Cataloging Futures

RDA/MARC working group established

Lots of interesting cataloging news this week. I was able to glimpse it going by as I looked up from full-immersion in METS and Dublin Core (that "other planet" that the non-MARC metadata folk live on). First up, some MARC news.

Yesterday on the MARC and RDA discussion lists, Marjorie E. Bloss, RDA Project Manager, announced the establishment of the RDA/MARC Working Group:

Under the auspices of the British Library, the Library and Archives Canada, and the Library of Congress, an RDA/MARC Working Group has been established to collaborate on the development of proposals for changes to the MARC 21 formats to accommodate the encoding of RDA data. With the implementation of RDA anticipated for late 2009, the Working Group will be drafting proposals for review and discussion by the MARC community in June 2008.

Although the MARC 21 formats support the encoding of descriptions created according to a wide range of content standards, the close relationship between AACR and MARC 21 has contributed to the efficient exchange of information among libraries for decades. The RDA/MARC Working Group will identify what changes are required to MARC 21 to support compatibility with RDA and ensure effective data exchange into the future.

Members of the RDA/MARC Working Group are:

• Everett Allgood (New York University and CC:DA Liaison to MARBI)
• Corine Deliot (British Library)
• Rebecca Guenther (Library of Congress)
• Bill Leonard (Library and Archives Canada)
• Sally McCallum (Library of Congress)
• Marg Stewart (JSC Liaison to the RDA/MARC Working Group)
• Martha Yee (UCLA Film and Television Archive)

ALA 2007: Informing the Future of MARC

Here are the presentations and handout from the ALA Annual Conference program, Informing the Future of MARC: An  Empirical Approach (sponsored by ALCTS and MARBI, Washington, DC, June 23, 2007):

• Informing the Future of MARC: An Empirical Approach (Presentation by Moen and  Miksa)
• Informing the Future of MARC: An Empirical Approach (Handout)
• MARC Futures (Presentation by Sally H. McCallum, Library of Congress)

Via Never Stop Learning

 

 

Insights into the Future of MARC

I definitely feel behind the curve! I just discovered yesterday (while looking around for cataloging stuff to blog about) Roy Tennant's recent article where he mentions the MARC Content Designation Utilization project (MCDU project). This is the first I've heard of it. It's quite an impressive empirical study on the extent to which catalogers have used the MARC 21 content designation. Check out the MCDU website (important reading for all those interested in the future of the MARC format).

Also, ALCTS is sponsoring Informing the Future of MARC: An Empirical Approach at the ALA Annual Conference on Saturday, June 23, 2007.  This program will deal with the findings of the MCDU project. Here's the ALA program description:

"Informing the Future of MARC: An Empirical Approach
ALCTS
Track: Collection Management & Technical Services; Cataloging & Metadata
Did you know that catalogers use only 10-20% of available MARC fields/subfields? Given evolving search behaviors and the amazoogle effects, do our bibliographic records provide information users need? This program presents findings from a major IMLS-funded research study on catalogers' use of MARC (http:// www.mcdu.unt.edu) and an opportunity to discuss future directions for MARC and cataloging practices in the context of FRBR, RDA, and XML. The study's results provide a needed empirical basis to inform MARC's future.
Speakers: Dr. William E. Moen, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas; Dr. Shawne D. Miksa, Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas; Sally H. McCallum, Chief, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress"