Cataloging Futures

OCLC symposium on publishing and library metadata

OCLC just held a symposium last month on publishing and library metadata. Interesting stuff. Here's some of the outcomes:

* Libraries and library metadata not necessarily on publisher's radar and vice versa.

* How MARC and ONIX represent misalignment of libraries and publishers.

* Structure of formats is inhibiting mutual understanding and ability to work together.

* Authors and users are important inputs to the metadata debate.

* We need to influence the ILS industry to accommodate data flexibility.

* We should view ONIX and MARC as communication mechanisms not as standards to support systems.

* Look at motivation as a way to understand who will or can do what.

* Leverage intellectual work for everyone—figure out how to use it.

* Proposals are a good way to vet ideas. Keep the conversation moving.

* Identify small chunks of problem areas where we can accomplish change. The CIP process and ISNI are good place to start.

LC's MARC record production study: surveys now available

The surveys are now available for LC's bibliographic record production study:

... we have begun to collect information about the creation and distribution of MARC records in North America. Online surveys will be open for your input through Friday, May 22. Your participation is vital. [emphasis mine]

Please find links to both surveys at: http://bibrecords.ning.com/

Thanks in advance for your interest in this important project!

Visit Bibliographic Record Production at: http://bibrecords.ning.com

Catalogers and web usability

I'm still studying OCLC's new report: Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want. I don't like their negative take on subject headings (page 52). Especially when the users in the survey ranked "more subject information" above "add summaries/abstracts" and "add table of contents." I would read that to mean that users find controlled subject vocabularies helpful.

But that aside, one of the issue the report highlights that seems to be a neglected area among catalogers is web usability. Usability is discussed on pages 50-51 of the report. Both web usability and information architecture are two new areas of study that we can learn a lot from as we rework how we catalog and create metadata for our users. Glad the report points that out!

Let's mashup MARC metadata before moving to the Cloud!

You young, tech savvy librarians may not remember this article. But back in 1994 Nicholson Baker wrote an essay in The New Yorker titled "Discards." He argued that we were losing valuable data from our card catalogs as we pursued the "holy grail" of efficiency: the online catalog.

I thinks he was right. Well, now we have no excuse. It's not the card catalog this time. The local online catalog is now the dinosaur and we're being encouraged to pursue the next holy grail: the Web, that is, moving our integrated library systems (ILS) to the Cloud. Now we're being offered WorldCat Local.

This time there's no reason we need to lose valuable local cataloging data. We can merge our local records. As long as we put in the effort locally and there is a willingness from OCLC to do this. We will probably learn more from OCLC as time goes on. For now, check out the WorldCat Local FAQs [pdf].

So, before moving your ILS to the Web think about the added value that catalogers put into those local MARC records. You could be abandoning these records for the less-full master records in WorldCat. Think hard about this because if there's one thing we're learning about today's users: they want more information about resources, not less.

CLA webcasting RDA pre-conference

Update: 5/29/09--Don't forget. Today's the day for this CLA webcast on RDA! You can follow the Twitter conversation at #rda2009cla.

Here's some cool news from the RDA-L list: The Technical Services Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) will provide a free webcast of what looks to be an awesome line-up for their RDA pre-conference: From Rules to Entities – Cataloguing with RDA. Jane Schmidt writes:

There is no need to register for, or have a username and password for the webcast of the RDA pre-conference. It is being provided for free and hosted on a free service on the web. All you have to do is go to this URL at 9am on May 29th when it will be broadcast live.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-rules-to-entities%3A-cataloguing-with-rda

It will also be archived there for future reference. It is not interactive, and we can make no guarantees that it will be of a high quality, only that we will do our very best. I am also asking everyone to bear in mind that I am not an AV professional, but am just playing one for this occasion!

Power point slides will be available for reference at the following location: http://tsig.wikispaces.com/Pre-conference+2009

LC's bibliographic record production study: two draft surveys

Ruth Fischer of R2 Consulting reports that there are two draft surveys available for this MARC record study. Within the next couple of weeks these surveys will be online.

Here's the link to the draft surveys. I printed off the one for libraries: it's 24 pages long.

By the way, David Bigwood mentioned last month that there's an RSS feed for the Bibliographic Record Production blog posts. The familiar orange icon for the feed is buried at the bottom of the Blogs page. Anyway, thanks David, having the feed makes it much easier to follow this study!

Rick J. Block's presentation on RDA and MARC

I loved Rick Block's recent presentation: RDA: Boondoggle or Boon? And What About MARC? [pdf]. You may recall that Rick Block won Library Journal's LJ Teaching Award for 2008.

Block, both a teacher and practitioner of cataloging, doesn't fall into either the traditionalist or modernist camp with regard to RDA and MARC.

I think this is the best recent overview of these two important future of cataloging issues. It lays out where we are right now with RDA and MARC and raises some interesting questions.

Interesting future of cataloging conversations...

Don't miss the interesting cataloging conversations over at Heidi Hoerman's blog, Future4catalogers' Blog. That's where the action is right now.

In case you're wondering why things have slowed down here at Cataloging Futures--I've been sick lately, not quite sure what's going on yet. But, I've had to scale back and de-stress a little. I'll report back when I know more. I'll still be blogging, just cutting back on the frequency.

Slow reading: "print is the next big thing"

John Miedema, IT guy and former true believer that "print, books and libraries were on the way out," has written a book titled, Slow Reading:

In the 1990s, society witnessed the mainstream integration of personal computers and the Web. For a time, it seemed likely that print, books and libraries would disappear, and perhaps literacy along with them. A generation later, we have some evidence by which to assess the reality. The analysis that follows shows that there is a close relationship between the media we use to read – books or digital technology – and the way we read and think. This is not to say that reading on screens spells the end of reading. Digital technology is often preferable for searching and scanning short snippets. However, print has endured because it is still the superior technology for reading anything of length, quality or substance. While digital technology lends itself to discovering and remixing ideas in novel ways, slow reading of books is still essential for nurturing literacy and the capacity for extended linear thought. [emphasis mine]

Check out the free chapter.

Via Aggie Librarian

OCLC policy: take this survey!

Update: April 8, 2009--today's the last day to take this survey!

If you're concerned about the future of bibliographic records, you'll want to take this survey concerning the proposed OCLC policy on shared data creation and stewardship.

The survey is being conducted by the OCLC Review Board on Shared Data Creation and Stewardship. And the deadline for completing the survey is soon: April 8, 2009.

Note to self: just do it :)