusing primarily on this project for
this case study.
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Organisation IdealThe ideal of the collection is to catalogue everything to item level which corresponds to archival
preference, and use OCR as much as possible to increase searching capabilities. Additionally, they
aim to increase availability of material online, and social media engagement (Lambert, 2017).
However, conforming to trends in the library sector, projects tend to be heavily image focused, and
neglecting the text dominant material, including historical or political documents which may be of
more value to researchers, prompting the desire to increase the use of OCR in documents (Lambert,
2017).
Going forward, Julie-Anne Lambert – Librarian of the John Johnson Ephemera Collection discussed
the possibility of generating metadata via the application of OCR to material then using this as the
basis for keyword searches.
The generation of metadata and key words using full-text searching can increase with technological
advancements, but could be replicated using social tagging which has the advantage of engaging
users and reflecting search terms, and is applicable to both text documents, and image files.
In order for ephemera to be used in research, the material needs to be accessible via up to date
pathways, therefore the aims of the organisation to increase online availability, and improve
keyword search terms are relevant and necessary.
StandardsThe John Johnson Ephemera Collection created and uses its own custom cataloguing format for
ephemera using allegro c, due to finding MARC lacking the extensive fields needed to catalogue
ephemera (Lambert, 2017).
Thesauri used is currently the area in need of streamlining. Due to the nature of ephemera, a variety
of thesauri have been used for items according to the primary features, i.e. Iconclass and LCTGM for
images. However, a thesaurus of Ephemera terms was published (Morris, 2013) with the intention of
annual revisions. Although there are no current plans to provide a searchable version as yet, a
cohesive thesaurus specifically designed for ephemera is informative and vital to developing
cataloguing rules.
39
In the current cataloguing rules compiled by the John Johnson Ephemera Collection, the ‘Type of
Material’ category draws from;
- Art & Architecture thesaurus (Getty) (AAT)
- LCTGM
- LCSH
- The Centre for Ephemera studies thesaurus (University of Reading)
- ARCL Rare books and Manuscripts section controlled vocabulary
- English Short Title Catalogue genre term;
The catalogue rules also provide further codes for sub-categories, special features, genres and
authorities. The use of this variety of thesauri and controlled vocabularies allows for specific and in-
depth notation of types of material. However, this is time-consuming, and the variety can also result
in inconsistency, which is counterproductive for users. A streamlined approach to controlled
vocabulary and thesauri can resolve these issues and be an area for further development to
consolidate a unified thesaurus of ephemera terms.
Application to the Cassidy-Quinn collectionA complication specific to postcards, which I had not previously considered, is the difficulties of
copyright. To comply with copyright law, organisations wishing to digitise postcards must seek
permission from the sender, and receiver of the postcard. This is not an issue for the collection I am
working with as it is a family collection, but can be a massive hurdle for collections held by
institutions.
Furthermore, the optimum arrangement of correspondence is debatable depending on what the
user is looking for. At first, chronological arrangement seems the most logical solution, as it
maintains a narrative structure, however if the user is looking for common themes, such as illness or
travel, it is more useful to arrange the collection by common themes.
While this consideration is important in the physical arrangement of material, it is less important to
users searching online, given the variety of search terms a user can apply.
40
Applying the headings set out in the Thesaurus of Ephemera (Morris, 2013) results in several broad,
narrow and related terms;
Broad Term: Narrow Term: Correspondence PostcardsPhotographs PostcardsCards Postcards; Congratulations Cards; Acquaintance
Cards; Greetings CardsThese headings allude to the type of message conveyed by the text, and eliminate the need to
create a code for messages, suggested by the RCAHMW, and are consistent with Rickards'
Encyclopaedia of Ephemera which provides separate entries for various forms of correspondence
and cards based on the type of message it conveys.
The cataloguing format notes whether an item includes both sides of the postcard, or single sides,
but doesn’t distinguish whether subject terms applied to the item are applied to both sides.
Postcards present a particular difficulty due to the difference between sides; one being solely text,
and the other generally solely image based, but are unable to be physically separated. Therefore, at
least two standards have to be applied, one to deal with the textual information, and one with the
graphic.
The issue of the dual nature of postcards continues in considering which subject terms can be
applied, whether they are based on the written text and its context, or the features of the image,
and whether this information is presented in one record, or separated.
