Abstract

This study aims to examine the archival description processes of cartographic and photographic materials held in selected public institutions in Türkiye. The significance of the research stems from the fact that these material types differ from other archival documents in terms of their information access elements and technical characteristics, requiring specialized description. A qualitative research method with a holistic multiple-case design was employed. The research population was composed of public institutions in Türkiye that produce or intensively use cartographic and/or photographic materials. Data were collected through documentary review and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings revealed that description practices in the examined institutions are far from standardized, vary between institutions, and are often limited to incomplete data fields. It was determined that the technical details of cartographic materials, such as scale, coordinate system, and production technique, and the access elements of photographic materials, such as subject, date of capture, and photographer information, are often not recorded. Furthermore, when compared with national archival practices, it was found that Türkiye has deficiencies in the use of description standards and lacks guiding documents, which constitutes a major problem. The study recommends the implementation of metadata standards tailored to the characteristics of cartographic and photographic materials and strengthening standardization processes through institutional cooperation. In this respect, the research offers an original contribution by both revealing the current situation and supporting material-type-focused standardization efforts in archival science.

Keywords: Archival description, cartographic material, photographic material, metadata, cataloguing of cartographic and photographic material

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License

Copyright (c) 2025 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to Cite

Değer, M. K., & Rukancı, F. (2025). Description of Cartographic and Photographic Material in Public Institutions in Türkiye. Information World, 26(2), 519-551. https://doi.org/10.15612/BD.2025.877