Data Value Standards

Minitex Exhibit at 2005 Minnesota State Fair.

Minitex Exhibit at 2005 Minnesota State Fair.

Below are some of the established lists used when inputting data elements. Using an established list of terms (controlled vocabulary) ensures consistency when describing physical materials or digital objects and can improve the quality of search results by the end user.

Regional

  • Minnesota Place Names
    Look up Minnesota cities, townships and villages, counties, and people. Online access is provided by the Minnesota Historical Society.

National

If you have an OCLC Cataloging subscription you have access to the OCLC Terminologies Service, which provides one-stop access to many of more common thesauri listed below. To find out more visit the Terminologies page on the OCLC website.

  • Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
    Created and maintained by the Getty Research Institute, this list includes terms relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture. It is used by catalogers and/or indexers to describe works of art, architecture, material culture, archival materials, visual surrogates, or bibliographic materials.
  • Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST)
    Adapted from the Library of Congress Subject Headings, FAST is a simplified controlled vocabulary from which terms can be assigned and used by non-professional catalogers and/or indexers.
  • Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
    Provides terminology about places important to various disciplines that specialize in art, architecture, and material culture.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
    Access to Library of Congress Subject Headings is available from the Library of Congress. After clicking on the link above, limit your search by selecting "Subject Authority Headings" from the drop-down menu.
  • Library of Congress Name Authority File
    After clicking on the link above, limit your search by selecting "Name Authority Headings" from the drop down menu.
  • National Agricultural Library Agricultural Thesaurus
    Over 70,000 agricultural terms produced by the National Agricultural Library, USDA, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture through the Orton Memorial Library.
  • Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
    Compiled and maintained by the Library of Congress, this thesaurus contains more than 7,000 subject and genre/format terms used to describe visual materials.

Minnesota Digital Library

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Learn more about the Minnesota Digital Library Coalition (MDLC) projects and resources.

Minnesota Reflections

Minnesota Reflections is an online collection of more than 100,000 photographs, maps, journals, and documents.