Classification

The U.S. Geological Survey Library Classification System is available on-line. M. Dewey developed this classification. (There is a dissertation there for someone.) If it is used it should be in field 084 with subfield 2 including "usgslcs"

Dewey Classification

There is an on-line Alphabetical Index to Sections which is fairly complete. I wouldn’t use it for actual number building, but as a starting place, it is pretty good. It could be used as is to class, in a rough way, Web pages. Thanks David A. Mundie, a nice piece of work.

AGRICOLA Subject Category Codes

These codes which go in field 072 are buried deep in the National Library of Agriculture's Web site. The Hierarchical View of AGRICOLA Subject Category Codes are a useful view of the system.

Introduction

This blog has been going on for more than a month now, so I guess it is time to introduce myself and my reasons for the blog.

I'm David Bigwood, the Assistant Manager for Library Services at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. That means I do all the cataloging here as well as other things. There is a very small staff here, my supervisor is a librarian but is mostly an administrator. There is no one else here who speaks librarian. The blog is one way I get to think and write about what concerns my professional life with others who may understand even better than I do.

I think we live in an exciting time for catalogers. With the Web, some folks are finding out that organization of information is important. There are also some fundamental changes in our thinking happening. In serials the idea of continuing resource, the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Description (FRBD), and content vs. carrier are some issues which will have a major impact on our work. I am trying to keep up with these and figure them out. This blog helps me work through the issues. I hope it does the same for others.

I do believe MARC/AACR as the only description method is in the past. There are other methods of description available and we should know of them and know when one of those are more suitable. The MARC Community Information format has a good bit of overlap with the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) for instance. We should be aware of what is happening in those communities and be able to advise them. We can save them a lot of work and make those tools better and more compatible with our needs as well. ONIX, the publishers' metadata standard for instance can save us much work if it can be easily moved into a MARC record. We can save them much confusion if they use the LC Name Authority file. This blog tries to help me keep up with other metadata standards.

The blog also is a place I can keep a record of what I found valuable and find it again quickly. Too often, I've tried to find something again and had a hard time. Now my thoughts will all be in one place.

It is fun learning the computer stuff and getting it up and running.

And my last reason for starting the blog is that there was not one for catalogers.

If you know of an item which should be mentioned please pass it on. Thanks.

Dublin Core

This just in from the DC folks:

On behalf of the Managing Director, I would like to announce the availability for review and public comment of proposals from three DCMI working groups to the DCMI Usage Board.

Under the Usage Board Administrative Processes, proposals for new elements or element qualifiers submitted to the Board are posted on DC-General for a public comment period of one month. Public comment is open for this document until 10 May 2002. Comments should be sent to DC-General with the title of the document in the subject, as in:

Subject: [UB Proposal "Physical Object"]

The new proposals include one from the DCMI Type Working Group:

1. Physical Object (for the DCMI Type Vocabulary)

One proposal from the DCMI Citation Working Group:

1. Citation (refinement for Identifier)

Six proposals from the DCMI Libraries Working Group:

1. Holding Location (new element)

2. Accepted (refinement for Date)

3. Captured (refinement for Date)

4. Copyright (refinement for Date)

5. Submitted (refinement for Date)

6. Version (refinement for Description)

Tom Baker

Not Cataloging Related

What a strange-networked world we live in. I'm currently reading The Information Professional's Guide to Career Development Online. The foreword is written by Priscilla K. Shontz. Even though we have never met, I recognize the name. I’ve seen it in print and online. She runs the LIScareer Web site. What struck me at the end of the foreword was the fact she works across town. Granted Houston is a large town to cross but surely, we have been at the same events. The TLA district 8 conference, AMIGOS training, maybe she has even taken the Explore! Fun With Science training offered to librarians by my place of employment, the Lunar and Planetary Institute. How strange to find someone online and then find out she is local.

UCLA Film and Television Archive Cataloging

Martha Yee announced that: The UCLA Film and Television Archive records are available for searching over the Internet, but full MARC records cannot be downloaded.

NOTE: Be sure to select the Film and Television Archive database before every search.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive was founded in the late 1960s. It is now the largest university-based repository of original film and television materials in the world. Its catalog currently contains nearly 150,000 titles. As part of its mission, the archive collects and preserves motion pictures and broadcast programming, and works to advance public understanding and appreciation of moving image media. The archive also supports scholarly research and media production, explores how new technologies can contribute to preservation and restoration, and educates and trains archivists. As film and television play a greater role in shaping our culture, the work of the archive increases in importance.

Dublin Core & Learning Object Metadata

The article by Erik Duval, Wayne Hodgins, Stuart Sutton and Stuart L. Weibel Metadata Principles and Practicalities discusses the common ground between DC and LOM and the necessarily for interoperability and the Lego approach to metadata.

"The rapid changes in the means of information access occasioned by the emergence of the World Wide Web have spawned an upheaval in the means of describing and managing information resources. Metadata is a primary tool in this work, and an important link in the value chain of knowledge economies. Yet there is much confusion about how metadata should be integrated into information systems. How is it to be created or extended? Who will manage it? How can it be used and exchanged? Whence comes its authority? Can different metadata standards be used together in a given environment? These and related questions motivate this paper."--introduction.

Collection Level Description

In the UK a survey of collection level description practices conducted by UKLON and CIMI is available in the Summary Report on Survey Questionnaire

Web Titles

An interesting paper with implications for chief source of information in cataloging Web sites What is the title of a Web page? A study of Webography practice by Timothy C. Craven.

