Preservation of Digital Holdings

LC has over eight terabytes of digital data in the American Memory Project. Keeping that useful with changing technology will be a challenge. Library of Congress, San Diego Supercomputer Center to Evaluate SDSC SRB Data Grid for Preservation of Digital Holdings

Today, powerful data grid technologies such as the Storage Resource Broker (SRB), developed at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) for scientific computing, are showing promise of being able to preserve these digital holdings. SDSC and Library of Congress are collaborating to evaluate the SRB data grid software for preservation and management of priceless national digital collections - part of the nation's heritage - for decades and centuries into the future.

Privacy

I've posted this before, but I'll repost it from time to time to remind new subscribers. Those who have subscribed to receive items from this 'blog by e-mail should be aware:

Blog owners will be able to view the list of their subscribers. On the flip side, if subscribers want their email address hidden from view, they can set their account to "private" in their Profile section. In fact, this option is in place now, if you want to use it.

You can rest assured I'll not pass your addresses on to any third party or send you spam. I'm curious as to who is a subscriber, so I will take a look some time. This applies to any 'blog you have subscribed to using Bloglet.

Cites & Insights

The latest issue of Cites & Insights is now available. Walt Crawford's well writted opinions on e-books, COWLZ and technology. Always a good read.

OLAC Newsletter

The latest issue of the OLAC Newsletter is now available. Anyone attending the conference in a few days will want to check it out to see some of the issues to be discussed and decided.

Metadata

Solid introduction to metadata Demystifying Metadata by Marty Lucas.

In the faddish dot-com world it's tempting to dismiss metadata as this nanosecond's buzzer button, but metadata is really an age-old answer to an age-old problem. The problem is, how to get the most out of a stored collection of information. Datastores are bigger than ever and so is the problem. A consensus is growing that metadata is the answer. Metadata is often described as "information about information" but I prefer to think of it as another layer of information - simplified, distilled, made orderly - created to help people use an information source.

Thanks to Matthew at Library Techlog for this item.

Metadata

Metadata for Web logs is being discussed at the Weblog MetaData Initiative or WMDI.

The guiding principle behind the initiative is that by creating standards in the weblog metadata "problem space", we can enable greater collaboration and interaction between existing applications, as well as paving the way for future, currently unforeseen metadata applications by reducing or eliminating much of the redundant, "reinventing the wheel" work currently involved in creating a new weblog metadata application.

Instant Messaging

The problem with instant messaging has been that programs often do not speak to one another. An AIM user and ICQ user, for example, cannot connect. There are a few solutions. Trillion is able to connect to most, if not all other IM software. Now, however, business is beginning to use instant messaging and wants compatible systems. IM giants told to work it out.

I hope, with compatible systems may come standards, structure in XML and the ability to archive and search the archives of messages. Another benefit will be for libraries that are using IM for online reference.

Thanks to Jenny at the Shifted Librarian. Welcome back, I've missed your insights.

FRBR

The latest issue of D-Lib Magazine has just been published. It inlcudes the paper Experiments with the IFLA Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) by Thomas B. Hickey, Edward T. O'Neill and Jenny Toves.

OCLC is investigating how best to implement IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). As part of that work, we have undertaken a series of experiments with algorithms to group existing bibliographic records into works and expressions. Working with both subsets of records and the whole WorldCat database, the algorithm we developed achieved reasonable success identifying all manifestations of a work.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets are an important tool for improving the access to information on the Web. These separate content from style. Check to see if your CSS is properly encoded with CSSCheck.

Copyright

There is lots of legislation being proposed to extend the interests of copyright holders. The right to shut down your computer and the ability to decide what electronic devices will be manufactured, for example. The Electronic Freedom Foundation makes it easy to let Congress hear another side. After registration, you can send e-mails or FAXes based on their letters to you congressperson. Simple, quick and important. Information policy is too important to be left in the hands of one segment of our society.

Dublin Core

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is pleased to announce the release of the DCMI Metadata Registry. This Registry provides a Web-based user interface that enables users to explore the Dublin Core vocabulary. It provides authoritative information regarding the DCMI vocabulary, and the relationship between terms in that vocabulary.

The Registry includes:

• Full-text search support
• The ability to navigate the DC vocabulary using a number of pre-defined queries.
• Internationalization support that includes term and user interfacetranslations in 23 different languages (thanks to the efforts of over 40volunteers)
• Two user interfaces, intended to support both metadata specialists and RDF experts

The Metadata Registry is the primary focus of the DCMI Registry Working Group. We encourage your feedback on this release and remind working group members that we will be discussing Phase 2 functional requirements at the DC2002 meeting in Florence in October. Prior to that meeting we will post agenda and discussion items on this list. Please direct your comments and suggestions to: mailto:DC-REGISTRY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK

Links:
The DCMI Registry
The DCMI Registry Working Group home page

Best Regards,
Harry Wagner
OCLC / DCMI
Dublin, OH 43017
(614) 761-5178
mailto:wagnerh@oclc.org

ISBD

Treatment of Publications in Multiple Formats proposals initiated by the IFLA Section on Cataloguing’s ISDB Review Group is now available. Comments should be made before November 15.

Recognizing the increasing incidence of resources published in more than one physical medium, and the challenges that these publications pose for bibliographic control, an ad-hoc committee of the IFLA ISBD Review Group was charged with investigating the treatment of publications in multiple formats. Within this context, the Study Group considered (1) the use of multiple ISBDs and the use of multiple general material designations ([gmd’s]), (2) the order in which elements for multiple formats should be treated, and (3) the number of bibliographic records to be created for multiple versions. Those discussions have resulted in a number of proposed additions or changes to the ISBD(M) text which are now being issued for worldwide review.

E-Books

MS is due to release a tablet PC this Fall. It looks like they will be touting it as an e-book reader device. Why else have secret discussions with publishers?

Microsoft Corp. is in discussions with executives at a handful of major publishing companies to make content -- and advertising -- from their publications available on its highly anticipated TabletPC.

Controlled Vocabularies

Mind your phraseology! Using controlled vocabularies to improve findability by Christina Wodtke is a nice and rather complete introduction to the topic. It takes a business approach to the topic, lost customers and profits are the result of poor word choice.

Classification

Information architecture: learning how to classify by Gerry McGovern talks about the need for metadata in information management. He seems to mean something different than I do when discussing classification.

If you are a knowledge worker, a key skill you require is how to classify content. Classification skills are needed in order to better organize content on your computer, for your emails, and for how you compose documents. If you have responsibility for a website, classification is an essential skill.

Filtered!

It seems at least one filtering product is blocking this site. I can only assume it is blocking everything at .blogspot.com since some of the sites there may have some objectionable material. I can't see anything on this site that would be objectionable.

OAI

Arc is the first federated search service based on the OAI-PMH protocol. It includes a harvester which can harvests OAI-PMH 1.x and OAI-PMH 2.0 compliant repositories, a basic search engine which is based on database and an OAI-PMH.

