Collection Assessment and Evaluation E-forum

How can we best evaluate our collections to ensure their ongoing utility and value? ALCTS recently sponsored an e-forum on Collection Assessment and Evaluation. Questions examined included participant's experiences with collection assessment, methods and tools used for conducting assessments, and evaluation of non-textual collections.

One interesting result of this e-forum was the creation of a Collection Assessment discussion list hosted by the American Library Association mailing list service.

A summary of the e-forum is available along with an archive of the individual messages.  The summary includes links to tools, presentations and articles related to collection assessment.

The ALCTS website describes e-Forums as "two-day, moderated, electronic discussion forums that provide an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest on an ALCTS discussion list. These discussions are free of charge and available to anyone who wishes to subscribe to the list."

Staffing for Digital Preservation

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) has just released a report on Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation. The Report showcases the results of a 2012 survey of 85 institutions that have mandates to preserve digital content. Some of the key findings are that most institutions do not have a dedicated department for digital preservation and that many institutions also feel that digital preservation is understaffed. Most organizations are retraining existing staff to meet the challenges associated with digital content, but the report does offer potential qualifications for new digital preservation managers. With a substantial increase in digital holdings anticipated over the next year, this is an issue that will need to be addressed in the near future.

Managing Microforms in the Digital Age

As a result of the changes that have transpired over the past thirty years, a revision of the 1977 American Library Association (ALA) publication, Guidelines for Handling Library Orders for Microforms published by the Resources and Technical Services Division (RTSD), Resources Section, and Bookdealer-Library Committee was necessary. The revised publication, retitled Managing Microforms in the Digital Age, provides librarians and information management specialists with some basic information about managing microform collections. The publication does not attempt to be a comprehensive review of the microform industry, nor does it serve as a guide for preservation microfilm production. Managing Microforms addresses trends in bibliographic control, storage environments, current vendors and resources, and microform terminology.  See the report at http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/collect/serials/microforms. 

NISO seeking feedback on its Bibliographic Development Roadmap Project

In April, NISO held a two-day meeting to kick off a "Bibliographic Development Roadmap Project." Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project is aimed at "effectively transform[ing] how bibliographic data is created, exchanged, and managed in the linked web world."  The meeting generated 40 project ideas in 15 categories; the next phase of the project will involve gathering feedback and  prioritizing the project ideas, which have been compiled at NISO's IdeaScale Input Forum (http://niso.ideascale.com/a/ideafactory.do?id=18685&mode=recent&discussionFilter=byids&discussionID=48211). IdeaScale is a web-based platform that allows a community of registered users to share ideas and provide feedback about them. Those who are not registered users are still able to read the ideas and feedback that have been posted. The two most popular ideas posted as of this writing are: "[i]mprove the ability of our data to be consumed and manipulated," and "[w]ork to make vocabularies work across systems," with 17 votes each.

RDA Toolkit price change

The publishers of the RDA Toolkit have announced a changed price model effective January 1, 2014.  The new pricing continues to be calculated per user, but the numbers of users are grouped differently.  It is claimed that the new pricing will make the RDA Toolkit "more accessible for small cataloging departments" and "more fairly distributing the cost across all sizes of institutions". 

An analysis posted on the RDA-L discussion list verifies price reductions for subscriptions with fewer than two simultaneous users, but subscriptions allowing three or more concurrent users will be more expensive.  The price increases range from 18% to 164%.

Usage statistics for the RDA Toolkit are available at http://admin.rdatoolkit.org/.

Streaming Services

     Streaming services  have been in the news quite a bit lately. Most notably, Hoopla (https://www.hoopladigital.com/home ), which has been characterized as "OverDrive for video". Another platform that's being used by many academic libraries is Swank, http://digitalcampus.swankmp.com/ , which allows for more controlled use and licensing.

     In addition to more wide open services like Vimeo, YouTube and UStream, there are also services like Streamhoster and CamZone and ones tied to class management systems like Kaltura.

     What service does your organization use?

Publishers around the world partner with OCLC to improve library workflows for electronic content

OCLC has finalized agreements with international content providers to add more electronic collections to the WorldCat database, the most comprehensive online catalog of resources available through libraries worldwide. Incorporating these databases into WorldCat and the WorldCat knowledge base will improve access to these collections and simplify administration for libraries that use OCLC WorldShare Metadata services. These agreements will also reduce the cost and time spent managing updates to these online collections for libraries that have registered with the knowledge base, and will provide immediate access for libraries that subscribe or want to purchase these collections. The value for libraries is that multiple applications will be able to access the metadata to simplify workflows for managing electronic materials.


