Dublin Core

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

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

Radical Cataloging List

This is a note I recently received. I've replaced the @ sign in the e-mail address with "at" to prevent harvesting by spammers.

Due to a perceived need, I've started a list devoted to discussions of cataloging from a radical perspective. (Discussing the meaning of the phrase "radical cataloging" is a perfectly appropriate list topic.) Unlike many lists devoted to library work that don't allow political discussion, this one welcomes it.

To join, send email to and put "subscribe radcat" in the message body.

If you'd like more information, please contact me privately.

Thanks,
Katia

Katia Roberto
Special Collections Cataloger (618) 453-3269
Southern Illinois University Carbondale kroberto at lib.siu.edu
Carbondale, IL
62901-6632 http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~kroberto

MARC and FRBR

Data mining MARC to find: FRBR? by Knut Hegna and Knut Hegna is an interesting read.

In this project MARC data from two national bibliographies is analyzed in the light of the data model presented in the FRBR study from IFLA. The analysis shows that even though the information in the MARC records holds attributes relevant for identifying the work, expression and manifestation entities, the accuracy and formal syntax are too simple to be properly handled by programs. Some of the results may be used to present better hit lists in OPACs. Two suggestions for OPAC user interface based on the ideas of the FRBR study and the results of the project are presented.

MeSH Survey

We would like to invite librarians interested in MeSH (medical subject headings) authority control to complete an online survey.

The Health Sciences OCLC Users Group is conducting the survey. It is coordinated by Dan Kniesner (kniesner at ohsu.edu) at Oregon Health & Science University Library and Judith Dzierba (Judith_L_Dzierba at rush.edu) at the Library of Rush University.

The survey is anonymous and will assess the current diversity of MeSH authority practices in health sciences libraries, as well as the impact NLM's application of MeSH and the lack of MeSH authorities in OCLC has had on those practices.

Survey deadline is April 20, 2002. Results will be posted on the HSOCLCUG website.

I’ve replaced the @ symbol in the e-mail addresses to prevent spammers harvesting the addresses.

Journals in Aggregator Databases

The folks at LC are working on this problem, as well as JAKE. They have a task force working it, the Standing Committee on Automation Task Group on Journals in Aggregator Databases. They have convinced some vendors to create and distribute MARC records for the items in their databases. They are also looking at loading the sets into OCLC, sets for E-books, and other possible solutions.

JAKE Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment

How to provide access to journal databases is a major problem. Letting a patron know that the journal or magazine is available on-line is just proper cataloging. However, when there are thousands of journals involved, and the mix is in constant change, and there are several databases with some overlap and some unique contents, the task becomes too large. JAKE provides an answer to the problem. It can be searched on the Web, the bare bones MARC records for database of interest can be downloaded using jake2marc or the jake data and software can be downloaded to a local site. This Open Source effort is worth some support.