• Project Update: New Resource Types and Subject Headings Added to Collection

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March 7, 2023 by 
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Over the past several weeks, IPSOLHA has added hundreds of new items to the online collection. (🎉Woo hoo! 🎉) These additions come primarily from two segments of the original IPSOLHA Zotero Database: “Secondary References” and “Other Legal References.” These segments of the original collection included several different types of resources on a wide range of topics. Adding them to our searchable online database therefore necessitated the addition of hundreds of new terms that users can now select from the sidebar menus to limit search results and browse the collection.

Resource Types

At the beginning of the project (Winter 2021), the team worked to compile a preliminary bibliography of scholarly works and references related to the history of the Indian Princely States. To get this bibliography started, we gathered crowd-sourced suggestions via Twitter and then worked through the Dartmouth library catalog to fill out the list based on what was accessible on our campus.

The resulting bibliography included oft-cited works of academic history like Barbara Ramusack’s The Indian Princes and Their States (2004), Ian Copland’s The Princes of India and the Endgame of Empire (1997), as well as recent contributions to the study of the princely states like Yaqoob Khan Bangash’s A Princely Affair: The Accession and Integration of the Princely States of Pakistan, 1947-1955 (2015).

Many of these items have been categorized under the IPSOLHA Resource Type “Secondary>>History“, along with other works of history and commentary on the princely states. To browse these items, use the “Resource Category” option from the search menu on the left side of the page and use the “View All” option to select the “History” subcategory.

“View all” menu options to select from different Resource Category options within IPSOLHA’s collection.

At present, IPSOLHA includes Resource Category tags for over forty (40) resource types, ranging from maps and statistics to reports and catalogs.

Subject Headings

With the addition of hundreds of new items to IPSOLHA’s collection also came the addition of hundreds of new subject-headings. Some of these subject-headings are borrowed from existing library catalogs and are based on Library of Congress Subject Headings. Other terms are unique to IPSOLHA and have been adopted to meet IPSOLHA users’ unique research needs.

At present, the IPSOLHA collection includes nearly 1,000 subject headings. These terms include alternate names and spellings for the individual states, general chronological markers, summaries of item contents, and other terms that will allow users to locate relevant items.

Subject headings are part of an internal taxonomy, which allows them to appear as clickable terms under the “IPSOLHA” tab of each item’s record page.

Item record for Administration Report of the Ratlam State, showing two subject headings: administration report and Ratlam (State).

By clicking on the subject headings for an individual item, users are able to access other items from the collection with the same subject-heading tag. These subject-headings facilitate users’ ability to search across multiple states for sources on similar or related topics. It is also possible for users to search subject headings using the search box at the top of the search menu on the left side of the collection page.