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Famous Catalogers’ Course
Created by Lois Reibach, this blog will discuss news and trends in authority control, and new uses of authority data. Developments in controlled vocabularies will also be covered.
Handy chart for interpreting German Fraktur
What is SlideShare?
SlideShare is the best way to share your presentations with the world. Let your ideas reach a broad audience. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to create a webinar.
RLG Programs releases "Seeking Sustainability," a casual report on RLG's exploration of ways to make access to digitized special collections self-supporting
From Karen S-Y (RLG):
"Tracking serial title changes outside the MARC record. Serial title changes can be challenging, and it can be difficult to parse all of them from what's in MARC records. OCLC recently introduced a new xISSN Web service, and it includes a neat Title History tool. (Lorcan Dempsey blogged about it at http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/001664.html - he includes one of the examples in the Title History visualization tool, the one for 0888-5885, the Industrial and engineering chemical research.) My favorite of the examples is the one for Journal of the Chemical Society, 0368-1769 which I thought demonstrates just how complicated title histories can be!"
"Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) describes the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images. The CDWA includes 512 categories and subcategories. A small subset of categories are considered core in that they represent the minimum information necessary to identify and describe a work. The CDWA includes discussions, basic guidelines for cataloging, and examples. You may print an overview of the CDWA categories and definitions as a PDF (see left navigation).
What is CDWA Lite?
CDWA Lite is an XML schema to describe core records for works of art and material culture based on the CDWA and the CCO. CDWA Lite records are intended for contribution to union catalogs and other repositories using the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) harvesting protocol."
"OCLC has launched a pilot project to explore upstream metadata capture and enhancement using publisher and vendor ONIX metadata. Pilot partners from the publishing, vendor and library communities are assisting us in this effort. We hope the pilotwill result in ongoing processes for the early addition of new title metadata to WorldCat and enhanced quality and consistency in upstream title metadata used by multiple channels."
"Terminology Services are web-based services for controlled vocabularies. More than 4.5 million terms, 2.4 million concept links, and 2 million contextual data elements are accessible to your applications.
Each vocabulary is fully indexed and searchable. Vocabulary data is retrievable in multiple representations including the MARC authority format, used by libraries, and the SKOS Core Vocabulary used in Semantic Web applications."
Lorcan describes OCLC's Terminology services:
"We have now made a set of controlled vocabularies available as web services for experiment. In effect, these services make a variety of subject vocabularies available as resources on the web in ways that individual vocabulary elements can be found, referenced and recombined in applications. They are 'webified'."
Loracen writes about the problems of linking/sharing national authority files, and how the problem compounds when we add indexing to a discovery layer along with bibliographic records.
The major authority record exchange partners (British Library, Library and Archives Canada, Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and OCLC) have developed a plan to allow the addition of non-Latin script data (also known as nonroman script data) to name authority records distributed as part of the NACO program.
The addition of non-Latin script data is scheduled to begin on July 13, 2008
Classify is a prototype service designed to support the assignment of classification numbers for books, DVDs, CDs, and many other types of materials.
Overview
The prototype provides access to more than 36 million WorldCat records that contain Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) numbers, Library of Congress Classification (LCC) numbers, or National Library of Medicine (NLM) Classification numbers.
The records are grouped using the OCLC FRBR Work-Set algorithm resulting in a work-level summary of the class numbers assigned a title. You can retrieve a classification summary by ISBN, ISSN, UPC, OCLC number, or author/title.
Wide Open: Your Library, Their Way
October 27 & 28, 2008
Sheraton University City
36th and Chestnut Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104
In 2006, the Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access (ABA) at the Library of Congress (LC) requested the Cataloging Policy and Support Office to review of the pros and cons of pre- versus post-coordination of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The final report (2/19/08) recommended, and the ABA Management accepted, that LC catalogers continue to apply pre-coordination of LCSH terms.
...
The LC report documents the recommendations approved in June 2007, regarding further automation of the assignment of subject heading strings, the expansion of machine validation of strings, further simplification of practices including the fixed order of subdivisions, exploration into LC's use of the current generation of sophisticated search engines, the enabling of more social tagging additions to the LC records, and encouragement of Web applications that take advantage of LCSH. On this latter point, LC intends to make LCSH freely available on the Web in a SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization Schema) format for the world at large.
Deanna Marcum's response to the "On The Record" report of the LC working group (June 1, 2008)
Ten Actions for ALCTS
The ALCTS Task Group on the LC Working Group report, "On the Record," has reviewed our overall analysis of the report, with the task of identifying up to ten actions which ALCTS and its various bodies might undertake. Our list of potential actions follows. They are grouped, not in order of priority, but approximately in the order in which the WG recommendations appear.