It is arguable that the archival structure of providing increasingly in-depth descriptions and context
in subsequent fonds, enables a more detailed picture of the item in relation to the collection and a
clearer separation between the image and message sides of the cards, while clearly noting the two
sides of the same card.
Despite being extensive, the John Johnson catalogue format doesn’t include specific image-related
codes, rather it relies on the use of subject headings and image-focused thesauri, specifically
Iconclass, LCTGM and the AAT.
The lack of codes or fields for noting features of images is unexpected considering the strong
aesthetic qualities which items of ephemera frequently contain, and is often the reason they are
preserved. This is where social tagging could contribute to image description, and key words for
basic searches.
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MultilingualismThe capacity to note language or the presence of multiple languages is one of the only elements I
found lacking in the John Johnson cataloguing rules. There is a ‘country code’ field to denote where
an item was published, but no field for noting or distinguishing the language or languages featured in
the material. However, this could be easily remedied by adding a field to denote language of text.
The disparity between the availability of resources and catalogues in multiple languages is
decreasing, but is an issue in cataloguing in general. This can be applied to the appropriateness of
using free-text compared to coded information in catalogue formats; coded information may be
easier to map and convert into other formats via crosswalks, making the information more likely to
be converted or linked to multiple language formats. In contrast, free text would require significant
translation efforts, which cannot be automated, resulting in a large amount of skilled staff time
required.
Interoperability is an essential requirement between cataloguing formats, and between languages
due to the rising connectedness across the globe, making coded information which can be linked to
corresponding records in other languages increasingly important. In developing a cataloguing
format, this must be considered in relation to the provision of context in a free-text format.
Organisation and administrative costingThe collaboration with ProQuest undoubtedly produced the best functioning catalogue of material
selected for the project. The project cost upwards of £1 million, including the cost of outsourced
digitisation, two conservators, a project manager, administrators and cataloguers. The work was
labour intensive and included creating indexes, remounting each item, and tracking and shelving the
material while the digitisation process took place.
While the effort to catalogue existing collection items, and obtain modern ephemera is ongoing, the
work relies on twelve volunteers as well as paid staff, and does not include digitisation due to the
costs. This is where practicality and efficiency is important, especially considering the time-
consuming nature of consulting various thesauri and cataloguing every resource to item level. Most
institutions would struggle to justify or acquire the necessary staff time, and money spent on a
specialist area, rather than standard services in which are in high demand.
42
Discussion: transferable elementsAfter creating their cataloguing scheme, the John Johnson library had hoped it may be adopted by
other libraries (Lambert, 2017), however the problems of higher priorities, lack of funding and time,
mean that there is a lack of focused effort to make ephemera available to users, over more heavily
used and less specialist material, including the implementation of a specialist cataloguing scheme,
Due to the variety and extent of the John Johnson Ephemera Collection, the cataloguing scheme
created is extensive, however the amount of time devoted to cataloguing activities is too high for
non-specialist libraries; therefore, a condensed version of the scheme with optional tables may be a
more feasible approach to encourage its use in other institutions.
Additionally, as noted previously in the consideration of factors in cataloguing rules, the application
of one subject headings scheme for specific collections, rather than using a combination of multiple
thesauri and indexes can contribute to streamlining cataloguing.
Additionally, the cataloguing rules need to be interoperable with different platforms and library
management systems. Given its resemblance to MARC21, and the development of ‘crosswalks’ such
as between Dublin Core to MARC 21 or EAD (Encoded Archival Description), and EAD to ISAD (G)
(General International Standard Archival Description) (Day, M. n.d.), the possibilities of making this
format interoperable is not unlikely.
43
Summary of points
It was hoped, when the cataloguing rules were formed, that other institutions would apply it to their
collections (Lambert, 2017), however, due to external pressures of lack of funding, staff or time,
cataloguing ephemera is not a priority in most institutions, therefore there are no examples of the
scheme being implemented in other memory institution to judge its effectiveness or practicality in
being applied to generic collections.
Although I have identified language of the resource as an area which could be further developed, the
scheme is an extensive one which accommodates the variety which is characteristic of ephemera
collections. However, the practicalities of library operations in terms of funding, priorities and staff
time, have resulted in a lack of sustained or ongoing efforts to catalogue specialist material, relying
heavily on projects.
