"Focus on the Interface": Superpatron Edward Vielmetti gives a patron's-eye view of mobile library interfaces, along with ideas on putting phones to good use.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6599063.html
(Current Cites)
Friday, November 28, 2008
Open Source Integrated Library Systems
"As libraries make decisions about what software to use when automating their operations, it is vital for decision-makers to have a solid grasp of the available options," notes Marshall Breeding in the final 2008 issue of Library Technology Reports, "Open Source Integrated Library Systems."In this issue, Breeding details the differences between using an open source approach to that of using conventional proprietary software for automated operations.
http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/open-source-integrated-library-systems.html
(Current Cites)
http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/open-source-integrated-library-systems.html
(Current Cites)
Metadata Matters
Diane Hillmann and Jon Phipps started a new blog: Metadata Matters.
http://managemetadata.org/blog/
(Cataloging Futures)
http://managemetadata.org/blog/
(Cataloging Futures)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Authority Non-Latin Reference Project Completed
The Library of Congress is pleased to announce that OCLC has completed the pre-population of the NACO authority file with non-Latin references (authority 4XX fields) derived from non-Latin bibliographic heading fields in WorldCat, a use of data-mining techniques originally developed for the WorldCat Identities project. The pre-population project, which began in mid-July, added non-Latin script references to 497,576 name authority records for personal names and corporate bodies.
**For NACO catalogers, this means that the moratorium on updating 100/110 authority records that existed prior to July 2008 to add non-Latin script references is now lifted. All name authority records are now candidates for the addition of non-Latin script references. Thanks for your patience during this period.**
LC hopes to announce soon a process by which catalogers that have been examining the non-Latin script references added by this project can contribute to the development of policies and practices for the future, such as the issues raised in the white paper on non-Latin script references in name authority records
(see http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/nonlatin_whitepaper.html).
Special thanks to Robert Bremer, and colleagues at OCLC, for all the efforts to make this pre-population a reality.
Dave Reser
LC Policy & Standards Division
(OBS-OCLC e-list)
**For NACO catalogers, this means that the moratorium on updating 100/110 authority records that existed prior to July 2008 to add non-Latin script references is now lifted. All name authority records are now candidates for the addition of non-Latin script references. Thanks for your patience during this period.**
LC hopes to announce soon a process by which catalogers that have been examining the non-Latin script references added by this project can contribute to the development of policies and practices for the future, such as the issues raised in the white paper on non-Latin script references in name authority records
(see http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/nonlatin_whitepaper.html).
Special thanks to Robert Bremer, and colleagues at OCLC, for all the efforts to make this pre-population a reality.
Dave Reser
LC Policy & Standards Division
(OBS-OCLC e-list)
ALCTS E-Forum on Institutional Repositories
Up-coming E-Forum discussion from ALCTS, Dec. 3-5, 2008
"Institutional repositories", a pre-Midwinter Symposium discussion moderated by Pamela Bluh, University of Maryland.
Many libraries have joined the movement to create an institutional repository, providing a mechanism to acquire, maintain and preserve scholarly and other material of lasting value to the institution. The discussion will focus on the challenges, pitfalls and promises of establishing and supporting institutional repositories, as well as the legal and access issues.
To register go to: http://lists.ala.org/sympa, click on ALCTS (spelled out) under the ALA Division heading, then choose alcts-eforum@ala.org. A login and password are required to register. Instructions for obtaining a login and password may be found on the list homepage. Participation is open to anyone.
"Institutional repositories", a pre-Midwinter Symposium discussion moderated by Pamela Bluh, University of Maryland.
Many libraries have joined the movement to create an institutional repository, providing a mechanism to acquire, maintain and preserve scholarly and other material of lasting value to the institution. The discussion will focus on the challenges, pitfalls and promises of establishing and supporting institutional repositories, as well as the legal and access issues.
To register go to: http://lists.ala.org/sympa, click on ALCTS (spelled out) under the ALA Division heading, then choose alcts-eforum@ala.org. A login and password are required to register. Instructions for obtaining a login and password may be found on the list homepage. Participation is open to anyone.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Challenge of Acquisitions in the Digital Age
In purchasing an electronic resource, the librarian must be familiar with licensing models, system requirements, file compatibility, authentication, proxy servers, and interface design. Differences among publisher interfaces, variations among aggregator interfaces, and duplication within the library's electronic collection mean that numbers for one title may be different from those of another for reasons that have nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the content. When we are evaluating e-resources and making contacts with publishers and content suppliers, we need to come to them with our own demands for the usage rules and requirements for the materials that they are selling. In addition to business acumen and accounting knowledge, a digital-age acquisitions librarian needs to understand scholarly communication and the emerging business models of digital publishing.
