+ Page 58 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Delaney, John. "LITMSS: Princeton's SPIRES Manuscripts Database." The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 1, no. 3 (1990): 58-76. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Introduction LITMSS is an online database of information about modern (post- 1500 A.D.) manuscript holdings of Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. It emphasizes eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century manuscripts whose primary language is English, though significant Spanish and French holdings are described as well. It includes, at the collection level, all of the Department's administrative units that house manuscripts--Manuscripts, Theatre, Western Americana, and Mudd Library of Public Affairs Papers--except Archives (to be added). In addition, it contains in-depth information about folder- and item-level holdings of the Manuscripts Division and several units' miscellaneous manuscripts files. Over 15,500 individuals have been indexed in LITMSS--artists, novelists, presidents, generals, scientists, educators, etc.--and several thousand subjects (defined with Library of Congress subject headings) have been identified/associated with the 1,000 collections described in the database. In all, over 55,000 records are searchable through both find (keyword) and browse (phrase) indexes. This article covers the evolution of the database, the scope and contents of its records, the public "face" of the database in FOLIO, searching and display capabilities, and its structure of interrelated SPIRES subfiles. 2.0 Brief History of Automation Efforts Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections consists of a group of subject-oriented administrative units, each of which has its own curator, its own staff, and its own physical location, including reading room and reference area. Some are located within Firestone Library, on different floors; others are housed in different campus buildings. All possess manuscripts and/or "special collections" of materials that are commonly part of manuscript collections, such as photographs. It has taken a decade to achieve the kind of centralized control over all of the Department's manuscript collections that exists today in the form of LITMSS. + Page 59 + With the goal of producing a guide to its literary holdings, the Manuscripts Division began in 1980 to create machine-readable records for its holdings. 2.1 ISIS The first database employed a batch mode version of ISIS (Integrated Set of Information Systems), a system developed by the International Labour Office and later updated and maintained by UNESCO. The Office of Population Research on the Princeton campus installed ISIS in 1977, and staff from that office helped the Manuscripts Division define the data elements it needed for a database of it own. Because of its literary focus, it was called LITMSS. ISIS capabilities allowed sorting on any field and subfield, and the system could combine sort fields for multilevel sorts. For example, a primary sort could be performed on a combined set of authors and corporate bodies, and secondary, tertiary, and other sorts could be done on other elements. Searches could use Boolean logic, and text in any field (ninety-eight fields had been defined!) could be searched. In addition, a flexible formatting language permitted one to format the output of queries in virtually unlimited ways, using vertical and horizontal spacing, conditional and unconditional literals, up to four levels of headings, and columns. All of this computer "magic"-- quite rudimentary in hindsight--had a profound and positive effect on departmental staff: members began to see tremendous possibilities for automation in manuscripts work. 2.2 SPIRES By 1985, after several years of a Title II-C grant and three years of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the database had grown to over 45,000 records. Support for ISIS at the campus computer center continued to wane, however, as the university introduced newer, more state-of-the-art database management systems to its computer users. SPIRES, the Stanford Public Information Retrieval System, was a powerful product attracting a good deal of attention, and by 1984 the university had already joined the consortium of sites that were using it. Supported by the computer center and backed by a network of diverse users, SPIRES offered the Department an attractive alternative to ISIS. In the spring of 1986, the manuscripts database was converted to SPIRES, beginning its online phase. + Page 60 + The database was still not publicly available, but its printouts were. Periodically, usually once each year or after every 5,000 records, the database was dumped, providing a multi-volume printout of entries, sorted by author. At a glance, the user could find the locations and descriptions of all manuscripts pertaining to a particular person that had been indexed to date. The manuscripts curator often photocopied pages of the reference work to aid in her answering of mail queries. Printed indexes, identifying collections of manuscripts by subjects and forms of material, were also available. In addition, printouts could be customized by request. It became clear during these years that the publication of a literary guide was too limited a goal, for it would only partially represent the variety and significance of the Department's holdings. As a result, a concerted effort began in 1986 to fully describe, at the collection level, all of the manuscript collections in all of the Department's administrative units. With the publication in July 1989 of A Guide to Modern Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library (Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.), that larger goal was accomplished. 