Cataloging Futures

Interesting post: CodeYear Catalogers

If you're interested in learning programming, check out Shana L. McDanold's blog post: CodeYear Catalogers.

CodeAcademy is offering an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in getting started with coding: Code Year. Each week they'll be emailing out to anyone that signs up an interactive lesson on coding. Code Academy offers some fantastic interactive courses, so you learn in a supportive environment.

Naturally this has piqued the interest of a number of catalogers that have been interested in learning to code or want to brush up or learn new code languages, myself included. Catalogers work with massive amounts of curated bibliographic data, and being able to manipulate it in new and different ways and in ever increasing amounts is key as we move forward into the bibliographic future and the world of linked data and the semantic web.

Cataloging at its core: the minimum viable record

Cataloging simplification. It's a gospel I preach for a lot of reasons (which I won't tackle here). We can struggle with this issue in the isolation of library land or get out and see what others think. For me, nothing beats listening to those who work with library metadata from the outside. A fresh set of eyes on a perennial cataloging issue.

Here's a post from the lead developer at the Internet Archive's Open Library, George Oates. She's been wrangling with a wide variety of library metadata and lives to tell about it. Her recent post, Minimum Viable Record?, is a must-read for all you catalogers and metadata librarians who think (like me) that in order to more forward, we need to cut back.

h/t Reading 2.0

Update: See also Saskia's posts: Simplification as an opportunity and Simplification as an opportunity - redux

The cataloger-programmer continuum

Earlier this month, Diane Hillmann gave a keynote address at the Code4Lib 2011 conference [archived video] where she suggested that catalogers and programmers are on a continuum. Well, recently I've moved further down that continuum toward programming and away from cataloging. My supervisor asked me to focus on the programming side of metadata work (and application development) and train one of my colleagues to do the more traditional metadata work, editing by hand, authority control, etc.

Eric Hellman, who also presented at this conference [archived video], said something that sounds like my personal mantra: "the power of a little bit of code." So far, my metadata work has benefited over the last three years from the power of a little bit of code (using XQuery and regular expressions). Simply put, things that would have been tedious drudgery if done by hand became fun programming challenges for a coding newbie.

So, as I move along the cataloger-metadata librarian-programmer continuum, I'll continue to share my experience here and on Twitter.

And I suppose I should get myself to a Code4Lib conference one of these days :)

Cataloging: what's the core?

Back in November we started using the project management system called Scrum for our work in Digital Collections. It requires that you work in designated time periods called "sprints" and at the end of each sprint you complete a deliverable product. Anyway, we've done four sprints, each in a two-week period, since then.

I really like this agile methodology and our digital team is adjusting to Scrum pretty well. But I've found it requires the same kind of intensity and focus that's also need for persistent blogging. So, blogging has gotten off-track at bit, but hopefully I can do a little catching up.

For starters, I really liked this post from last month by Roy Tennant: The Core of Bibliographic Description. Over the years, I've always been interested in this question of what are the core elements for bibliographic description. OCLC Research has been doing some evidence-based work in this area and the results are quite helpful.

RDA test, OCLC, and the opposing petition

Last month a Memorandum Against RDA Test was posted to the web and a call for signatures was put out on the cataloging discussion lists. As of this writing there are 298 signatures.

So, what's the complaint? There is concern that the RDA test records being input into the OCLC WorldCat database are going to cause problems for local libraries' cataloging workflows and systems.

There is particular concern about the authority records and the new headings created using RDA as the cataloging code instead of AACR2. People are concerned that the new headings being used in the test bibliographic records (when there is already an established AACR2 form) will cause a lot of conflict and, if RDA is implemented, a lot of authority changes will need to happen in local systems.

Since this is only a test that's adding a limited dataset in WorldCat, it does not seems like an insurmountable problem in the short run. If we're going to be practical when implementing RDA, however, we should just pick a date, stop using AACR2 rules to establish headings, and start using RDA rules for anything new. The problem the test has revealed (and why catalogers are so upset) is that it makes no sense to use new headings when, they argue, there's a perfectly good heading already established.

Another cataloging blog: Scarlettlibrarian's Blog

I've really enjoyed reading the recents blog posts at Scarlettlibrarian's Blog. Two in particular are worth reading:

• I am Metadata Management. What can I do for Subject Librarians?
• What will happen to cataloguing and catalogers?