(Whittaker, Martha. “The Challenge of Acquisitions in the Digital Age.” in portal: Libraries and the Academy (Oct. 2008) at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v008/8.4.whittaker.html)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
LC Digital Preservation Newsletter
Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter, November 2008 issue is at:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/200811.pdf
(D-Lib)
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/200811.pdf
(D-Lib)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Full Draft of RDA Available
The full draft of RDA is now available for comment. Please see the following Web page for details on accessing the draft and making comments:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rdafulldraft.html
Each national constituency of the JSC has a mechanism for providing comments. In the United States (exclusive of the Library of Congress,which reports directly through its own JSC rep), this is through the liaisons to CC:DA or through a webform offered by the Association forLibrary Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). This form is now available at:
https://cs.ala.org/alcts/RDA_Form/rda_form.cfm
There is also a link to it via the CC:DA homepage at: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/jca/ccda/index.html (see the"Announcing" block in the upper right).
(AUTOCAT e-list)
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rdafulldraft.html
Each national constituency of the JSC has a mechanism for providing comments. In the United States (exclusive of the Library of Congress,which reports directly through its own JSC rep), this is through the liaisons to CC:DA or through a webform offered by the Association forLibrary Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). This form is now available at:
https://cs.ala.org/alcts/RDA_Form/rda_form.cfm
There is also a link to it via the CC:DA homepage at: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/jca/ccda/index.html (see the"Announcing" block in the upper right).
(AUTOCAT e-list)
New Issue of D-Lib Magazine
The November/December 2008 issue of D-Lib Magazine is now available:
http://www.dlib.org
This issue contains four articles, a commentary, eight conference reports, the 'In Brief' column, excerpts from recent press releases, and news of upcoming conferences and other items of interest in 'Clips and Pointers'. This month, D-Lib features the Western Soundscape Archive at the University of Utah, courtesy of Kenning Arlitsch, Anna Neatrour, and Jeff Rice.
The commentary is:
*The Future of Repositories? Patterns for (Cross-)Repository Architectures
Andreas Aschenbrenner, State and University Library, Goettingen; Tobias Blanke and Mark Hedges, King's College, London; David Flanders, University of London; and Ben O'Steen, Oxford University
The articles include:
*Repository to Repository Transfer of Enriched Archival Information Packages
Priscilla Caplan, Florida Center for Library Automation
*Social Annotations in Digital Library Collections
Rich Gazan, University of Hawaii
*Electronic Journals and Changes in Scholarly Article Seeking and Reading Patterns
Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee; and Donald W. King, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*A Study of Institutional Repository Holdings by Academic Discipline
Peter A. Zuber, Brigham Young University
The Conference Reports include:
*ECDL 2008 Conference Report
Jose H. Canos, Technical University of Valencia; and Pablo de la Fuente, University of Valladolid
*Cross-Language Evaluation Forum - CLEF 2008
Carol Peters, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
*Report on the 8th International Workshop on Web Archiving - IWAW 2008
Andreas Rauber, Vienna University of Technology; and Julien Masanes, European Archive
*Report on the Third Workshop on Foundations of Digital Libraries
Leonardo Candela and Donatella Castelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR); and Yannis Ioannidis, University of Athens
*The Use of Digital Object Repository Systems in Digital Libraries (DORSDL2): ECDL 2008 Workshop Report
Gert Schmeltz Pedersen, Technical University of Denmark; Kåre Fiedler Christiansen, The State and University Library, Denmark; and Matthias Razum, FIZ Karlsruhe
*Information Access to Cultural Heritage Workshop Report: ECDL 2008, Aarhus Denmark, 18 September 2008
Martha Larson, University of Amsterdam; Kate Fernie, Kate Fernie Consulting; Johan Oomen, Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision; and Juan Manuel Cigarran Recuero, UNED
*Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services (NKOS): ECDL 2008 Conference Report
Marianne Lykke Nielsen, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark
*The NSDL Community at its Best: Report on the NSDL Annual Meeting 2008
Carol Minton Morris, Cornell University
(PACS-P e-list)
http://www.dlib.org
This issue contains four articles, a commentary, eight conference reports, the 'In Brief' column, excerpts from recent press releases, and news of upcoming conferences and other items of interest in 'Clips and Pointers'. This month, D-Lib features the Western Soundscape Archive at the University of Utah, courtesy of Kenning Arlitsch, Anna Neatrour, and Jeff Rice.
