ABSTRACT
This entry begins with a brief overview of the defining features of a work of art as formulated by aesthetics and art history, noting the major lines of inquiry and debate relevant for information science. It considers the role of cultural institutions (e.g., museums, archives, and libraries) whose descriptive practice centers around works of art, furnishing examples of how collecting, exhibiting, and describing activities define works of art. The main body of the entry discusses the information management community's attempt to define “work of art” within the context of descriptive metadata schemas in order to advance knowledge about works of art and enhance access to them on line. An exploration of how Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) might apply to works of art is used to illustrate the central issues in describing unique cultural works.