For the John Johnson ephemera cataloguing format to be implemented by other institutions, there is
a balance needs to be achieved between the level of detail required and supplied to ensure that the
material is able to be found, and a level which is time-efficient and manageable for cataloguing
librarians.
A vital area of change to make cataloguing ephemera more efficient using the John Johnson
catalogue format, is the use of multiple thesauri and controlled vocabularies to create access points
and assign subject headings. Streamlining this process could not only reduce staff time spent, but
increase consistency in item description.
The potential developments in OCR, social tagging and full text search, to compile and generate user
friendly, keywords for basic searches is an area which ephemera could benefit from, especially
concerning the retrieval of images, and mixed media resources.
Points to take forward:
1. Collection level and item level descriptions
2. Streamlining of thesauri and controlled vocabularies
3. Interoperability; free text and coded information
4. Potential technological developments provide
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Outcomes: Preliminary model for cataloguing ephemera
The initial aim of this project was to examine current practices for cataloguing ephemera in order to
inform the creation of a preliminary cataloguing model for institutions to use.
In scrutinizing the John Johnson Ephemera Collection, and its custom cataloguing rules, I found an
extensive scheme which includes the high number of fields needed to note details of ephemeral
material. The Evanion Collection at the British Library similarly found no existing cataloguing scheme
which adequately represented ephemera and therefore created its own informed by a mixture of
other schemes.
While the John Johnson cataloguing scheme provides for significant levels of detail, this is not
practical for institutions with more limited amounts of time and funding. Therefore, the creation of
scheme which may be based on the John Johnson model, but be condensed or have optional
modules or tables for material formats may be more efficient and practical. This has been done in
part by the inclusion of tables for material related codes, category-specific codes, production-related
codes and country codes. Many collections of ephemera are grouped by physical format as the most
efficient means of storage, which can then inform cataloguing efforts.
There is no limit to how complicated and extensive cataloguing schemes can be for a resource as
diverse as ephemera; there is potential to create specific search terms for each entry in Rickards’
Encyclopaedia of Ephemera (2001). However, this is impossible to carry out due to time, funding and
staff available to institutions. In this chapter, I will draw on cataloguing schemes previously discussed
to form a general cataloguing scheme for ephemera, and apply it to my collection of postcards.
Collection Level/Item Level cataloguingOne of the most common uses of ephemera in research, is to illustrate a broad picture of social
history, making contextual information essential to maintaining the meaningfulness of an item or
resource (Copeland, 2006, p.190).
Although both the RCAHMW, and the John Johnson Ephemera Collection state that item level
description is the organisation’s ideal, they are both specialist institutions; whereas for organisations
with broad remits, quality collection level descriptions can be more important and useful in guiding
users to the resources. While the John Johnson cataloguing rules are applied to each individual
item, the catalogue records provided by the RCAHMW demonstrate multiple collection subdivisions
down towards the individual item record.
45
The difference in approaches have the potential to be combined into a time-efficient approach,
which is a satisfactory balance between the detail provided by item level descriptions, and the
important contextual information provided by collection level descriptions.
I propose a minimum set of fields which explicitly note the contents and context of a collection,
based on the John Johnson cataloguing format with a minor change of the ‘Notes’ field to ‘Scope and
Context’ with the addition of LOC subject headings as another layer of access points, and explicit
notation of medium types using the Centre for Ephemera Studies Thesaurus (University of Reading);
Table 4: Collection Level catalogue format
Record-related fields#000 Record Number#0rr Latest record revision #0rx Record link#0cl Cataloguing level
d Done
p Partially edited#0rt Record tag
c Cassidy –Quinn Postcard CollectionType of Material100* Category (i.e. genre)101 Sub-category102* Special FeaturesText Related fields200 Collection title: 270 Series
$n Number:$f Frequency
Subject700 Subject
$x* General subdivision$y* Chronological subdivision$z* Geographical subdivision
724 LCSH$x* General subdivision$y* Chronological subdivision$z* Geographical subdivision
Miscellaneous800* Notes
ExtentLocation950* Shelfmark
$g Image file name *= Repeatable
46
The difficulty in this approach comes when we consider collections which are divided into sub-
collections, and whether the context provided must increase in specificity in each subdivision. It
would also be beneficial to include fields featured on the RCAHMW catalogue, such as ‘Extent’, i.e.
number of items contained in the collection, and field for noting languages featured in the material.