The commentary is:
*The Future of Repositories? Patterns for (Cross-)Repository Architectures
Andreas Aschenbrenner, State and University Library, Goettingen; Tobias Blanke and Mark Hedges, King's College, London; David Flanders, University of London; and Ben O'Steen, Oxford University
The articles include:
*Repository to Repository Transfer of Enriched Archival Information Packages
Priscilla Caplan, Florida Center for Library Automation
*Social Annotations in Digital Library Collections
Rich Gazan, University of Hawaii
*Electronic Journals and Changes in Scholarly Article Seeking and Reading Patterns
Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee; and Donald W. King, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*A Study of Institutional Repository Holdings by Academic Discipline
Peter A. Zuber, Brigham Young University
The Conference Reports include:
*ECDL 2008 Conference Report
Jose H. Canos, Technical University of Valencia; and Pablo de la Fuente, University of Valladolid
*Cross-Language Evaluation Forum - CLEF 2008
Carol Peters, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
*Report on the 8th International Workshop on Web Archiving - IWAW 2008
Andreas Rauber, Vienna University of Technology; and Julien Masanes, European Archive
*Report on the Third Workshop on Foundations of Digital Libraries
Leonardo Candela and Donatella Castelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR); and Yannis Ioannidis, University of Athens
*The Use of Digital Object Repository Systems in Digital Libraries (DORSDL2): ECDL 2008 Workshop Report
Gert Schmeltz Pedersen, Technical University of Denmark; Kåre Fiedler Christiansen, The State and University Library, Denmark; and Matthias Razum, FIZ Karlsruhe
*Information Access to Cultural Heritage Workshop Report: ECDL 2008, Aarhus Denmark, 18 September 2008
Martha Larson, University of Amsterdam; Kate Fernie, Kate Fernie Consulting; Johan Oomen, Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision; and Juan Manuel Cigarran Recuero, UNED
*Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services (NKOS): ECDL 2008 Conference Report
Marianne Lykke Nielsen, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark
*The NSDL Community at its Best: Report on the NSDL Annual Meeting 2008
Carol Minton Morris, Cornell University
(PACS-P e-list)
Monday, November 17, 2008
LC Reorganization
Library Reorganization Merges Acquisition and Cataloging Functions
The world's largest library has redesigned the ways it receives and catalogs incoming materials in order to improve processing time dramatically and enhance the physical security of the collections.
As a result of the latest reorganization at the Library of Congress, a book acquired as a copyright deposit, purchase, gift or an exchange will go to one division instead of several for centralized processing—the ordering, cataloging, shelflisting, barcoding and other activities that enable users to find one particular book among more than 23.3 million unique titles in printed formats (plus another 8.9 million that are duplicate copies) held at the Library.
"The new organizational structure--the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA)--fully merges acquisitions and cataloging functions, streamlines workflows and deploys staff to take advantage of their unique language and subject skills," said ABA Director Beacher Wiggins. He noted that the new organization will be better designed and staffed to acquire new digital materials, which will be processed in the same work units as collections in printed and other formats.
The merger of acquisitions and cataloging functions ends an older industrial model of work, in which an incoming book moved slowly along an assembly line of stand-alone acquisitions and processing units. Twenty years ago, staff in Order, Exchange and Gift or Cataloging in Publication divisions acquired a title and then handed it off to highly specialized librarians in separate Descriptive Cataloging and Subject Cataloging divisions for description, subject analysis, classification and assignment to a particular place on a shelf. Whole-book cataloging, which merged descriptive- and subject-cataloging functions in the early 1990s, began the trend toward centralized processing to eliminate duplicative efforts and speed up "throughput"--the time it takes to make a new book findable by catalog users and to get it on the shelf to be served to readers.
The reorganization, which has been in planning for the past several years, will allow the Library to better handle both traditional and non-traditional deposits (such as digital). It also positions the organization to respond to the recommendations of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, convened by the Library to address how the popularity of the Internet, advances in search-engine technology, and the influx of electronic information resources have greatly changed the way libraries do their work. The Working Group's final report and recommendations, published in January 2008, are available at www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/
(TS-SIS e-list)
The world's largest library has redesigned the ways it receives and catalogs incoming materials in order to improve processing time dramatically and enhance the physical security of the collections.
