Catalogablog

This Web log can be posted to by more than one person. If there is someone else out there interested in cataloging who would like to contribute just let me know and I can authorize you to post as well.

Not Cataloging

"Six Science Publishers Create New Web Font Set:
The STIX Project (http://www.stixfonts.org)

Melville, NY, June 10, 2002 - After years of planning, a group of scientific publishers today formally announced the Scientific and Technical Information Exchange (STIX) font creation project and the launch of the STIX web site. The STIX publishers aim to develop a comprehensive set of fonts for mathematics and other special characters used in Scientific, Technical, and Medical publishing. The web site provides information for potential users within the scientific and publishing communities, and a special area for software developers who may want to incorporate support for the STIX Fonts into their products.

Six publishers - the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the American Physical Society (APS), Elsevier Science, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) -- came together to design, fund and manage the STIX project. They have awarded the font development contract to a respected font development company, which has begun the process of designing and delivering nearly eight thousand characters/glyphs. The design submissions of the various character sets are currently being evaluated by a Technical Review Committee consisting of representatives of the six participating publishers.

There is currently a clear need for a new font set for mathematical and other scientific symbols, especially in the area of on-screen display in electronic publishing. Today, scientists must assemble scientific symbols and special characters from a variety of fonts, many of which may vary in character style, positioning, or size. The resulting documents typically have an unsatisfactory, jumbled appearance. Even more importantly, when posted to a web site, these documents may not be properly rendered unless the viewers of the document have all of the same specialized fonts available on the computer workstations they are using. This new set of fonts, known as the STIX Fonts, will solve both of these problems, serving the scientific and engineering community in the process from manuscript creation all the way through to final publication, both in electronic and print formats. It will unify support for all special symbols and alphabets into a single, comprehensive font set.

The STIX fonts will be made available, under royalty-free license, to anyone, including publishers, software developers, scientists, students and the general public. Target for completion of the project is the Fall of 2003.

By making the fonts freely available, the STIX project hopes to encourage the development of applications that make use of these fonts. In particular the STIX project will create a TEX implementation that TEX users can install and configure with minimal effort. TEX is a computer language designed for typesetting, with particular application to mathematics and other technical material.

The STIX mission will be fully realized when:

Fully hinted PostScript Type 1 and OpenType font sets have been created.

All characters/glyphs have been incorporated into Unicode representation or comparable representation and browsers include program logic to fully utilize the STIX font set in the electronic representation of scholarly scientific documents.

For more information visit the STIX Fonts web site

For the STIX Fonts project:
T.C. Ingoldsby (Chairman)
American Institute of Physics
2 Huntington Quadrangle, Suite 1NO1
Melville, NY 11747-4502
Phone: +1 516 576 2265
Fax: +1 516 576 2327
Email: tingoldsby@aip.org"

CONSER Task Group on FRBR and Continuing Resources

"The FRBR provides great hope for the long-standing problem of multiple versions, an issue particularly problematic for serials and other continuing resources. Thus, it is extremely important that the complexities and requirements of continuing resources be fully incorporated into any solutions that are developed based on FRBR. With that in mind, a CONSER task force is being established to provide ongoing comment and analysis on the uses of FRBR for continuing resources.

Charge

Consider the entities, attributes and relationships as described in the FRBR and their application to serials and other continuing resources.

Provide serial examples for the paper "Displays for Multiple Versions from MARC 21 and FRBR"

Evaluate reports of the JSC Format Variation Working Group and provide feedback relating to continuing resources

Monitor activities regarding the use of FRBR and provide reports, analysis, feedback, as deemed appropriate."

Conferences

SLA and ALA are both about to happen. I'll miss SLA, some very good and interesting people and great parties. PAM (Physics Astronomy Math) folks are a wonderful group. Maybe next year. I just couldn't find the time. Coming up I have some vacation time. Then there is NACO training, the Summer Institute for Distance Learning Librarians, the LITA Forum here in Houston and just maybe OLAC. Enjoy the big conventions. Maybe I'll get to see some of you at the smaller ones.

MARC21 Codes

Additions to the MARC Code Lists for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions

Network Development and MARC Standards Office Library of Congress
---------------------------------------------------
The following 12 codes have been recently approved for use in MARC 21 records. They include 2 category code source codes, 3 classification scheme source codes, and 6 subject source codes, and 1 name source code. These new codes have been added to the online "MARC Codes Lists for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions" but should not be used in exchange records until after July 30, 2002. This 60-day waiting period is required to provide MARC 21 implementers with time to include newly defined codes in any validation tables they may apply to the MARC fields where these codes are used.
---------------------------------------------------
MARC Category Code Source Codes
Changes:

agricola - AGRICOLA subject category codes (subfield $2 in Bibliographic field 072) [use after 07-30-2002]

fiaf - Classification scheme for literature on film and television (subfield $2 in Bibliographic field 072) [use after 07-30-2002]
---------------------------------------------------
MARC Classification Scheme Sources
Changes:

agricola - AGRICOLA subject category codes (subfield $2 in Bibliographic field 084 and Bibliographic/Holdings field 852)[use after 07-30-2002]

agrissc - AGRIS: subject category codes (subfield $2 in Bibliographic field 084 and Bibliographic/Holdings field 852)[use after 07-30-2002]

fiaf - Classification scheme for literature on film and television (subfield $2 in Bibliographic field 084 and Bibliographic/Holdings field 852)[use after 07-30-2002]
---------------------------------------------------
MARC Term, Name, Title Sources
Changes:

albt - Arbetslivsbibliotekets tesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

eclas - ECLAS thesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

ncjt - National criminal justice thesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

nznb - New Zealand national bibliography (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information fields 600-651, 655-658 subfield $2 in Authorities fields 700-751 and subfield $f in field 040) [use after 07-30-2002]

prvt - Patent- och registreringsverket tesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

sfit - Svenska filminstitutets tesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

sot - Schools online thesaurus (subfield $2 in Bibliographic and Community Information records in fields 600-651) [use after 07-30-2002]

NISO Standards for Comment

These are some of the NISO standards that are currently available for comment.