Metadata

vCard is a widely used metadata scheme. It is available in MS Outlook and OS X's contact book. Given the Warwick framework is should be useable along with Dublin Core and A-Core to provide contact information about the author or publisher. Is anyone using vCard in this way? Has anyone made available a vCard on their Web page for moving into a contact list?

vCard is the electronic business card. It is a powerful new means of Personal Data Interchange (PDI) that is automating the traditional business card. Whether it's your computer (hand held organizer, Personal Information Manager (PIM), electronic e-mail application, Web Browser) or telephone, the vCard will revolutionize your personal communications.

Sandy Berman

Several new items have recently been added to the Sanford Berman Website.

Classification

Open Source classification software form OCLC.

The Scorpion Open Source project offers software that implements a system for automatically classifying Web-accessible text documents. Scorpion is intended for use by investigators who have a machine-readable subject classification scheme or thesaurus and wish to incorporate it into an automatic classification system.

AACR Revision

Dear Colleagues,

With the upcoming revision of AACR2 soon to be upon us, I wanted to let you know what CONSER and others have been doing to make sure that everyone receives the needed training and information concerning the changes. While AACR2 is scheduled to be published in September, LC and CONSER will not be implementing the changes until December 1.

Documentation

• The first major revision of the CONSER Cataloging Manual has just been completed and the 2002 edition will be available this fall, both in print and on the Cataloger's Desktop. The print version should be available mid-October; the Desktop version will be available mid-November. This is a new edition that completely replaces the earlier version. Included are a new module on the concept of continuing resources and other concepts that formed the basis of the revision, updated text and examples, and revisions to practices that have changed over time. The revision took a year to complete and involved many CONSER and SCCTP catalogers.
• A new module on the cataloging of Integrating Resources is being prepared by Diane Boehr and Alice Jacobs of NLM that should be available summer 2003. This document will be included in the BIBCO Manual as well and may also be made available as a stand-alone document.
• The CONSER Editing Guide will be revised this fall to reflect practices related to tagging that will impact on serials and integrating resources. The major changes: code i and repeatable 260 fields are currently not available and will not be included. New coding in the serials 008/006 field, however, will be added, as well as many other changes. This will be the first update to the CEG since the spring of 2001. The update will be available in late 2002 or early 2003.
• The CONSER Editing Guide and CONSER Cataloging Manual are sold by the Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service. For pricing and ordering information, consult the CDS Web site.

SCCTP workshops

• Advanced Serials Cataloging Workshop (now available). This is a new two-day workshop, prepared by Kristin Lindlan (University of Washington) and Margaret Mering (University of Nebraska). The course is a comprehensive area-by-area review of serials that incorporates all of the recent changes to the code. It is designed for catalogers with some serials cataloging experience and is a follow-up to the Basic Serials Cataloging Workshop. The course is now available (see below for details).
• Basic Serials Cataloging Workshop (revision coming in Oct.) The popular 2-day Basic Serials workshop is undergoing revision to accommodate the recent changes in Chapters 9 and 12. New exercises are being added and text and examples have been updated. The basic structure and content of the course remain the same: an overview of what is a serial, original cataloging, copy cataloging, electronic serials, and an optional session on subject control. The course will be available at the beginning of October.
• Integrating Resources Cataloging Workshop (coming next spring). This is a one-day course that is being prepared by Steve Miller (University of Wisconsin) for release next spring. The course will include focus on the descriptive cataloging of updating Web sites, databases, and loose-leafs, with special problem-solving sessions as well. The introduction of rules for integrating resources and the acknowledgment that these are continuing resources-and not monographs-is one of the most significant changes in the code.
• The Integrating Resources course will serve as a companion to the Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop, which is currently being given in a number of venues. This one day workshop focuses on the cataloging of online serials, aggregations, and a variety of associated issues.
• SCCTP course materials are available from the Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service. For pricing and ordering information, consult the CDS Web site. SCCTP courses are designed to be given by SCCTP-trained catalogers but SCCTP does not plan the workshops. A complete schedule of upcoming workshops and more information about SCCTP is available.

Web resources

• CONSER/BIBCO presentation on integrating resources May 2002: Steve Miller prepared this presentation that was given in May and later revised as a handy resource for those cataloging integrating resources. It is a preview to his upcoming SCCTP course and covers the description of integrating resources. The presentation is available on the PCC Web site
• NASIG presentation June 2002: Les Hawkins and I gave a three-hour presentation on the AACR2 changes at the recent NASIG meeting in Williamsburg. The files from this presentation are available in PDF and html on the CONSER Web site. Included are four sessions, covering: the conceptual model and definitions, the description of serials, the description of integrating resources, and major/minor changes (e.g., title changes).
• ALA presentations: My colleague Regina Reynolds and I participated in a program at ALA, sponsored by the Committee to Study Serials Cataloging, along with Rhonda Lawrence (UCLA) and Adam Schiff (U. Washington). The coverage was the same as the NASIG presentation, but more extensive. The powerpoint files from those presentations are being made available.
• Upcoming videocast: In addition, the Library of Congress is hoping to produce a videocast of one of our in-house training sessions for LC serials cataloger that will be made freely available on the CONSER Web site some time in November or early December. The training will include all aspects of the changes except for the description of integrating resources.

There are also a number of local and regional meetings and ALCTS institutes being planned with speakers addressing the changes. SCCTP trainers of the Advanced Serials workshop have agreed to be available to speak and a list can be furnished by contacting me at jhir@loc.gov.

In addition, some of the resources above or related materials are being made available in French, Spanish, and Chinese. Links from the CONSER or SCCTP home page will be provided once the materials are available.

It is going to take a little time for everyone to understand the new concepts, organization of the rules, and the minor title change provisions, but I'm sure that these resources will make it easier.

Best wishes!

Jean Hirons
CONSER Coordinator
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4160
voice: 202-707-5947
fax: 202-707-1778
email: jhir@loc.gov

[Posted with premission.]

Research Libraries

A white paper by Wendy Pradt Lougee, Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age is interesting.

In the section on information access, for example, she notes the potential for libraries to contribute to the development of the Semantic Web, which aims to develop languages for expressing information in a form that machines can process, and which therefore can be searched more accurately and efficiently. She writes, "Designing the Semantic Web will require a mix of skills, and librarians have the potential to contribute significantly to this effort." She also notes that there is a potential role for the library in certifying the authenticity and provenance of content on the Semantic Web.

MARCSearch

An Open Source solution. "MarcSearch is a small package written in PHP which allows users to search for records from MARC files. It is not meant as a replacement for a library system, but as an easy way for libraries who want to go online without having to upgrade their software or purchasing expensive add ons."

Z39.50

Alan Kent has posted an early version of converting ASN.1 of Z39.50 into a format that is closer to what you would really generate for XER (XML encoding instead of BER). The Unofficial XER summary page for Z39.50 page lists the Z39.50 tag name with a link to the XML representation.

Metadata for Web Pages

Matthew Eberle at Library Techlog asked if I knew of any search engines that used Dublin Core metadata. The answer is yes and no. The regular search engines we all use can not make use of it, or very limited use. Search Engine Watch has details on how the major services handle metadata. There do exist some data harvesters that do recognize and use DC metadata. The OAI uses it. The Advanced Search Facility can use Dublin Core as well as GILS and other formats. The Hotmeta Metadata Search Engine is another capable of harvesting and using DC. Will your site be hit by any of these? Not likely, unless you are part of a project or consortium that has decided to use these tools to create a database of member resources.

