Resource Library's content presentation guidelines

Resource Library: Content Presentation Guidelines

Since the inception of Resource Library in 1997, its content presentation guidelines have evolved. In some years there have been substantive changes while in other years minor changes or none at all. The following information reflects the current guidelines.

Orientation:

Please read how Resource Library differs from paper-printed publications.

HTML presentation:

Each article or essay is digitized in HTML format for presentation on the Web. A "page" in Resource Library is the same as a separate URL.

Identifying "watermark":

To identify Resource Library pages there is usually a white background with the words "Resource Library" in faint blue color repeated throughout each page.

Article and essay headers:

At the top of the initial Resource Library page for a text there is a header block containing source and contact identification for the article or essay text. The header is preceded by double solid lines and followed by double solid lines.

Headers for Resource Library article source material provided by institutions without named authors contain the name of the institutional source and contact information usually including the phone number of the institution and, wherever available, its home page URL.

Headers for articles or essays published in Resource Library with named authors contains the source and date of publication permission. The header may also contain information concerning the name and dates of the exhibition pertaining to the text and other relevant information.

Author information:

For articles and essays with named authors, wherever available, there is a condensed biography of the author following the article or essay text. Here is an example.

Routing block:

For the convenience of readers, at the bottom of each Resource Library page (see the bottom of this page as an example) is located a block of information containing links to the homepages of both Resource Library and Traditional Fine Arts Organization.

Article and essay Resource Library editor's notes

On the main page for each article and essay there are usually Resource Library editor's notes. In the notes are guidance to links containing further information relevant to the article or essay located both inside and outside the TFAO Web site. Also included may be other information to help the reader better appreciate the article or essay. Editor's notes are placed immediately above the routing block noted above. Links to Resource Library texts are placed first, followed by links to texts and other media outside TFAO. In instances where the article or essay relates to a specific institution, immediately above the routing block is a legend directing readers to the sub-index page of the institution. An example: "Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Wichita Art Museum in Resource Library." If the article of essay references deceased artists, there may be placed another legend saying:"For further biographical information on selected artists cited in this article please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists." If there are revisions to the text after the date of original publication, a revision date may be posted. Also please see Errors and omissions for the use of editor's notes related to that subject.

Editor's notes for articles or essays with named authors originally published on paper and reprinted digitally in Resource Library may contain information including, where available: (1) the ISBN number of the paper-printed exhibition catalogue or book containing the original text; (2) the title of the original paper-printed exhibition catalogue or book; (3) the year of authorship of the text; (4) the name of the author; (5) available information concerning the name and dates of the exhibition pertaining to the text; (6) directions for readers who wish to purchase a copy of the related paper-printed catalogue, book or magazine; (7) the date of reprinting in Resource Library, (8) other relevant information. The methodology for describing scholarly texts has evolved over time.

When named authors are recognized, a legend may be placed such as: "Resource Library wishes to extend appreciation to Christine Doolittle of the Des Moines Art Center for her help concerning permissions for reprinting the above text." Information on books or magazines containing texts published in Resource Library may be placed in titled paragraphs outside of the editor's notes.

In some instances some or all editor's notes information is presented on a separate page. Please see recently published articles and essays for examples of current presentation methods.

Stylebook conventions of of original paper-printed text:

Resource Library follows, wherever possible using its HTML authoring software, the stylebook conventions used by authors and publishers in each original paper-printed text with the exceptions contained in Resource Library's text presentation and formatting conventions.

Text presentation conventions:

At the time when Resource Library publishes more than one article or essay concerning an institution or non-profit organization, editors create, as an additional resource for readers, a sub-index page containing: 1) links to each article and essay concerning that institution or non-profit organization, plus 2) descriptive text and image information concerning the institution.**

Since Resource Library's chronology of texts serves an archival function for the benefit of scholars and others, each article or essay has an identifying time reference. The date of publication of the article or essay is contained in the sub-index page for the source. The latest date of publication concerning a source is also noted in the Museums Index or Academies, Associations, Ateliers and Societies Index as applicable. The article or essay further contains a date reference in order to place the text in the correct time context. For instance, if a source submits text referencing an exhibition, but does not provide the year of the exhibition, Resource Library adds the appropriate year in order to provide clarity. Resource Library does not want readers to be mislead as to the dates of an event or exhibit when reading a previously published article years later.**

Errors and omissions in previously published articles in Resource Library are amended as soon as the editor is satisfied as to the legitimacy of the source and veracity of the corrections. Previously published publicity articles may also be amended from time to time to add additional content to improve readability for our audience. Authors sometimes request that their original articles be amended due to further content developed by the author. In the event of changes to a previously published text, Resource Library places at the end of the revised text a revision date and in certain instances a description of an amendment.**

Text is often presented in a single Resource Library page for texts with less than 2,000 words.**

For large essays the text may be broken up into discreet Resource Library pages with a page identification or numbering format. A page identification or numbering block is included each page's text segment.**

Article or essay text is presented in size "+1" HTML text. Footnotes and image captions are presented in size "0" HTML text. Footnote number markers in Resource Library pages containing article or essay text are presented in size "-2" HTML text.**

The title of each Resource Library-named article (with an unnamed author) is placed in the URL title at the top of each Resource Library page and is repeated in gray color following the header block. The original title of each article or essay with a named author is noted with the author name in the URL title and is repeated in gray color following the header block.**