ANSI/NISO/ISO 12083 - 1995 Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup
Abstract: In complete conformance with ISO 8879 (SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language), 12083 provides a toolkit for developing customized SGML applications. Four Document Type Definitions are specified for books, serials, articles, and mathematics. Instructions for the preparation of text for the near automatic conversion to grade-2 braille and for publication in large-print and computer voice editions are included.

ANSI/NISO Z39.14 - 1997 Guidelines for Abstracts
Abstract: This standard helps authors and editors prepare useful abstracts by describing the components of an abstract and the appropriate styles and formats. Numerous examples illustrate the instructions presented in the standard and clarify how to handle special cases.

ANSI/NISO Z39.23 - 1997 Standard Technical Report Number Format and Creation
Abstract: Defines a unique numbering system that improves access to the wealth of scientific and technical reports issued by the government and private organizations. The STRN is an alphanumeric code with a maximum length of 34; for international application an optional country code can be added. The standard explains how and where the code should be assigned and used. A central authority to coordinate and monitor assignments of the code is designated.

ANSI/NISO Z39.26 - 1997 Micropublishing Product Information
Abstract: Content guidelines are given for advertising materials used to describe micropublications intended for long-term retention and use. Vendor Note: This standard details the information which publishers should incorporate in advertising materials for micropublications so users will have a full description of the product. This revision now includes a section on guarantees and the publisher's policy on replacement of defective portions of the micropublication.

ANSI/NISO Z39.32 - 1996 Information on Microfiche Headers
Equivalent international standard: ISO 5123
Abstract: Defines the specific eye-legible information that should appear on the limited space available on microfiche so the fiche can be correctly identified and properly filed.The standard describes where to place the data, the order of the information, and a recommended type size and contrast to maximize readability. Many examples show how to use the standard.

ANSI/NISO Z39.41 - 1998 Printed Information on Spines
Abstract: Describes how information is best presented on the spines of books or the containers that contain an information product, such as a CD-ROM, a microform, a disk, videotape or an audiotape. Explains what information to include and how to arrange it for maximum clarity. Using this standard will help your users identify your product and use it!

ANSI/NISO Z39.48 - 1992(R1997) Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives
Equivalent international standard: ISO 9706
Abstract: Publishers and paper manufacturers, take note! This standard sets the basic criteria for coated and uncoated papers that will last several hundred years under normal use. It covers ph value, tear resistance, alkaline reserve and lignin threshold. Recycled papers will meet the criteria specified. This revision to the original 1984 standard is based on testing conducted by the Institute of Paper Science and Technology and contributions from paper makers, publishers, printers, and the preservation community.

MARC21 & XML

Library of Congress announces standard MARCXML schema

The Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office announces completion of a schema for MARC 21 records in an XML structure for use in communicating MARC 21 records. This schema was developed in collaboration with OCLC and RLG and reviewed by the National Library of Canada and the National Library of Medicine (NLM), after a survey of schemas in use in various projects. Many schemas have taken the "slim" approach but all vary slightly. This schema will be maintained by the Library of Congress as will software that enables lossless conversion to and from MARC 21 records in the ISO 2709 structure. As illustrated in the introductory information on the web site, the Library of Congress will develop and provide, downloadable from the MARCXML web site, tools for various transformations and for record validations. A single schema serves all the five MARC 21 formats.

By collaboratively developing a communications schema, the Library of Congress encourages the standardization of MARC 21 exchange records in the XML environment, recognizing that MARC 21 records inside systems will continue to use different record configurations, tailored to the characteristics of the system. Provision of the tools for transformations to and from other metadata approaches, such as Dublin Core and the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS), will help to standardize derivative metadata records also. (MODS is a new schema for a bibliographic element set that is a subset of MARC expressed in XML with language-based rather than numeric tags.) The tools take the mappings between MARC and other metadata sets, that have been maintained on the MARC web site, to an operational level.

One project interested in a standard, lossless MARCXML schema is the Open Archive Initiative (OAI) which found it necessary to draft a schema in the absence of an official one. The Library of Congress worked with the OAI to provide a transformation from the original oai_marc schema to this one so the Initiative can take advantage of a schema that is maintained by the MARC 21 maintenance agency and in broad use. The transformation is available from the MARCXML web site.

With the slim approach, schema-driven validation is only possible at the highest structural level. The Network Development and MARC Standards Office will therefore maintain downloadable tag, subfield, and value validation software on the web site that will enable users to build validation programs for their needs. Use of these standard validations represent another attempt to assure standardization of records to support effective record interchange.

The Library has maintained two SGML DTDs (for Bibliographic-type and Authority-type records) since 1996, which take a different approach to the data elements in MARC - an approach that enables validation of data through the DTD itself but requires a very large DTD and DTD maintenance. The Bibliographic-type DTD was converted to an XML DTD in 2000. These DTDs have been effectively used by some agencies (including the Library of Congress), primarily for internal processes, therefore transformations between them and the new slim MARCXML schema are being provided. Maintenance techniques and/or possible revision of the XML DTDs are under consideration.

For questions or comments please email the Office at ndmso@loc.gov.

Cataloging in the Real World

This in press article provides some interesting reading. Please, abide by his request to access the paper in off hours, he has already received a warning from his ISP.

I have some questions on why some of these non-standard practices exist. Why don't the institutions using their own subject headings submit them to SACO? Or at least place them in a 653 field? Why would anyone buy a system that could not access the full MARC record? My system is an inexpensive one for the PC. It is far from perfect, in display there are problems, but I can at least create and edit the full record. Authority records or editing authority records would solve some of the problems. Do some systems not use MARC authority records, or are they too hard to acquire so institutions just don't bother?

"The following message is regarding an article that has been submitted for publication to Library Resources and Technical Services. I would ask that anyone who is a potential reviewer for LRTS read no further.

As you know back in February I posted a message asking for your local practices that break cataloging standards, broadly defined as AACR2, classification systems, encoding standards, etc. The response was overwhelming, 94 original responses came back and I couldn't have been happier.

You'll all be glad to know that I have submitted a draft of an article discussing the results of this survey to Library Resources and Technical Services for publication. The current title is "Breaking the Law: a survey of non-standard cataloging practices."

