Happy 5th

I just noticed, a couple of weeks back, Catalogablog hit the 5th anniversary. The first post was early March 2002. I've had fun along the way, trying out different tools and metadata on the weblog. Lately I've been stressed and tired, maybe time to take a break or even close up shop. Not today though. I'll give it a bit more time and see if it passes. Maybe all I need is a good evening of contra dancing. Dancing here in Houston this Saturday. See you Friday at the TX SLA meeting or back here Monday.

"AACR2 Compatible" Headings

This notice from the Cataloging Policy and Support Office was seen on the SLA catalog email list.

The Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO), Library of Congress, has mounted on the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access (ABA) Web site a PDF file containing an introductory statement and several draft revisions to Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRI) that provide guidelines for a more relaxed policy in dealing with "AACR2 compatible" headings. This document may be retrieved directly from the ABA Web site as the first item under General, Descriptive Cataloging or through the URL. CPSO would like comments from the library community by close of business, April 23, 2007, so that the resulting revisions may be prepared for the next update of LCRI in May. Comments, as noted in the introductory statement should be sent to cpso@loc.gov.

Authority

Metadata for All Memory Institutions

Metadata for All: Descriptive Standards and Metadata Sharing across Libraries, Archives and Museums by Mary W. Elings and Günter Waibel appears in the March issue of First Monday

Integrating digital content from libraries, archives and museums represents a persistent challenge. While the history of standards development is rife with examples of cross-community experimentation, in the end, libraries, archives and museums have developed parallel descriptive strategies for cataloguing the materials in their custody. Applying in particular data content standards by material type, and not by community affiliation, could lead to greater data interoperability within the cultural heritage community.

In making this argument, the article demystifies metadata by defining and categorizing types of standards, provides a brief historical overview of the rise of descriptive standards in museums, libraries and archives, and considers the current tensions and ambitions in making descriptive practice more economic

Metadata

DeLange Conference on Emerging Libraries

Rice University recently had the The DeLange Conference on Emerging Libraries. The talks were recorded and are available for downloading.

Libraries

Users and Uses of Bibliographic Data Meeting

There is a Brief Meeting Summary of the Users and Uses of Bibliographic Data Meeting held March 8, 2007 at Mountain View, CA now available.

The purpose of this first public meeting of the Working Group is to gain insight into the requirements of the bibliographic record and bibliographic control in the context of users and usage. The following brief summary of the Users and Uses Meeting highlights particularly relevant portions of some presentations and recurring themes, as well as some more specific requests for change. Fuller documentation will be prepared as part of the Working Group’s final report.

Cataloging

SLA Talk

I've posted the text to my talk for the SLA Texas Chapter meeting, this coming Friday. Any suggestions welcomed.

Here are the slides.

SLA