I do not see search engines making use of DC because of the trust issue. It is just too easy to misrepresent the site and create spam. Inside a group where trust exists, resources can be described in greater detail using metadata and related tools. For example, the American Geophysical Union could create a database of resources at member institutions sites. Or NASA could index their own pages using metadata.

RDF

Just noticed the Resource Description Framework (RDF): Concepts and Abstract Data Model was updated back on August 29.

The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a data format for representing metadata about Web resources, and other information. This document defines the abstract graph syntax on which RDF is based, and which serves to link its XML serialization to its formal semantics. It also describes some other technical aspects of RDF that do not fall under the topics of formal semantics, XML serialization syntax or RDF schema and vocabulary definitions (which are each covered by a separate document in this series). These include: discussion of design goals, meaning of RDF documents, key concepts, character normalization and handling of URI references.

Authority Tools for Audio-Visual and Music Catalogers

The list of "Authority Tools for Audio-Visual and Music Catalogers," sponsored by OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers, has been available for nearly two years now. Based on feedback we've received about its usefulness, we would like to continue to expand and update the list, so that it continues to be valuable.

If you have a few favorite, indispensable sources you use in your authority work that aren't already included in the list, and if you'd like to share your knowledge about these gems with colleagues, we would be happy to include your annotations for these works in the list of authority tools. Also, if you've used the list in the past and have suggestions for improving the layout, indexes, etc., we'd like to hear your thoughts as well. In either case, contact me at the e-mail address below.

If you would like to propose annotating a title, please contact me by October 31. I will confirm that we don't already have a reviewer for the work. Annotations will need to be received by November 30 to be included in this update. If you have questions that aren't answered at the above site, don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks; I look forward to hearing from you.

David Procházka
Music/Special Materials Cataloger
University of Akron
Bierce Library 176
Akron, Ohio 44325-1712
phone: 330-972-6260
fax: 330-972-6383
e-mail: davidp@uakron.edu

Controlled Vocabularies

Here are a few more controlled vocabularies.

The Grants Keyword Thesaurus
A classification system for research opportunities emanating from the federal government and provides a structured method by which agency personnel, faculty members, and research administrators may identify such opportunities. The terms have been examined by professional library scientists to ensure consistency with leading discipline dictionaries in each research field of endeavor.

College of Europe Library Catalogue Thesaurus
The subject keywords used in this catalogue are a subset of the ECLAS (European Commission Library Automated System) thesaurus developed by the Central Library of the Commission of the European Communities. This thesaurus dates from 1978, when the catalogues of the Central Library of the Commission were computerised. Needless to say that it has been updated a certain times since. ECLAS itself is largely based on the OECD- and ILO-thesauri.

UNESCO Thesaurus
The UNESCO Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation which includes subject terms for the following areas of knowledge: education; science; culture; social and human sciences; information and communication; and politics, law and economics. It also includes the names of countries and groupings of countries: political, economic, geographic, ethnic and religious, and linguistic groupings.

European Education Thesaurus
The European Education Thesaurus is a structured multilingual list of keywords for indexing. The development of the Thesaurus is carried out jointly with the European Commission. It now has 17 language versions: English, French, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish.

RSS

RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters by Mark Nottingham provides a solid introduction. The listing of RSS tools and services at the end is useful. I'd not heard of myRSS before which is a nice clean looking service.

Blogchalking

I've added the blogchalking codes to this site. It is metadata showing the language, location and interests of the 'blog. There is at least one search engine that specializes in searching this metadata. Not as descriptive as Dublin Core, but a step in the right direction.

Cross Training

I'm still reading Subject Determination During the Cataloging Process by Alenka Sauperl. One of the catalogers interviewed mentioned it is important to work a few hours a week on the reference desk. The catalog is constructed for the user, not other catalogers and reference work connects us with our users. Amen.

The reverse is also true. Reference should work a few hours a week in cataloging. It will make them better reference librarians. They need to understand what the fields are how they are indexed, the kind of information in each and look at records in MARC format. While I'd not give reference staff original cataloging, there are many tasks that they can do. Adding subject headings to fiction in the area they read, writing summaries for the 520 field, checking spelling from the list by Terry Ballard, any number of specific things to make the catalog a better tool. They may even decide what project is most important to pursue based on what they see in their reference work.

Cross training makes for better librarians and a better understanding of and respect for each other's work.

Houston, Texas Area

Information about the TLA District 8 Fall Conference, The Literate Librarian is now available. I'm interested in the University of Houston cataloging outsourcing project "Ordering Take-Out" by Mike Thompson. Sally Bates Goodroe on storytelling is sure to be good, but outside my area.

CD Cases

These cases are looking for somewhere else to go rather than the local landfill.

Greetings all,

We've changed our security system and no longer need our Gressco Qwik-cases. We have approximately 25,000 (yes, twenty-five thousand) that we're trying to place somewhere besides a landfill. If you are interested please contact my boss, Susan Lee, Madison Public Library's head of Technical Services at (608) 266-6383 or send an email to her at slee@ci.madison.wi.us.

You can also reply directly to this email and I'll forward any messages to her.

If you're not interested, but know someone who might be, please feel free to forward this message to them.

Thanks for reading,
Dennis R.
**********************************************************
Dennis Reynolds
reynolds@scls.lib.wi.us
Cataloging Librarian
work phone: (608) 266-6380
Madison Public Library
201 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI 53703
http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/madison/index1.html

XML

An interesting article, How Does XML Help Libraries? by Kyle Banerjee from the latest Computers in Libraries

Many technological innovations relating to libraries have been made over the past decade, but few have generated as much excitement as XML. While many new technologies seem more promising before they are implemented than they are afterward (remember how Java was going to make platform-independent software available everywhere, and Z39.50 was going to let us find and obtain materials stored in libraries around the globe so much more quickly?), XML is already transforming how information is managed and delivered.

Also, check out the comments by Matthew Eberle on XML at Library Techlog.

MARC21

The Tag of the Month for September is 083 Dewey Decimal Classification Number.

Presentations

LLRX has an article "Ice Breakers and Other Related Activities" by Marie Wallace. Too often, we are in a hurry to get down to business. However, learning can occur better if the social atmosphere is improved

Group activities can be used throughout training but are especially useful at the beginning or forming stage. They immediately involve and relax people, open the lines of communication between the trainer and the trainees and develop a sense of trust. People often come to training tense from a prior activity. Some don't think they need training and resent the time spent. Icebreakers relieve tension and signal that the training environment is "safe." Used throughout training, group activities promote content flow, revive failing energy, stimulate creativity and get the trainees to look at the world in new ways. Also, they can equalize differences among learners with different job types or status.

Your Library Career

The latest issue of Career Trends is now available. Always a worthwhile read. The current issue includes:

• NEWLIB-L
• Interview: Reference Reviews North American Regional Editor Sarah Nesbeitt
• Showing What You've Got: Professional Presentations
• Lights, Camera, Action!
• Keeping In Touch To Keep Up
• Then I Saw the Web -- Now I'm a Believer
• What's Online? Recommended Resources
• But I Want To Hold It In My Hand! Print Resources

XML & Names

"XML and global name access control" by Ki-Tat Lam is a paper in OCLC Systems & Services v. 18 no. 2. "This paper discusses why the MARC21-based authority format has failed in a global setting and details the use of XML and its related technologies to achieve global name access control." The whole issue is worth a look.