This research could not have been done without the support and input from Autocat, and I wanted to thank you all. A static working draft of the article is available on my website.

WARNING: Please don't all go visit the site at once, because my ISP only allows a limited amount of data transfer per hour. If you do want to read the article, please bookmark the address above, and visit either in a few days or during an evening hour. I would hate to have you get frustrated by not being able to access the article, and not take the time to read it.

Thank you.

Eric S. Riley Graduate Student (for one more week!)
Information School University of Washington, Seattle"

Metadata

Another metadata scheme for the visual arts community is the Visual Resources Association, VRA Core Categories, now in version 3. "The VRA Core Categories, Version 3.0 consist of a single element set that can be applied as many times as necessary to create records to describe works of visual culture as well as the images that document them."

MARC Geographic Codes

TECHNICAL NOTICE
Addition to the MARC Country and Geographic Area Code Lists for Aruba, Bonaire and East Timor
Network Development and MARC Standards Office

As the result of East Timor's gaining its independence from Indonesia in May 2002, new country and geographic area codes are being defined for use in MARC records.

The new codes for East Timor are:
em (Country code)
a-em (Geographic area code)

The Netherlands Antilles is an internally self-governing and integral part of the Netherlands. It consists of the islands of Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Saint Eustatius and the southern half of the island of Saint Martin. Aruba was part of the Netherlands Antilles until it seceded in 1986 to become a separate, autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Therefore, a new geographic area code is being defined for Aruba. Moreover, because all of the separate islands of the Netherlands Antilles have their geographic area codes, a geographic area code is being defined for Bonaire for use in MARC records.

The new code for Aruba is:
nwaw (Geographic area code)

The new code for Bonaire is:
nwbn (Geographic area code)

Subscribers can anticipate receiving MARC records reflecting these changes in all distribution services not earlier than September 3, 2002. Questions regarding the country and geographic area codes should be directed to:

Cataloging Policy and Support Office
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4305
(202) 707-4380
INTERNET: cpso@loc.gov
June 3, 2002

Professional Reading

I'm currently reading Cataloging the Web : metadata, AACR and MARC21. It is a collection of papers based on the ALCTS Institutes. The meetings were very informative, I'm hoping for the same from the book.

Spirit Writing

A while back on LiveJournal there was a thread about mediums who publish books under the names of the dead. The correct AACR rule is cited. However, there are some other considerations raised that merit thought.

Shameless Plug

My wife, Cora, has a contra dance band, Permanent Wave. The band's CD is available for purchase at Contracopia and you can check out a few tracks at MP3.

Taxonomy

Another controlled vocabulary, the EDUCAUSE Taxonomy.

"The EDUCAUSE Taxonomy, a hierarchical subject listing of over 450 terms, helps you more easily explore topics and find specific documents in the association’s extensive collection of online information resources. The EDUCAUSE taxonomy is applied to all information resources library documents, EDUCAUSE publications, Effective Practices and Solutions, and EDUCAUSE conference sessions."

RSS

A couple of nice articles on RSS found through LLRX. RSS For Non-Techie Librarians by Steven M. Cohen (of Library Stuff) lives up to what title promises. He has some screen shots and a bibliography.

Personal RSS Aggregators by Jon Udell describes many of the programs to use with RSS feeds.

If you have a site providing an RSS feed you can provide a link tag to alert news readers that there is an RSS feed. This effort is being led by Mark Pilgrim.

Not Cataloging Related

Doc on Demand is a nice tool for any Palm user, it converts a Web page into the format they use.

"The purpose of this mysterious device is the conversion of text files (be they pasted from your clipboard or Stripped by this very engine from the URL you provide) from their ASCII state into a .pdb file which can be read on your palm-top computer (e.g. a Palm Pilot, Visor, one of those crazy PDA-cellphone thingies, a Psion, a Jornada, etc., etc., ad infinitum.) By the glory and miracle of science, the letters of your text doc are whisked through the motivator, into the grinder and then ejected from the vaporisor to the Vagrant's Library where the finished product is stored for download and use."

Thanks to Matthew Eberle at Library Techlog for pointing this out to me.

Cataloging Instruction

Course 5 of the Alternative Basic Library Education (ABLE) at the Idaho State Library is "Introduction to Technical Services and Cataloging" by Catherine Poppino.

"The course is designed for members of the library community who do not have formal library training. It will help you understand the basic processes of technical services and cataloging."

MARC21

Discussion Paper 2002-DP08 "Dealing with FRBR Expressions in MARC 21" is available for review by the MARC 21 community.

It will be discussed in a meeting of the MARC Advisory Committee on June 15-16, 2002 in Atlanta.

A draft agenda for that meeting is available

Metadata

Another metadata scheme developed by the museum community is the Object ID. This has a unique purpose, preventing trade in stolen art objects. The FBI, Scotland Yard and Interpol promote it.

"Object ID is an international standard for describing cultural objects. It has been developed through the collaboration of the museum community, police and customs agencies, the art trade, insurance industry, and valuers of art and antiques.

The Object ID project was initiated by the J. Paul Getty Trust in 1993 and the standard was launched in 1997. It is being promoted by major law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Scotland Yard and Interpol; museum, cultural heritage, art trade and art appraisal organisations; and insurance companies.

Having established the descriptive standard, the Object ID project now helps to combat art theft by encouraging use of the standard and by bringing together organisations around the world that can encourage its implementation."

Classification

A classification scheme used by the graphic community is ICONCLASS.

"ICONCLASS is a subject specific international classification system for iconographic research and the documentation of images. It was developed by Henri van de Waal (1910-1972), Professor of Art History at the University of Leiden, and completed by his staff. ICONCLASS is a collection of ready-made definitions of objects, persons, events, situations and abstract ideas that can be the subject of an image. ICONCLASS organizes iconography into 10 'main divisions' in which the definitions are ordered hierarchically."

