New Books

CMRLS has received 2 new Technical Services books in the RCO (aka Professional) Collection. They are now cataloged and ready for use.

Cataloging of Audiovisual Materials and Other Special Materials: A Manual Based on AACR2 and MARC21 by Nancy B. Olson with the assistance of Robert L. Bothmann and Jessica J. Schomberg. I'm so glad this classic title has been updated. It is a vital resource for all non-book catalogers. There are lots of examples and I've always loved Nancy's chatty narratives chronicling her decision making process.

Metadata by Marcia Lei Zeng and Jian Qin has received good reviews. I haven't read it myself, but I figure there's no way a library can have too many books on this hot topic.

All new books (not just Technical Services) are highlighted on the CMRLS website on the "New Books" page. Each title has a direct link to the bibliographic record in C/W MARS for easy requesting.

The Latest on RDA

I found this notice in my inbox today:

"Due to complications in software development, the Committee of Principals has determined that the full draft of RDA will be issued in PDF files. It will be available on November 17, 2008. We will provide the appropriate URL for accessing the full draft at this time. We will also provide an update on the software as soon as possible.

Nathalie Schulz, Secretary, JSC
for the
Committee of Principals"

I sometimes wonder if RDA will really happen. I'll be teaching a cataloging mini-course this coming spring and I'm glad that, for the moment, I can still use all of my material from AACR2/MARC. Of course I'll introduce RDA, but at least I have more time before I have to teach it.

The NELA Conference

Wow! It’s been a busy month since I last posted.

I attended the New England Library Association Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire on October 19-21. There were lots of good programs including 3 organized by NETSL. I want to thank NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group) for sponsoring one of the programs. They paid for Victoria Reich of Stanford University to fly to Manchester to talk about the CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program on Monday morning.

Monday afternoon, Danny Joudry , Assistant Professor at Simmons College GSLIS and Diane Baden, of Boston College Libraries discussed some Hot Topics in Tech Services. Diane reviewed RDA and Dan talked about the education (or in some cases lack of education) of catalogers. This panel was followed by the first-ever reception for NETSL members. Good food, stimulating company and a free drink. What more could you ask?

On Tuesday, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Research Scientist at OCLC, presented Why not the Library First? and suggested ways to return our libraries to prime source status.

Another fantastic program that I attended was sponsored by the Information Technology Section called The Internet is NOT Flat with Ethan Zuckermann, cofounder of Global Voices. Ethan is one of the best speakers I have ever seen. His presentation was incredibly well-organized, thought-provoking and fun. His topics flowed smoothly from one to the next. If you ever have a chance to see him in person, I strongly recommend it.

Blogs posts of all NELA programs, along with links to presentations and handouts, are available at the NELA website. What a great way to catch up on programs that you missed.

Another Incredible Success

I traveled to Cleveland a couple of weeks ago to attend the OLAC/MOUG Conference. Even though I went through my pre-travel jitters (What am I going to pack? How will I find everything? Why don’t I just stay home and sleep in my own bed and stick with my routines?), everything went smoothly and the conference was great.

My plane didn’t land in time for me to take the scheduled tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I did, however, manage to attend the OLAC Executive Board meeting (which is open to all members) and learn more about what goes on behind the scenes.

The Conference began on Friday morning with a Continental Breakfast (all of the food was really good) and an opening keynote address by Lynne Howarth of the University of Toronto. Then came the breakout sessions and I headed to listen to Joseph Hinger of St. John’s University talk about Integrating Resources. His presentation was packed, but easily understood and there were handouts with lots of great examples.

The conference hotel was attached to a shopping mall. I had lunch in the food court and ended up sitting at a table with another OLAC attendee. My choice of afternoon breakout was Metadata for Audiovisual Materials and Its Role in Digital Projects by Jenn Riley of Indiana University/Bloomington. The more I learn about the various schemas, the more fascinated I become with them. There are some that I’d never heard of that are used for very specific projects.

Friday evening, we were treated to a reception at the Cleveland Museum of Art where I met some other people from Massachusetts and shared information about colleagues-in-common.

Saturday morning was the time for the poster sessions. People put a lot of work into describing their projects. However, none applied to my job so I didn’t linger. I attended a breakout session on Form/Genre Headings presented by Janis Young of the Library of Congress.

Lunch was the banquet and business meeting. I had heard much of the information at the board meeting, but there was some some new information. The final breakout session was Advanced Sound Recordings with Robert Freeborn from Penn State University. I can say that AV materials have become much more complicated over the years making AV cataloging much more complicated.

The real treats came on Sunday morning beginning with a program on RDA. Speakers were Glenn Patton of OCLC and Heidi Hoerman of the University of South Carolina. Heidi gave an especially provocative talk on her perspective of RDA. After much research she thinks RDA will die a quiet death and AACR will be revised. Next came a panel of presenters ready to answer audience questions and then Janet Swan Hill of the University of Colorado at Boulder summed up her reactions to the conference.

It was a very full two-and-a-half days. Handouts for all sessions are on the OLAC conference site.

And now I’m back at work, thinking about the different ways I’ll use everything I learned.

The ABCs of TS

All professions have their acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations and libraries are no different.

Here are some that you are likely to see as you read through library literature with a focus on Technical Services.

AACR2 – Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules – 2nd edition. Published in 1978 by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (in the UK), AACR2 contains the guidelines for cataloging (or cataloguing) library materials.
RDA – Resource Description and Access. Built on foundations established by the AACR, RDA is being developed as a new standard for resource description and access designed for the digital world.
FRBR – Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. A conceptual entity-relationship model developed by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) that relates user tasks of retrieval and access in online library catalogues and bibliographic databases from a user’s perspective.

Okay, I’ll bet those were easy. You probably see them a lot. Now, how about these?
OLAC – Online Audiovisual Catalogers. An organization for media catalogers.
CAPC – OLAC’s Cataloging Policy Committee. CAPC represents the concerns of AV catalogers in matters relating to the formation, interpretation and implementation of national and international cataloging standards and related matters.
ALCTS – Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. Pronounced (uh-lex), ALCTS is a division of ALA (American Library Association) that specifically addresses Technical Services issues.
CC:DA – Committee on Cataloging: Description & Access. The body within the American Library Association responsible for developing official ALA positions on additions to and revisions of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules.
MARBI - Machine Readable Bibliographic Information. A committee within the American Library Association responsible for developing official ALA positions on standards for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information. MARBI focuses its attention on the development of the MARC format.

If you encounter an acronym (in any field) and want to find out what it stands for, a handy source is a specialized online dictionary called Acronym finder.

The Library of Congress has a long list of acronyms. I'll save them for a separate post.

“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

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!