Tech Services Workshops for the Fall

I haven't been posting to this blog because I've been working on the Continuing Education catalog which will be out this week. Please watch for it on the CMRLS website (www.cmrls.org) and in delivery.

Mark you calendars with these Technical Services programs. Note that the first one is only a week away. There are several courses offered by WebJunction. Contact me for the code so that you can take these courses for free.

Also, CMRLS is now using GoToWebinar for some of its workshops so that you can participate without leaving your library. I’ll be giving “Behind the Bib Record” using this technology.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for other T.S. programs.

Here's the list:

WebJunction Course: MARC 101
Tuesday, September 8 • 2-4 P.M. AND Wednesday, September 9 • 2-4 P.M.

Technical Services Roundtable
Wednesday, September 30 • 10–12 Noon Beaman Library, W. Boylston

Where Do I Put Them? Cataloging and Classifying Graphic Novels
Friday, October 9 • 2 – 4 p.m. CMRLS Meeting Room

WebJunction Course: FRBR - What It Is And How It Can Help You Prepare for RDA
Tuesday, October 13 • 2-4 P.M. And Thursday, October 15 • 2-4 P.M. Online

WebJunction Course: Basic Digitization: Everyday Imaging
Wed., Nov. 11 • 11:30 A.M.-1:30 P.M. AND Thursday, Nov. 12 • 11:30 A.M.-1:30 P.M. Online

Behind the Bibliographic Record
Monday, December 14 • 10–12 Noon Online

FRBR – Group 2 Entities

I thought this section might be easier to understand since Group 2 has only 2 entities (Person and Corporate Body) versus 4 entities in Group 1 (Work, Expression, Manifestation and Item). The section was shorter, but not really much easier to absorb. And a third Entity – Family – got tossed in there, too. As author Robert Maxwell explained, Family is “not found in FRBR, [but] is defined in FRAD”. FRAD stands for Functional Requirements for Authority Data and is related to FRBR.

With Group 2 Entities we begin to see the relationship aspects of FRBR because a Work can be created by a Person or a Corporate Body. It can be about a Person or a Corporate Body. An Expression can be translated by a Person. A Manifestation can be published by a Corporate Body. An Item can be owned by a Person or a Corporate Body. Several of the above statements are often true simultaneously.

Group 2 Entities can also have relationships with each other. A Person can be part of a musical group which is a Corporate Body. A Person can write under multiple names. And (looking at FRAD) a person can be a member of a Family.

This is the easy part of FRBR’s Group 2 Entities. Things get more complicated once the discussion turns to the Attributes of each entity. Attributes of Person are Name of Person, Dates of Person (as in birth, death, or when the person was actively creative), Title of Person (Doctor, General, etc.), and “other designation associated with the person.” FRAD, however, delineates slightly different attributes of a Person and more of them (details like place of birth, gender, language) and Maxwell constantly compares FRBR to FRAD. Keeping them straight can create headaches.

What is really interesting about all of this is something Diane Hillman talked about in a program at the 2008 Mass Library Association Conference and again at NELINET. As a cataloger creates a bibliographic record, he/she does not have to determine (and key in) the “one authorized form” of a person’s name. The cataloger will be able to link that “author” line to a registry of names that will include more information than our current Name Authority Files. The same for publisher: No need to worry about which words (if any) to abbreviate, simply link to the registry of Corporate Names.

Of course, this assumes an infrastructure that we don’t exactly have yet. But as more registries are developed and linking rather than keying in becomes the norm, our information (and therefore our catalogs) will show relationships between and among works, expressions, manifestations, items, people and corporate bodies, not merely individual bibliographic records.

LCSH

The Cataloging and Distribution Service of the Library of Congress has just published the 31st edition of the Library of Congress Subject Headings (a.k.a. The Red Books). Included with this edition is a 6th volume called Supplementary Vocabularies which contains free-floating subdivisions, genre/form headings, and children's subject headings.

The price is $295; ordering information is here.

Or you can use the Online Authority File which is updated continuously and includes names and series for free.