Not Cataloging Related

The latest American Libraries has a section on staff development, "The Care and Feeding of Speakers and the Spoken-To". The 1st article gives some tips to speakers. These I've seen countless times before, but they do bear repeating since people still ignore them. The other piece, "A View from the Podium" by Janet Swan Hill is something I've not seen before and information we can use. Volunteers, who change every few years, arrange many of our conferences and meetings. How to treat the invited speaker is something not taught in our MLS program and it is rare to find new officer guidelines. Here they are. This is a piece that should be copied and placed in every officer packet in all of our organizations.

About this Blog

Blogger and Bloget, the service which provides an e-mail of the postings do not seem to be communicating. This is a known issue, at least for Bloglet. Maybe this is a good time to switch to the RSS feed.

Maintaining the Catalog

Checking the links is the catalog has become (or should become) a regular task for us. Our small collection, about 22,000 titles, has almost 1000 links located in 856 fields. Thanks to Tom Tyler that task is a bit more automated. He has also created a few tools specific to Innopac.

"MarcXGen extracts URLs from MARC 21 bibliographic records and generates HTML code to create a single web page of hyperlinks that can be used with third party Link Checking software such as LinkBot and Xenu's Link Sleuth. With Version 2, MarcXGen also creates separate files of delimited data that may be used to build a relational database environment that may simplify some maintenance tasks associated with bad or problem URLs in library database records."

OCLC

"Life without Passport" is certain to become a familiar phrase over the next 18 months. OCLC is developing a new interface for cataloging and metadata services based on browser and Windows technology. A replacement for Passport and other standalone cataloging applications, the first release of the interface is scheduled July 2002, with additional releases throughout 2002 into 2003. Passport for Cataloging support will end December 31, 2002. The product itself will cease operation one year later.

A document entitled Guide to Migration that explains current plans is located on the OCLC Web sits.

Dublin Core

I received this request for help. I've made some minor spelling corrections.

"I am a student from the University of Salzburg, Austria and I developed coins and banknotes templates under DC for my PHD thesis. Libraries, archives or a coin dealer could use any of these templates which are launched with the cooperation with the REGNET Project. (REGNET-Projet under the search engine google.de) Dr. Koch from Graz www.cscaustria.at launched it.

I am the person who created the templates for the coin note short CN-Collector.

If you are interested in that program please contact me and then you could start to try these out. My goal for the PHD is to get a database, where all the people can create the on catalog online. Right now I write a handbook for the templates to get good entries.

Thank you
Alexander H.T. Schultheis
E-Mail: ahtschultheis@hotmail.com"

Break

Monday is a holiday and I'm taking off Tuesday, making this a long weekend. South Padre here we come. So there will be no more posts until Wednesday. I'm not taking a laptop or PDA. No technical reading. Just a break from thinking. Hope y'all can do the same.

Metadata

A few recent articles by Roy Tennant in Library Journal provide a good introduction metadata.

Digital Libraries- Metadata As If Libraries Depended on It

Digital Libraries- The Importance of Being Granular

Digital Libraries- The Consequences of Cataloging

I like his definition "cataloging by those paid better than librarians."

GILS

Just received this notice about the Government Information Locator Service:

Through the efforts of several people, we now have a draft Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file for the GILS search service, available for review.

This draft only defines GILS search using "HTTP Get", following the extended ZURL. The search response message follows the definition given. (BTW, these definitions align with the ZX client from Dave Vieglais.)

Future discussions of GILS as a Web Service will be conducted mostly on the GILS Version 3 Discussion List. Subscribe to the GILS V3 list.

Z39.50

A new version of YAZ has been released, May 22. Here is the notice:

"The current version of YAZ includes experimental support for the industry standard ZOOM API for Z39.50. This API vastly simplifies the process of writing new clients using YAZ, and it reduces your dependency on any single toolkit. Future versions of YAZ may include support for other emerging IR protocols through the same interface."

Art Metadata

Another resource from the Getty Institute is the Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA). This is the description from the introduction:

"The Categories describe the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about objects and images. They identify vocabulary resources and descriptive practices that will make information residing in diverse systems both more compatible and more accessible. They also provide a framework to which existing art information systems can be mapped and upon which new systems can be developed."

I've had the pleasure of hearing Murtha Baca speak at the ALCTS Metadata and AACR2 Institute. If you get the opportunity to hear her talk about what the Getty is doing, it is well worth the time.

MARC21

The following additional proposals are available for review by the MARC 21 community. They will be discussed in a meeting of the MARC Advisory Committee on June 15-16, 2002 in Atlanta. A draft agenda for that meeting is available.

The following papers are now available:

Proposal No. 2002-12: Coding for Publication Pattern at the First Level of Enumeration in MARC 21 Holdings Records

Proposal No. 2002-13: Changes for Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) Subject Headings Changes in Field 008 in the MARC 21 Holdings Format

Proposal No. 2002-14: Proposal No. 2002-14: Changes for UKMARC Format Alignment

Proposal No. 2002-15: Defining field 065 (Other Classification Number) in the MARC 21 Authority Format

Metadata

"The MD3 (Metadata3) Project takes a different approach to metadata - instead of having to create and implement new systems to handle new types of metadata, why not make new types of metadata work with our current systems?" The plan consists of transforming metadata from one format, say RDF, into another, such as MARC. The other component involves peer to peer (P2P) sharing of the records. Something like the Docster proposal.

Semantic Web

Two items today from a 'blog I recently found, usr/lib/info! This looks like an interesting site. Not much available yet, however.

The Semantic Web and Libraries by Art is "a column I am working on for InsideOLITA and would welcome any and all feedback."

Resource Description Framework

OCLC, as part of the Dublin Core project, has made available an open source toolkit for RDF, the EOR toolkit.

"The EOR toolkit is a collection of extensible Java classes and services which serve as a code base, demonstrating by example functions and services common to RDF applications, i.e., metadata capture, search engines, etc.. The current release provides services designed to validate RDF, build and search RDF triple stores (HTTP and Java API) and render RDF data using XSLT."

The latest issue of Information Technologies & Libraries (2002), v. 21, no. 1 pp. 27-31 has an article on the toolkit. "The EOR Toolkit: An Open Source Solution for RDF Metadata" by Harry R. Wagner.

Library Catalogs

Another open source library catalog. PhpMyLibrary version 1.0.4b has been released. It consists of Webpac, Record import, Cataloging and Holdings modules. It takes MARC records.