We have put the emphasis on ten actions for ALCTS, as compared with ten WG recommendations. In many instances, multiple WG recommendations may (and probably should) be addressed under one umbrella. We have suggested ALCTS bodies which may be involved in these actions, as well as potential collaborators from outside ALCTS. These suggestions are not intended to be exclusive, but simply to suggest the possibilities for collaboration. Representatives from other ALCTS/non-ALCTS groups may be involved.
Wiki for ALCTS Task Group's on the LC Working Group Report recommendations regarding On the Record: the Report of the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control Report.
LJ's summary of the LC response to 'On The Record'
Goal of This Unit:
* To acquaint and/or refresh those who need to become familiar with issues of collection management, serials records functions, and preservation.
Goal of This Unit
To acquaint and/or refresh those who need to become familiar with the current aspects of selection, funding, and acquisitions, specific to serial publications, regardless of format (print or e-resources).
Goals of this unit
1. To acquaint and/or refresh those who need to become familiar with current aspects of descriptive cataloging specific to serials
2. To acquaint those who need to become familiar with historical trends in serials cataloging
TITLE: Cataloging Principles and RDA: Resource Description and Access
SPEAKER: Barbara Tillett
EVENT DATE: 06/10/2008
RUNNING TIME: 49 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
The second in a series on RDA: Resource Description and Access, the next generation cataloging code designed for the digital environment. This presentation deals with the cataloging principles that have influenced the development of RDA; the challenges they present to the international sharing of bibliographic and authority data; and the challenges they present to the developers of RDA.
TITLE: Resource Description and Access: Background / Overview
SPEAKER: Barbara Tillett
EVENT DATE: 05/14/2008
RUNNING TIME: 67 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
RDA (Resource Description and Access), the next generation cataloging code designed for the digital environment, is under development. This presentation provides background on its development and a general overview of the conceptual models, international principles, and structure of this new code.
"The Co-Publishers of RDA Online (the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) have reached the conclusion that further time is required to complete the development of the new software that will be used for distributing the full draft of RDA for constituency review.
The full draft was originally scheduled for release on August 4, 2008. Instead, it will now be issued in October 2008. The three month time period allocated for comments on the full draft is unchanged, and in this new schedule will extend from October into January 2009. More specific dates for RDA's final release will be forthcoming shortly."
Final report of the ALCTS Non-English Task Force
"This paper examines the use of non subject related tags in social bookmarking tools. Previous studies of tagging determined that many common tags are not directly subject related but are in fact affective tags dwelling on a user's emotional response to a document or are time and task related tags related to a users current projects or activities. These tags have been analysed to examine their role in the tagging process."
RLG Programs 2008 Annual Partners Meeting
June 2-4, 2008
Now updated with speaker presentations and summaris of the breakout sessions
"The University of Tennessee Digital Library Center has released the UT-DLC MODS Metadata Workbook to the library community. Developed by Cricket Deane under the direction of Melanie Feltner-Reichert, this open source client-side software provides control of date formats and other problematic fields at the point of creation, while shielding creators from the need to work in XML. The tool consists of a series of web pages that enable users to easily generate complex, valid MODS metadata records that meet the 1-4 levels of specification outlined in the Digital Library Federation Implementation Guidelines for Shareable MODS Records, (DLF Aquifer Guidelines November 2006)."
"Both Lifehacker and Micro Persuasion have compiled excellent lists recommending useful bookmarklets to make your browsing experience more effective. These handy little applications are a combo of the bookmark and the applet (a small computer program) and they set up one-click buttons which appear on your browser and perform a specific function."
Formerly Promptcat
The Future of Cataloging: A PALINET Symposium (Thursday, May 29, 2008, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia)
Keynote Address:Karen Calhoun, Vice President, OCLC WorldCat and Metadata Services, will present an overview of the current state of cataloging and the future direction of bibliographic control.
Now updated with audio recordings and slides (from most of the presenters)!
Screencast (slides & audio) of an entertaining presentation about tagging in LibraryThing given by Tim Spalding at the
Association of Christian Librarians.
[side note: He claims that there are more things tagged daily in LT than the total number of PennTags done in 2 years]
From Glenn E. Patton:
"To get a sense of which MARC data elements are used in the various indexes for WorldCat, take a look at "Searching WorldCat Indexes" (http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/searching/searchworl
dcatindexes/). Click on "List of Fields and Subfields Indexed in Tag Order" in the navigation bar on the left of the screen to see a list of MARC elements and the indexes in which they are used."
DigCCurr 2009:
Digital Curation Practice, Promise and Prospects
April 1-3, 2009
Chapel Hill, NC USA
Important dates:
September 30, 2008
Proposals due for contributed papers, panels and posters
Seeking Sustainability: "a casual report about RLG's exploration of ways to make access to digitized special collections self-supporting, prepared by RLG Program Officer, Ricky Erway.