2.3 Public Access to LITMSS Once the size of the database had reached a "critical mass", public access to it made more sense. The printouts had always been available--at least to readers that visited the Department-- but now the power and convenience of the computer, staff thought, could and should be made available to anyone who had access to the university's mainframe. During this period of gradual shift in departmental emphasis, from needing to intellectually control the Department's manuscript holdings to wanting to expand access to, and promote use of, the material, the main library was closing its card catalog and providing only online access to post-1980 (January) cataloged acquisitions. In addition, local network connections to the online library catalog were opened so that access was available from personal computers anywhere on campus. + Page 61 + Into this rapidly developing environment of accessible information, LITMSS made its first public appearance in the fall of 1989 through a SPIRES interface called FOLIO, where the database is simply called "Manuscripts." In Folio, data is displayed line by line; hence, full-screen terminals are not needed, thereby broadening its applicability. Only searching is permitted, and only selected data elements may be seen. In addition, searches can be logged so that database owners can see how the database is being used and whether users are having any problems. Since the campus computer center is mounting other public databases (like GPO documents) in FOLIO, the Department hopes that this shared interface will promote use of LITMSS even more. Local or remote network users can access the FOLIO database using an anonymous logon capability. Some system capabilities (i.e., saving, printing, and mailing searches) are only available to users with regular accounts on a Princeton mainframe. 3.0 Collections in LITMSS As a departmental manuscripts database, LITMSS describes manuscript holdings of the whole Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, not just its Manuscripts Division. Other administrative units of the Department maintain manuscript collections that pertain to their particular subject orientations, and these collections are represented in LITMSS. Excluded, however, are manuscripts in non-Romance languages, such as Persian and Arabic, medieval codices, papyri, and cuneiform tablets. The emphasis is on post-1600 ("modern") manuscripts in English, with lesser amounts in Spanish and French. Below is a brief summary of each unit's covered "manuscript" [1] holdings and the names of some representative collections. + Page 62 + 3.1 Manuscripts Division The Manuscripts Division has over 650 collections, ranging in size from one box of documents of the signers of the Declaration of Independence to hundreds of boxes in the Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, the New York publisher. Its strengths are in American and English history and literature. It includes the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, the M. L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists, the records of Henry Holt & Co., the archives of Story Magazine and Story Press, several Ernest Hemingway collections, the Janet Camp Troxell Collection of Rossetti Manuscripts, the Mario Vargas Llosa Papers, a Woodrow Wilson collection of personal and family papers, and the Andre de Coppet Collection of Americana, including manuscripts of all the presidents from Washington to Truman. 3.2 Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library The Seeley G. Mud Manuscript Library has over 150 collections, ranging in size from one box of documents relating to Adolf Hitler to hundreds of boxes of the American Civil Liberties Union. Its strengths are in twentieth-century statecraft and public affairs papers. It includes the John Foster Dulles Papers, the David E. Lilienthal Papers, the Albert Einstein Duplicate Archive (photocopies), Fight For Freedom, Inc., Archives, Council on Books in Wartime Archives, and the James Forrestal Papers. 3.3 Theatre Collection The Theatre Collection has over 100 collections, ranging in size from one box of material relating to calypso music to hundreds of boxes in the Warner Bros. It is an archive that contains only business records. Its strengths are in performing arts and popular entertainment. It includes the William Seymour Family Papers, the McCaddon Collection of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, manuscripts of Woody Allen, the McCartre Theatre (Princeton) Archives, and correspondence of Luigi Pirandello. + Page 63 + 3.4 Western Americana Division The Western American Division has over 50 collections, ranging in size from a portfolio of photographs of Eskimos to hundreds of boxes of the Association of American Indian Affairs. Its strengths are in overland narratives, Mormon material, indigenous American languages, and twentieth-century American Indian affairs. It includes the Philip Ashton Rollins Collection, cattle ranch account books, the Herbert S. Auerbach Collection on Mormons and Indians, and San Juan Pueblo records. 