Book Arts SIG coordinator: Teresa Burk
The Book Arts SIG is pleased to present a Topic Talk with Q&A in the first half-hour of the meeting. All are welcome!
Crafting a Thesaurus: an Update on the Artists' Books Thesaurus from the Book Arts SIG
Presenters: Allison Jai O'Dell, Free Library of Philadelphia and Heather Slania, Director of the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, National Museum of Women in the Arts
This session will provide an update on the project of the Book Arts Special Interest Group to design a thesaurus for describing and providing subject/genre access to artists' books. A need was identified at the 2012 ARLIS/NA conference for the standardization of terminology used to index artists' books. It is the aim of the working group that this thesaurus will fill a void in the field's continued and pressing interest in cataloging unconventional artist publications that have at once bibliographic, artifactual, social, aesthetic, and conceptual value.
The session will conclude with time allotted for participants to suggest additions to and make critiques of the current draft. It is our goal that by formally introducing the thesaurus at ARLIS/NA 2013, a wider discussion and involvement from the art library and visual resources community will commence, ultimately culminating in a more robust tool.