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Chapter 8 : Description (Description/Other
Descriptive Notes)
8.1.1 Discussion
The Description element and other types of notes may
be associated with particular fields throughout the
Work Record.
Description
The element consists of a descriptive note that is
generally a relatively brief essay-like text, detailing
the content and context of the work. It is a free-text
field used to record comments and an interpretation
that may supplement, qualify, or explain information
indexed in various other elements.
The element should contain a single coherent statement
covering some or all of the salient characteristics
and historical significance of the work of art or architecture.
Topics covered may include a discussion of the subject,
function, or significance of the work. For a more exhaustive
discussion of the element, see Categories for the
Description of Works of Art: Descriptive Note.
Other Notes
Some institutions may require additional element-specific
free-text notes to explain or qualify information in
a number of particular elements throughout the Work
Record-a Subject Note, Date Note, or Title Note, for
example. These are useful because they can contain the
nuances of language necessary to convey uncertainty
and ambiguity that cannot otherwise easily be captured
in controlled fields within any single element. Making
such notes integral to a cataloging system ensures against
the loss of those important details that are essential
to study but cannot be fully understood without elaboration.
Museums typically require notes, often combined with
controlled fields, to record information about the physical
description, condition, conservation, and collecting
history of the work. A note may also be used to record
administrative information or issues relevant to the
record itself, such as a reference to the origin of
the information as transcribed or exported from one
system to another. If a cataloger needs to cite a particular
publication as the source of information about the work,
notes may be used for that purpose as well. This is
especially useful if a system does not have a bibliographic
authority file (see Part 1: Authority Files and Controlled
Vocabularies: Source Authority).
Some notes may be published, and others may contain
administrative information that will not be. For further
discussion of these various types of notes, see Categories
for the Description of Works of Art, where such
notes, called remarks or description,
are included for every category.
Specificity
As mentioned, and as a supplement to information recorded
in controlled fields, free-text notes allow for the
nuance and detail necessary to capture a precise description
that cannot be fully addressed in other elements.
Organization of the Data
Description and other descriptive notes are free-text
fields; thus, if a note contains any information that
is significant for retrieval, that information should
also be recorded in the appropriate metadata element
for indexing. Any significant persons, corporate bodies,
subjects, dates, media, and techniques in a note should
be indexed.
Recommended Elements
A list of the elements discussed in this chapter appears
below.
Description (descriptive note)
Sources
Other Descriptive Notes
Sources
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