4.0 LITMSS Records Of the more than 55,000 records in LITMSS, only about 1,000 are collection records (for the 1,000 collections in the Department); the rest are indexing records. Each collection record describes a manuscript collection (as defined before), and includes such elements as main entry (if appropriate), collection name, range of dates of the material, scope and contents, physical size (in cubic feet), arrangement (the organization of the manuscripts and any series names), subject/title/form headings appropriate to the material, and any restrictions that may pertain to the collection. Acquisition and other in-house information are present in the collection record and are available to departmental staff, but such elements are purposefully omitted from the FOLIO displays. Indexing records, which constitute the bulk of the records in LITMSS, describe folder- or item-level holdings of manuscripts of specific individuals. The purpose of this indexing is to make known the whereabouts (i.e., non-obvious locations) of manuscripts of "significant" [2] individuals and to provide the Department an additional measure of security over its holdings. A JOHN DOE collection of manuscripts would be described in LITMSS in a collection record. Manuscripts of others in the collection--his correspondents, for example--would be described in indexing records. (Note: nothing of John Doe would be indexed for him in his own collection). To date, the manuscripts of approximately 15,500 individuals, representing many academic disciplines and vocations, have been indexed. + Page 64 + Each indexing record contains the following elements: (1) main entry; (2) collection name; (3) series name (if appropriate); (4) box; (5) folder; and (6) a manuscripts "structure" (a SPIRES name for a group of related elements that always occur together) that describes the number of manuscripts, the type of manuscript(s), the inclusive date(s) of the manuscript(s), and the manuscripts themselves. Depending on the specific location (collection/series/box/folder), an indexing record may describe a single item or many. To date, only about 350 of the Manuscripts Division's collections have been indexed. In addition, each of the units' "miscellaneous" manuscripts files, into which single accessions are placed (for example, one George Washington letter donated by an alumnus), have been indexed, as well as the modern manuscript holdings of the Department's Robert H. Taylor Library of English and American literature. Among the many authors amply represented in the library are Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Max Beerbohm, members of the Trollope family, Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, the Bronte sisters, and Thomas Hardy. 5.0 Searching LITMSS LITMSS contains two sets of indexes for retrieving records, FIND (keyword) and BROWSE (phrase) indexes. 5.1 FIND Searches The FIND indexes are word indexes that take the user's search terms and respond with records whose specified elements contain those words. LITMSS makes eight FIND indexes available through FOLIO. + Page 65 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1. FIND Indexes ----------------------------------------------------------------- Index Name Description Sample Search Term(s) AUTHOR Creator of a manuscript Ernest Hemingway NAT Nationality of the author French, Italian, Swiss [3] ID Brief identity of the author Journalist, poet, senator DISC Author's discipline / field Biology, history, government COLL Name of a ms. collection Allen Tate Papers YEAR Year date of a manuscript 1955, 1778, 1812, 1920s MS General type of manuscript Letter, document, volume STF Collection subjects/titles/forms Civil War, bills of lading ----------------------------------------------------------------- Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are permitted with all FIND indexes. As a result of this flexibility, rather sophisticated searches are possible. For example, it is possible to do a search for letters written by Italian poets during the 1920s. The basic format of a search command using a FIND index is find [index name] [search term] Here are some examples: find nat japanese find id historian and date 1920 fin aut mark twain FIND and index names can be abbreviated. + Page 66 + Truncation (with the # sign) searching is also allowed on all of these indexes: fin year 192# fin stf indian# Except for the YEAR index, which can only retrieve indexing records, and the STF index, which only retrieves collection records, the FIND indexes make no distinction between the two types of records in LITMSS: both may be displayed in a search result, depending on the extent of Princeton's holdings. The Department may have a JOHN DOE collection, several JOHN DOE letters distributed among a few collections, or both. A search for JOHN DOE material would find all of these records. For example, a search for Aaron Burr material would produce the following screen on the user's terminal or PC. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 1. Search for Aaron Burr ----------------------------------------------------------------- Manuscripts / Search: Find AUTHOR AARON BURR Result: 42 records 1) Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 / [Collection *], Aaron Burr (1716- 1757) Collection / Consists of Burr manuscripts, correspondence, and documents dating from the period (1748-1757) he was president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton. Included are original manuscripts of sermons, a Latin oration, and letters and documents, as.../ Date(s): 1750-1761 / Size: 1 box 2) Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 / [Collection *], General Manuscripts [Bound] / 1 volume(s), 1753-1758 3) Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 / [Collection *], General Manuscripts [Misc.] / 1 document(s), 1755 ... ----------------------------------------------------------------- By default, FOLIO displays retrieved records in a brief display and numbers them on the left side for reference (see Section 6.0 for information about the display format and what it reveals). In the above example, the first record is a collection record (i.e., an Aaron Burr collection) and the other two are indexing records. + Page 67 + If one scanned the rest of the 42 records retrieved in this search, he would see that Aaron Burr's son, Aaron Burr (1756- 1836), the famous duelist with Alexander Hamilton, is also represented because both share the same name. To find only the father's records, one would have to add a date in the search phrase: "find author aaron burr 1716." In the AUTHOR index, real names and pseudonyms are indexed together so that a search under one name will retrieve the same records as a search under the other. For example, searching under "Mark Twain" will find the same records as searching under "Samuel Langhorne Clemens." (How this works is described in the Section 7.0.) 