The Mississippi Digital Library’s Civil Rights Thesaurus: An Evolving Authority Control Tool for Civil Rights-Related Headings in Metadata Records

Authors

Kathleen L. Wells, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Abstract

The online Civil Rights Thesaurus (CRT) at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) had its beginnings in the digitization of civil rights materials in the university’s McCain Library and Archives in the early 2000s. The materials included oral history interviews, letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other items from the rich history of the civil rights movement in Mississippi, including materials from the Freedom Summer of 1964. In addition to the creation of digitized images, making these materials available online as the Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive included the formulation of descriptive records using Dublin Core metadata and the development of a controlled vocabulary for subject access.

Publication Date

Fall 2010