Dublin Core Metadata

The latest issue of OCLC Systems & Services has the article "Qualified Dublin Core metadata for online journal articles" by Timothy W Cole.

This paper describes an implementation utilizing preliminary Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) guidelines for expressing Qualified Dublin Core (DCQ) metadata in RDF/XML. Primary source objects used in this research were online versions of articles published in more than 50 academic journals in physics and engineering. Articles were encoded in well-formed XML. While able to follow DCMI guidelines generally, it was necessary to augment DCQ semantics with local extensions in order to retain desired richness of semantics and structure. Also described is related work, including development of XML schema documents necessary to validate metadata and creation of a transforming XSL stylesheet to "dumb-down" metadata to simple Dublin Core. As a case study, this research illustrates issues encountered when expressing real-world DCQ metadata in RDF/XML. Significant initial investment of effort was required to develop RDF facilities and expertise. Pending more applications that exploit RDF, this investment may not be warranted in all domains.

XML and Taxonomies

XML and taxonomies A partnership cure for digital sprawl by Linda Farmer provides a business perspective on these tools. Information Highways v. 9, no. 2 (Jan.-Feb., 2002)

The judicious application of XML and taxonomies can go a long way towards stemming the sprawl of unstructured digital content throughout an enterprise and leveraging its potential in the service of business goals.

Culture

Beloit College has released the Class of 2006 Mindset List. This list is always interesting and useful for understanding some of our patrons. The first 10 items are:

1. A Southerner has always been President of the United States.
2. Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.
3. South Africa's official policy of apartheid has not existed during their lifetime.
4. Cars have always had eye-level rear stop lights, CD player, and air bags.
5. We have always been able to choose our long distance carriers.
6. Weather reports have always been available 24-hours a day on television.
7. The "evil empire" has moved from Moscow to a setting in some distant galaxy.
8. "Big Brother" is merely a television show.
9. Cyberspace has always existed.
10. Bruce Springsteen's new hit Born in the USA could have been played to celebrate their birth.

Economic Impact of Libraries

Marylaine Block has offered to create a Web page for stories of how libraries have helped individuals become more productive, taxpaying citizens. Seems like it could be a valuable project.

I know you have your own success stories, even if they're mostly anecdotes. You may also have conducted some follow-up surveys with the people who've attended your workshops. What we need to do, it seems to me, is start gathering these stories and systematically recording them. If we're not currently doing follow-up surveys of our workshop attendees, we should start doing so, at least occasionally. We can put the stories and the survey results in our annual reports, and publish them on our web pages. In fact, we could use our web pages to gather stories like this, by including an interactive page for users, called something like I LEARNED IT AT THE LIBRARY.

The next step would be to take these stories from libraries all over the country and consolidate the information so we can get a sense of the national economic impact of libraries. I can do that, with your help. I can create a page for library success stories on my web site.

The page doesn't exist yet, because I can't do it by myself. You need to supply me with the content for it. Send me your anecdotes, and the URLs for your posted survey results or press releases about them, to mblock@netexpress.net (please use the subject line "library success story"), and I will include them on the page. I'll let you know when it's up and running. Let's jointly create documentation we can brandish in the faces of mayors and city council members and company financial officers, proving our worth in the dollars and cents terms they understand.

Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies.
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/
Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2002.

Open Source Library System, Koha

The Nelsonville, Ohio, Public Library has recently announced that they will be migrating to Koha, a GPL'd library software system which is written in Perl. They have decided to contribute to the ongoing development of Koha and have released an RFP to solicit bids to work on full MARC support for the 1.4 release, the RFP is available.

I'd encourage interested parties to read carefully through the RFP and to join the koha-devel mailing list. It may also be worthwhile to join the #koha channel at irc.katipo.co.nz to discuss the project in general or MARC support specifically. If you know anyone else that might be interested in responding to the RFP, please feel free to forward it as appropriate.

Further background on Nelsonville's announcement. For more information, please feel free to contact me by email at info@koha.org.

Pat Eyler
Kaitiaki/manager
the Koha project

Links

This from Library Techlog, another possible solution to broken links.

Robust Hyperlinks and Robust Locations. URLs can be made robust so that if a web page moves to another location anywhere on the web, you can find it. Even if that page has been edited. (If the page has been deleted and no mirrors are available, you'll have to try something else, obviously.) Today's address-based URLs are augmented with a five or so word content-based lexical signature to make a Robust Hyperlink. When the URL's address-based portion breaks, the signature is fed into any web search engine to find the new site of the page. Using our free, Open Source software (including source code), you can rewrite your web pages and bookmarks files to make them robust, automatically. Although web browser support is desirable for complete convenience, Robust Hyperlinks work now, as drop-in replacements of URLs in today's HTML, web browsers, web servers and search engines.

Subject Headings

Currently I'm reading the book Subject Determination During the Cataloging Process by Alenka Sauperl. The processes it describes sounds much more realistic than how the process was described in cataloging class. In class it ran (1) Examine the item to determine the subject. Look at the title, index, preface, and TOC. (2) Consult the subject heading list and determine the term(s) that match. In Sauperl's study it shows that the subject selection begins during descriptive cataloging. Looking at the publisher, series statements as well at the title and authors. Then the process becomes iterative moving back and forth from the vocabulary list to the item and to the catalog to see how similar items have been treated. How our users would look is also considered. Much messier. Better for our catalogs. It makes sense to consider how similar items have been treated. That's part of the collocation function of the catalog. Also, consideration of the user is basic. The 1st law (if I remember right) is save the reader time. If you are reading this while still in library school, do not believe the neat description from your cataloging class.

E-Journals

Project Muse is now offering journal data for download. No need to be a member either. It is available in Excel, tab delimited or comma delimited formats. No MARC format, still have to use jake2marc for that. Still it should make things easier for some folks.

TEI

The TEI Consortium, a non-profit membership organization that continues the efforts of the Text Encoding Initiative, will hold its second annual members meeting at the Newberry Library, Chicago, October 11-12, 2002. Members and non-members alike are welcome to attend the first day of the meeting, which will include a rich programme of technical briefings and presentations about the full variety of TEI applications. Further information is available.

AACR

Joint Steering Committee to Meet in York, England, 9-11 September 2002. Discussion topics and agenda are available.

Translation of Numbers

The site Numbers from 1 to 10 in Over 4500 Languages could be helpful if stuck cataloging in an unfamiliar language.

New Monthly

Free Range Librarian A Monthly Meditation from Librarians' Index to the Internet

This is the debut issue of Free Range Librarian, a monthly think piece from the Librarians' Index to the Internet. Each month we will feature one article or review on issues important to librarianship.

We welcome submissions (500 to 1000 words) but regret we cannot offer payment for publication other than an lii.org mug or t-shirt and a copyright agreement that allows you to retain rights to your content.