5.2 BROWSE Searches The BROWSE indexes are phrase indexes that attempt to match the user's whole search phrase with headings in the database's records. The system responds with an alphabetical listing of headings drawn from records that include the phrase or, that failing, contain headings which alphabetically precede and follow the user's phrase. In this way, the user can browse through headings as if he/she were using the library's card catalog. There are two BROWSE indexes available in FOLIO for LITMSS: name and subject. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 2. BROWSE Indexes ----------------------------------------------------------------- Index Name Description Sample Search Phrase NAME Phrase of author's inverted name Hemingway, Ernest, 1899- 1961 SUBJECT Added entry for a collection United States-- Civil War... ----------------------------------------------------------------- + Page 68 + The basic format of a search command using a BROWSE index is browse [index name] [phrase] Here are some examples: browse name twain, mark bro sub tammany hall BROWSE and index names can be abbreviated. Truncation (without using the # sign) is automatic: bro name james, h bro sub united states--history--civil The BROWSE feature of FOLIO is an especially useful one because the user, as he/she browses, also sees the number of records associated with each heading. For example, browsing in the name index for "burr, aaron" would retrieve the following result. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 2. Example BROWSE Search ----------------------------------------------------------------- Manuscripts / Search: Browse NAME BURR, AARON Result filed under the following headings: -3) Name: Burnshaw, Stanley, 1906- (5 records) -2) Name: Burnside, Ambrose E. (Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881 (3 records) -1) Name: Burpee, Lawrence J. (Lawrence Johnston), 1873-1946 (1 record) 0) Name: Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 (14 records) 1) Name: Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836 (28 records) 2) Name: Burr, Amelia Josephine, 1878- (1 record) 3) Name: Burr, Anna Robeson, 1873-1941 (4 records) ----------------------------------------------------------------- + Page 69 + For reference, FOLIO numbers the headings on the left, forward and backward from 0, which identifies the first heading that best matches the search phrase. One can see from this result that the two groups of Aaron Burr records equal the number of records retrieved in the FIND search described above (14 + 28 = 42). In other words, there are two ways to get the same author information. Similarly, there are two ways to retrieve subject information about Princeton's manuscript collections: the STF FIND index and the SUBJECT BROWSE index. [4] Browsing subjects, however, is more successful if one is familiar with Library of Congress Subject Headings since they are used in the collection records. FOLIO recognizes the dash ("--") in search phrases, and thus its presence or absence can make a difference in the results one obtains. A search for Civil War collections could be phrased "fin stf civil war" for the STF index, but in the SUBJECT index one would have to know that the appropriate subject heading for the Civil War is "United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865." Omitting the first dash in the latter phrase would produce very different results. (In the BROWSE indexes the system always attempts to find a match character by character, starting from left to right.) 6.0 Displaying Records Users can see LITMSS records in either brief or full displays. 6.1 Collection Records For collection records, the brief display consists of the name of the main entry (if the collection has one), the name of the collection, the first 250 characters of the record's scope note, the inclusive dates of the collection, and its size (number of boxes, containers). + Page 70 + The full display for collection records has three parts--Name, Location, and Description--each of which can be displayed independently if desired. The Name section provides the main entry's full name (AACR2 form), a brief biographical phrase about him/her/it, and any "disciplines," or occupational fields, for which the main entry is known. The Location section identifies the administrative unit of the Department that houses the collection, providing the collection's name, dates, and physical characteristics. In the Description section, the display provides the record's complete scope note, arrangement (if the collection is greater than one box in size), and list of related subject, title, and form headings. A brief display of a collection record is shown below. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 3. Brief Display of a Collection Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 / [Collection *], Aaron Burr (1716-1757) Collection / Consists of Burr manuscripts, correspondence, and documents dating from the period (1748-1757) he was president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton. Included are original manuscripts of sermons, a Latin oration, and letters and documents, as... / Date(s): 1750-1761 / Size: 1 box ----------------------------------------------------------------- + Page 71 + A full display of a collection record is shown below. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 4. Full Display of a Collection Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- Name Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757 American Presbyterian clergyman, president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) Discipline(s): religion, education Location Manuscripts Division [Collection *], Aaron Burr (1716-1757) Collection Date(s): 1750-1761 Size (in cubic feet): 0.25 Container count: 1 box Description Consists of Burr manuscripts, correspondence, and documents from the period (1748-1757) he was president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton. Included are original manuscripts of sermons, a Latin oration, and letters and documents, as well as photostats and copies of additional material. There are also a contemporary silhouette of Burr and a letter, dated 1761, presenting a bill to his estate. Subjects/Titles/Forms of the Manuscripts: American orations--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 Burr, Aaron, 1716-1757--Silhouettes Clergy--United States--18th century--Letters College presidents--New Jersey--Princeton-- 18th century--Letters Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.--Clergy-- 18th century--Letters Princeton University--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Sources Sermons, American--18th century Silhouettes--United States--18th century ----------------------------------------------------------------- An asterisk in the collection name signifies that the collection has been processed and indexed. + Page 72 + 6.2 Indexing Records For indexing records, the brief display consists of the main entry, the name of the collection, the number of manuscripts described in the record, the type of manuscript(s) described, and inclusive dates. The full display contains the same three parts (Name, Location, Description) offered for a collection record, but the Location and Description elements are different. In an indexing record, the Location section identifies the specific address of the manuscript(s) being described: administrative unit, collection name, series name, box number, and folder title or number. The Description section expands the information in the brief display by adding a full description element. A brief indexing record is shown below. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 5. Brief Display of an Indexing Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 / [Papers *], Sylvia Beach Papers / 1 document(s), 1923 ----------------------------------------------------------------- A full indexing record is shown below. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 6. Full Display of an Indexing Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- Name Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 American novelist, journalist, storywriter Discipline(s): literature Location Manuscripts Division [Papers *], Sylvia Beach Papers Box: 171 Folder: Corres. re Illustrations Description Number of original manuscripts: 1 Manuscript type: document Date(s): 1923 Description: photograph of Hemingway in Sylvia Beach's bookshop (Paris), SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY ----------------------------------------------------------------- + Page 73 + 6.3 Other LITMSS Output Features To display LITMSS records in FOLIO, one uses the reference numbers on the left side of the search display to specify which records are wanted. For example, in the Aaron Burr search described previously that resulted in 42 records found, one could issue the command "display full 35" (abbreviated "df 35") to see a full display of the 35th record, or one could ask to see a range of records ("display full 20-24"). With a large search result, one can use the SCAN command to move back and forth through the records; for example, typing the command "scan 30" would cause the system to start its display over beginning at the 30th record. FOLIO also permits the user to print search results on a system printer or any other named printer, to save results in computer files, and to "mail" results over electronic networks to other accounts; the records can be in either brief or full form. 7.0 LITMSS Subfiles Besides the main MANUSCRIPTS subfile [5] in which collection and indexing records reside, LITMSS consists of several other linked subfiles, including an AUTHORS subfile and a COLLECTIONS subfile. While they are invisible to the user of LITMSS in FOLIO, they contain indexes that are indirectly used in some of the FOLIO searches. The linkages are provided by code numbers: an author code number and a collection code number. The use of these numbers in collection and indexing records makes inputting and updating of records easy and efficient. A typical author record in the AUTHORS subfile looks like this. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 7. Example Author Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR.CODE 00797 AUTHOR Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 ALIAS Clemens, Samuel Langhorne NATIONALITY American IDENTITY novelist, humorist, storywriter DISCIPLINE literature REFERENCES OxAm AmA&B DcLEnL ----------------------------------------------------------------- + Page 74 + The main entry of all collection and indexing records contains the particular author's five-digit code number, not his/her name or pseudonym. For example, when inputting Mark Twain records, the cataloger only has to specify "00797" in the author element. If, at a later date, new information becomes available, such as a death date or the addition of a middle name, only the AUTHORS record has to be modified--all of the associated collection and indexing records can remain untouched because they are still linked by the author code number, which never changes. When author information is actually provided in FOLIO, the author record from the AUTHORS subfile is called up by the full display format. Searches that use the AUTHOR, NAT, ID, and DISC indexes are actually using AUTHORS subfile indexes to retrieve the appropriate author codes, which are then searched in the MANUSCRIPTS subfile to find the associated collection and indexing records. In the same way, collection code numbers used in the COLLECTIONS subfile simplify cataloging and updating for the Department's processing staff. And, in users' searches, the subfile becomes a "lookup table." For example, the record below is for the Aaron Burr Collection in the COLLECTIONS subfile. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 8. Example Collection Record ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLLECTION.CODE C0090 COLLECTION.NAME [Collection *], Aaron Burr (1716-1757) Collection ----------------------------------------------------------------- A search for all of its records, both the collection record and associated indexing records, "looks up" the collection name ("Aaron Burr Collection") in the COLLECTIONS subfile to find its specific collection code (C0090) and then uses that number in the MANUSCRIPTS subfile. + Page 75 + 8.0 Conclusion LITMSS continues to grow. In the course of a year, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 indexing records are added to the database, representing an additional 500-600 "authors" that have not been established in the AUTHORS subfile before. Ideally, the Department would like to have all of its manuscript collections indexed and described in LITMSS and to be able to stay current with new acquisitions. On the collection level, this last goal has been achieved, for a temporary collection record is created at the time each new manuscript collection is acquired. The record is updated after processing, which may or may not include indexing depending on departmental priorities and staffing. LITMSS collection records are also input into the AMC (Archives and Manuscripts Control) file of RLIN, the online bibliographic database of the Research Libraries Group. Given the backlog of unprocessed collections, however, which have been described in the 1989 Guide, the Department will probably always have to approach the first goal like an asymptote. While work continues at the campus computer center to ease access to all of the Princeton FOLIO databases, the Department is trying to arrange a more equal distribution of responsibility for inputting and updating LITMSS records--an arrangement whereby each administrative unit would manage its own records, the collection and indexing records that describe its manuscripts holdings. At the moment, all of that responsibility resides in the Manuscripts Division. Notes [1] Some of the collections in the Theatre Collection and Western Americana units of the Department are not "manuscript" collections. They are really "special collections" of non- manuscript material--photographs, posters, and playbills--that are unified by subject and place. The archival sense of the word collection, however, pertains to all of the units represented here: (1) an artificial accumulation of materials devoted to a specific subject, person, place, event, or type of material; or (2) a body of materials having a common source, created by a person or corporate body as a natural function of the activities he, she, or it pursues. [2] Generally, only a few series of a manuscripts collection are targeted for indexing, usually the correspondence series or author series likely to contain the manuscripts of "others" (i.e., other than the main entry). Even then, only those people are indexed for whom there are good, authoritative biographical reference sources. Given the time-intensive nature of authority work, this indexing remains selective, not exhaustive. + Page 76 + [3] There are so many English and American authors indexed in LITMSS that searches using these nationalities without Boolean qualification are not fruitful. [4] Both indexes only retrieve collection records. The subjects of manuscripts described in indexing records are not analyzed because of the obvious amount of work that would be required of processing staff. In effect, every indexed letter would have to be read and interpreted according to LCSH subject headings. [5] "Subfile" is a SPIRES term for a set of goal records, the indexes to those goal records, and the access and update restrictions that apply to the data elements of those records. In essence, a subfile is a database. About the Author John Delaney Leader, Rare Books and Manuscripts Cataloging Team Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Princeton University One Washington Road Princeton, NJ 08544 BITNET: Q3784@PUCC ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is an electronic journal. It is sent free of charge to participants of the Public-Access Computer Systems Forum (PACS-L), a computer conference on BITNET. To join PACS-L, send an electronic mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-L First Name Last Name. This article is Copyright (C) 1990 by John Delaney. All Rights Reserved. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is Copyright (C) 1990 by the University Libraries, University of Houston. All Rights Reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computer conferences, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission. -----------------------------------------------------------------