An increased level of specificity in collection level description can improve the accuracy and speed in
which users find various items relating to their subject area, especially with the addition of access
points based on contextual information. This approach also significantly reduces time spent
cataloguing in comparison to item level descriptions.
However, as previously acknowledged, the level of detail contained in item level can be
advantageous, and therefore I suggest the John Johnson cataloguing rules3 be applied to individual
high used items, or those of special interest.
Subsequently, a completed collection level description would resemble the following;
Table 5: Collection level description applied to Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Record-related fields#000 Record Number#0rr Latest record revision #0rx Record link#0cl Cataloguing level
d Done
p Partially edited#0rt Record tag
c Cassidy –Quinn Postcard CollectionType of Material
100* Cards – PostcardsCorrespondence - Postcards
101 Postcards102* Special FeaturesText Related fields200 Collection title: Cassidy-Quinn Collection270 Series: Hospital Cards
$f 2Subject700 Subject
$x* General subdivision$y* Chronological subdivision$z* Geographical subdivision
724 LCSH
3 http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/johnson/docs/search/JJ-catalogue-format.pdf
47
$x* History of EuropeSocial Life and CustomsIrish Question
$y* 19th-20th Centuries$z* Ireland
EnglandMiscellaneous800* Scope
and Context
This collection features correspondence between the Cassidy and Quinn families, during a period of mass immigration in from Ireland. This group of items pertain to a period spend in a Sanatorium in Birmingham
Location950* Shelfmark
$g Image file name
An item level description would subsequently resemble this format;
Table 6: Item level description applied to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Record-related fields#000 Record Number#0rr Latest record revision: #0rx Record link#0cl Cataloguing level
D Done
p Partially edited#0rt Record tag
C Cassidy –Quinn Postcard CollectionCoded information (relating to the material)#080 CCL (Creative Commons License)#091 $o: b:m:q
#098 $uk:enType of material#100* Postcards$tgmgpc (Category (i.e. genre) Thesaurus)#101 Illustration#102* ColourGenre Authority1CA Authority term
$t Thesaurus1CR* Cross-reference1CN NotesText-related fields#200 Title: Chosen leaf of Bard and Chief: Old Erin’s native Shamrock#210 Short title: Chosen leaf of Bard and Chief#240 First line: Dear Maire#242 Full text:
48
Dear Maire, Do you remember how long we’ve had this p.card? Thank you for letter re’cd today and list. Glad to know you’re happy and improving will write you a letter tomorrow evg, D. V. Love from all at home, yours always Sean jay(?)
Address: Mrs M. A. Cassidy Ward 4 T. C.
Romsley Hill Sanatorium Hallsowen Birmingham
#270 Series:$n Number: 003$f Frequency: 2
Names: associated persons#420* Addresser: John Cassidy#421* Addressee: Mary Adelaide Quinn#434* Town $i birmingham
$a Romsley Hill Sanatorium, Hallsowen, BirminghamNames: production-related#570* Publisher: Lawrence, DublinPhysical form and production#600 $p2 (Pages image side and writing)
$d10.5cm*14.8cm (Dimensions)#680 Printing process of text: handwritten & print#691 Period of work: 20th century#692 Date type Subject#700* Subject
$x General subdivision$y Chronological subdivision$z Geographical subdivision
#708* Subject of illustration (supplementary to LCTGM terms)#720* LCTGM (Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
$v* Postcard (form subdivision)$x* General subdivision$z* Ireland-lakes
#724 LCSH$x* History of Europe
Ireland$y* 19th-20th Centuries$z* Irish Question
Location#950* $g Image filename (PCWS003: PCIS003)
49
Process work flowThe table below demonstrates a preliminary work flow of the process of planning, selection of
material and cataloguing, including digitisation, and material selected for item level descriptions.
This work flow is practical in terms of corresponding with other processes and cataloguing of
traditional material.
Table 7: Cataloguing workflow
Although funding for digitisation is not guaranteed, I would suggest including consideration for
digitising key or illustrative images of collections in the planning stages. Another area which may
need further development are qualifiers for item level descriptions such as the presence of
significant persons in the material, rare or significant stamps and markings, or the relevance to a
particular topic; such as items relevant to specific exhibition.