The 1st issue is "The Gospel According To Marvin: A Review of A Festschrift in Honor of Marvin H. Scilken" by Karen G. Schneider. This is an extended review of the book Getting Libraries the Credit They Deserve: A Festschrift in Honor of Marvin H. Scilken, by Loriene Roy and Antony Cherian. However, it goes beyond reviewing to a recollection of the man.

FRBR

LC has added examples to illustrate the ideas in Displays for Multiple Versions from MARC 21 and FRBR.

Copyright

Last night Janis Ian was on the Screen Savers discussing file swapping of MP3s, copyright and the music industry. The Web site reprints The Internet Debacle -- An Alternate View and provides links to some other resources. Her ideas do not have the force of law only common sense behind them.

RSS

Catalogablog is configured to support FeedMe. This is a slick tool. It allows you to be e-mailed the contents of an RSS feed. If you have any problem using FeedMe with this site, please let me know. These RSS functions are the first applications I'm seeing of XML on the Web.

Koha

"We're going to move our library services onto Open Source platforms, culminating with the conversion of our existing server system to Koha." says Stephen Hedges of the Nelsonville Public Library (NPL). "We want to use the Internet to offer some cutting edge information services to our library patrons, but we realized that this would require us to have control of our automation and database software. We needed the freedom to change things, to change the code if necessary, because the types of things we want to do are not going to appear in commercial library software for years."

Koha, being open source, provided the access that NPL required and the level of stability and functionality that they needed. NPL has committed to help support the development of Koha by funding some of the work on three specific projects. This support is seen as a wise investment, NPL expects to save as much money per year as they initially invest in Koha. More importantly, they will be able to offer what they consider to be "the best online services available anywhere in the world."

"NPL's involvement is a real validation of our model." says Pat Eyler, Kaitiaki (manager) of the Koha project. "We've got a solid base system. As people want to add onto it, they can make a small investment to fund the work (far less than they would for a comparable closed source solution) and everyone will benefit. I hope that we'll see other libraries pitching in too."

More information about Koha

NPL provides services to approximately 36,000 active borrowers through seven branches. Their collection includes over 250,000 items.

OAI

Here is a nice use of the Open Archives Initiative, Citebase. This searches arXiv, cogprints and Biomed Central. "Citebase allows researchers to search across free, full-text research literature eprint archives, with results ranked according to many criteria (e.g. by citation impact), and then to navigate that literature using citation links and analysis."

NAL

Dear Colleagues,

As some of you may be aware, a special task force recently studied the mission, management, programs, and operation of the National Agricultural Library in pursuit of its legislated mandate to serve as the chief agricultural information resource of the United States. The task force report and recommendations appear in the "Report on the National Agricultural Library 2001".

Please see the announcement of the release of the Report and invitation for public review and comment along with a link to the full report

We are announcing the availability of the Report and the period of public comment to a wide audience with the hope that we will get many comments from a variety of customers, stakeholders, and partners. We invite you to review and comment on the report recommendations.

Susan McCarthy
(301) 504-5510
smccarth@nal.usda.gov

Metadata

Keeping an eye on Metadata by Glyn Moody from Computer Weekly. Short article with plenty of links. Interesting because it shows computer folks are recognizing the importance of cataloging, by whatever name.

Few people bother to look at the code underlying Web sites they visit, but it is often worth doing so - not just to see how good pages are put together, but to examine any metadata lurking there. For metadata - data about data - is becoming an increasingly important area of Web technology (the World Wide Web Consortium has some background on the subject).

Not Cataloging

Here is a site that shows what the demographic folks think of where you live, You Are Where You Live. Interesting, for me some of the things are right on, others miss completely. I guess it shows why it has been valuable in the past, a 20% hit rate is better than just guessing where you customers are. However, with micromarketing using more precise tracking tools, cookies for instance, demographic profiling may become as useful as spam. I just finished the book Next: the Future just Happened and it discussed how this new marketing will break up national markets and introduce more customization and choices.

NACO Training

Later today, I'm off to Dallas for a refresher in NACO. I'm looking forward to this. It is always great to get together with other catalogers and this is a very competent group. The training is Friday and Saturday, so there will not be any more postings until Monday. I'm not bringing a laptop with me for just the one workday. We have weekend guests, so I'll not try to catch on the weekend. The guests are in connection with a GCOA workshop. The Gulf Coast Orff-Schulwerk Association is a local chapter of The American Orff-Schulwerk Association See you Monday.

Resource Description Framework

What is RDF? by Tim Bray is a good introduction to this important standard. It is also available as Que es RDF? in Spanish.

E-Prints

Eprintblog is a new 'blog devoted to e-prints "E-print archives in universities and colleges, particularly those hosted by academic libraries, and the e-print phenomenon in general."

Cookies

Why does Library Journal place a doubleclick cookie on my machine when I visit? I expect that from hungry dot.coms and crass commercial establishments but not established publishers.

Open Archives Initiative

On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I'm pleased to announce our recent implementation of the Open Archives Initiative technical framework for our Electronic Journals service.

As you may know, the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) 'develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content'. The key standard promoted by the initiative focuses on content providers making metadata records available in a common format - the Dublin Core Element Set. We are pleased to confirm that we have adopted this standard here at the Institute and metadata records for our article abstracts are now available in this format. They can be 'harvested' from our server on request.

This news will be of interest to a range of individuals and organizations including the E-Print community, fellow publishers and A & I service providers. It is also relevant to you if your institution subscribes to our journals and you wish to harvest our abstract data with a view to loading it locally and/or adding elements of it to your OPAC.

If are interested, please contact custserv@iop.org in the first instance.

Further information on the Open Archives Initiative can be found online.

Kind regards,

Lucy Pearce
Senior Product Manager
Institute of Physics Publishing

Inspiration

A golden oldie, Ten Graces for New Librarians by GraceAnne DeCandido. This has been around since 1996, but even older librarians should reread it every so often. It reminds us to be the kind of professional librarian we meant to be. Pause and reflect.

Multilingual Cataloging

I've just read an article "Perceptions of Catalogers and End-Users Towards Bilingual Authority Files" by Kaba Abdoulaye. The Electronic Library v. 20, no. 2 (2002) pp. 202-210. A shame it is so poor, since it treats such an important topic. Abdoulaye interviewed three catalogers then makes statements like "A majority (66.6 per cent) of the cataloguers believed...." or "A majority of the cataloguing staff believe ...." With a group of three we are dealing with case study, not statistics. Abdoulaye does interview a small group (23) of students as well.

Abdoulaye also is not always sure of the facts. "Authority files appeared to be organized according to AACR2 principle, which is applied today in many academic libraries. However, some of the records were found attached with birth and/or death dates within the name authority file." Anyone who has their first cataloging class in AACR could have told why some names had dates. And it wasn't because they were famous Muslim scholars as Abdoulaye guesses. There is a bibliography that may lead to some better studies, mostly concerned with Arabic language cataloging. The literature review may also be useful as a lead to better research.

