MODS Schema, 3.4

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News from the MODS/MADS Editorial Committee.

The MODS/MADS Editorial Committee and the Library of Congress are pleased to announce that a new incremental version of the MODS Schema, 3.4, is now available on the MODS web site at http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-4.xsd. Version 3.4 is backwards compatible to 3.3 and therefore only introduces certain types of changes that do not result in invalidating existing MODS records. A new major revision of MODS to make more substantive changes is currently under discussion.

Some changes of particular note in MODS 3.4 are:

• Features to support RDA elements and descriptive practice, such as URIs for authority lists and specific controlled vocabulary terms, family names, more values for the element, and explicit indication of the script used in a value.
• Ability to bind a specific name to a title to create a Uniform title.
• Ability to link translations and transliterations through a shared attribute.
• Expanded use of the usage, displayLabel, lang, xml:lang, script and transliteration attributes.
• Various changes to make the Schema itself easier to manage and of greater utility to other applications importing elements from the MODS namespace.
• The ability to mark selected elements as containing cataloger-supplied data.

A complete list of changes in MODS 3.4 may be found at http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/changes-3-4.html. Revised versions of the MODS User Guidelines and the MARC to MODS mapping that incorporate the 3.4 changes will be available on the MODS web site soon.

Related articles

• Bigwood, David: MODS 3.4 Schema (catalogablog.blogspot.com)

Genre/Form Terms Policy at LC

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LC has announced a new policy for genre and form terms.

In 2007 the Library of Congress' Policy and Standards Division (PSD, then called the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, or CPSO) began to develop genre/form terms in the area of moving images. Since then terms for recorded sound and cartography have also been included. Genre/form terms for law, literature, music, and religion will be incorporated within the next two years.

PSD's intent has been to develop a thesaurus distinct from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), but for the past three years the authority records have been assigned MARC 21 coding indicating that they are part of LCSH. When the terms have been assigned in bibliographic records, they have been coded with second indicator "0" (zero), which is used for LCSH. They have also been assigned LCCNs with the same prefix as subject headings, "sh." Additionally, approved genre/form terms have been published in the Supplementary Vocabularies volume of LCSH and instruction sheets governing their development and use have appeared in the Subject Headings Manual (SHM).

PSD now plans to formally separate genre/form terms from LCSH, in both MARC records and in printed products. The details are outlined below.

Title of thesaurus and MARC source code
Since 2007 the genre/form headings have been referred to as a genre/form list or a genre/form thesaurus, because the thesaurus did not yet have a formal title. PSD has now coined the title Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT). This title will appear in print for the first time in the Supplemental Vocabularies volume of the 32nd edition of LCSH, which will be published this summer.

On May 26, 2010 the Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO) announced that it has assigned the MARC source code "lcgft" to the thesaurus. The code may be used in exchange records after July 27, 2010 (for the NDMSO announcement see http://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/tn100526src.html).

MARC 21 records
Within a MARC 21 authority record, the thesaurus to which the heading belongs is coded in one of two ways. It may be recorded in byte 11 of the fixed field (008/11), or through a combination of 008/11 and subfield $f of the 040 field. After conferring with NDMSO, PSD has decided to utilize the latter option.

Authority records for genre/form terms will be coded as follows.

008/11: z ("Other")
040$f: lcgft

In bibliographic records, genre/form terms are always contained in the 655 field, and again there are two methods to designate the source thesaurus: the value of the second indicator, or a combination of second indicator "7" and a source code in subfield $2. PSD has chosen the latter option. LC genre/form terms in bibliographic records will be coded:

655 -7 $a [Term]. $2 lcgft

This formula has been employed successfully for many other thesauri and lists of terms and PSD expects that its use for the LCGFT will be equally successful.

Timeline for implementation: Late 2010 or early 2011; a firm date will be announced when it has been determined.

LCCNs
PSD plans to institute a new prefix of "gf" for genre/form terms. The format of the new LCCN will be identical to that for subject headings: the two-character prefix will be followed by 10 digits comprising the four-digit year and a six-digit serial number.

Timeline for implementation: Late 2010 or early 2011. The existing genre/form authority records will be cancelled and new ones will be issued with the "gf" prefix. PSD will publicly announce the specific date of this event no fewer than six weeks before it is to occur in order to provide time for MARC Distribution Service subscribers to prepare.

Documentation
A separate manual for genre/form terms is being written. It will include instructions and guidelines on proposing and applying LC genre/form headings, and will be formatted similar to the way that the SHM is. (Until it is developed, instruction sheets for genre/form headings will continue to reside in the SHM.) PSD is also investigating the possibility of extracting LCGFT from Supplementary Vocabularies and publishing it separately.

Timeline: No earlier than 2012.

Cataloging SlotMusic

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The Guide to Cataloging SlotMusic Based on AACR2 Chapters 6 and 9, created by the SlotMusic Cataloging Joint Task Force of the Music Library Assocation (MLA) and the Online Audiovisual Catalogers (OLAC), is now available at the OLAC website.

Explore! Workshop for Colorado and Wyoming Librarians

Public library staff in Colo. and Wyo who serve 8-13 year-olds are invited to a free NASA-supported workshop.