"The new version has been released. The file can be downloaded PhpMyLibrary-1.0.4b here! This is a version that have a Holdings and Cataloging Modules Added. The recent module only consisted of WebPAC module and Record Import module, now you can make your own catalog entry, put an accession to it, and you're done. Your new book or material are ready for browsing online."

Spelling

Here is another listing of misspelled words found in our catalogs, Common Spelling Mistakes. Not sure how it was compiled or the relationship to the list by Terry Ballard, Typographical Errors in Library Databases. Thanks to David Schuster for pointing this one out to me.

Controlled Vocabularies

The Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) has a standards database. If considering curriculum-enhanced MARC it could be a useful tool.

Curriculum-Enhanced MARC

At the Friday meeting curriculum-enhanced MARC was discussed. A good overview of the standard is available at NWOET.

It requires field 520 Summary, 521 Target Audience Note and 658 Index Term, Curriculum Objective.

Cataloging

Seen on a button from OCLC "Cataloging is a public service."

Geographic Cutters

From the latest WAML News & Notes:

"California regional and city geographic cutter numbers (G4362 and G4364) have been updated by Traci Penrod of the Earth Sciences and Map Library and the University of California, Berkeley. These lists are on the web:
Region Cutters
City Cutters"

Postings to Catalogablog

Later today I'm off to Dallas to meet with the Cataloging Focus Group. So there will be no postings again until Monday. These meetings are a real treat. I'm the only cataloger here at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. There is no one else about to talk shop with. Autocat, OLAC and this blog lessen the feeling of isolation but nothing can replace getting together, in person, with colleagues and talking cataloging. There are times I envy those who work at university and large public libraries. You can chat over lunch about issues and concerns of the profession. I'll be back Monday.

D-Lib Magazine

The latest issue of the always interesting D-Lib Magazine is now available.

The articles include:

A Metadata Registry for the Semantic Web
Rachel Heery, UKOLN, and Harry Wagner, OCLC / Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

Meta-Design of a Community Digital Library
Michael Wright and Mary Marlino, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research; and Tamara Sumner, University of Colorado at Boulder

Levels of Service for Digital Repositories
William G. LeFurgy, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights: A Digital Library Context
Robert Sullivan, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Keywords

The Extractor is "software for automatically summarizing text, developed by the Interactive Information Group. Extractor takes a text file as input and generates a list of key words and a list of key sentences as output." What you get is a list of keywords. I tried it on Catalogablog. It gave fair results. It did list "comments" and "links" as important. Those words appear at the end of each item so they appear to have some importance. This could be useful if someone had to apply keywords to lots of Web pages or e-mails. It does show that it is not time for catalogers to be replaced if quality is desired.

Genre Headings

On Despising Genres by Ursula K. LeGuin offers some food for thought concerning the use of genre headings and sections in libraries and bookstores. Do we separate the "good" from the "popular" fiction? Do we use it as a finding tool, as we should or as a rating system. Is the Ox Bow Incident in literature but the others in Westerns? Do we add a 655 to the latter but not the former? LeGuin is one of my favorite authors, so it was a pleasure to find this. Thanks to Rory at Library Juice for bring this to my attention.

Text Encoding Initiative

The TEI Consortium has released The XML Version of the TEI Guidelines This is from the introduction:

The primary goal of this revision has been to make available a new and corrected version of the TEI Guidelines which:

is expressed in XML and conforms to a TEI-conformant XML DTD;
generates a set of DTD fragments that can be combined together to form either SGML or XML document type definitions;
corrects blatant errors, typographical mishaps, and other egregious editorial oversights;
can be processed and maintained using readily available XML tools instead of the special-purpose ad hoc software originally used for TEI P3.

A second major design goal of this revision has been to ensure that the DTD fragments generated would not break existing documents: in other words, that any document conforming to the original TEI P3 SGML DTD would also conform to the new XML version of it. Although full backwards compatibility cannot be guaranteed, we believe our implementation is consistent with that goal.

RSS

I've created an RSS feed for this blog at: http://www.voidstar.com/rssify.php?url=http://www.catalogablog.blogspot.com/

Metadata

Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia by Cory Doctorow is worth a read and consideration. Grand visions of the Symantec Web where everything is easily found and accessed are shown to be a pipe dream. There are a few problems with implementing this scheme -- People Lie, People are Lazy, People are Stupid -- are the first few. A fun read as well as worth considering.

Metadata

Some interesting interfaces to controlled vocabulary schemes including LCSH which might help our users navigate our catalogs are being developed at the Metadata Research Program, School of Information Management and Systems, University of California Berkeley. I spotted this on the Library Techlog by Matthew Eberle

LC Classification

This was recently received from LC. "The Classification Web order form and end-user license agreement are now posted.

To expedite your order, please read all of the explanatory information carefully and fill out the order form as completely as possible. If the information that accompanies the order form as well as the product information is not sufficient to answer your questions, email your inquiries to cdsinfo@loc.gov.

We appreciate your ongoing interest in Class Web and look forward to having it ready for access on June 1, 2002.

Cheryl C. Cook
Cataloging Distribution Service"

MARC21

The following proposal is available for review by the MARC 21 community. They will be discussed in a meeting of the MARC Advisory Committee on June 15-16, 2002 in Atlanta. A draft agenda for that meeting is available.

Proposal no. 2002-11: Repertoire Expansion in the Universal Character Set for Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics.

Dewey Classification

Keeping up with the changes in Dewey Classification is easy because of a couple of services they provide.

The Library of Congress Subject Headings/DDC page is a "list of LC subject headings is selected from recent Weekly Lists accompanied by candidate DDC numbers from Edition 21. The purpose of the list is to provide classifier assistance for topics of recent interest not mentioned explicitly in Edition 21. The DDC numbers listed are not exhaustive, and the schedules and tables should be consulted before applying a number from this list."

The New and Changed Entries page provides PDF and Word versions of those entries. I have set a TrackEngine on the LCSH/DDC page to get the page e-mailed to me whenever it changes.

I've added the ability to make comments to the postings. Let me know if it is not working for you.