Z39.50

YAZ-1.8.8 Sebastian writes: "The most notable changes are full support for character set negotiation and the use of UNICODE in Z39.50 sessions. Also new is support for Unix domain sockets ("file system sockets") as a high-speed, high-security alternative to TCP/IP connections for local client/server pairs." Posted on oss4lib

If you are wondering what YAZ is, here is the description from the YAZ page: "YAZ is a C/C++ programmer's toolkit supporting the development of Z39.50v3 clients and servers. ... The current version of YAZ includes experimental support for the industry standard ZOOM API for Z39.50."

Moving Images

An interesting article in Information Outlook v. 6, no. 8 (2002). "Organizing Moving Image Collections in the Digital Era" by James M. Turner, Michele Hudon and Yves Devin. This is not a how-to-do-it article, rather a research project showing decisions at various institutions. Lots of diversity, was their conclusion.

Information Policy at IMLS

Solicitation of Public Comments on Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library services (IMLS) announces that its draft Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services have been posted on its website, www.imls.gov. IMLS invites public comments on its draft Guidelines and will consider the comments received in developing its final Guidelines.

E-Records Policy

Request For Information For Electronic Records Archives The NARA is looking for suggestions on e-record policy. This is a preliminary step to issuing an RFP for a product.

NARA intends to make an investment in Electronic Records Archives capabilities to capture, preserve, and provide access to electronic records indefinitely into the future. NARA is currently developing formal system requirements that will be used as the basis for implementation of the ERA. NARA has entered into research partnerships aimed at developing standards for preserving and delivering authentic digital records over indefinite periods of time, including the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. NARA is participating in a number of research activities and prototypes aimed at improving the knowledge base for developing and evaluating potential technical solutions. These include the Persistent Archives project being performed by the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, and the Presidential Electronic Records Processing Operational System (PERPOS) project, a collaborative effort by the Army Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech Research Institute. The existence of these demonstration programs and prototypes does not imply a commitment by NARA to require incorporation of the associated technologies and architectures into ERA.

Tech Services

I've just been alerted to the publication TechKNOW a publication of the Technical Services Division of the Ohio Library Council. As might be expected some of the articles are written for Ohio librarians. However, many are more general. The current issue has an introduction to music cataloging. The March issue has a very complete description of the changes in AARC. There are some well-written book reviews in each issue. This publication deserves to be read outside Ohio.

NACO

The end of next week I'm getting a NACO refresher and training on RLIN. NACO, the name authority component of the PCC, is a wonderful program. I would suggest all catalogers take advantage of the training they provide. The ability to add names to the authority files is very valuable. We can all use our expert knowledge to enrich the database for all. A public library could contribute records for local authors. A special library could contribute records for people in their subject area.

I've already mentioned this, but the LC authority files are now available online. The local author can now see their name in the file. Just another reason to participate.

MARC

The Tag of the Month is a great resource provided by Follett. Each month they provide an explanation of one MARC field with some examples. It can be nice when using a new field to read the LC, OCLC and this to get a better understanding of the field and how it is used. Just reading the documentation on the one field each month is a good way to become more familiar with MARC. However, they have had the same field up since June. I hope they are not thinking of doing away with this resource. Maybe it is on summer vacation.

Semantic Web

The latest issue of Information Research is a special issued on the Semantic Web. The contents include:

• The Semantic Web: opportunities and challenges for next-generation Web applications, by Shiyong Lu, Ming Dong and Farshad Fotouhi, Department of Computer Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
• Forms of labour in information systems, by Julian Warner, School of Management and Economics, The Queen's University of Belfast, UK
• The Semantic Web, universalist ambition and some lessons from librarianship, by Terrence A. Brooks, Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
• The necessity for information space mapping for information retrieval on the semantic web, by Gregory B. Newby, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Thanks to The Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk for bring this to my attention.

ISMN

R.R. Bowker has begun to issue International Standard Music Numbers (ISMN) for sheet music. "The U.S. ISMN Agency is responsible for the assignment of the ISMN Publisher Prefix to publishers of printed music with a residence or office in the U.S. and are publishing titles within the U.S." This will make it easier to find copy cataloging for these items and speed up the processing.

LITA National Forum

I've just placed my registration for the LITA National Forum being held here in Houston, Tex. Oct. 11-13. Some sessions of cataloging interest include:

• The Next Generation of OPACs: XML, the Wireless Web, and the Voice Internet
• The Lowest Common Denomination: Utilizing Descriptive Meta-Data and XML to Create a Subject Based Cross-Institutional Research Portal
• Metadata Aggregation Networks and the Open Archives Initiative
• More Pages Than a Website Should be Allowed to Have: building purely web-based catalogs through data conversion (I'm sure to catch this one)

I'm hoping to be able to check out the LITA guide Open Source Software for Libraries if they have some there. Sounds like a very good book, but I hesitate to buy it sight unseen.

Record Enhancement

A streaming video presentation Electronic Table of Contents: Key to the Library's Book Collection is available.

David Williamson, cataloging automation specialist for the Cataloging Directorate, discussed enhancing bibliographic records using publisher supplied table of contents (TOC) data. He demonstrated how catalogers manipulate TOC data from publisher galleys into an electronic cataloging in publication (ECIP) record. He also described how publisher-supplied TOC information in the ONIX format is reformatted and made available over the World Wide Web and accessible through search engines. This information is then linked from the bibliographic record using a MARC tagged 856 linking note. Bruce Knarr, a team leader in the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) described and demonstrated the digital TOC project. This produces scanned TOCs from research materials which are HTML encoded and mounted on the World Wide Web. Like the ONIX-enhanced records, they are also linked from the bibliographic record by an 856 linking note. John Byrum, chief of RCCD, concluded with an overview on the uses and usefulness of TOC data to enrich bibliographic records.

From the LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE v. 10 no. 9 (August 2002)

NACO

The PDF-formatted Descriptive Cataloging Manual (DCM) Z1 (the "yellow pages"), and the LC Supplement Guidelines to the MARC 21 Authority Format, 2002 ed. (the "blue pages"), have now been posted and are available for downloading. A survey of PCC liaisons is currently being undertaken to determine future means of document delivery.

From the LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE v. 10 no. 9 (August 2002)

Bibliographic Control of Web Resources Action Plan

The Cataloging Directorate has published an updated version of "Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A Library of Congress
Action Plan". This version includes the detailed work plan for ten of the action items included in the plan. Each work plan includes such information as the name and contact information for the lead person and institutional affiliation, the names and/or institutional affiliation of others participating in the work item, definition of activity to be pursued, the task components and deliverables, as well as the timeline for completion of the action item. As developments occur, these work plans will be revised to include status information.

From the LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE v. 10 no. 8 (August 2002)

LC Staffing

The Cataloging Directorate and the Serial Record Division (Acquisitions Directorate) of the Library of Congress are currently seeking catalogers for all languages, formats, and subject areas. You do not need to be a current Library of Congress employee to apply for any of these positions.

The Serial Record Division plans to hire four catalogers. The Cataloging Directorate expects to hire more than 25 monograph catalogers. The serial cataloger position and several monograph cataloger positions have already been posted on the USAJOBS Web site, the United States government's official source of information for Federal jobs, and more are expected soon. The deadline to apply for the serial cataloger positions is Sept. 3. The deadline to apply for the law monograph cataloger position is August 16. Application deadlines for other monograph cataloger positions vary.