50
Identify material with special features, or frequently usedIdentify collections which will need specialist knowledge to provide context
Planning
Collections to be catalogued according to format devised'Scope and Content' to be writtenSelect items for digitisation
Prioritization Items previously identified as frequently used or of special interest to be catalogued to John Johnson catalogue formatDigitise
Specialisation
Digitisation and Social TaggingIn concurrence with Susan Evans (RCAHMW), and Julie-Anne Lambert (John Johnson Ephemera
Collection), I believe ephemera collections would benefit from the ongoing commitment of libraries
and archives to provide more increased online content. Therefore, digitisation of ephemera
collections is an element considered ideal in improving access and use of material in research.
However, the limitations of this ideal due to copyright restrictions must be acknowledged.
The use and exploration of social tagging is an area which has potential to significantly improve
retrieval of ephemera, assuming digitisation of material has taken place. While thesauri and
controlled vocabularies create logical access points, harvesting social tags to use as key word
searches has the benefit of being user-generated and therefore reflects language used by users
which can be more accessible.
The concerns of librarians over inaccuracies, duplications or malicious intent of tagging, can be
neutralised by enabling moderation.
Specifically; cataloguers responsible for creating the collection level descriptions detailed above
should assign keywords as a guide or example for users who wish to tag individual items within that
collection.
Table 8: Digitisation and Social tagging work flow
51
Items selected for digitisation catalogued to item level (assuming copyright clearance)Scanned as high resolution images and named appropriately
Digitisation
Uploaded to social media/image platform, which allows user tagging, in 'albums' replicating 'collections' structureUse catalogue record to supply information of collection
Social Tagging Review tags accumulated over one monthHarvest accepted tags to inform keyword searchingUse view statistics to inform items eligable for item level cataloguing
Tag moderation
Further areas of developmentAn aspect not previously explored is the provision of transcriptions, - and in cases of multilingual
resources – translation of content. Although this additional layer of content would be advantageous
to users, it is an excessive step, which would be costly in terms of labour and time, and impractical to
include in general working practices. For search and retrieval purposes the use of OCR, or assigning
keywords from the text of an item, is a much more practical method, compared with full
transcription.
Digitisation has already had a major impact in making collections available and accessible to users,
while preserving the original material. However, further developments in the image hosting
platforms, could see more engaging features such as improved zooming capabilities, split screen
images for comparative purposes, and rolling galleries, which could facilitate further participation
and discovery of resources.
Further developments in OCR full text searching, and moderated social tagging have the potential to
create or contribute to increasingly accessible controlled vocabularies, using real language search
terms circulating by users. This could contribute to keeping up to date with new or developing
subject specific vocabularies, and has the potential to improve retrieval systems in general, but could
be especially impactful in specialist, or niche collections.
52
ConclusionInitially when examining the cataloguing format composed for the John Johnson Ephemera
Collection, I established that it was extensive enough to cover the variety of resources and material
included under the term ephemera. However, after considering the practicalities of cataloguing
items in such detail as part of regular working practices, I concluded that the comprehensiveness of
the item records were not conducive to inclusion in everyday activities carried out by librarians in
most institutions.
Furthermore, when exploring the use of ephemera in research, I determined that the majority of
ephemera used in research is valued in relation to specific social, political or cultural events.
Therefore, for ephemera to be valuable, libraries need to provide a base amount of context
surrounding the material. This led me to consider whether item level descriptions were the most
useful method of retrieval for users, or whether collection level descriptions were more appropriate.
The literature review identified the use of ephemera in academic research, and the current practices
of cataloguing material, to provide a frame of reference for the need to consolidate and improve
retrieval methods, and a brief insight into the potential of technological developments such as social
tagging.
The methodology set out the reasoning behind using case studies and interviews to scrutinize
practices in-depth, and acknowledged the potential of expanding the study to a wider cohort of
institutions.
Factors which contribute to cataloguing formats were then considered including; user groups,
technological capabilities, practicalities such as staff time and funding and the minimum number of
search fields required. Multilingualism was considered separately, as an element which is
increasingly important in online resource retrieval in general, and has an application in the test
collection used in this study.
The Cassidy-Quinn Collection was then contextualised, giving a frame of reference to a collection of
postcards to which elements of cataloguing and retrieval were applied to.
