F

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a free-to-use, faceted, hierarchically structured vocabulary intended for those working in various artistic disciplines and is used to improve access to information about art, architecture, and material culture.
-getty.edu

Brief History
1970s Art libraries and indexing services begin to automate their catalogs, thus they have a need for a controlled vocabulary to encourage consistency in their catalogs. Several architectural experts begin to work on creating the AAT in NYC. 1983 Editorial work on the AAT is taken over by the Getty Trust, and work begins anew in Los Angeles. 1990-1994 The AAT is published by the Getty Institute in both print and electronic formats 1997 The print version of the AAT is deemed unfeasible and it is only published in a free, searchable Web interface 2008 TELDAP (Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program) works with Getty to develop the Chinese Language AAT of Taiwan. 2013-2014 AAT undergoes its latest update

Goals
The initial core of the AAT was gathered from terminology already being used in authority lists and the literature of art and architectural history, and then aligned with ISO and NISO standards. The database is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program, which based the thesaurus on the tree structures of MeSH. AAT continually grows to fit the needs of the community who use it, particularly through monthly contributions from the community of users and specialists in fields that pertain to the content of the AAT (Getty Trust, 2011).

Purpose and Target Audience

The purpose of the AAT is to improve access to information about art, architecture, and material culture. Particularly useful in the areas of: -Cataloging: used as a controlled vocabulary or authority by a cataloger or indexer; wherein they are provided with preferred terms for people, places, and things. -Retrieval: useful as a knowledge base to show relationships between concepts within the database -Research: helpful to those looking to research artistic disciplines and related concepts for projects The AAT is most often used by museums, art libraries, archives, visual resource collection catalogers, conservation specialists, archaeological projects, bibliographic projects concerned with art, information specialists and art researchers (Getty Trust, 2011)

Structure
F
The AAT is inspired by Ranganathans classification of information into five (5) categories/facets (Henning, Huber, Ludeman, 2008). However, the AAT is broken down into seven (7) facets*: Associated concepts (aesthetics, beauty) Physical attributes (textured, fragile) Styles and Periods (Polish, minimalism) Agents (corporations, modern architects) Activities (drafting, painting) Materials (copper, marble) Objects (sculptures, models) Brand Names (Papersave Process)
*These seven (7) facets are divided into 33 sub-facets or hierarchies (Henning, Huber, Ludeman, 2008

Using the AAT: Reading Records

1. Start in the results list or the hierarchical display and check the boxes next to the records you want to view. Then click View Selected Records.

Anatomy: Sample (Full) Record

(Record: acid copper chromate)

2. The full record will appear on the next page. You can view the entire record by scrolling down. Each record should have the fields: Term, Subject ID, Record Type, Hierarchical Position.

Resources and Authoritative Sources

Getty Vocabularies and Editorial Guidelines AAT: A critical appraisal Art & Architecture Thesaurus: Users Guide

References
Huber, A. (2008). Art & architecture [Slideshare presentation]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/huberannaj/art-andarchitecture-thesaurus-presentation Kazmer, M. (2003). Art & architecture thesaurus. Retrieved from http://hray.com/5703/a3/aat.htm