Note: If you need help with the Portfolio software, please visit the Portfolio Help Pages.

Reed's visual collections are cataloged using an international standard known as the VRA Core (VRA=Visual Resources Association). The standard is officially--and not very usefully--defined at the VRA Core 3.0 web-page. The following is intended to help you understand the standard and apply it to Reed Collections.

In addition to VRA Core, individual catalogs may have added custom fields to hold information unique to the collection or it's usage at Reed.

VRA Basics

The VRA Core consists of seventeen fields (categories of information) which are designed to describe a visual asset in its entirety. Many of these fields have sub-categories (called Qualifiers) which further refine the information. All of the fields and qualifiers are described below. Note that any field and/or qualifier can be repeated as many times as needed. For example, a particular painting may be associated with several different "schools". One would use multiple "Style/Period.School" entries to reflect this.

Note also that you don't need to use every field; some can be left blank (there's no need to enter NA or anything like that). If possible, however, try to have an entry for each field in the "Reed Core:" ID Number, Type, Period, Culture, Creator, Title, Date, Location, Source

If you look at the VRA website, you'll note that there are recommentations for vocabularies to use for the value of fields. For example, "AAT" (a Getty developed standard) is recommended for data entered into the Type field. Reed prefers (but doesn't require) you use these vocabularies. The VRA page does provide links to the various vocabularies.

Entering Multiple Fields & Qualifiers

To enter multiple fields in an existing Portfolio data-base, use the "+" symbol next to the field entry box.

Qualifiers are entered the same way, with the addition of the Qualifier label. For example, one could enter the following for the "Material" field:

Note the dot before each of qualifiers (Medium and Support)

VRA Fields & Qualifiers

The VRA Fields:

Record Type  I  Type I  Title I Measurements  I  Material  I Technique I Creator I Date I Location I ID Number I Style/Period I  Culture I Subject I Relation I Description I Source  I  Rights

Record Type This field can have only one of two values: "WORK" and "IMAGE". A "work" record refers to the actual, physical work itself. An image record refers to a visual copy (or "surrogate"). All official (i.e., not personal) Reed catalogs consist only of IMAGE records.

Type This field refers to the type of work described by the record. For example a painting, sculpture, building or photograph.

TitleThis field is for the published title(s) of the work. If there is no official title, a short identifying phrase can be used.

Qualifiers:

• Title.Variant Use this qualifier if the title has more than common name. E..g. Morte d'Arthur, Morte Darthur
• Title.Translation This qualifier is for an English translation of a work in a foreign language.
• Title.Series This qualifier is used if the work is part of a larger series. E.g. The Book of Job
• Title. Larger Entity This is for the title of a larger series of which the current record is a part. E.g. The Bible

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Measurements This field is used for any quantifiable physical aspect of the work such as volume, height, running time or format. Any unit can be used.

Qualifiers:

• Measurements.Dimensions The height, width etc. of the work.
• Measurements.Format Describes the format of the work (e.g. 16mm film)
• Measurements.Resolution Used to describe the resolution of a digital image (e.g. 720 dpi)

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Material This field refers to the composition or physical substance of the work. For example oil paint or marble.

Qualifiers:

• Material.Medium The principle medium which comprises the work, e.g. "ink"
• Material.Support The underlying medium of the work, e.g. "paper."

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Technique This field refers to the methods, techniques, or processes which were used to create the work, e.g. "etching".

Creator This field is for the name or title of the person, group or other entity that contributed to the design, creation, production or alteration of the work. For example, "Picasso" or "Disney Inc.".

Qualifiers:

• Creator.RoleThe specific contribution a creator made, e.g. "printer" or "screen-writer"
• Creator.Attribution Use for works which are commonly attributed to an individual, e.g. "Homer".
• Creator.Personal Name The name of a creator
• Creator.Corporate Name The name of company or other entity which had a role in creating the work.

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Date This field is used for entering all the date information associated with the work. Note that you can use any format you want (e.g., 12/6/63 or Dec. 6, 1963), though you should be consistent throughout a given catalog.

Qualifiers:

• Date.Creation The date on which the work is generally agreed upon to have been completed.
• Date.Design The date the design for the work was completed.
• Date.BeginningThe date creation of the work began.
• Date.CompletionThe date the work was completed.
• Date.Alteration The date(s) the work was altered
• Date.Restoration The date(s) the work was restored.

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Location This field is used to indicate the physical, geographical location of a work now or in the past. A location can be a site (e.g. Rome for the Colosseum) or a repository (e.g. the Louvre for the Mona Lisa).

Qualifiers:

• Location.Current Site The geographical location of the work.
• Location.Former Site A place the work was located previously.
• Location.Creation site The place the wok was created.
• Location.Discovery SiteThe place the work was discovered.
• Location.Current Repository The name of the building or other repository which currently houses the work.
• Location.Former Repository A place which formerly housed the work.

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ID Number This field is used for the identification number assigned to a work by a cataloging institution. At Reed, the ID number is the accession number (assigned by either the Visual Resources Collection or the database manager).

Qualifiers:

• ID Number.Current Repository The inventory number currently used by the institution housing the work.
• ID Number.Former Repository The inventory number used by an institution formerly housing the work.
• ID Number.Current Accession The collection number currently associated with the work.
• ID Number.Former Accession The collection number formerly associated with the work.

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Style/Period Use this field if a work characterizes a particular style, historical period, school, dynasty, movement, etc.

Qualifiers:

• Style/Period.style A style (or styles) which the work exemplifies (e.g. gothic).
• Style/Period.period A historical time with which the work is closely associated (e.g. Rennaissance).
• Style/Period.group A group of similar creators or works with which the work is associated (e.g. cubists).
• Style/Period.school A specific influential individual (e.g. Rembrandt) or area (e.g. Florentine) with which the work is associated.
• Style/Period.dynastyA historical period of rulership with which the work is associated (e.g. Ming)
• Style/Period.movement A large scale social or national trend with which the work is associated (e.g. modernism).

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Culture: This field is used to indicate the culture (e.g. Greek), people (or ethonym, as in Seminoles) or nationality (as in, French) from which a work originates or with which it is closely associated.

Subject: This field contains terms or phrases which describe, identify or interpret the work and what it depicts or expresses. These may include people or events, places, things or topics.

Relation:

Qualifiers:

• Relation.Identity
• Relation.Type

This field is for terms or phrases which ???

Description: This a general text field to add comments, interpretation and other additional info that isn’t covered in the other fields.

Source: This field is for indicating both the source of an image and the source of the metadata information about the image. It can be a bibliographic citation,an address or a name and contact info.

Rights: Ownership and copyright info goes in this field.

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