Cataloging Futures

OCLC record use policy: important updates

May 11, 2009: The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) issued their Statement on the Proposed OCLC Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records.

May 18, 2009: OCLC Review Board on Shared Data Creation and Stewardship reported to the OCLC Members Council and advised that the proposed policy be withdrawn and a new policy be developed.

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 :)

ARL task force weighs in on OCLC policy

Via Thingology Blog: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has just issued a report from their Ad Hoc Task Force to Review the Proposed OCLC Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records.

Looks like a must-read.

New, ad hoc blog: OCLC's review board on shared data

Another way to join the OCLC policy conversation: OCLC's newly appointed Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship now has a blog.

Our purpose is to engage the membership and seek your counsel before the new policy is implemented. OCLC has announced it will hold implementation until the third quarter of 2009. Immediately, we will organize information sharing and feedback opportunities with Members Council delegates and with the full membership as well as with other stakeholders in the global library community. We will seek to understand today's environment as it relates to the creation, use and transfer of data and articulate principles of shared data creation consonant with the values of the OCLC cooperative. We are mindful of the vibrant library community we represent and with your feedback, we will seek ways to strengthen our community. The Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship will present its findings and recommendations to the President of Members Council, the Chair of the Board of Trustees and to the OCLC President and CEO.

We actively seek feedback in a variety of ways and hope that you will be generous in sharing your thoughts with us. You can do so by sending us an email at reviewboard@oclc.org which is a list set up for the use of the Review Board members, or posting comments to us here.

Jennifer A. Younger, chair, OCLC Review Board
Edward H. Arnold Director of Hesburgh Libraries
University of Notre Dame

ALCTS forum on shared library data and OCLC policy

Update: Norman Oder at the Library Journal has done a full write-up of this meeting.

Hey, if you're going to the ALA Midwinter Conference, this is THE forum to go to: ALCTS Forum: Creating and Sustaining Communities Around Shared Library Data, January 26th from 8:00-10:00 AM at the Colorado Convention Center, Korbel Ballroom 3C.

Panelists will share a variety of perspectives on community norms, policies, and best practices for accessing, using, and sharing the data that supports the discovery and delivery of library collections. What can libraries and the organizations that serve them learn from the open data movement and sites like Wikipedia? What principles and practices for shared data creation and maintenance will most help and strengthen libraries in the future? Panelists will also be addressing the changes in the OCLC Record Use Policy, particularly in light of the recent announcement from OCLC on the establishment of the Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship.

Via Disruptive Library Technology Jester

OCLC establishes review board to look at question of shared library data

Wow, OCLC is listening. I'm sure you know by now that OCLC will convene a Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship. The press release announcing this decision is a must-read.

Here are my questions for the review board:

• How in an age of social networking can libraries work together and continue a collaboration started in 1967?

• What's different now? What does sharing data and collaboration mean for libraries in 2009?

Metadata issues in the forefront for 2009

I really like Eric Lease Morgan's Top Tech Trends for ALA Mid-Winter, 2009. Several trends deal with metadata:

• Linked data
• Word/tag clouds
• data ownership

I will try to link to some of the interesting blogging coming out of the 2009 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Stay tuned.

How to response to the OCLC record use policy

So far I've found three ways you can respond to OCLC's record use policy:

1. Write OCLC directly. They've set up an email address for questions/comments: recorduse@oclc.org
2. Sign the Stop the OCLC powergrab! petition.
3. Sign the Petition for OCLC to Collaboratively Re-write Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records.

I have not done any of these yet. Still plodding along: reading, thinking, lurking on AUTOCAT, etc.

OCLC policy: spreading the bibliographic wealth around?

The library blogosphere's BIG question right now is: Are we going to freely open up our bibliographic data, i.e., our library metadata? And how are we going to do this?

As OCLC members/contributors: Do we want to spread the bibliographic wealth around? Or do we accept the new OCLC policy which restricts particular types of access/re-use of the bibliographic records we create and add to the WorldCat database?

Speaking as a metadata librarian, formerly known as cataloger: this is a real turning point for our area of librarianship. If we move forward with an open access/open data model with our data in the public domain, it could be pretty awesome!

No strong opinions at this point: I'm still trying to absorb blog posts and documents on OCLC's Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records. I have more questions than answers:

• What's in our best interest? Our library patrons' best interest?
• What's wrong with commercial use of bibliographic records?
• How much commercial use would there actually be for bibliographic data?
• Wouldn't indifference, i.e. lack of interest, be more of a problem then commercial interest in our metadata?
• Why isn't the OCLC number enough of an identifier on bibliographic records? Do we really need the additional 996 field? Extra work for libraries to remove this field?
• Is the new policy more restrictive than the old guidelines? Less restrictive?
• Could OCLC generate enough revenue from the other services they provide?
• The power of WorldCat is the aggregation of both records and locations: If libraries start to leave OCLC for other aggregators, what will that mean for the usefulness of WorldCat?
• What would a decentralized model of OCLC look like?

(BTW, as mentioned previously: the Code4Lib wiki page: OCLC Policy Change is still the best compilation of blog posts on this issue.)

Essential listening: Calhoun and Tennant on OCLC's policy

In this Talis podcast, Karen Calhoun and Roy Tennant discuss and explain the reasoning behind and goals of the newly revised Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records.

Both Calhoun and Tennant were part of the study group that developed the new policy. The earlier policy dates back to 1987--ancient history in Web years.

Richard Wallis does a great job in this interview. He pulls together questions from emails he received. Many of the questions posed in the library blogoshpere on this policy change are addressed.

If you work at an OCLC member library (or you're considering membership) you will want to listen to this podcast.

My take: Having asked for and gotten permission to use the new WorldCat Search API to extract and overlay WorldCat records for one of our digital library project at work, I am sympathetic to OCLC's goal of wanting to enable their members to use WorldCat in new and innovative ways.

Also, I do think that OCLC has certain rights over the database with all the transformation that goes on (at OCLC) with the records created and submitted by member libraries. OCLC doesn't just stockpile our records. However, the issues are complex. I'm also very sympathetic to an open data paradigm. I'm going to keep reading and thinking about the pros and cons. One thing for sure: this is a very significant issue for all OCLC member libraries to contemplate as we all move toward using the Web to communicate with our users.