Internship Update

As you might remember from a previous post, I am completing my formal internship at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. The Cowgirl has an archival photographic image collection of about 4500 images, each with an associated surrogate record (think: catalog record) in their collection management software. These are, generally, images of cowgirls - be they inductees into the Hall of Fame, or other cowgirls. Of course, the images also include many cowboys. It doesn't sound too challenging on the surface, but allow me to get into more detail.



Creating the surrogate records for these images has been a lengthy process, worked on by several different individuals. As you can imagine, this results in inconsistent metadata in the records. This variant metadata makes it challenging to search for individuals in the images (the primary access point for these records) as well as to be able to search the records appropriately. In addition, because of the dynamic nature of the collection itself (as in images are added continually), locations for some of the images have changed, requiring changes in their surrogate records. It's a large, but not insurmountable task - and one I am very happy to be doing - increasing access and usability of a really interesting and dynamic collection. Without further ado, here is my work by the numbers:

• 101.5 hours worked (of 150)


• 1830 images and their records examined (and, if needed, updated/corrected)


• 207 individual people examined (the images are classified by person, so the 1830 images are divided among the names of 207 individuals)

As you can deduce, I am approaching the end - I will update you all when I am finished!