The report begins with an overview of RLG Cultural Materials and Trove.net (two services RLG offered prior to the RLG/OCLC combination) and discusses why they were curtailed. The findings regarding sustainability are based on RLG's experiences with subscription access, image licensing, and relevant advertising, as well as attempts at sponsorship and content licensing with other Web portals. The report captures a moment in time, but should be of interest to anyone pondering the question of how to provide access to and sustain library, archive and museum resources.
This report is part of an ongoing series of papers from OCLC Programs and Research to promote evidence-based practices that are likely to have an impact on research institutions and the communities they serve."
More on using the Google Book Search cover images
My slides from the The Future of Cataloging: A PALINET Symposium (5/29/08). I was part of a panel responding to Karen Calhoun's keynote address: Traveling Through Transitions in Technical Services: From Surviving to Thriving
"This site is designed to make it easier to find materials before, during, and after ALA conferences. If you are a presenter at an ALA conference, we ask that you please post your session materials here or add a link to them if they are hosted on another site. It is also our hope that working groups within ALA will use this resource to link to materials generated from ALA conferences, such as meeting minutes, collaborative documents, etc. Thank you!"
"Thomas Mann's detailed review of the Report of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control. The paper also examines the reorganization of LC's cataloging department proposed by Library management, and the predicably damaging impact it will have on libraries in all Congressional districts. "
This forum allowed presenters to share various metadata related tools (including MARCedit, Archon, Metadata analysis tool, etc.)
Website includes links to a summary page for each tool.
John Mark Ockerbloom's review of the Palinet Symposium on the future of cataloging
4/22/08 the Guardian had a supplement dealing with libraries and technology...about 15 articles in all.
An excerpt from the introduction:
"Academic libraries are changing faster than at any time in their history. Information technology, online databases, and catalogues and digitised archives have put the library back at the heart of teaching, learning and academic research on campus."
July 9th 2008 - Bucknell University - Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Resource Description and Access (RDA): Joint Statement of the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Agricultural Library on Resource Description and Access (May 1, 2008)
Steve Coffman's article from March 1999 - an Amazom-influenced view of library catalogs and delivery of materials
How much did this influence WorldCat.org?
From LibraryThing: scripts for getting book cover images from Google
DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 19 May 2008-OCLC and Google Inc. have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.
Under terms of the agreement, OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book SearchTM program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google.
March 14, 2008
Google Unveils Tools to Integrate Its Digitized Books Into Campus Library Catalogs
"This week Google unveiled a set of software protocols that allow libraries to essentially merge Goolge's collection with their own."
From ALCTS ANO:
"The Electronic Resources Interest Group now has a blog. The ERIG blog was developed and is maintained by Jennifer Lang. Announcements and updates to upcoming programs and speakers' presentation slides will be posted to the blog."
BIBCO's core record standards combined in chart form
Nine questions to guide you in choosing a metadata schema
Marie R. Kennedy
This article is a guide for collection developers at the point of considering a metadata schema for their digital collection. The nine questions asked in this article will assist a developer in clarifying how he wants the collection to be organized, described, and used. This article uses examples to illustrate how these questions guided the development of a digital collection built at the University of Southern California.
MetaArchive/LOCKSS Distributed Preservation Networks Workshop
Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL)
June 20, 2008 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Omni William Penn Hotel
This all-day workshop will provide information and training for institutions seeking to build or join LOCKSS-based distributed digital preservation networks. Please consider attending if you are interested in learning more about the technical logistics and operational considerations of hosting or participating in a Private LOCKSS Network for distributed preservation.
This is a revision of the 1961 "Paris Principles"
Comments due by June 30, 2008, to Barbara Tillett, Chair, IFLA's IME ICC Planning Committee at btil@loc.gov or fax to +1 (202) 707-6629.
See form at: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/icc/IME-ICC_final_vote_form_200804.doc
"As previously announced, NACO libraries may begin to add non-Latin script references to name authority records beginning in June 2008. A list of Frequently Asked Questions has just been posted to provide additional information on this project at:
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/nonlatinfaq.html "
Images of Fore-Edge Paintings from Boston Public Library
"Planet Cataloging is an automatically-generated aggregation of blogs related to cataloging and metadata"
The Penn Library Collections at 250
Early Modern History
Reprinted from The Penn Library Collections at 250: From Franklin to the Web, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Library, 2000), pages 33-59.
ScholarlyCommons@Penn
Brief description of Lea collection and a brief Lea biography
Finding Aid
Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909
Papers, ca. 1830-19