Friday, September 19, 2008

“Introduction to Library Digitization” - All the Details

If you haven't yet registered for this day-long conference, this is your chance. It looks like a great combination of speakers and topics. There's even a registration form at the end.


MLA Technical Services Section proudly presents “Introduction to Library Digitization”, a one day program on Tuesday October 28th, 2008, at the Worcester Public Library. This program will cover what libraries need to consider before starting a digitization project.

The speakers will be Massachusetts librarians who have successfully implemented digitization projects at their libraries.

The sessions will be:
Virtual Archives: Preparing to Create a Digital Collection Speaker: Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, M.A.L.S., C.A., F.S.A. Scot Preservation Specialist, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners 9:15 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.

Digitizing Dissertations at UMass Worcester Speakers, Mary Piorun, MLS, AHIP Associate Director for Technology Initiatives and Resource Management, Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Lisa Palmer, MLS Catalog Librarian, Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts, Worcester 10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.

Digital Copyright in the 21st Century Speaker: Andrew D. Epstein, J.D. Barker, Epstein & Loscocco Copyright and Trademark Law; General Civil Litigation; Photography and Visual Art Law; Publishing and Licensing Agreements; General Business, Corporate and Real Estate Law
1:00 p.m. -2:15 p.m.

Panel Discussion: The day will end with a panel discussion with Massachusetts & Connecticut librarians on: * How libraries actually began their digitization project * The issues faced by librarians doing real projects * Project planning and management * Hardware needs * Copyright considerations * Metadata Standards used for data creation 2:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Panel Members:
Dodie Gaudet, Consultant for Bibliographic & Technical Services, Central Mass. Regional Library System; Kristi Chadwick, Access Services Supervisor, C/WMARS; Jeffrey Monseau, Archivist, Springfield College speaking on Central Mass Memory Project to increase the holdings of Digital Treasures (http://dlib.cwmars.org/)

Kathy Foulke, Connecticut History Online project director.

Leone E. Cole, Library Director, Watertown Free Public Library on Watertown’s Online Image Collection.

Date/time: October 28. 9:00a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Location: Worcester Public Library, Saxe Room 3 Salem Sq Worcester, MA 01608
(508) 799-1655
Map and directions: http://www.worcpublib.org/about/main.html
Metered parking at 50 cents per hour.
Cost: Early bird registration: (before Oct 1st) $40.00 per person $30.00 for MLA members
After October 1st: $45.00 per person $35.00 for MLA members

Deadline to register: October 14, 2008 Early bird deadline is October 1, 2008

Catering by: by Eric's LaPatisserie Café ____________________________________________________________________
To register:
1. Please send your check made payable to the Massachusetts Library Association to:
Lois Bacon Attn: MLA-TSS program 29 Harding Rd Needham MA 02492

Or register online at http://www.masslib.org/tss/Fall08DigitizationProgram.htm

2. Please fill out the information below and send it with your check

Full name: _______________________
Address: _______________________
_______________________
_______________________
If you would like a vegetarian meal, please check here ___
For registration questions, please contact: LBacon@EBSCO.COM

Monday, September 8, 2008

TechKNOW

The Technical Services Division of the Ohio Library Council publishes a quarterly newsletter for Technical Services Librarians called TechKNOW. The August edition has just been released.

It includes practical information on OCLC’s Enhance Program, the imminent obsolescence of the 440 tag, the report of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, and the review of two books that Tech Services Librarians will want to know about and might want to purchase.

Some of the articles apply only to Ohio librarians, but I like to know what’s going on outside of New England. Who know what good ideas I might be able to "borrow"?

TechKNOW is freely available at Kent State University Libraries and Media Services. Check it out!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Introduction to Library Digitization - a program from MLA/TSS

The Technical Services Section of the Massachusetts Library Association has organized a day-long program on the practical aspects of digitization in libraries. I'll be one of the afternoon panelists.