To read the vacancy announcements and submit your application online, please keep checking the USAJOBS site for vacancy announcements throughout the summer and September.

From the LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE v. 10 no. 8 (August 2002)

Linux

Eric Sisler provides a comprehensive introduction to using Linux in a library Linux in the Library: What can it do for you?

Thanks to Marylaine Block for pointing me to this from her Neat New Stuff I Found on the Web This Week.

Privacy

Those who have subscribed to receive items from this 'blog by e-mail should be aware:

Blog owners will be able to view the list of their subscribers. On the flip side, if subscribers want their email address hidden from view, they can set their account to "private" in their Profile section. In fact, this option is in place now, if you want to use it.

You can rest assured I'll not pass your addresses on to any third party or send you spam. I'm curious as to who is a subscriber, so I will take a look some time.

Digital Preservation

Preserving the Memory of the World in Perpetuity: a joint statement on the archiving and preserving of digital information by IFLA and IPA (International Publishers Association). Here are the principles and recommendations:

• An increasing amount of information published only in electronic form has enduring cultural and documentary significance and is just as important as information published in more traditional forms.
• The long-term availability of this information is required and action must be taken now to make this possible.
• Both organizations will work to make long-term archiving and preservation a key agenda item internationally.
• Both organizations will encourage the development and implementation of industry standards, systems, and research for digital archiving and preservation, including identifying funding opportunities to support such work.
• While publishers generally can ensure the short-term archiving of their publications so long as these publications are economically viable, libraries are best-placed to take responsibility for long-term archiving through appropriate arrangements with publishers.
• Since national libraries have the mandate to acquire and preserve the published heritage in their respective countries, and most are experimenting with the acquisition of digital publications, these libraries, with other leading libraries and organizations, should take the lead responsibility for long-term archiving of digital publications.
• A publisher/library working group will further develop joint initiatives regarding the technical, economic and policy issues of digital preservation including, where appropriate, the establishment of co-operative initiatives with other organisations which are investigating these issues.

LC Subject Headings

Berman wins victory - LC to create new subject heading. Short note on a new LCSH taking only a few weeks to have authorized. The new Web form for submitting SACO proposals may be speeding things up. The item does not say if that form was used.

Open Source & Digital Libraries

Materials from the NISSAT-NCSI Workshop on Developing Digital Libraries using Open Source Software are available on-line. The open-source softwares used were E-Prints Archive Software and Greenstone Digital Library Software running on Linux. Thanks FOS News for this one.

E-Books

The latest Journal of Digital Information has the article Many Outputs — Many Inputs: XML for Publishers and E-book Designers by Terje Hillesund. Argues that XML will not allow publishers to generate many expressions from one entity.

This essay questions the XML doctrine of "one input — many outputs". In the area of publishing the doctrine says that from one book one can produce many formats and end-products. Supported by insights of linguistics and experiences of writers and editors, I shall claim this assertion to be basically wrong. By examining the main properties of XML I will further, in contrast to the doctrine, argue that XML and related technologies add to the complexity of publishing. New media, new formats and new genres will, powered by XML, lead publishers into a new and challenging state of "many outputs — many inputs".

Open Source

Over at Slashdot the hacker/code writing community is concerned with privacy issues in the library, Building Anonymous-Friendly Computer Libraries?. Seems the FBI intrusions have had an impact.

Wouldn't it be nice if that crowd jumped in to help develop some of the open source library systems? Koha, PhpMyLibrary, Avanti, or OpenBiblio, for example.

Patrons

We do not have remote users, they have a remote library. That is a paraphrase of something from the Summer Workshop. A reminder to walk in our patron's shoes and look at things from their perspective. We should occasionally try our site out from home or a machine in an Internet cafe. How fast do pages load? Can the print be seen? Is it obvious how to get to the information we are looking for? Does the catalog have clear instructions? Looking for information as a patron gives a new view to our system.

EAD

The RLG Focus has the article RLG Continues Leading Role with Encoded Archival Description by Merrilee Proffitt.

This 'Blog

I've added a button to allow users to open links in a new window, if they wish. It is on the left side about half way down. If this causes any problems for you, please let me know.

AACR

The new edition of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules due to be published in Sept. will not be used by the Library of Congress until December. More details are available at LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IMPLEMENTATION OF AMENDMENTS 2002 TO AACR2. Still makes a nice gift for the holidays.

MARC Code List for Geographic Areas

The 2002 edition of the MARC Code List for Geographic Areas is now available from the Library of Congress. This revision of the 2000 edition contains a list of up-to-date geographic areas and their associated one- to seven-character codes used in MARC records. The list includes separate codes for countries, first order political divisions of some countries, regions, and geographic features. References from variant forms are also included. Changes and additions since the previous edition include a code for East Timor, and codes for outer space and celestial bodies.

The list includes all valid codes and code assignments as of September 2002 and supersedes the 2000 edition of the MARC Code List for Geographic Areas. There are 19 additions in this new publication.

MARC Code List for Geographic Areas (ISBN 0-8444-1055-1) is available for $20 (North America) and $22 (outside North America) from:

Library of Congress
Cataloging Distribution Service
Customer Services Section
Washington, DC 20541-4912
www.loc.gov/cds
TEL: 1-202-707-6100
FAX: 1-202-707-1334
E-MAIL: cdsinfo@loc.gov

MARC 21 information, including future updates to this edition of the geographic areas list, may be found online.

Another item for your Christmas list. The hard copy is not necessary, since the entire list is available online. Moreover, the online list is sometimes more current. I do like to use a hard copy since I make notes in it. I mark which codes I've used and place the class number from the G schedule beside the code to provide a basic index to that schedule.

PHP

A List Apart has the article "Manage Your Content With PHP" by Christopher Robbins.

XHTML for structured markup. CSS for presentation. What more could you ask? How about an easy way to manage your site, using free, open-source tools? Christopher Robbins shows how to use PHP to build a simple, template-driven system that handles site maintenance chores and remembers your visitors’ preferences.

AACR2

The Canadian Library Association, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, and the American Library Association will publish the 2002 Revision of ANGLO-AMERICAN CATALOGUING RULES, SECOND EDITION in September 2002. Major changes in both content and format will make the release of the 2002 Revision momentous.

WHAT'S NEW IN 2002?

• Fully integrated 1999 and 2001 Amendments and revisions approved and finalized through 2002
• More than 100 substantive changes throughout the text and completely updated Index
• Three completely revised and updated chapters (Cartographic Materials, Electronic Resources, Continuing Resources)
• A more user-friend format with 8.5" X 11" looseleaf pages that fit a standard 3-ring binder
• Separately numbered chapters for easy integration of future updates
• A brand new text design that clearly distinguishes the rules from the examples

With annual updates that will easily integrate into this brand new, streamlined format, AACR2-2002 is an up-to-the-minute, forward-looking revision that will equip you to catalog any type of resource, print or electronic. For more details, see the flyer/order form. To order in the United States and its territories or to learn about receiving AACR2 updates each year on standing order, please call toll-free 1-866-746-7252.