See article at http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=18457

JSC meeting in Washington, DC, November 2013

The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA is meeting November 4-8, 2013 in Washington, DC. Among the many proposed RDA revisions under discussion at the meeting is one authored by AALL member John Hostage addressing the RDA instructions for treaties (revision proposal 6JSC/ALA/23, available at:  http://www.rda-jsc.org/working2.html#6ala23). Those interested in following the JSC discussions as they unfold may want to check out John Attig's blog at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/jxa16/blogs/resource_description_and_access_ala_rep_notes/. Mr. Attig, who until recently was the ALA representative to the JSC, started the blog in January 2009. His blog has provided blow-by-blow coverage of the JSC's annual meetings since November 2011. Mr. Attig has shown himself to be skillful in boiling down long and complex discussions to their most essential elements and reporting the outcomes in relatively easy-to-digest pieces.

MarcEdit updated adding WorldCat API functionality

As announced by Terry Reese and blogged by Roy Tennant at hangingtogether.org, MarcEdit has been updated to take advantage of OCLC's WorldCat metadata API.  It is now possible to set batch holdings in OCLC, batch upload/edit records into WorldCat, and search WorldCat directly from within MARCEdit.

More information and links to down load MarcEdit are available at http://marcedit.reeset.net/

JSC responses to proposed RDA treaty instructions available

In May 2013, John Hostage, the AALL representative to CC:DA, issued a 36-page revision proposal for RDA's instructions for treaties (http://alcts.ala.org/ccdablog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/aall2013-1.pdf). John's proposal clearly and thoroughly documents the problems law catalogers have with the RDA treaty instructions and suggests revisions. In anticipation of the November 2013 meeting of the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA, JSC constituents' responses to the proposal have been made publicly available at: http://www.rda-jsc.org/working2.html#6ala23. LC's response (http://www.rda-jsc.org/docs/6JSC-ALA-23-LC-response.pdf), while generally supportive of the proposed revisions, questions whether the element "Signatory to a treaty" would still belong in chapter 6 ("Identifying Works and Expressions") if the proposed revisions were to be implemented. LC's response also includes some suggested changes to the proposal and a number of questions concerning the proposed revision to 6.19.2.7 and its recommendation to record as the preferred title "a short title or citation title used in legal literature." Stay tuned for developments in this important area of law cataloging.

OCLC presentations from the American Library Association's annual conference

Recordings  and slides from presentations sponsored by OCLC at the American Library Association annual conference June 28-July 1, 2013 are available via the OCLC website.  Sessions include:

OCLC Americas Regional Council Member Meeting and Symposium
Results and Revelations from OCLC WorldShare Management Services Libraries
Library Analytics to Inform Decision-making and Measure Impact
The Future of FirstSearch: More Visibility for your Library and its Resources

Putting the "E" in Interlibrary Loan

Launching Online Special Collections using CONTENTdm: Perspectives from Library Staff
WorldShare Partnerships that Engage End Users
OCLC's Next Generation Metadata Management

All of the presentations are under an hour.

Additionally, a Ted Talk on "Culturnomics" and Google's Ngram Viewer associated with the OCLC Symposium on Culturnomics is also linked from this page.

 

 

 

 

Copy Cataloging Using RDA

A fairly recent addition to LC's extensive collection of RDA training materials (http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials/LC%20RDA%20Training/LC%20RDA%20course%20table.html) is the set of materials that focuses on copy cataloging using RDA. Issued in May 2013, the materials were developed by Tim Carlton, Les Hawkins, Hien Nguyen, Margaret Wayne, Kay Guiles and Dave Reser of LC.  Although created primarily for LC copy catalogers, with an emphasis on LC policies and practices, the training materials contain a great deal of information that will be of value to copy catalogers at other libraries as well. According to the course summary, "[t]his course focuses on helping trainees develop the ‘cataloger judgment’ necessary to evaluate copied records to determine which elements are acceptable ... and which elements should be edited or adjusted." The course materials include an instructor manual, a trainee manual (with exercises) and a separate document with the answers to the exercises. The materials are up-to-date and reflect current LC copy cataloging practice.

Metadata and Linked Data: Not That Scary

Many people will cringe when they hear the word 'metadata'. It's been getting a lot of play in the media with the NSA scandals. Metadata, and an outgrowth of metadata, linked data need not be scary.

It's not hard to create metadata. Programs like PicturePark and Adaptive's Metadata Manager provide ways to not only add metadata, which you can do in many common text editors, but allow you to structure the schema in a way to which even the least code-proficient user can easily add the metadata to a file.

It's when the metadata is used in concert with other metadata that the real utility becomes apparent. Roy Tennant has been publishing a very interesting series of pieces on the Post-MARC era and on data issues in general.