Case studies of the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW),
and the John Johnson Ephemera Collection at the Bodleian were then set out, presenting the
context of the collections, the organisation ideal, and their current practices, in order to compound
successful practices and consider areas for improvement.
53
Outcomes of the examination of the case studies were then presented, with a suggested work flow
and cataloguing format based on the conclusions drawn in the case studies. A work flow for using
social tagging to contribute to retrieval was included as an introduction into how technological
developments could be implemented.
My solutionMy solution is to focus on providing information which enhances the usefulness of items of
ephemera, i.e. the social, historical and political context of the collection, via a collection level
cataloguing format, then providing a corresponding, and more comprehensive format for items of
special significance within a collection.
This provides a middle ground where users have enough information to make judgements on
whether the material is relevant to their research, and cataloguers’ workload is not as extensive as
full item level descriptions would be.
I have also reduced the number of thesauri used, applying LOC subject headings to the example
items’ content, and the Thesaurus of Ephemera terms (University of Reading) to the material type.
These standards would be subject to the type of ephemeral material contained within a collection; if
a collection is solely art exhibition flyers, held by a specialist art library, other standards may be
more appropriate, but would be applied to the whole collection, to avoid inconsistency among
items.
DisadvantagesAlthough collection level descriptions may be advantageous for users, and for cataloguers in terms
of staff time, constraining item level descriptions solely to heavily used items, or items of special
value, does rely on the judgement of cataloguers concerning what features make an item qualify for
item level cataloguing.
This format is needs to be interoperable, and therefore a cross walk between standards may need to
be developed. The capacity to work across multiple languages also relies on interoperable standards.
Additionally, this format is being developed prior to any widespread implementation of RDA in the
library sector, the effects of which cannot be predicted.
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Future researchThere are various research projects which could further this study. As previously identified in the
assessment of case studies and their disadvantages, a wider and more formal survey could be
circulated among institutions to gain a more extensive insight into practices.
It would also be beneficial to test the preliminary model developed within this project in established
institutions with uncatalogued ephemera to see how successful the model is in retrieval, but also
how practical it is in terms of staff time and effort.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Contributing factors in a Cataloguing Model
Figure 1: The Evanion Collection catalogue: Advanced search form
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Figure 2: John Johnson Ephemera Collection: ProQuest catalogue search form
57
Appendix B: Interview transcriptsInterview with Julie-Anne Lambert, Librarian of the John Johnson Ephemera Collection, Bodleian Libraries, 14.30, 31st July, 2017
Current practices
How are they stored, according to what classification scheme and why?
Boxed according to material type (I.e. bookplates, playbills, etc.)
What methods have been successful and what are the key factors behind the project's success?OCR played a big part in the ProQuest funded projectTechnology changes play a big roleCustom catalogue format solves problem of MARC lacking the extensive needs of Ephemera cataloguing.
What are the drawbacks in their current methods?Due to being project-based most material looked at for digitisation are image based, neglecting text dominant material like historical/social/political documents which may be of more value to researchers, but less aesthetically appealing to the public
What plans do they have to address problems/drawbacks/gaps? Would like to experiment with generating metadata via applying OCR to material then using
this as the basis for keyword searches Interested in expanding social media preserve and engagement, but find crowd-sourcing and
social tagging difficult; tag-moderation is one difficulty, and engagement from public outside of time-pressed academics is difficult
Is it possible to have a screenshot or image of a catalogue record in use, to apply to my collection?
Sending me the URL
Difference between ProQuest functionality and main catalogue
What did you consider in terms of access, the digitisation quality is fantastic, did you or would you consider providing transcriptions to resources if there was time
The issue with transcription of any text is the copyright, the tracking down of authors or publishers of ephemera is so difficult that unless the collection already comes with copyright permissions, transcribing any manuscript material is unfeasible.
58
The material I’m considering has a strong bilingual element, do you have an approach to noting multiple language present in the resources?
The current approach to language is to include it in the country code table. This still leaves no room for noting bilingualism or multiple languages in an item. #098 field for country code, the material originated from, but do not distinguish between this and the language which appears in the item record
If you had unlimited resources/time/staffing, what would be your ideal for this kind of material to be accessed
ProQuest project cost upwards of £1 million, including the cost of digitisation, 2 conservators, project manager, administrators and cataloguers.