MARC21

The following proposals and discussion paper are available for review by the MARC 21 community. They will be discussed in a meeting of the MARC Advisory Committee on June 15-16, 2002 in Atlanta. A draft agenda for that meeting is available.

The following papers are now available:

Discussion Paper No. 2002-6R: Changes in Field 008 in the MARC 21 Holdings Format

Proposal No. 2002-10: Defining URI Subfields in Field 506 (Restrictions on Access Note) and Field 540 (Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format

Proposal No. 2001-10R: Definition of Additional Codes in Field 007/10 (Type of Material) for Sound Recordings in the MARC 21 Bibliographic and Holdings Formats

Other papers will be posted next week.

Profession

What is the future of the profession of cataloging? This lunch I read the article "Knowledge Access Management at Lied Library: Cataloging and Web Site Reengineering" by Brad Eden and Kenneth J. Bierman Library Hi Tech Vol. 20. no. 1. (2002) pp. 90-103. It concludes with visions for the cataloging department. Scanning and digitizing, shifting the focus to e-resources, an e-text center, finding grants, continuing education and collaboration with other technology departments on and off campus. I'm not sure all of these belong in the Knowledge Access Management department, which their cataloging department has morphed into. Surely, there is a place for metadata or cataloging in scanning and e-texts but I'm not sure we should be creating the content or even keying the data.

Resource Description Framework

The RDF Primer is an introduction to this possibly important standard.

"The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a general-purpose language for representing information in the World Wide Web. It is particularly intended for representing metadata about Web resources, such as the title, author, and modification date of a Web page, the copyright and syndication information about a Web document, the availability schedule for some shared resource, or the description of a Web user's preferences for information delivery. RDF provides a common framework for expressing this information in such a way that it can be exchanged between applications without loss of meaning. Since it is a common framework, application designers can leverage the availability of common RDF parsers and processing tools. Exchanging information between different applications means that the information may be made available to applications other than those for which it was originally created. This Primer is designed to provide the reader the basic fundamentals required to effectively use RDF in their particular applications."--abstract.

Standard Address Number (SAN)

Here is a standard, ANSI/NISO Z39.43 - 1993(R2001) Standard Address Number (SAN) for the Publishing Industry which has been around quite some time. Is anyone using it? Does it make life easier for anyone? Is number this on your letterhead? Just curious.

Summaries or Abstracts

I notice the 10th Biennial OLAC Conference is having a session on creating annotations. That is something I feel is long overdue. There has been little guidance on just how to construct a good abstract for field 520. There is a NISO standard ANSI/NISO Z39.14 - 1997 Guidelines for Abstracts but that is not a good fit. There is a very good article by Sheila S. Intner "Writing Summary Notes for Films and Videos" Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Vol. 9(2) 1988. That is now 15 years old. It is about time we made the effort to learn how to construct more useful summary notes. Thanks to the OLAC folks for having this session.

Another Controlled Vocabulary

The NASA Thesaurus is available in PDF format online. This is a huge document, over 1200 pages, so do not try this with a dial up connection. The whole print document is available including the introductory text.

Recently on AUTOCAT someone asked the question "what to read in the area of subject headings and classification?" I do believe that the introduction of several thesaurus and subject heading lists would be a valuable part of that reading list. They provide concrete examples of how and why the list was constructed. The AAT and DDC have perhaps the best introductions but the others give the reader some contrast and renforcement of principles.

Schedule G

The fourth edition (1976) of Class G (Geography. Maps. Anthropology. Recreation) included a section entitled Special Instructions and Tables of Subdivisions for Atlases and Maps, which included detailed information on how to construct call numbers and apply the various tables of subdivisions that are used with subclass G when classifying cartographic materials. These instructions were not included in the 2001 edition of Class G, but have now been updated and are available.

The pages are formatted to be trimmed down and tipped into the schedule book.

Genre Terms

I mentioned the classification scheme for recorded sound, ANSCR. The Library of Congress has a short list of genre terms to use with sound recordings of radio programs, the Radio Form/Genre Terms Guide. None have to do with music. The list is fairly short. If used it would seem necessary to use it in conjunction with another source for terminology.

Controlled Vocabulary

There are plenty of subject, name, genre and form controlled vocabulary lists available. Most commonly used in libraries are the name and subject lists from the Library of Congress. Another source is the Getty lists. Besides being useful in themselves, they are an excellent source of terms for the SACO and NACO programs.

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a structured vocabulary of around 125,000 terms, scope notes, and other information for describing fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.

The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is a structured vocabulary of around 1,000,000 geographic names, including vernacular and historical names, coordinates, and place types, and focusing on places important for the study of art and architecture.

The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a structured vocabulary containing around 220,000 names and biographical information about artists and architects, including a wealth of variant names, pseudonyms, and language variants.

Classification

My local public library uses the Alpha-Numeric System for Classification of Recordings (ANSCR). It is showing its age, some of the categories are too small and others too large for a popular music collection in a good-sized public library. Still, it has provided access to these materials for quite some time and should be included in any listing of classification schemes.

Cataloging Skills

Recently on AUTOCAT, there has been discussion about the skills needed by a cataloger. Here is my 2 cents. Catalogers are concerned with national and international standards. We have MARC21, AACR, the ISBDs, Z39.50 and so on. We like standards, interoperability, and sharing. However, our reference staff and users come from our local community. They may call a water fountain a bubbler or a submarine sandwich a hero, grinder, po'boy or whatever. They have no sense of standards, just usage. To create a catalog for our users we must be aware of local usage. We can see only the forest and not the trees, while our users and the reference staff who deal with them see only the trees.

Both reference and tech services would benefit from seeing things from the different perspective. It would be ideal if catalogers could sit on the reference desk for four hours a week. Reference staff could work on MARC records for their four hours, adding genre/form headings would be useful and not too much of a stretch. Then catalogers could go back and create some of those cross references in the authority file, add annotations using language of the patron's, create headings for characters that would benefit their local users. The reference folks could see that we are not just making it up to have job security.