Preservation of E-Resources

The recent announcement from New Breed Librarian about closing up shop brought to my mind again the preservation problems of electronic resources. There are some articles and interviews at New Breed worth preserving. Will they be available a year from now?

The proposal made by Walt Crawford "Long-Term Access to Library Zines: A Call to Action?" makes sense. Has there been any movement on that idea? Maybe New Breed can perform one final service to our community by getting some action started on this issue.

Dublin Core

Besides initiating processes for the review and approval of new Dublin Core elements and qualifiers, the DCMI Usage Board has revamped the way Dublin Core Metadata Initiative documents its work. The documents currently include:

• Up-to-the-minute listings of all current Elements, Element Refinements, Encoding Schemes, and DCMI Type Vocabulary terms. These will supersede Web documents currently in use as authoritative sources of up-to-date information on DCMI metadata terms.
• For the historically- or archivally-minded, a complete listing of all Elements, Element Refinements, and Encoding Schemes -- including past versions of terms that have been corrected or revised. Each term has a cross-reference to a related Decision, and each such Decision points to supporting documentation in the archive. This master file is used as the source for periodically generating the updated listings.
• DCMI Usage Board Decisions, each of which is numbered for unambiguous identification.
• DCMI Usage Board Review of Application Profiles -- principles and criteria by which the Board will review profiles which use or extend Dublin Core in various ways.

At its latest meeting, held on 12-13 May 2002 in Bath with financial support from JISC, the Usage Board revised and simplified its model for conferring status on terms, making it easier for working groups to put new terms of proven usefulness into the DCMI-maintained namespaces.

The Usage Board now distinguishes the following:

• "Recommended" Elements, Element Refinements, and DCMI Type Vocabulary terms useful for resource discovery across domains.
• "Conforming" Elements and Element Refinements -- terms for which an implementation community has a demonstrated need and which conform to the grammar of Elements and Element Refinements, though without necessarily meeting the stricter criteria of usefulness across domains or usefulness for resource discovery.
• "Registered" Encoding Schemes -- terms which identify parsing rules or controlled vocabularies useful for interpreting particular metadata values. All encoding schemes, new and legacy, have the status of Registered.

Metadata

First Monday has the article "A Metadata Approach to Preservation of Digital Resources: The University of North Texas Libraries' Experience" by Daniel Gelaw Alemneh, Samantha Kelly Hastings, and Cathy Nelson Hartman.

This paper discusses the issues related to digital resources preservation and demonstrates the role of preservation metadata in facilitating the preservation activities in general. In particular, it describes the efforts being made by the UNT libraries to ensure the long-term access and preservation of various digital information resources.

RSS for Acquisitions

A new and rather interesting RSS application is the notification service of Amazon. Using a news aggregator, the link http://www.yaywastaken.com/amazon/amazon-rss.asp?keywords=???? will deliver a list of books. Just replace ???? with the keyword of interest. This could be useful in acquisitions on keeping up on a current topic. For more details see Amazon RSS - books delivered to your news aggregator! A poor title IMHO, it does not deliver books, only information about books.

"Oh, and in the interests of full disclosure, note that I have hooked my Amazon affiliate code up to the links returned by the feed. " Is at the end of the the article. I've nothing against someone picking up a few bucks for being clever and talented, just be aware.

Maybe a library or non-profit could duplicate the feed and either not collect or have it go to a library.

SACO

The Library of Congress’ Cooperative Cataloging Team is pleased to announce that two subject proposal web forms are now available on the SACO Home Page

The web form for new subject heading proposals had been in an experimental phase since 1998 and available only to BIBCO and select contributors to the SACO Program. Since the form’s inception over 3,500 proposals have been processed successfully and internal studies indicate that the majority of these proposals were approved and available to the library community via the OCLC and RLG authority files within 4-6 weeks of submission. The form for proposing changes to existing LCSH headings is newly developed and will continued to undergo development and improvements as contributions and comments are received.

In an effort to expedite the growing number of new and changed proposals the web proposal form is now the mainstream mechanism for processing subject proposals contributed to the SACO Program. Regretfully, there is no “save file” mechanism to facilitate internal review practices and prevent re-keying. Review of all proposals before submitting to the SACO Program is highly encouraged. Coop will continue to accept e-mail proposals; however, resources in Coop can no longer support an expeditious processing of proposals submitted via that mechanism.

To facilitate the approval of a proposed heading, please consult the appropriate LC Subject Cataloging Manual (SCM) instruction sheets and/or the proposal guidelines and FAQs on the SACO home page. Prospective SACO contributors are encouraged to attend the SACO workshops presented in conjunction with ALA before submitting new or changed subject proposals. Proposals that fail to follow the SCM guidelines to a reasonable degree will be deleted without further processing.

To facilitate the processing of the web form proposal read and follow the editorial instructions provided on the form before clicking the submit button. The web form programing is simple and will work best provided that ASCII characters are not used in any field, diacritics are copied and pasted from the list of diacritics linked to the form, and that initial subfields are left off in all fields.

Proposals submitted via the web form will be available for searching through LC web authorities within two working days of receipt.

Comments, questions, suggestions for improvements to the forms, etc. may be sent directly to acri@loc.gov

****************
Ana Lupe Cristán
Acting Team Leader/BIBCO Coordinator
Cooperative Cataloging Team
Library of Congress, LM 537
Washington, DC 20540-4382
tel: 202.707.7921
fax: 202.252.2082

LC Classification

Dear Colleagues,
The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) wishes to announce that, with the highly successful introduction of Classification Web, Classification Plus, our CD-ROM product, will be discontinued with 2002, Issue 4.

Effective immediately no new full-year subscriptions to Classification Plus or the combination product Classification Plus /Cataloger's Desktop will be taken.

Renewing subscribers must purchase Cataloger's Desktop and Classification Web separately. For details on ordering these products visit the following Web sites:

• Classification Web
• Cataloger's Desktop

Customers who are currently completing subscriptions to Class Plus or the Desktop/Class Plus combination product may switch to Classification Web immediately and apply the remaining portion of their Class Plus subscription to Class Web or switch to Classification Web with the beginning of their next subscription year.

The final two issues of Classification Plus will be available on a prorated basis. For further information check the CDS Web site

Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service,
Customer Services Section
101 Independence Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20541-4912
E-mail: cdsinfo@loc.gov CDS Web site

Cataloging Resources

Anyone who has read AUTOCAT for even a week knows the name McRee (Mac) Elrod. (And if you are not reading AUTOCAT what are you doing here?) I have benefited many times from his clear, considered comments on many cataloging issues. What I never knew was that his Web site, SLC, contains some resources useful to the catalogers. Some of the information is specific to his company and their approach but many of the resources are more general. For example, his "cheat sheets" include:

• Brief Government Documents
• Common MARC Fields
• Cuttering and Years
• Electronic Resource Cataloguing
• Form Subdivisions Coded $v
• Government Documents
• MARC Authority Records
• MARC Punctuation
• MARC Tag Mapping for OPACs
• MARC Title Fields
• Monograph Cataloguing
• Reclassification: DDC to LCC
• Serial Cataloguing
• Selected Cataloguing Tool Acronyms, etc.
• Sound Recording Cataloguing
• Video Cataloguing