As a result of the latest reorganization at the Library of Congress, a book acquired as a copyright deposit, purchase, gift or an exchange will go to one division instead of several for centralized processing—the ordering, cataloging, shelflisting, barcoding and other activities that enable users to find one particular book among more than 23.3 million unique titles in printed formats (plus another 8.9 million that are duplicate copies) held at the Library.
"The new organizational structure--the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA)--fully merges acquisitions and cataloging functions, streamlines workflows and deploys staff to take advantage of their unique language and subject skills," said ABA Director Beacher Wiggins. He noted that the new organization will be better designed and staffed to acquire new digital materials, which will be processed in the same work units as collections in printed and other formats.
The merger of acquisitions and cataloging functions ends an older industrial model of work, in which an incoming book moved slowly along an assembly line of stand-alone acquisitions and processing units. Twenty years ago, staff in Order, Exchange and Gift or Cataloging in Publication divisions acquired a title and then handed it off to highly specialized librarians in separate Descriptive Cataloging and Subject Cataloging divisions for description, subject analysis, classification and assignment to a particular place on a shelf. Whole-book cataloging, which merged descriptive- and subject-cataloging functions in the early 1990s, began the trend toward centralized processing to eliminate duplicative efforts and speed up "throughput"--the time it takes to make a new book findable by catalog users and to get it on the shelf to be served to readers.
The reorganization, which has been in planning for the past several years, will allow the Library to better handle both traditional and non-traditional deposits (such as digital). It also positions the organization to respond to the recommendations of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, convened by the Library to address how the popularity of the Internet, advances in search-engine technology, and the influx of electronic information resources have greatly changed the way libraries do their work. The Working Group's final report and recommendations, published in January 2008, are available at www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/
(TS-SIS e-list)
More on New OCLC Policy
The FAQ for OCLC's updated Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat records addresses these topics and more here:
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/worldcat/catalog/policy/questions/default.htm
Guidelines are here:
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/worldcat/records/guidelines/default.htm
A podcast of a discussion of the policy held between Richard Wallis of Talis and Karen Calhoun and Roy Tennant, of OCLC, can be found here:
http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/2008/11/oclc-talk-with-talis-about-the-new-record-use-policy.php
If you have questions about the policy, please contact OCLC at recorduse@oclc.org
--Karen Calhoun, OCLC WorldCat and Metadata Services
(AUTOCAT e-list)
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/worldcat/catalog/policy/questions/default.htm
Guidelines are here:
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/worldcat/records/guidelines/default.htm
A podcast of a discussion of the policy held between Richard Wallis of Talis and Karen Calhoun and Roy Tennant, of OCLC, can be found here:
http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/2008/11/oclc-talk-with-talis-about-the-new-record-use-policy.php
If you have questions about the policy, please contact OCLC at recorduse@oclc.org
--Karen Calhoun, OCLC WorldCat and Metadata Services
(AUTOCAT e-list)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Do Tags Help Users Find Things?
Searching with Tags: Do Tags Help Users Find Things? by Margaret E.I. Kipp appears in Proceedings 10th International Conference of the International Society for Knowledge Organization, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
"This study examines the question of whether tags can be useful in the process of information retrieval. Participants were asked to search a social bookmarking tool specialising in academic articles (CiteULike) and an online journal database (Pubmed) in order to determine if users found tags were useful in their search process. The actions of each participants were captured using screen capture software and they were asked to describe their search process. The preliminary study showed that users did indeed make use of tags in their search process, as a guide to searching and as hyperlinks to potentially useful articles. However, users also made use of controlled vocabularies in the journal database."
(Catalogablog)
"This study examines the question of whether tags can be useful in the process of information retrieval. Participants were asked to search a social bookmarking tool specialising in academic articles (CiteULike) and an online journal database (Pubmed) in order to determine if users found tags were useful in their search process. The actions of each participants were captured using screen capture software and they were asked to describe their search process. The preliminary study showed that users did indeed make use of tags in their search process, as a guide to searching and as hyperlinks to potentially useful articles. However, users also made use of controlled vocabularies in the journal database."