Genre and Form Headings

I've just finished reading the article "Genre and Form Lists for Moving image and Materials: A Comparison" by Martha M. Yee in The Audiovisual Cataloging Current. It is well worth a read and thoughtful consideration. The two lists compared are the Moving Image Genre-Form Guide and LCSH. It makes too many points, about the construction and uses of genre and form headings, to summarize. She ends by endorsing LCSH with reservations, and a list of recommendations for the improvement of LCSH.

If anyone understands Blogger and wants to give me some guidance with the technical side that would be nice. I cannot seem to get items to display in the places I want them. For instance, I'd like to see the extreme-dm icon at the bottom of the page and the subscription form higher. Even a pointer to a quick guide would be nice. I have paid the $12.00 so you should soon not be subjected to the ad at the top.

MeSH

I mentioned how much I liked the idea of free download of the GSAFD MARC records. It turns out the Medical Subject Headings have been available for quite some time for free download. They are available in MARC, XML and ASCII. OCLC still does not provide access to the MESH authority records.

The staff of Ehrman Medical Library, NYU School of Medicine have developed a product m[n]m. This PERL program provides a way to update the locally needed records from the entire file provided from the download.

Digital Libraries

The conference "NetLab and friends - Tribute and outlook after 10 years of digital library development" took place 10-12 April 2002 with 140 participants from 23 countries. The programme included 18 speakers and comprised of five sessions: Visions, future issues and current development, Interoperability and integration of heterogeneous sources, Semantic web and knowledge organisation, Nordic libraries and their digital library solutions and Tension between visions and reality.

The presentations from the conference are now available.

Some of the talks include:
Community, Consensus, and the Trajectory of Progress: Reflections on the Dublin Core experience and what it tells us about the future.
RDF Query by example.
LDAP based repositories for Metadata and Ontologies.
Semantic problems of thesaurus mapping.

MARC Tool

The latest issue of Information Technology & Libraries has the article "MARC It Your Way: MARC.pm" by Anne Highsmith ... [et al.], abstract available. MARC.pm is an Open Source tool for tasks with MARC records. It is very adaptable, and the article gives some examples. Chuck Bearden, one of the developers, was one of my classmates in the MLS program at the University of North Texas.

Sandy Berman

The talk Sandy Berman gave to the students at the University of Washington is available as a QuickTime streaming video. Can't say anything about the content since my machine does not seem able to handle that format. It is in 3 parts, each about 30 min.

Authority Records

This from the latest LC Cataloging Newsline:

For some time now, LC's Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) has been processing and distributing to subscribers, including the bibliographic utilities, name authority records derived from the National Library of Canada that contain 7XX fields. NACO members will soon begin seeing 7XX "linking references" in name authority records originating from other institutions. These linking references are AACR2 authoritative forms of name used in national bibliographies or for other special purposes by national libraries/bibliographic entities.

Interim instructions, pending the release of revised documentation, are available at the PCC Web site at URL http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/7xx.html [May 2002]

This is excellent news, one step closer to a patron friendly authority access system. Where each institution or even each user can select the form of names they desire to use. Currently only the Library of Canada has input. Soon the Library of South Africa will as well.

Classification

Still on the classification topic. There has been some discussion on a list of what classification schemes are used in Europe. As I remember Dewey and the Universial Decimal Classification (UDC) are the most common. The Bliss Classification is used in some UK libraries. Any others?

General Material Designations

I've just heard that there is discussion about eliminating the GMD. Here are some the specific questions being asked:

1. GMD helps patrons find, separate, collocate, and select records for print and non-print materials. Since non-print materials are often the minority in collections, is the GMD the best way to alert users of the catalog?
2. How are GMD's best applied when describing reproductions and multiple resources such as digital sound recording?
3. Professional report inconsistencies of how to use GMD particularly for non-print materials- so will rules oriented towards print materials help?
4. When should a GMD be in a record (e.g. even if there is no intrinsic relation to a transcribed title), how specific should it be?
5. Materials are described via the GMD, should they be relegated to subject classification?
6. Is SMD an alterative for GMD?
7. GMD is perceived as an example of broad issues in the rules. Thus, should GMD be addressed at all through cataloging rules?

If you have an opinion on this let the members of CC:DA know.

Serial Subscriptions

"Recently, NISO, the National Information Standards Organization and DLF, the Digital Library Federation announced the undertaking of a two month study to evaluate the current use and potential of standards to facilitate the exchange of serials subscription information for both print and electronic resources. NISO would like to know more about how libraries gather, use and share subscription information.

A questionnaire for libraries has been placed on the NISO web site. Because NISO supports the development of standards for the information community based on consensus among constitiuents, we are grateful for the interest of libraries who benefit so much from these standards.

Please take some time to visit the NISO web site and fill out the survey which can be found at: http://www.niso.org/survey/serials.cfm. The survey will close on May 30. A final report on this study, including recommendations, will be on the NISO website in late June."--from an e-mail received 4/26/02

Electronic Resources

One of my pet peeves is how useless Area 3 (field 256 in MARC) is for computer files. Our AACR options are to use the terms: Electronic data or Electronic program(s) or a combination of the two. That does not give our users much information. They already know it is an electronic resource from the GMD. This only adds the fact it is a program or data. The list from ISBD(ER) is much more descriptive and informative. This list lets the user know if it is a map, journal, image, font, sound, CAD program or whatever. Something a user can understand and base a decision on. I'd be happy with either doing away with Area 3 or adopting the useful terms from IFLA.

Classification

Having mentioned Dewey, LCC and the USGS classifications recently it seemed to be a good time to mention a few classification schemes. The American Physical Society publishes The Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme.

"This Classification Scheme, on the other hand, is arranged hierarchically, by subdivision of the whole spectrum of subject matter in physics- and astronomy-related sciences into segments and then repeating the process of subdivision down to four levels. The advantages of a hierarchical scheme over the alphabetical arrangement include: like subjects can be found grouped closely together; and browsing up or down near any entry will reveal closely-related entries."

For Math, there is the Mathematics Subject Classification from the American Mathematical Society.

"(MSC) is used to categorize items covered by the two reviewing databases, Mathematical Reviews (MR) and Zentralblatt MATH (Zbl). The MSC is broken down into over 5,000 two-, three-, and five-digit classifications, each corresponding to a discipline of mathematics."

"The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. NAICS will reshape the way we view our changing economy.

NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America."

Catalogs

I've found another free open-source library catalog in beta test. Here is their description:

OpenBiblio is an easy to use, open source, automated library system written in PHP containing OPAC, circulation, cataloging, and staff administration functionality. The purpose of this project is to provide a cost effective library automation solution for small schools or small public libraries.

Not Cataloging - But Good Ideas

I've come across two very good ideas recently. Walt Crawford has this proposal:

"COWLZ: the [Caucus/Coalition/Consortium/Cluster] of Online and Web-based Library-related Zines/Newsletters....

I've built a COWLZ folder in my Notes Mail space. With a little encouragement, I'd set up a COWLZ Topica list, even with the growing ad overhead of Topica-unless someone offers a no-ad list environment to help semi-organize COWLZ.

This is a call to proprietors of online and Web-based library-related zines and newsletters to do one of two things: Respond with indications of interest and the extent to which you're willing to be involved-or respond with a clear message that this is a stupid idea and you want nothing to do with it. For now, send email to me: wcc@notes.rlg.org. Include "COWLZ" beginning the subject line."

The other idea came from the latest Library Journal column Inside Track by Francine Fialkoff, a Library Most Read List to exist along side the best sellers lists.

"I've already spoken with several librarians who've said they'd participate, including Robert White at the above-mentioned Bergen County system, Julie Pringle at Fairfax County Public Library, VA, and David Domkoski at Tacoma Public Library. If you're interested, contact me at fialkoff@lj.cahners.com. As White said when we spoke, "We've failed politically to send a message to the powers that be about the clout of libraries." We must change that."

LC Classification

A new product from LC. It has a reasonable price structure and worked fairly well in the beta test.

"Great news! We are pleased to announce that Classification Web will be available as a subscription service on June 1, 2002. Subscription options, prices, and important information follow....

The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) will begin taking orders beginning May 1, 2002 in anticipation of the June 1 launch date. Application forms and further ordering information will be available at the CDS Web site by May 1. Check http://lcweb.loc.gov/cds/classweb.html for future product updates and application information."

Dublin Core & Open Archives Initiative

This just came in. It is good to see the convergence of various streams of work into a river of useful tools.

DCMI and OAI are pleased to announce an XML schema for unqualified DC metadata that facilitates the declaration of modular metadata components.

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and the Open Archives Initiative have been cooperating on metadata issues for some time. Unqualified DC metadata is the default metadata set used in the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, intended to promote cross-domain interoperability. Other, domain-specific sets are encouraged as well, as envisaged in the modular metadata framework that both communities have been striving for.

This schema has been developed for use with the OAI Protocol, and has been discussed at length in the DC-Architecture working group. It is expected that the schema will be of use for other applications as well, and will be hosted on the DCMI Website and maintained by representatives of both groups.


This development is an important landmark in the development of web-based metadata services, reflecting as it does the convergence of community consensus and the development of enabling infrastructure to support that consensus.

The schema is available at: http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/simpledc20020312.xsd

This and other schemas will be linked and described for readers at http://dublincore.org/schemas/

More information on the Open Archives Initiative is available at: http://www.openarchives.org


Stuart Weibel
Executive Director
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
OCLC Office of Research

Herbert Van de Sompel
Open Archives Initiative Executive
Digital Library Research & Prototyping
Los Alamos National Laboratory - Research Library

Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

I'm currently reading The Audiovisual Cataloging Current edited by Sandra K. Roe. It includes a paper giving an overview of the TGM.

"The Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I) provides a substantial body of terms for subject indexing of pictorial materials, particularly the large general collections of historical images"--I.A.

The other section of TGM is The Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II). This section contains over 600 terms describing distinctive categories of material: an established class of pictorial types, a vantage point or method of projection, or intended purpose. Some indicate characteristics of an image's creator or a publication status or occasion. Others imply a subject but also designate a method of representation. Physical characteristic headings designate graphic materials distinguished by production processes or techniques, production stages or versions, instrument employed, markings, shape and size, and other physical aspects of graphic materials. (Adapted from the Scope and Purpose note)

Authority Records

A Handbook of Examples For Use in Authority Records Created By the NACO-Music Project by Michelle Koth provides guidance on fields 670, 667 and 675 in the MARC Authority format. Although done by the NACO-Music Project it's usefulness is not limited to music. This has been around since 1998, but I've only recently seen it. Maybe I though it was only for music.

"This handbook is a compilation of examples with explanations for creating citations for sources of information in the authority record. It does not encompass establishing the heading itself; only how to cite the sources in which information necessary to create the heading was found. The examples are not to be regarded as "rules." The fields that are affected are:

670: Source data found: includes information about the name or title represented in the 1XX field, including facts that contribute to the identification of the heading and that justify the choice of the form used as the 1XX heading and references to it.

667: Non-public general note: gives information of permanent value and general interest that is not necessarily taken from the item being cataloged.

675: Source data not found: lists consulted sources in which information about the 1XX heading might be expected to be found, but was not."--pref.

Texas Library Association Annual Conference

I'll not be at TLA this year. I'll miss seeing everybody and visiting with folks from all across Texas. Let me know how the TRGCC meeting goes. However, the LPI will have a booth there. My co-workers will be at booth 3043. Their exhibit displays a Youth Services and Children's program for public and school libraries named, "Explore! Fun with Science". Stop by the booth and tell them "Hi." Give them some good numbers to report to NASA. We have been trying for years to convince NASA that public libraries are educational institutions. All the education programs from NASA have excluded libraries and focused on the classroom. We have tried to let them know that the field of education outside the classroom is important also. They are srtarting to understand the leverage libraires have.

The Cataloging Calculator

The Cataloging Calculator by Kyle Banerjee is a very useful tool. It allows searching and display of LC Cutter, Geog. Cutter, Geog. Area Codes, Country Codes, Language Codes, AACR2 Abbrevs., and MARC Var. Fields information. It does use 3 frames, so on older machines it may be slow. Thanks Kyle, I use this often.

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.