Cataloging Futures

Got metadata?

Over on Libtools, Mia makes the point that in order to have shareable metadata you need "value-added data in the first place":

If no one assigns subjects, subject descriptors or terms, whether controlled or uncontrolled, there is nothing to share/extract/expose there, either. No topic maps or subject browse, for instance.

In turn, your data, or rather users of your data, won’t be able to benefit from the newer models that are emerging for linked data (e.g., SKOS, VIAF, and other web services).

Best practice for shareable metadata?

Practice value-added data in the first place.

New authority control blog

You'll want to check on this new blog on authority control, Collocate and Disambiguate:

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.

My friend, Lois, is one of the smartest catalogers I know, hands down. She has always kept up on cataloging trends. So, I'm really glad she started this blog!

ALA 2008: There's no catalog like no catalog

I definitely don't write enough about the future of the library catalog. There are several reasons for this--one is that so many other people are working hard in this area.

Well here's an ALA/LITA program,There’s No Catalog Like No Catalog: The Ultimate Debate on the future of the Library Catalog that tackles this issue head on. The panelists were: Karen Coyle, Karen Schneider, Steven Abram, and Joe Janes. The moderator was Roy Tennant. The complete program is available as a podcast. It's well worth listening to if your interested in the future of the library catalog (and cataloging).

One good thing I took away from this debate is a rediscovery of Patrick Wilson, librarian and philosopher. Joe Janes mentioned how forward-looking his thought was. So, I went back to my library school cataloging notebook (yes, I still have it) to find one of his essays. I'm reading it now and hope to write some more about his ideas soon.

No catalogers, or, The chickens have come home to roost

I've been wanting to blog an alternative title for awhile.

I think a library school professor said this (can't find the reference) and a certain notorious Reverend has used it recently :) The chickens have come home to roost. According to Karen Calhoun at the recent Palinet symposium there are not enough fledgling catalogers coming out of library school to replace those retiring.

The library professor's point had to do with the LIS curriculum. If you remove cataloging from the curriculum this is what you get. A generation of catalogers retiring and no replacements waiting in the wings.

I'm a little skeptical about this because I personally know some twenty-somethings who actually think that cataloging is a pretty cool job.

So what do we do? My career long MO has been to encourage, mentor, and train new catalogers. I am an enthusiastic cataloging geek--I can't help it. One needs to have a positive response to such a negative prognosis. Any thoughts?

Library issues outside the future of cataloging debate

Lunch was looming large. So, there were a few things I forgot to say at the Palinet symposium. Specifically, topics I try to follow outside of the future of cataloging debate ("try" being the operative word). Thought you might find them helpful:

• Future of libraries
• Copyright
• E-books
• Mass digitization of books
• User's research behavior
• Scholarly communication
• Digital preservation (this is one my reading wish list, haven't gotten started yet :)

IMHO we don't focus enough on how the future of libraries is inextricably tied to the future of cataloging. It's a point that often seems left out. All these topics are really related to the future of libraries in general.

So, looking at the future of libraries, texts, reading, and readers is a little side hobby.

RDA Online draft delayed

The publishers of Resource Description and Access (RDA) recently announced a 2 month delay releasing the final draft of RDA in its web prototype, RDA Online.

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.

Note to publishers: This metadata librarian needs a paper version also (I'm sure I'm not alone in this request.).

Barbara Tillett's RDA webcasts

I always blog about "essential reading," well here's some essential watching.

Barbara Tillett, Chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, speaks about RDA in these two new webcasts:

Resource Description and Access: Background / Overview

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.

Cataloging Principles and RDA: Resource Description and Access

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.

Cataloging conversations in Canada

I'm in Ottawa for the American Theological Library Association Annual Conference. The theme of our technical services discussion last night was--Why be a cataloger? We focused on the personal and professional rewards of cataloging in a period of rapid change and "vocational angst."

One of my ATLA colleague, Blake Walter, did a nice write up of this discussion over on his blog, Views on Theological Librarianship. Check it out.

Future of Library of Congress Subject Headings

I guess the days of the "red books" are over. Want to see what the future of LCSH might look like? Take a look at lcsh.info:

This is an experimental service that makes the Library of Congress Subject Headings available as linked-data using the SKOS vocabulary. The goal of lcsh.info is to encourage experimentation and use of LCSH on the web with the hopes of informing a similar effort at the Library of Congress to make a continually updated version available. More information about the Linked Data effort can be found on the W3C Wiki. [emphasis mine]

Nathan, thanks for reminding me about this a month ago :) Talk about slow blogging!

Karen Calhoun's new cataloging and metadata blog

Exciting news. Karen Calhoun, Vice President of WorldCat and Metadata Services at OCLC, has just started blogging at Metalogue: New Directions in Cataloguing and Metadata from around the World.

Metalogue is a forum for sharing thoughts on all things related to knowledge organization by and for libraries, hosted by Karen Calhoun, Vice President, WorldCat and Metadata Services for OCLC. Karen is joined often by friends and colleagues from all over the globe, who contribute perspectives and experiences about the current and future state of cataloguing and metadata.

Via Lorcan Dempsey's weblog