The ideal is for every piece catalogued to item level
Increased availability of material online and social media engagement
Additionally, any information about the cost of the project in money, and staff time would be very useful
Very labour intensive; included creating indexes, remounting, tracking and shelving of material while the digitisation process took place.
Now, funding is difficult to obtain, and still relies on projects rather than ongoing efforts for the majority, although modern ephemera is being collected.
Recommendation: consult/compile as comprehensive thesauri for terms (I.e. the Reading one) as possible
Do you think the cataloguing rules created by your institution are transferrable to other institutions, how practical is it for less well-funded institutions?
They had hoped that the rules would be tried by other institutions but the perennial funding problem makes Ephemera-focused librarians scarce.
Depending on the scope of the collection, it is also specialist and labour intensive. The department has 12 volunteers, each of which have a type i.e. the volunteer responsible for bookplates has to include and research heraldry for the depth of detail required.
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RCAHMW Interview with Susan Evans, Archives & Library Officer14.00, 14th July 2017
Current practices
How are they stored, according to what classification scheme and why?
Specialist classification scheme based on location
Catalogue records – Collection title,
- arbitrary catalogue number usually relating to the site location- date of record- if they were copied, and date- location details- note concerning what medium, with a drop-down list of text, photo, cartographic, and
Miscellaneous- Scope and content field
includes ISAD (G) standards but they do not call them fonds
Interesting unusual fields for RCAHMW is the addition of ‘linked sites’ everything hangs off the site data record, and we link the catalogue entry to the site data records, in this case ‘Abermagwr roman villa’
Within collections they catalogue to group, sub-group, batch, item; a.k.a hierarchical system
For your collection of postcards, what I would probably do would is create a collection level entry for the postcard collection,
then probably divided it by the languages as groups, and then catalogue them to item level
What methods have been successful and what are the key factors behind the project's success?
Custom catalogue format solves problem of lacking the extensive needs of the cataloguing
What are the drawbacks in their current methods?Due to being project-based most material looked at for digitisation are image based, neglecting text dominant material like historical/social/political documents which may be of more value to researchers, but less aesthetically appealing to the public
What plans do they have to address problems/drawbacks/gaps?
Crowd sourcing, I would think that’s a really good idea, I think that would be very good, sometimes there has to be a bit of moderation, but I don’t think it is a massive problem. I don’t think with the People’s Collection, you have that sort of problem, due to the type of users who are accessing it. So yes, I would consider using that
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Is it possible to have a screenshot or image of a catalogue record in use, to apply to my collection?
Sending me the Screenshots
What did you consider in terms of access; did you or would you consider providing transcriptions to resources if there was time
If we were to have that collection, our emphasis would be on the image rather than the message, but you presumably would want to catalogue it according to the type of image or where it’s been sent from even, or the date.
you don’t want to separate the image from the message, so that’s where your unique reference number needs to be, you’ve got to have a unique reference number for the image and the written side. But that could be a unique number and then add a suffix for the image or written side, with a being an image, and b being the message.
You could have a separate table for the sender and the manufacturer of the postcard, you wouldn’t need much information you would just need the full names.
I would recommend a separate table for any people involved in the postcard, rather than putting all the information in one table, and then you have the subject matter of the message.
I guess you’d have to work out a code for the type of message, whether it’s a personal message or an official message, a greeting message, location message.
You’ve got to think of the output.
Tables they use are free text, there would be nothing stopping you transcribing the whole message, and then using key words.
The material I’m considering has a strong bilingual element, do you have an approach to noting multiple language present in the resources?
For your collection of postcards, what I would probably do would is create a collection level entry for the postcard collection,
then probably divided it by the languages as groups, and then catalogue them to item level
Ellie notes, that they are bilingual in-text rather than between items, making this approach unfeasible
In which case, you could have a drop-down menu to denote language with a drop-down menu including a bilingual, or mix of both notation
If you had unlimited resources/time/staffing, what would be your ideal for this kind of material to be accessed
Digitise it, definitely if money was no object, that’s what we’d do.
We would digitise them and make them available online, which is what we do to most of our records on Coflein. The thing with digitisation, you’d have your catalogue entry, and the digital instance. We have a separate table for a digital instance which contains the technical metadata, file size, how the image is recorded, and then the descriptive elements with details about the collection, in a series of tables all linked together. Currently using Oracle, but moving on to a new system soon.