(Catalogablog)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Reference Extract
"Have you ever wished for a personal reference librarian, an information guru to point you to the most reliable sites whenever you search the Web? A new search-engine project aims to simulate something like that. The trick? Weighting search results so that librarians’ picks rise to the top.
Called Reference Extract, the project is being developed by the Online Computer Library Center and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington. OCLC is an international cooperative that shares resources among more than 69,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. A $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is covering planning costs. According to the project proposal, the search engine 'will be built for maximum credibility by relying on the expertise and credibility judgments of librarians from around the globe.'"
http://referencextract.org/?page_id=3
(Wired Campus)
Called Reference Extract, the project is being developed by the Online Computer Library Center and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington. OCLC is an international cooperative that shares resources among more than 69,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. A $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is covering planning costs. According to the project proposal, the search engine 'will be built for maximum credibility by relying on the expertise and credibility judgments of librarians from around the globe.'"
http://referencextract.org/?page_id=3
(Wired Campus)
lcsh.info
lcsh.info is "an experimental service that makes Library of Congress Subject Headings available as linked-data using the SKOS vocabulary. The goal of lcsh.info is to encourage experimentation and use of LCSH on the web with the hopes of informing a similar effort at the Library of Congress to make a continually updated version available."
http://lcsh.info/
(Collocate and Disambiguate blog)
http://lcsh.info/
(Collocate and Disambiguate blog)
Monday, November 10, 2008
ALCTS Newsletter Online Available
The combined August/October issue of ALCTS Newsletter Online is now available:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/resources/ano/v19/n4/index.cfm
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/resources/ano/v19/n4/index.cfm
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
RDA Documents Now Available
The following documents are now available on the JSC web site at:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jsc/workingnew.html
- 5JSC/RDA/Editor's Guide
- 5JSC/RDA/Objectives and Principles/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/Prospectus/Rev/6
- 5JSC/RDA/Scope/Rev/3
- 5JSC/RDA/RDA to FRBR mapping/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/FRBR to RDA mapping
- 5JSC/RDA/Element analysis/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/RDA to FRAD mapping/Rev
- 5JSC/RDA/FRAD to RDA mapping
***************************
Kathy Winzer
Catalog Librarian
Robert Crown Law Library
Stanford University
(TS-SIS e-list)
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jsc/workingnew.html
- 5JSC/RDA/Editor's Guide
- 5JSC/RDA/Objectives and Principles/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/Prospectus/Rev/6
- 5JSC/RDA/Scope/Rev/3
- 5JSC/RDA/RDA to FRBR mapping/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/FRBR to RDA mapping
- 5JSC/RDA/Element analysis/Rev/2
- 5JSC/RDA/RDA to FRAD mapping/Rev
- 5JSC/RDA/FRAD to RDA mapping
***************************
Kathy Winzer
Catalog Librarian
Robert Crown Law Library
Stanford University
(TS-SIS e-list)
New OCLC Policy on Use and Transfer of Records
Posted on behalf of Karen Calhoun, Vice President, WorldCat and Metadata Services
The Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records have been updated to become the Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records. The policy is scheduled to become effective mid-February 2009, to give OCLC member libraries and other organizations time to implement any changes resulting from the update. Until that time, the Guidelines will remain in effect.
The information landscape has undergone vast changes since 1987 when the Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records were last updated. The updated policy is intended to support the widespread, non-commercial sharing of WorldCat records and encourage innovation that benefits libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, while also protecting members' investment in WorldCat.
For more information, please visit the Policy page to see the policy, a summary, frequently asked questions, and graphical representation of the policy. We anticipate frequent updates to the FAQ during the implementation period and welcome any additions you may suggest.
http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/catalog/policy/
(OCLC-CAT e-list)
The Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records have been updated to become the Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records. The policy is scheduled to become effective mid-February 2009, to give OCLC member libraries and other organizations time to implement any changes resulting from the update. Until that time, the Guidelines will remain in effect.
The information landscape has undergone vast changes since 1987 when the Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records were last updated. The updated policy is intended to support the widespread, non-commercial sharing of WorldCat records and encourage innovation that benefits libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, while also protecting members' investment in WorldCat.
For more information, please visit the Policy page to see the policy, a summary, frequently asked questions, and graphical representation of the policy. We anticipate frequent updates to the FAQ during the implementation period and welcome any additions you may suggest.
http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/catalog/policy/
(OCLC-CAT e-list)
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