Resource Library's use of HTML word wrap feature allows for widths of lines of text to automatically adjust to fit various screen sizes.** Word wrap makes it possible for Resource Library pages to be easily read on all devices that connect to the Internet including computers and hand held devices. (left: Apple iPhone, which contains a browser. courtesy Apple Computer)

Footnotes are placed after the last paragraph of the related text or the last Web page (URL) for the text if the text is contained in multiple URLs. Notes are placed in a wholly separate URL in cases where numerous URLs are utilized to contain the text or where the quantity of notes suggests use of a separate URL for ease of navigation. **

Very large texts with multiple URLs may sometimes have footnotes at the end of each URL presenting a portion of the text. This method may be used when chapters of a previously paper-printed text contained separate lists of notes or at the discretion of the copyright holder of the text.**

For articles and essays which are accompanied by images, captions for art objects provided by sources of the images are presented in a consistent format within each separate text. The caption is usually enclosed with parentheses and is prefaced with an indicator of placement of the image within the text, e.g., above, right: or left:. The artist's name is usually placed first in caption text, followed by (where available): the title of the art object in italics, the date of creation, the media information, the size in height x width x depth with the numbers followed by the word "centimeters," "inches" or "feet" as applicable, plus other identifying information supplied by the source. An example is "(left: Via Celmins, Untitled (Desert), 1971, lithograph. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John B. Turner Fund, 1972, 1972.501.5)." Captions for other images such as author or building photographs are presented in the manner specified by the source of the image. In cases where no descriptive text is designated by the image source, the image presentation may be accompanied by text written by Resource Library on a case by case basis. In cases where photo credits are provided, the photo credit follows the caption within the parentheses.**

Human formatting and proofreading performed at service bureau:

1. Paragraphs in Resource Library pages are separated by one line devoid of text in lieu of indentations at the start of each paragraph.*

2. Page numbers of original paper-printed text are not preserved or identified.*

3. Endnote or footnote markers within Resource Library essay texts do not use numbers with superscript as is commonly employed in paper-printed texts. In substitution, note numbers within the body of essays are bracketed, e.g., [10]. The footnote numbers in front of the footnotes where they are listed in a row following the essay are however without brackets*

4. Indented text from the original document (usually containing a lengthy quote) is preserved.*

5. Lines are left justified ragged right to give a more personal feel to the text. *

6. As a substitute for em dashes between words, double plain hyphens are used, e.g. "You are the friend -- the only friend -- who offered to help me".*

7. As a substitute for en dashes between periods of time, a single plain hyphen is used, e.g. "1999 - 2006". This is because some browsers do not recognize en dashes converted from .doc to .htm formats.*

8. A previously published essay from an exhibition catalogue or book is commonly accompanied by images and image captions in the paper-printed version. Unless the copyright holder(s) and Resource Library agree that images will accompany the Resource Library online reprinting, the images and captions accompanying the images are not included with the re-keyed and reprinted essay text in Resource Library. In order to preserve the integrity of the original essay text, figure or catalogue image number references within the essay text are preserved. Examples are "...Western paintings (Cat. No. 4)" and "...classes at the Ferrer Center (figs. 23-27)".*

9. Resource Library strives for a proofreading quality of text (converted from analog sources via OCR scanning) at a level of 99.995% accuracy. This level of accuracy is not however guaranteed.*

10. During the OCR-output proofreading process, apparent misspelled words and grammar errors in original documents are preserved. Proofreading only consists of correcting errors generated through the mechanical OCR process itself.*

11. In cases where a prior paper-printed text with multiple pages utilized page-by-page footnotes, footnotes are repositioned to the end of the text.*

12. Titles of newspapers, books, magazines and exhibition titles, are identified in italics, and not by underlining.

Images

Please see Submitting materials for preferences in publication of images. Images may be published in sizes other than TFAO's preferred sizes depending on the shape of an art object or the need to show detail within the artwork, or for other reasons. Location of images on a page is at the discretion of Resource Library, unless there are specific instructions by the provider of an image. Resource Library does not embed captions or photo credits within image boundaries. A thumbnail image of an image may be placed on a text page with a link to an enlargement of the image in order to conserve space on the text page. Images contained in pages relating to exhibits and institutional exhibitors themselves are courtesy of the indicated exhibitor unless otherwise noted. Publicity images provided by sources are used only for their intended purpose.

Note:

The text presentation conventions followed by * are at the analog to .doc or plain text file conversion level (which may be outsourced through service bureaus or done internally by TFAO or a museum). The text presentation conventions followed by ** are completed during the .doc or plain text level to .htm process (completed at TFAO). In cases where TFAO utilizes service bureaus, the output to TFAO also includes a .pdf file of the source document so that TFAO may conduct a final check of the text conversion provided at the service bureau. This .pdf file is not published -- due to copyright issues concerning embedded images of art objects in the text -- unless expressly permitted by the copyright holder of the source document. For text conversion quantity estimates please see TFAO's section on methods and costs. TFAO may provide financial assistance to museums for conversion of analog text to digital files and online publication of scholarly texts.

Resource Library reserves the right to change Content Presentation Guidelines at any time and without notice.

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rev. 7/16/10

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