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Additionally, any information about the cost of the project in money, and staff time would be very useful
I think the system we use is far more complicated than anything you would need to use for your collection, but definitely there is enough data to put into a couple of tables at least.
We do have postcard collections that have been catalogued and scanned at by other people, and catalogued at item level, but our interest is always the image on the postcard, it is less so the message, we would include the post mark, but rarely about the sender or the message. We’re looking at these from a very specific aspect.
If you can organise them into discreet groups, then you could include context, but it sounds like you have such a mixture you’re better off at item level, then picking things out. if you try to restrict too tightly into batches, then you might lose the interaction between different postcard within each batch. Certainly, a key for the languages, whether there’s a mix of languages, if you transcribe the text into the database, you will transcribe it in the language that it’s written, we’ve got fields in scope and content in both English and Welsh, as far as I know it’s going to be a direct translation in each field, so you could have your languages in separate fields, but I don’t know whether you’d want to.
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Appendix C: Introduction to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Figure 3: Cassidy-Quinn family tree
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Figure 4: PCIS006: Dr. Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland and the Gaelic League
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Figure 5: Census of Ireland 1901: Cassidy Family
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Figure 6: Dingle Bay Photograph
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Figure 7: Dingle 1907
Figure 8: Roodepoort Station
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Appendix D: RCAHMW Case StudyFigure 9: Collection level catalogue record
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Catalogue Details
Cassidy-Quinn Collection Level Collection Level Cat No. Collection Level: Cassidy-Quinn Collection Collection Cassidy-Quinn Collection Acc. No.
Title Cassidy-Quinn Collection Duplicate
Ref. No. Date Copydate Medium Text
Orig.Ref.No Graphic
Store Shelf Entrydate Enter By
Scope and ContentVarious postcards sent from members of the Cassidy family to the Quinn family, from various locations
AccessFull Access Extent
1 Binder containing
184 postcards
and assorted
photographs
Archival History Deposited with E. Downes
Notes
Admin History
Collected by E. Cassidy
System Arrange
Arranged by Address, then Date
Related Material
Accruals
Figure 10: Collection level catalogue record applied to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection
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Catalogue Details Cassidy-Quinn Collection Level Collection Level Cat No.Collection Level: Collection Cassidy-Quinn Collection Acc. No. Group Level: Hospital Cards Title Cassidy-Quinn Collection Duplicate
Sub-group Level: N/A Ref. No. Batch Level: PC003 Date 9th November 1938Item Level: PCWS003 Copydate Medium
Orig.Ref.No Store Shelf Entrydate Enter By
Scope and Content Cards send during a stay at Romsley Hill Sanatorium, Birmingham
Access Full Access Extent 1 item Archival History
Deposited with E. Downes
Notes
Dear Maire, Do you remember how long we’ve had this p.card? Thank you for letter re’cd today and list. Glad to know you’re happy and improving will write you a letter tomorrow evg, D. V. Love from all at home, yours always (Irish Name here)
Admin History
Collected by E. Cassidy
System Arrange
Material arranged by address, the date
Related Material Accruals
Linked People/Organisations Name Surname Organisation Role
Ellie Downes Independent Originator
Catalogue Details Cassidy-Quinn Collection Level Collection
LevelCat No.:
Collection Level: Collection Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Sender: John Cassidy
Group Level: Hospital Cards Title Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Receiver: Mary Quinn
Sub-group Level: N/A Ref. No. Address: Ward 4 T. C.Romsley Hill SanatoriumHallsowenBirmingham
Batch Level: PC003 Date 9th November 1938
Item Level: PCWS003 Copydate Medium: Text Orig.Ref.N
o Graphic
Store Shelf:
Figure 11: Item Level catalogue record applied to the Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Figure 12: Item Level Record with supplementary fields suggested
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Catalogue Details Cassidy-Quinn Collection Level Collection
LevelCat No.:
Collection Level: Collection Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Sender: John Cassidy
Group Level: Hospital Cards Title Cassidy-Quinn Collection
Receiver: Mary Quinn
Sub-group Level: N/A Ref. No. Address: Ward 4 T. C.Romsley Hill SanatoriumHallsowenBirmingham
Batch Level: PC003 Date 9th November 1938
Item Level: PCWS003 Copydate Medium: Text Orig.Ref.N
o Graphic
Store Shelf:
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