MARC Edit

A new version of MARC Edit by Terry Reese is now available. Here are some of the new features:

Enhanced MarcEngine -- for faster MARC manipulation and more exposed functions/methods

Global Indicator editing tools and enhancements to all existing editing tools

MarcEdit Script Maker -- Generate vbscripts that tap into MarcEdit's power to modify and manipulate MARC records

MarcEdit Delimited Text Translator -- Generate MARC records from delimited text files

New MARC extraction utility that allows users to Extract and Delete individual MARC records from a larger batch file using a simple title list

Updated MARC => DC conversion to DC 1.1 unqualified

Updated MARC => XML conversion to conform to the Library of Congress' new MARCXML Schema

Improved documentation

Copyright and Open Source

In my professional reading recently, two books complemented each other very strongly. I have just finished Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity by Siva Vaidhyanathan an historical overview of the extension of protection to greater areas. Like mint in my garden, vast areas are now covered, too much for the public good. We should not use the term "Intellectual Property" since that is using the language of those with the greatest interest in protection their personal interests. Information policy, is a good alternative, or information monopoly, to use the terminology of Jefferson who opposed all copyright. This expansion of protection has hindered the progress of the arts and sciences, reversing the intention of copyright as understood by the founding fathers. Some fascinating ideas and history I had not been aware of.

The next book I have begun to read, The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond tells the story of the Open Source movement. This seems like an example and solution to the problems outlined in Vaidhyanathan. The protection of computing source code has led to bloated office suites, unstable platforms and slow development. Compare hardware advances with software advances to see how protection has affected the industry. The Open Source movement has arisen to bring innovation, and user communities back into software. Librarians will agree with much in this movement. Intellectual freedom, for example, is important to both communities. There is even some intersection of the library and Open Source community (it can only benefit both) at oss4lib

Both books are worth reading and considering. Reading one after the other provides a concrete example of the historical and abstract treatment of the other.

Metadata

A paper on metadata use by the federal government "Hydra-headed Metadata" by Jamie Callan, W. Bruce Croft and Eduard Hovy

Recently, the Digital Government program of the National Science Foundation has funded a number of projects to address the challenge of integrating large, heterogeneous, widely distributed and disparate Government data collections. In this paper, we describe two complementary approaches: large ontology-based data access planning using small domain models semi-automatically acquired, and dynamic metadata creation from language.

Open Source ILS

Koha 1.2.1 is ready! After almost a month of planning, coding, testing, and tweaking we've put together a new version of Koha for your book lending pleasure.

Koha 1.2.1 represents a major improvement over 1.2.0. We've spent a great deal of time working on the installer/upgrader, and using these tools are now the recommended way of installing Koha on your system. Koha 1.2.1 includes our new manual, which should help you get up and running faster. The Z39.50 sub-system has been overhauled and is now much better (and easier to install to boot!).

We've also cleaned up a number of bugs that crept into the 1.2.0 release -- and begun to build up our testing procedures to reduce new bugs in future releases.

Please download the latest release of Koha (and find out lots more about the project).

We encourage you to get this new release and give it a spin. We think you'll like what you see. We plan on continuing to improve Koha, and would love to have you come along on this exciting journey.

Chris Cormack
1.2 Release Manager
the Koha Project

Pat Eyler
Kaitiaki/Manager
the Koha Project

Koha mailing list
Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz
http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

Not Cataloging

First draft COUNTER Usage Reports: librarians invited to take part in online survey

An important part of the COUNTER Code of Practice will be the collection of Usage Reports to be provided by vendors to customers. Vendors will have to meet specified reporting standards in order to be designated 'COUNTER compliant'. The first drafts of the Usage Reports are now available and librarians are invited to participate in an online survey that will collect their comments on them. There are ten reports proposed for Release 1 of the Code of Practice, of which six cover journals and four cover bibliographic databases. These will be added to as the Code of Practice is extended and covers a wider range of content types.

The online survey, as well as the full list of Usage Reports, may be accessed by clicking on Online Librarian Survey. We recommend that Microsoft Internet Explorer be used as the browser for the online survey.

'The survey will be available only for a limited time, so please complete it as soon as possible so that your opinions are recorded'.

OAI, MARC & Z39.50

FOS News alerted me to this tool.

ZMARCO is an Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) 2.0 compliant data provider. The 'Z' in ZMARCO stands for Z39.50; 'MARC' stands for MAchine-Readable Cataloging; and the 'O' stands for OAI, as in the Open Archives Inititive. Essentially ZMARCO allows MARC records which are available through a Z39.50 server to relatively easily be made available via the OAI-PMH.

XML

A recent CENDI meeting focused on projects and developments in the federal government using XML. CENDI is an interagency working group of senior Scientific and Technical Information Managers from nine U.S. Federal Agencies. Reports from NASA, the National Agricultural Library, National Library of Medicine, and DOE were given.

Archives

I've just noticed I've yet to mention the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC). This co-operative effort ranks with OCLC and RLIN as one of the most useful in the history of information description.

The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) is a free-of-charge cooperative cataloging program operated by the Library of Congress.

On the basis of cataloging data supplied by eligible repositories to the NUCMC program, NUCMC catalogers create MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) bibliographic records in RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network), a national-level database, describing collections held by participants, and establish pertinent name and subject authority headings. Descriptions and locations of the material are then available to researchers on RLIN throughout the United States and around the world.

CONSER

"CONSER OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING, MAY 1-3, 2002

The annual CONSER Operations Committee meeting, May 1-3, 2002, began with presentations on the _Amendments 2002_ to AACR2. The presentations described the complete revision of chapter 12, new title change rules in chapter 21, and other related rule changes. Most of the meeting focused on the cataloging of electronic resources" A full summary is available. (LCCN Cataloging Newsletter July 2002). Other topics include the PURL Project and the FRBR.

Not Cataloging

The latest issue of Info Career Trends is now available. Articles include:

On Your Own? Lessons From a First-Time Manager

Promotions: In Your Own Back Yard, and Far Afield

Blogging and the Shifted Librarian

Tips for Creating a Successful Dossier

Promoting Yourself: Creating a Marketing Plan as a Professional Development Tool

Life After the Ph.D.

What's Online? Recommended Resources

But I Want To Hold It In My Hand! Print Resources

Authority Records

Great news! LC authority records are now available online from LC. They are updated daily. For far too long smaller libraries, those without access to OCLC or RLIN have had no access to authority records. There was the searchable file at DRA but that did not provide MARC format. Now even the smallest church or elementary school library has access to these records. "Using Library of Congress Authorities, you can browse and display authority headings for Subject, Name, Title and Name/Title combinations. This service is being offered on a trial basis so that we can assess its usefulness and impact."