Opening Artists’ Books
toward a common descriptive vocabulary in support of teaching, learning, cataloging, and curation
PROJECT PURPOSE
Opening Artists’ Books (OAB) facilitates access to artists’ books in collections that utilize standard cataloging procedures. By linking commonly used vocabulary to controlled vocabularies, we hope that scholars, makers, and community users of artists’ books will be better equipped to research individual interests. The site continues the work of the ARLIS-NA Artists Book Thesaurus (ABT) and includes the findings of that project in addition to expanded terms and links to cataloging databases such as Library of Congress Genre and Form Index (LCGF), Getty Research Institute Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), and Rare Books & Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries Controlled Vocabularies (RBMSCV).
HOW TO USE THIS SITE
On the ARTISTS’ BOOKS TERMS page, definitions, links to resources, and visual exemplars can be accessed by clicking on individual terms in the alphabetized list. This index presents primary terms that our experience and research have thus far proven the most useful. The search function allows a user to type in any term and discover potential secondary and linked terms including those in the aforementioned cataloging databases as well as broader terms (BT), narrower terms (NT), synonyms (SYN), and alternative or “also called” terms (AC). The only adaptation made to ABT definitions (when they are the only definition presented) is to make terms singular.
The SUGGEST A TERM page allows a user to submit suggestions for commonly used terms that will enhance and expand discoverability.
Visual exemplars are being added regularly to the individual term pages. Clicking on an image links to the artist’s website, when available. Clicking on the link to the Marriott Library provides access to the record in the catalog.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Marnie Powers-Torrey initiated and leads the project. Primary contributors include Allison McCormack, Emily Hernandez, Jonathan Sandberg, Finn Harris, and Monday Vu. We thank the Marriott Library’s Website Development staff Amanda Crittenden, Leah Martin Donaldson, and Gabi Sui for bringing this site into being. We also offer our gratitude to the current stewards of the Artists’ Books Thesaurus project Heather Slania, Director of MICA’s Decker Library, and Suzanne Rackover, University Librarian at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, for their collegial willingness to share their data and findings in support of the OAB project. Big thanks to Julia Leonard and Karen Carcia at the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book’s Book Art Research Database for collaborating on terminology and linking data. We are incredibly grateful for the support of the University of Utah’s Digital Matters Faculty Grants as well as the 2023-2026 NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, which made this project possible. Thank you to all who have suggested terms—we hope to keep the site dynamic and inclusive, so keep the suggestions coming!