"Few style guides recommend a specific source for citing the title of a Web page that is not a duplicate of a printed format. Sixteen Web bibliographies were analyzed for uses of two different recommended sources: (1) the tagged title; (2) the title as it would appear to be from viewing the beginning of the page in the browser (apparent title). In all sixteen, the proportion of tagged titles was much less than that of apparent titles, and only rarely did the bibliography title match the tagged title and not the apparent title. Convenience of copying may partly explain the preference for the apparent title. Contrary to expectation, correlation between proportion of valid links in a bibliography and proportion of accurately reproduced apparent titles was slightly negative."--from the abstract.

RSS

Introduction to RSS is a short, 3 page, introduction. It has links to some tools for display and creation of RSS. I can see some use for this in a library setting, but I'm not yet savvy enough to set one up for us.

Catalogs

Folks are always looking for low cost alternatives in cataloging software. Small church libraries, clubs, and departments are just a few who find the cost of even the smaller PC systems out of their budget. Well, there are a few alternatives.

Koha is an open source library system running in a LAMP environment (Lunix, Apache, MySQL, Perl). That means it is free and all the software needed to run it is also free. It includes a catalog, OPAC, circulation and acquisitions system. The drawback is it does not yet support MARC.

Library.com is a commercial service which provides small users with free space, up to about 5000 records. Larger collections, more features or better support are available for a fee. The database is available remotely on the Web. It provides an OPAC, circulation and cataloging system. It does support MARC.

Open Archives Initiative

Open Archives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting v.2.0 scheduled for release. Here is a description of the OAI from their FAQ:

The Open Archives Initiative develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content. The Open Archives Initiative has its roots in an effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication. Continued support of this work remains a cornerstone of the Open Archives program. The fundamental technological framework and standards that are developing to support this work are, however, independent of the both the type of content offered and the economic mechanisms surrounding that content, and promise to have much broader relevance in opening up access to a range of digital materials. As a result, the Open Archives Initiative is currently an organization and an effort explicitly in transition, and is committed to exploring and enabling this new and broader range of applications. As we gain greater knowledge of the scope of applicability of the underlying technology and standards being developed, and begin to understand the structure and culture of the various adopter communities, we expect that we will have to make continued evolutionary changes to both the mission and organization of the Open Archives Initiative.

Not Cataloging Related

My co-workers will be at the Texas Library Assoc. annual conference. Their exhibit displays a Youth Services and Children's program for public and school libraries named, "Explore! Fun with Science". It is a series of hands-on, fun activities presented to library staff through workshops. Explore! is a collaborative project between NASA's Office of Space Science and the Lunar and Planetary Institute and public libraries. Even if you are not interested in the program stop by booth 3043 and tell them Hi.

Color

Ask any reference person and they will tell you they often get requests for items by color. Well, the library at the New England School of Law have done something to help those folks, they have included the color of the book in the MARC record. In subfield z of field 599 they have included the color of the item. It has been indexed on their system and is used to limit searches or may be searched. This makes some sense for monographs. Now if the patrons could only remember the color correctly.

Metadata Standards

The UK has issued e-Government Metadata Standard "The e-GMS lists the elements and refinements that will be used by the public sector to create metadata for information resources. It also gives guidance on the purpose and use of each element." Elements from Dublin Core, GILS and other standards are part of the mix.

I've added permanent links to the items. Slowly but surely I'm learning the tools. If anyone has suggestions or tips, please let me know. Thanks.

Textbooks

Not major news but welcome news to some of my co-workers.... The latest supplement to the Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings says the term "textbooks" is now a valid form/genre subdivision. That one snuck by me until I was filing the update pages.

OLAC

Another useful organization for catalogers is OLAC, the OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers.

Their statement of purpose is "In 1980, OLAC was founded to establish and maintain a group that could speak for catalogers of audiovisual materials. OLAC provides a means for exchange of information, continuing education, and communication among catalogers of audiovisual materials and with the Library of Congress. While maintaining a voice with the bibliographic utilities that speak for catalogers of audiovisual materials, OLAC works toward common understanding of AV cataloging practices and standards."

Dues are merely $12.00 a year with discounts given for multiple year subscriptions. Well worth the investment.

AUTOCAT

After posting about the Radical Cataloging List it is only fair to mention the most important list for catalogers AUTOCAT

"AUTOCAT is a semi-moderated international electronic discussion list running on LISTSERV(R) software. It serves as an electronic forum for the discussion of all questions relating to cataloging and authority control in libraries. The range of topics discussed extends from the very broad to the very specific, from the very theoretical to the most pragmatic."--from their scope note.

AUTOCAT is a busy list, for example, last week there were 83 topics, some with many postings. However, it is possible to subscribe in digest mode or even in no mail and scan the archives as time permits. There is a wealth on knowledge and experience available here.

Dublin Core

Proposal: Agent roles in DCMES This proposal is submitted by Rebecca Guenther for review by the DC-Agents and DC-Libraries Working Groups. It proposes establishing element refinements for the Dublin Core elements Creator and Contributor to express a role in relation to the resource.

The DCMI Libraries Working Group exists to: Foster increased operability between DC and library metadata by identifying issues and solutions; Keep the library community informed on DC developments; Consider reasons to experiment more widely with Dublin Core in libraries; Build a library Implementors community; Explore the need for a cross domain namespace(s) to register non-DC elements and qualifiers needed by the library community.