Here are the essentials:
Date: Tuesday October 28th, 2008
Location: Saxe Room, Worcester Public Library
Deadline to register: October 14, 2008

Cost: Early bird registration: (before Oct 1st) $40.00 per person
$30.00 for MLA members
After October 1st: $45.00 per person
$35.00 for MLA members

For registration questions, contact: Lois Bacon at LBacon@EBSCO.COM

This is a hot topic in libraries right now. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

CE for TS

The Fall Continuing Education Catalog is out! Be sure to browse through it and register for some of the great workshops the CMRLS staff has organized.

For Technical Services people, there will be a Roundtable on Tuesday, September 23 at the Gale Free Library in Holden. Here's a chance to visit another Tech Services department and see how they do things.

There are no prerequisites to attend a Roundtable. Just bring along any questions you might have and a willingness to share ideas and solutions.

See you there!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Always Moving Forward

I’ve made some changes (as I do periodically) to the Cataloger’s pages on the CMRLS website.

Lois Reibach recently announced her new blog Collocate and Disambiguate on the AUTOCAT discussion list. The blog discusses issues of authority control and authority data. I really like her title. I expect it's one only a cataloger would think of.

When I first began compiling the Cataloger’s pages three years ago, there were very few Technical Services oriented blogs. Now I have 16 listed and I know there are a lot more. Please feel free to tell me if you know of one I have not yet discovered.

At the Serials Roundtable earlier this week, a participant mentioned something she had read on the discussion list SERIALIST. I am embarrassed to say I had neglected to add SERIALIST to the page on Electronic Discussion Lists and I remedied the oversight as soon as I returned to my office.

Most of my career has been spent with monographs, primarily cataloging, but also acquisitions in my early professional years. Serials are not the first things that come to my mind when I think Technical Services, but I promise to pay more attention from now on.

Monday, July 7, 2008

New Book on MARC

Just added to the CMRLS Professional Collection: Easy MARC, 5th edition, by Scott Piepenburg.
ISBN: 978-1-933170-31-2; CMRLS Classification Number: RCO 025.3 Piepenburg.

Lots of explanations and examples and much more readable than the documentation from Library of Congress or OCLC. Integration of cataloging rules and ISBD punctuation.

I'll have the book with me on Wednesday, July 9, when I teach a workshop on reading a MARC record at the Thayer Memorial Library in Lancaster. There's still time to register if you want to join us.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Last week, I received an announcement from the Cataloging Distribution Service News and Announcements list. It read

“DELAY IN PUBLICATION OF 31st EDITION OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS

Due to production problems, the 31st edition of the five-volume printed edition of the Library of Congress Subject Headings, commonly referred to as the Red Books, will not be available until the spring of 2009. The data cutoff date for the 31st edition will now be December 31, 2008.

Customers who have already placed a paid order for the 31st edition have the option of leaving their payments in their deposit accounts or requesting a refund.”

When the Red Books became available online back in 2001 or 2002, I began to use them in that format. I was a contract cataloger at the time, working at a variety of different libraries, and I didn’t always have access to the (then) 4-volume print edition. It is often easier to scan the printed version and one gets a different perspective of the subject headings on paper than from the digital version, but I’ve grown accustomed to searching for subject headings with my computer and that is my preferred method of access.

For one thing, there are now 5 – count ‘em 5 – Red Books to browse through looking for that authorized word or phrase. If I want to keep the books close enough that I don’t have to leave my computer, I’d have to get an additional desk! And like the electronic version of anything, the list is easy to revise and is updated nightly. While the print version saves paper and ink by using Pattern Headings, the electronic version can include all subdivisions for every topic. It also includes names and free-floating subdivisions which the print version cannot do without turning into a 10-volume set.

Newcomers to cataloging can benefit from the print version, though, because it includes a very valuable introduction – definitely worth reading – with instructions for how to navigate the Red Books plus the history and background of subject headings. The explanation on the Authorities web site focuses on how to search effectively. That’s important, but it assumes the cataloger already knows all about LCSH and needs only information about what’s different on the web site from the Red Books.

If you haven’t used the online version of LCSH, it’s available at the Library of Congress web site. LC has lots of interesting things on their site, so it’s worth a trip regardless of Subject Headings.

If you’d like to sign up for News and Announcements from the LC’s Cataloging Distribution Service, you can do that here.