Cataloging Futures

Cataloger to computer geek: Is HTML the gateway drug?

Over the past several months, the library blogosphere has been joined by a few catalogers who are blogging anonymously. They've been writing some good stuff, so I'd like to feature them here and recommend that you add them to your RSS reader.

First up is Cataloging Lovely. I love yesterday's post: Is HTML the gateway drug?

I am not a computer geek. I studied music, cooked in kitchens, and went to library school. I did not spend my youth in darkened rooms fiddling with DOS screens. I do not play World of Warcraft. I do not know what a registry code is. I have never taken a computer class, save for my 8th-grade typing class (which, incidentally, has served me well). And yet, somehow I am strangely drawn to HTML.

As a metadata librarian, formerly known as cataloger, I can definitely relate to this post. I'm addicted to the little queries I write in XQuery that do powerful things to find and manipulate metadata.

RDA cataloging: OCLC policy statement

Want to contribute original cataloging to WorldCat using RDA now? You can. Here's the OCLC policy statement on RDA Cataloging in WorldCat for the U.S. testing period.

h/t TSLL TechScans

The importance of findability and the library catalog

Whenever someone takes a minority position on future of cataloging issues, I sit up and take notice (especially when has to do with the MARC format). In this post, Findability and the Library OPAC, programmer and librarian, Susan Berdinka argues that MARC is not the problem:

Roy Tennant stated in 2002 (and has since retracted) that “MARC has always been an arcane standard.” There are still those who believe the problem is MARC. All that MARC is is a standardized format. Nothing more. Other than a need for normalization, the only changes I see that need to be made to MARC are the additions proposed accommodate RDA. The relational database model is still the best way to store and retrieve information. The issue is not the storage of the information. The issue is the software interface as it is designed to interpret the user’s needs and retrieve the data. The database queries themselves are trivial. We need a better way of creating queries to produce accurate results.

Cataloging and beyond: the year of cataloging research

Really interesting summary of the ALA Annual Conference panel presentation, Cataloging and Beyond: The Year of Cataloging Research (found at the American Libraries' ALA membership blog).

Cataloging with RDA: an overview

NCompass Live: Cataloging with RDA

View more presentations from Nebraska Library Commission.

Nice, up-to-date overview of RDA by Emily Nimsakont. There are also audio and video versions of this presentation.

h/t The Antiquarian Librarian

Should we capture metadata about metadata?

In a world where library metadata is harvested, mashed up, aggregated, and contributed by users, do we need to pay more attention to meta-metadata? Good question. Of course, we do some of this already, but most meta-metadata is considered to be administrative or technical information that's not exposed to our users. That could change in the future.

All this is worth thinking about and is addressed by Fran who writes at VocabControl in a recent post, The power of parametadata.

Parametadata (or meta-metadata) is another subset of metadata – it is the metadata about the metadata, giving its provenance, date of creation, technical specifications, etc. Once you start to think about metadata as content in its own right, it becomes obvious that just as you wish to track the author, title, and so on of the core content, so too you need to track the author(s), provenance, date of creation and latest update of the metadata as well. For subjective metadata, parametadata becomes hugely useful. Because you can have multiple classifications of an asset, it is very important to track the source – distinguishing between author added keywords, indexer keywords, and folksonomic tags, for example – so that people can tell where a tag has come from.

h/t LISNews

Cataloging rule changes of the past

Cataloging hall of famers: Michael Gorman, Janet Swan Hill, and Arlene Taylor discuss what it was like to live through cataloging rule changes in the past in this ALISE 2010 program: Technical Services: Past, Present, Future. Don't let this boring title fool you. This audio discussion of how libraries transitioned from the ALA-LC cataloging rules to AACR1 and AACR1 to AACR2 is fascinating and well-worth listening to. The panel also shares their thoughts (and strong opinions) on RDA and its possible future as a new cataloging code.

New LC webcast: RDA changes from AACR2 for texts

Barbara Tillett, chief of the Policy and Standards Division, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate at the Library of Congress., speaks about RDA in this newly available webcast:

RDA Changes from AACR2 for Texts

As the United States begins to prepare to test the new cataloging code, RDA: Resource Description and Access, this presentation explores the changes from AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed.) that the new code brings. The focus of this presentation is a brief overview of the changed instructions for cataloging textual materials. The presentation lasts 41 minutes, and the Q&A session afterward runs 35 minutes.

h/t ResourceShelf

The Library 2.0 Gang on semantic web and linked data

Another excellent conversation from The Library 2.0 Gang. The topic is one that's important for the future of cataloging and metadata: the semantic web and linked data. Karen Coyle is the guest for this discussion.

BTW, I finally own a smartphone and am unfettered from my desktop computer. So, I hope to be able to listen to and recommend more podcasts in the future. Cataloging professional development on-the-go!

Check out: March metadata madness!

Over at The Desk Set blog, Amber Billey, who was recently named one of Library Student Journal's Emerging Leaders for 2009, is working on a series of posts on cataloging and metadata. Check out the first one: March Metadata Madness!

Hello catalogers, content strategists, information architects, knowledge organizers, metadata librarians, metadata specialists and all those who love and appreciate our kind of librarianship. December was a busy month and I didn’t post nearly as much as I should have, so the kind folks at Desk Set have invited me back for some March Metadata Madness! Over the coming weeks I will be discussing emerging standards, professional development, and perhaps a special interest or two. I invite you to send questions concerning cataloging, metadata, and all things technical services. But for now, let’s get back to basics.

It's really great to see librarians younger than my gray-haired self embracing cataloging and metadata as an exciting area in our profession. I'm encouraged.