I think the author accurately describes the kind of changes that are happening in our field.

The case for catalogers

Again found via Twitter: A cogent argument for why we still need professional catalogers. Database Librarian, Esther Arens writes this guest post at the Voices for the Library blog: Guest post: Do we need cataloguers?

Lots of good points. Well worth reading (comments too).

Catalogers who Twitter

With the popularity of the recent post on catalogers who blog, I'm encouraged to pull together a similar list of catalogers and metadata librarians who actively use Twitter. So, I'll work on that.

In the meantime, Becky Yoose did a great write up about her Twitter list of cataloging and metadata librarians: A year of troublesome catalogers and magical metadata fairies. She captures the spirit of catalogers using this social networking tool to communicate among themselves and with others: cataloging questions, problems, rant, snark, coffee, chocolate, etc.

So, join in and have fun. Twitter really has turned out to be the professional development tool du jour!

Cataloging, the cool job

This tweet jumped out at me the other day: "All the cool kids want to be catalogers! One of ours tells you why it's the best job in the world." It linked to this post by Smithsonian Special Collections Cataloger, Diane Shaw: What It's Like to Be a Cataloger.

Diane's post reminds me a little of Richard A. Murray's The Whimsy of Cataloging (one of the best descriptions of what it's really like to be a cataloger). She expresses the joy of working with interesting, fascinating collections on a daily basis and describes where things are trending in the future at her institution.

Yes, cool job for the cool kids!

Cataloging and metadata blogs in 2010

Later today I'm giving a presentation on cataloging and metadata blogs for my SEPTLA colleagues (we have a long-standing Catalogers' Interest Group). So, thought I'd share this list on the blog also. It represents English language blogs only and is not comprehensive, but rather a selection described in the next paragraph. I apologize if I missed a cool, active cataloging blog. Please add to the comments if you think of one.

This is a list of 31 cataloging and metadata blogs that have been currently active in 2010. The frequency of content varies depending on the author’s approach to blogging. This list also represents focused blogs whose content is cataloging, metadata, and related issues, rather than those that cover a variety of topics or are diary-like personal accounts. Just a reminder—the best way to keep up with blogs is to use an RSS feed reader such as Google Reader or the feed subscription function built into most web browsers, such as Internet Explorer.

