Cataloging visual works whether they are cultural objects or their visual surrogates has long been challenging for the administratively diverse communities that are engaged in describing them. In contrast to the traditional bibliographic arena that has long benefited from the implementation and use of agreed upon community standards for both data content and values, museum documentation specialists and curators, visual resources professionals, archivists, librarians, and others who document cultural objects and their corresponding images yearned for a rulebook to guide the implementation of existing as well as emerging data value standards. Cataloging Cultural Objects provides that much needed structure.

Cataloging Cultural Objects, a project of the Visual Resources Association, is a seminal tool culminating decades of effort on the part of those engaged in describing and documenting works of art, architecture, and cultural artifacts and their associated images. It builds on and provides implementation guidance for existing data value standards such as the Getty publication, Categories for the Description of Works of Art and the Visual Resources Association's Core 4.0. It sets the stage for the development of sound, consistent records that have the potential to be shared acknowledging the critical importance of local practice while advocating uniform practice.

This presentation will discuss the use of Cataloging Cultural Objects with examples drawn from specific visual collections available at Cornell including "Beyond the Taj" and the Knight Visual Resources Collection. It will address the need to embrace standards so that the end user is able to find that which is desired accurately and efficiently.