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.