RSLP Collection Description CLDT enumerated list of collection types

This document enumerates a set of terms that may be used as a value for the collection Type (dc:type) attribute in the RSLP Collection Description Schema The list is made up of the emboldened categories in the left-hand column.

This collection type 'scheme' is known as 'CLDT'.

The list of categories are are grouped into those that identify the type of collection, the curatorial environment in which the collection has been made, the content of the collection and the collection policy and/or usage.

The terms, Analytic-Finding-Aid, Hierarchic-Finding-Aid and Indexing-Finding-Aid are taken from An Analytical Model of Collections and their Catalogues by Michael Heaney.

Type
Collection	A set of items grouped physically, electronically and/or logically on the basis of a property or properties the items have in common.
Catalogue	(Analytic-Finding-Aid). A collection of individual records describing the items, and the intellectual content therein, of a second collection. There may, in the individual records, be information about collections but that is not the focus of the catalogue. Catalogues are typically created with significant human input.
Finding-Aid	(Hierarchic-Finding-Aid). A collection of records describing the individual items, and the intellectual content therein, of a second collection. The records are firmly grounded within the overall arrangement of the collection, e.g. grouping together all the letters, account books etc. in an ordered sequence or sequences. Items are often not uniquely identifiable when considered in isolation, so the context of the collection is an essential element in compiling the finding-aid. Finding-aids are typically created with significant human input.
Index	(Indexing-Finding-Aid). A collection of records consisting of information derived from items in a second collection, regardless of their content. By this is meant that an Indexing Finding-Aid - An index, for example a robotic search engine, will index the words in a document (or catalogue record) regardless of their context and without trying to identify the discrete elements of intellectual content contained therein. Indexes are typically generated automatically by a software robot or other harvesting technology.
Curatorial Environment
Library	A library collection (books, journals, etc.).
Museum	A museum collection (artefacts, etc.).
Archive	An archive is a whole which documents the life and work of an institution or individual, which has been retained in its original working order and is of known provenance.
Internet	A collection, catalogue or index of Internet resources.
Content
Text	A collection of items that are primarily words for reading. For example - books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre "text".
Image	A collection of items that are primarily symbolic visual representations other than text. For example - images and photographs of physical objects, paintings, prints, drawings, other images and graphics, animations and moving pictures, film, diagrams, maps, musical notation. Note that "image" may include both electronic and physical representations.
Sound	A collection of items that are primarily audio. For example - music, speech, recorded sounds.
Dataset	A collection of items that primarily consist of structured information encoded in lists, tables, databases, etc., which will normally be in a format available for direct machine processing. For example - spreadsheets, databases, GIS data, midi data. Note that collections of items that are primarily unstructured numbers and words will normally be considered to be type "Collection.Text".
Software	A software repository.
InteractiveResource	A collection of resources which require interaction from the user to be understood, executed, or experienced. For example - forms on web pages, applets, multimedia learning objects, chat services, virtual reality.
Event	A collection of non-persistent, time-based occurences.
PhysicalObject	A collection of three dimensional objects or substances which are not primarily text or image or one of the other types listed here. For example - people, computers, sculptures or wheat (!) . Note that collections of digital representations of, or surrogates for, these things should use "Collection.Image", "Collection.Text" or one of the other collection types listed here.
Policy and/or Usage
Dispersed	A collection of material on a single subject, but not kept together and not referred to by a specific name.
Distributed	A collection that is shared amoung several libraries.
Special	A collection connected with local history, celebrities, industries, etc., or on a certain subject or period, or gathered for some particular reason.
Subject	A collection of material on a particular subject.
Form	A collection of materials of the same form.
User	A collection arranged specifically for a particular group of users.
Virtual	A collection of material on a particular subject that is made available online.
Working	A collection brought together for a particular project or exhibition which is then disbanded.

In this Scheme, multiple categories may be selected as appropriate. Typically, zero or one category from each group will be selected (though there may be exceptions to this). Multiple categories should be concatenated together, separated by a '.', to form a string value - for example:

• Collection.Library.Dispersed
• Catalogue.Museum
• Finding-Aid
• Collection.Archive
• Index.Internet
• Catalogue.Internet.Subject
• Collection.Image

Maintained by: Andy Powell Last updated: 21-May-2000 [RSLP] [Metadata] [UKOLN]