Cataloging Futures

More on LC's Bibliographic Framework Initiative: Kevin Ford's presentation

Last week, Kevin Ford (who works in LC's Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO)) presented on LC's Bibliographic Framework Initiative at the Semantic Web in Libraries conference in Cologne, Germany.

Here's the abstract:

This presentation will provide a general update about the Library of Congress's Bibliographic Framework Initiative, including a short synopsis of its historical import, information about the attractiveness of Linked Data, and details about the work – models, tools, and findings - completed to date about transitioning from a MARC-based environment to a new bibliographic ecology. The general update about the Bibliographic Framework Initiative will include work and progress since the Library's update at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim in June. The first phase of the Initiative is complete. Among many objectives set for the initial phase, the most relevant outcome is the presentation of a draft model for community appraisal and on which to further build. Because an open process is desirable and expected, the community will already have seen the draft model, but this forum will provide an opportunity to go into greater detail, present the outcomes as a cohesive whole, and explore the ramifications and future directions stemming from the initial stage. Linked Data methods and strategies are proving to provide a very consistent yet flexible means to communicate data, which has always been one of the main aims of the MARC communication formats.

The presentation is available in two formats: video and slides [pdf].

I'd recommend the video if you really want to get a good understanding of the work of this important initiative for the future of cataloging and library metadata.

(Update: The video works fine with Chrome or Firefox, but not Internet Explorer.)

LC Bibliographic Framework Transition: Eric Miller's update forum

The Library of Congress recently posted a webcast: Library of Congress New Bibliographic Framework Initiative: Update Forum with Eric Miller. This is LC's initiative to develop a replacement for the MARC format.

The new bibliographic framework transition initiative will be focused on the Web environment, Linked Data principles and mechanisms, and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a basic data model. Zepheira, led by Eric Miller, has been active in the development of Semantic Web and library standards as well as open source tools to support linked data technologies and library applications. Zepheira will provide both a model (or models) to serve as a starting point for discussion and an analysis of related initiatives. Miller spoke to Library of Congress staff with an overview of the project and a report of progress to date.

In this webcast, Eric Miller describes the transition away from MARC as an evolution, not a revolution. It's a very interesting talk on how Zepheira is developing a linked data model that "deconstructs" and repurposes the valuable entities, subjects, etc. that are already contained in MARC records.

My persistent question, which I haven't seen an answer to yet is: Why at such an early stage of data modeling are we narrowing in on Linked Data? Shouldn't we be looking at a variety of models for a MARC replacement?

MARBI and the future of the MARC format?

Yesterday on the MARC listserv, Elizabeth Plantz (National Library of Medicine) and Tina Shrader (National Agricultural Library) raised concerns as to why the Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee (MARBI) has nothing on their agenda on the future of MARC for the upcoming ALA Annual Conference meetings.

Their questions for MARBI are worth reading as the Library of Congress begins its work investigating a possible transition away from the MARC format, a 40+ year old library metadata structure.

Transitioning from the MARC format (it might really happen!)

It's not too often that opening your email becomes a transformational moment, a "Wow" moment. Well, that was yesterday for me when the announcement came down from LC: Transforming our Bibliographic Framework: A Statement from the Libraray of Congress. I sort of though a movement away from MARC was never going to happen (at least not in my work-lifetime). This statement is the direction a lot of us have been waiting for.

As the REM song goes, this really could be "the end of the world as we know it."

A website has been set up for all the activity surrounding this initiative: Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative. I will keep an eye on it with cataloger-like, detail-oriented intensity. So, we'll see what this brings, but it sure does seem like a postive step forward.

Update: See also John Mark Ockerbloom's interesting take from an open data perspective.

Revisiting MARC must die

The "MARC must die" meme has resurfaced in several places lately. It refers to Roy Tennant's prescient article by the same title from 2002.

So, over the weekend I printed it off to re-read it and then discovered, self-described library-geek, Sally Chambers will be presenting a workshop next week (at ELAG 2011) entitled: MARC must die? Developing a shared vision for the future of bibliographic metadata.

Sally also gives a preview of her workshop on her blog: Will MARC survive ELAG 2011?

Any thoughts, predictions? Any worthy MARC replacements?

Update: See also: Roy Tennant's article, A bibliographic metadata infrastructure for the twenty-first century, 2004.

Webinar: Implications of MARC tag usage on library metadata

The webinar to accompany the new MARC tag usage report is now available:

Implications of MARC Tag Usage on Library Metadata

In this webinar, some of the authors of the recently published report, Implications of MARC Tag Usage on Library Metadata Practices (.pdf), presented evidence gathered and analyzed by the RLG Partnership MARC Tag Usage Working Group to inform library metadata practices, with a focus on machine applications.

A transcript of the webinar chat (.pdf) is provided below as a supplement to the recordings.

Contact Karen Smith-Yoshimura with questions or comments.

•.pdf of webinar chat transcript (36.7K/4pp.)

•.wmv (65.3MB/1:00min.)

Found at the OCLC Research events webinar page.

Tools of our trade: AACR2/RDA and MARC

New slides from Ann Chapman, research officer at UKOLN.

Tools of our Trade (RDA, MARC21) 2010-03-15

View more presentations from Ann Chapman.

h/t Cultural Heritage

New OCLC/RLG cataloging report on MARC tag usage

This new OCLC Research/RLG Partnership report looks like a must-read: Implications of MARC Tag Usage on Library Metadata Practices[pdf].

There will be a free webinar about this report on March 18th.

h/t TSLL TechScans

Bibliographic control webinar Q&A

Interesting Q&A follow-up from last month's NISO webinar: Bibliographic Control Alphabet Soup: AACR to RDA and Evolution of MARC. Barbara Tillett and Diane Hilmann weigh in on a variety of questions.

Barbara Tillett: RDA is not a format. It's a set of cataloging instructions on the identifying characteristics for the things we wish to control in the bibliographic universe. If you still are using an ILS when you start describing things according to RDA, you'd still be using MARC bibliographic records and MARC holdings records (and MARC authority records) for the foreseeable future. [emphasis added]

Looks like the immediate future's not so scary, changey after all!

h/t Notatu Dignum

ONIX to MARC and back again: OCLC's Metadata Services for Publishers

Interesting metadata news! OCLC is now offering a program to enrich publishers' ONIX metadata, an XML metadata standard used by publishers.

OCLC now offers Metadata Services for Publishers, a new service that takes publishers' ONIX title metadata, enriches it using WorldCat mining and mapping techniques, and delivers the enhanced ONIX metadata back to the publishers for use in their systems. The publishers' enhanced metadata is then made available early in the data creation process to libraries for use in selection, acquisition and technical services workflows. Information seekers also benefit from Web discovery of this metadata via WorldCat.org, the Web destination for discovery of library resources.

OCLC also offers Contract Cataloging for Publishers.

OCLC Contract Cataloging for Publishers is another service that creates MARC records using publishers' electronic title data as a starting point. OCLC offers cataloging solutions for publishers and vendors that need to provide MARC records to libraries. More information about OCLC services for publishers can be found on the Web site.

If you want to learn more about this, check out the ALA Midwinter 2009 program, From ONIX to MARC and Back Again: New Frontiers in Metadata Creation at OCLC. It's a very informative presentation by Renee Register of OCLC. Her description of the crosswalking of ONIX to MARC and MARC to ONIX illustrates exciting possibilities for ehanced, enriched metadata creation if libraries and publishers work together. Renee respectfully emphasizes the intellectual contribution of both publisher and library metadata creators.