Public library staff in Colorado and Wyoming who serve 8-13-year-olds are invited to join us for a FREE NASA-supported workshop! We appreciate your help in getting the word out to your colleagues in those states; please feel free to pass along the attached PDF flyer! The two-day training features a new Explore! module about the Moon. In addition to this workshop, future trainings will be offered via webcasts beginning this fall and as workshops in additional states through 2013. Stay tuned for opportunities near you!

NASA Space Science Workshop: Explore! Hero Moon
Fort Collins, Colorado
September 2-3, 2010
Registration deadline: July 16, 2010

This is put on by MPOW. In other news here our gmail address is changing. It will now be [Initial Last name], for instance dbigwood then @hou.usra.edu Please change any LPI email addresses you have to the new form.

New Possibilities in Cooperative Cataloging?

ALCTS is holding an e-forum on new trends in sharing cataloging data.

*New Possibilities in Cooperative Cataloging?*
June 15-16, 2010
E-forum starts at 10 AM Eastern, 9 AM Central, 8 AM Mountain, and 7 AM Pacific time and runs until 6 PM Eastern, 5 PM Central, 4 PM Mountain, and 3 PM Pacific time each day.
Note the later start time

Moderated by: Rebecca L. Mugridge, Pennsylvania State University Libraries, and Michele Seikel, Oklahoma State University Library

Libraries have been happy to share metadata for decades, via OCLC. But what are new ways to expand our data-sharing activities, and thus our cataloging? Today, libraries are putting up open source catalogs and using Dublin Core, MODS, MADS, and ONIX to place their records on the Web and bring them to a much larger audience. This e-forum will explore cutting edge ideas about cooperative cataloging, from record structure alternatives for MARC to new ways of cooperating in sharing metadata. Join us for a discussion about how to make our collections and the records that describe them more accessible to the world than ever before....

What is an e-forum?

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free. See a list of upcoming e-forums at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/upcoming/e-forum/index.cfm

To register:

Instructions for registration are available at: http://bit.ly/eforuminfo. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the email list. Participation is free and open to anyone.

OCLC Research to Host TAI CHI Linked Data Part 2 Webinar on 1 July 2010 at 2 pm EDT

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OCLC Research has announced they will host a TAI CHI Linked Data Part 2 Webinar on 1 July 2010 at 2 pm EDT. Part 1 is available on-line.

Linked Data is a hot topic. It provides a mechanism to expose library data in a way that is understandable to non-librarians, thereby facilitating community development of services that go beyond traditional library resources and creatively exploit library data in valuable new ways.

In this follow up to his well-received OCLC Research TAI CHI Linked Data webinar held on 27 May, OCLC Senior Research Scientist Ralph LeVan will dive deeper beneath the surface to describe the open source technologies he uses to expose records in text databases as Linked Data. He'll also talk about Java, Servlet Filters, XSLT, and SRU, plus explain how anyone can use his framework to make their database content available as Linked Data. If this sounds like something you might be interested in doing, don't miss this opportunity to learn how.

Webinar participation is free and open to all but advanced registration is required.

Related articles

• Linked Data Webinar (catalogablog.blogspot.com)

Twitter Markup

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Twitter is getting ready to start testing the markup of the messages. I can't see this becoming wide-spread unless there are apps to make this easy for the user. They do offer some suggestions on types of data to markup, for books it is the 10 or 13 digit ISBN and the year of publication.

This might make for richer data mining for the Library of Congress's archive of Twitter.

BTW the my library is on Twitter. It seems to be working well for us.

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• Twitter Tuesday - Chirp Changed Everything edition (downloadsquad.com)
• Library of Congress To Archive All Public Tweets (yro.slashdot.org)

OLAC Conference Scholarship

News from OLAC.

OLAC will award two Conference Scholarships that will provide funds for a member of Online Audiovisual Catalogers to attend the OLAC/MOUG 2010 Conference in Macon, Ga., October 15-17, 2010.

Eligibility:
Any personal member of OLAC who has never attended an OLAC Conference is eligible for the OLAC Conference Scholarship.

Award Description:
The award amount will cover reasonable estimated costs for registration, lodging, travel, and meals up to $1,000.

Conditions/Requirements:
The recipient must confirm in writing that he or she will attend. The recipient must attend the full conference, including the business meeting where the award will be announced, and the recipient must write a brief report for the OLAC Board indicating what he or she gained and found to be most helpful in his or her work. The scholarship will be awarded after the conference in the form of a reimbursement for expenses.

Applicants must include a completed application form (below), a current resume, and a cover letter describing why the applicant wishes to attend the Conference, how the receipt/non-receipt of the scholarship will influence his or her ability to attend the conference, and potential applications to his or her present and future job responsibilities.

Application Deadline
The application and supporting materials must be received no later than Friday July 2, 2010. The award will be announced no later than July 15, 2010.

E-mail your application (form below) and supporting materials to: Bobby Bothmann robert.bothmann@mnsu.edu

The 2010 OLAC Conference Scholarship committee is Katie Eller (2008 recipient, St. Louis County Library), Debbie Benrubi (OLAC Outreach Coordinator, Univ. of San Francisco) and Bobby Bothmann (OLAC Past President, Minn. State Univ., Mankato).

2010 OLAC CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FORM (Please enter your information and print the form or type/print neatly)

Name: (First MI Last)
Mailing Address:
Country:
Daytime telephone:
Email address:
Place of employment:
Position title:
Personal member of Online Audiovisual Catalogers since:
Brief description of job responsibilities/related nonprint involvement/experience: