The Future of Bibliographic Control Meeting

Economics and Organization of Bibliographic Data Background Paper for the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control sets the stage for the third meeting.

The purpose of the third public meeting is to better understand the economic and organizational needs and challenges facing stakeholders currently, in the near future, and in the more distant future in regard to creating, maintaining, sharing, and supporting the metadata, structures, and standards of bibliographic control. In this context, the term “economic” refers to the human, technological, and monetary costs of bibliographic control, from both the narrow micro- and broad macro-economic perspectives.

Linux ILS

Any suggestions for a Linux based ILS? I know of Koha and Evergreen. Are there any commercial products? We are looking for something inexpensive. We may have some funds next fiscal year.

AIPs and Mashups

APIs and Mashups For The Rest Of Us by Gareth Rushgrove appears in the latest Digital Web Magazine.

This article, the first in a series of two, aims to lift the lid on all things API; the second article will give you some hands-on tools and tips to get you started. For now, it’s all about how we managed to get here--and where here actually is.

Why should we even care about this? Well, with an API our users could create mash-ups of our OPACs making them more useful and user-friendly.

Browsing the Catalog

Browsing Library Collections: From the Shelf to the Online Catalog by Robert Kieft appeared in EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 3 (May/June 2006): 12–13. It discusses a project to add TOC to bib records.

More info at ALCTS' Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group, on Friday morning, 6/22/07.

DCMI Abstract Model

A revised version of the DCMI Abstract Model has been has been approved as a DCMI Recommendation.

This document specifies an abstract model for Dublin Core metadata. The primary purpose of this document is to specify the components and constructs used in Dublin Core metadata. It defines the nature of the components used and describes how those components are combined to create information structures. It provides an information model which is independent of any particular encoding syntax. Such an information model allows us to gain a better understanding of the kinds of descriptions that we are encoding and facilitates the development of better mappings and cross-syntax translations.

Phoenix Catalog

Phoenix Public Library has just started using a faceted approach to the catalog. Personally, I think the multiple access points clustered in a sidebar in a very useful and intuitive approach.

Another innovation is that they are using the BISAC Subject Headings. Look at field 695. Another access point. I hope they used a program to grab them from ONIX records. I'd like to know the details. There are problems with multiple thesauri in one catalog. Ask anyone who has both LCSH and MeSH. The facet approach may limit those problems. Interesting experiment.