• Planet Cataloging: http://planetcataloging.org/ “Planet Cataloging is an automatically-generated aggregation of blogs related to cataloging and metadata designed and maintained by Jennifer W. Baxmeyer and Kevin S. Clarke.”
• All things cataloged: http://allthingscataloged.wordpress.com/ Author, Saskia is a library cataloger currently based in Vienna, Austria, following stints in Stuttgart, Leipzig and London. This is a new blog, just started in August 2010.
• Bibliographic Wilderness: http://bibwild.wordpress.com/ Author, Jonathan Rochkind, is the Digital Services Software Engineer at Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries.
• Catalogablog: http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/ Author, David Bigwood, is the Cataloging Librarian at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas.
• Cataloging Futures: http://www.catalogingfutures.com/ Author, Christine Schwartz, is the Metadata Librarian at Princeton Theological Seminary Library, Princeton, New Jersey. The focus of her blog is the future of cataloging and metadata in libraries.
• Cataloguing Aids: http://cataids.wordpress.com/ Author, Lynne LeGrow, is a cataloguer at the Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia, Canada.
• Celeripedean: http://celeripedean.wordpress.com/ Author, Jennifer Eustis, is a Cataloguing & Metadata Librarian, at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Cooperative Cataloging Rules Blog: http://coopcatwiki.blogspot.com/ Author, James Weinheimer, is the Director of Library and Information Services at the American University of Rome. This blog accompanies the Cooperative Cataloging Wiki.
• Coyle’s InFormation: http://kcoyle.blogspot.com/ Author, Karen Coyle, is a “librarian with over thirty years of experience with library technology. She now consults in a variety of areas relating to digital libraries.” (http://www.kcoyle.net/reach.html)
• First thus: http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/ Author, James Weinheimer, is the Director of Library and Information Services at the American University of Rome. He is an active contributor to cataloging discussion lists such as AUTOCAT.
• From the catalogs of babes: http://catalogsofbabes.wordpress.com/ Author, Rachel “Ivy” Clarke, was a cataloger at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Library in Los Angeles, California during the time she wrote this blog. She recently left this position to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Washington’s iSchool in Seattle, WA. She recently stopped writing this blog in September 2010.
• Inquiring Librarian: http://inquiringlibrarian.blogspot.com/ Author, Jenn Riley, is a Metadata Librarian in the Digital Library Program at Indiana University. She just accepted a new position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to be Head of the Carolina Digital Library and Archives.
• Learning About RDA: http://learningaboutrda.wordpress.com/ Diane Hillmann’s blog for a class she taught on RDA in the spring of 2010. See more about Diane Hillmann at her blog, Metadata Matters, described below.
• Local Weather: http://mlbeacom.blogspot.com/ Author, Matthew Beacom, is a Metadata Librarian at Yale University.
• Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog: http://orweblog.oclc.org/ Author, Lorcan Dempsey “is currently working for OCLC as Vice President, OCLC Research and Chief Strategist.”
• Metadata Blog: http://www.alcts.ala.org/metadatablog/ “The official blog of the Metadata Interest Group (MIG), a discussion group of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services division of the American Library Association.”
• Metadata, cataloging, & various librarian-like stuff: http://carolslib.wordpress.com/ Author, Carol, a full-time cataloging trainer writes this "semi-anonymous" blog.
• Metadata Matters: http://managemetadata.org/blog Author, Diane Hillmann, is “currently Director of Metadata Initiatives for the Information Institute of Syracuse (formerly Research Librarian, Cornell University Library and Director of Library Services and Operations of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL))” (http://managemetadata.org/about.php).
• Metadata: How a Cataloger Views and Interprets the World: http://metadata.posterous.com/ Author, Jeffery Beall, is “a Metadata Librarian at the University of Colorado Denver in Denver, Colorado. [He mentions on his blog] I research the strengths of metadata-enabled search systems and the weaknesses of full-text searching. An example of a weakness of full-text searching is the synonym problem: when you search for "leprosy," you miss all the resources that refer to the disease only as "Hansen's disease."
• Metalogger: http://metalogger.wordpress.com/ Author, Neil Godfrey, is a metadata specialist who is currently a bibliographic consultant with the Singapore National Library Board.
• Metalogue: http://community.oclc.org/metalogue/ “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. “ As of October 15, 2010, this blog is being retired and readers are directed to the OCLC Cooperative Blog: http://community.oclc.org/cooperative/.
• Panlibus: http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/ This is a multi-author blog written by the staff of the Talis library systems company. They do a lot of work in the area of the semantic web--cutting edge stuff.
• Quiescit anima libris: http://latinlibrarian.blogspot.com/ Author writes anonymously under the pseudonym “Scribe.”
• The Bib Blog: York University Libraries Bibliographic Services: http://www.yorku.ca/yul/bibserv/blog/ Author, F. Tim Knight, is Head of Technical Services at Osgoode Hall Law School Library, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• The Cataloguing Librarian: http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/ Author, Laurel Tarulli, is the Collections Access Librarian at Halifax Public Libraries. Laurel is currently researching the social aspects of next-generation catalogs.
• The FRBR Blog: http://www.frbr.org/ Author, William Denton, is the Web Librarian at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• The Serials Cataloger: http://serialscataloger.blogspot.com/ Author, Lori Terrill, is the Principal Serials Cataloger at the University of Wyoming.
• Three Catalogers Walk Into a Blog: http://3catalogers.wordpress.com/ A multi-author blog. Richard Stewart, Jennifer B. Young, and Joy Anhalt focus on resources to help catalogers in their everyday work.
• TSLL TechScans: http://tslltechscans.blogspot.com/Blog for Technical Services Law Librarians.
• WadingIn: http://wadeatmac.wordpress.com/ Author, Wade Wyckoff, is the Associate University Librarian, Collections at McMaster University Library in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
• What’s the point?: http://www.pointsmean.blogspot.com/ An anonymous cataloger working in the U.K. Here from the first post:”Suffice it to say that I am a cataloguer (and have been for many many years - too many years, probably) and that I work in the United Kingdom. Although it hasn't always been the case, at the moment I am working in a public library. It's a fairly precarious position nowadays, and one of the things I want to explore through this blog is why this is so - why cataloguing is so little respected and valued. There will be lots of other things to say as well.”