There's more and more everyday on how metadata plays a role in our lives. If you've not been paying attention, now's the time.

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NASIG approves Core Competencies of Electronic Resources Librarians

NASIG has announced that their Board approved and adopted “Core Competencies of Electronic Resources Librarians” as NASIG policy at their June 2013 meeting in Buffalo, New York.  The core competencies are organized around the life cycle of electronic resources, the technology required to provide and maintain access to electronic resources, evaluation and assessment of e-resources use, and communication of information concerning electronic resources, their evaluation and use.  The changing landscape of electronic resources is acknowledged. Commitment to professional development, flexibility, a high level of tolerance for complexity and ambiguity and a focus on customer services are emphasized.

The full text of of the NASIG Core Competencies of Electronic Resources Librarians is available through NASIG's Core Competencies Task Force web site.

5th ed. (2013) of ANSI/NISO Z39.7 Data Dictionary now available

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) recently published the 5th edition of the standard ANSI/NISO Z39.7, Information Services and Use: Metrics and Statistics for Libraries and Information Providers – Data Dictionary. The purpose of the Z39.7 Data Dictionary is to assist the information community in the identification, definition, collection, and interpretation of statistical data used to describe the current status and condition of libraries in the United States. 

Originally published in 1968 with the title Library Statistics, the standard has evolved through its subsequent editions, culminating in an online data dictionary and new title in the 2004 edition. In 2008, NISO moved the standard from periodic to continuous maintenance and established the Z39.7 Standing Committee to maintain the standard.

The Z39.7 Data Dictionary is available in open access on the NISO website at http://z39-7.niso.org/. A downloadable PDF version of the standard is also available. Users of the standard are encouraged to submit suggestions to the Z39.7 Standing Committee at any time. Information on the continuous maintenance process is available from the Committees’ webpage at www.niso.org/workrooms/z39-7.

See the full press release here: http://www.niso.org/news/pr/view?item_key=4bab6c0503ed5d9f392f862e9d32ce346eef6c69

Textbooks in Google Play Store

Google recently announced that they will be offering textbooks through their Google Play store. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/textbooks-coming-to-the-google-play-store/

Users will be allowed to rent them for six months and for up to 80% off of their purchase price. This is a variation on Apples "Textbooks for iPad" program. http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/

Library of Congress Transitions to Free, Online-Only Cataloging Publications

The Library of Congress has announced a transition to online-only publication of its cataloging documentation. As titles that are in production are released, the Library’s Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) will no longer print new editions of its subject headings, classification schedules and other cataloging publications. The Library will instead provide free downloadable PDF versions of these titles.
For users desiring enhanced functionality, the Library’s two web-based subscription services, Cataloger’s Desktop and Classification Web, will continue as products from CDS.

From American Libraries Direct, 6/26/2013

LC's report from ALA Annual 2013 available online

For those who missed it, LC's report on cataloging-related activities presented to CC:DA at the recent ALA annual meeting in Chicago is available online at http://alcts.ala.org/ccdablog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/lc201306.pdf. A significant portion of the four-page document relays important information about the impact of RDA on the name authority file, LCSH, headings for fictitious and legendary characters and animals with proper names, the Subject Headings Manual, and the Classification and Shelflisting Manual. RDA-related changes made to LCSH center largely around subject headings having to do with the Bible and the Qurʼan; for example, "Water in the Koran" has become "Water in the Qurʼan." The complete list of changed subject headings can be found at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/subjects-RDA-changes.pdf. The LC report also includes a brief update on the BIBFRAME initiative, and information about LC's transition to online-only publication of its cataloging documentation.

ALCTS E-forum on Training for Resource Description and Access

In mid-May ALCTS sponsored an e-forum on training for RDA.  The forum was focused around four areas of discussion:  
-Large libraries with more resources.
-Small libraries with fewer resource.
-Training needs of professional staff/original catalogers.
-Training needs of support staff/copy catalogers and non-cataloging staff.

Libraries are using many strategies to manage the transition to RDA.  These include forming task forces to handle RDA implementation and training, self-study, using Library of Congress online training materials, attending external training or hiring trainers to run sessions on site, and taking for-fee online courses.

Training tips included:
-Identify/create format specific documentation.
-Use mappings available in the RDA Toolkit to help transition staff members.
-Introduce RDA and FRBR concepts over time - don't expect to make an instant transition.
-Remember that learning styles differ and provide access to training materials that work for differing learning styles.
-Be creative!
-Decide on and document local policies.

An archive and summary of the eforum are available.

ALCTS sponsors e-forums on a regular basis.  They conducted as e-mail discussions and are freely available.  See http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/alcts-eforum for more information.

WorldCat Metadata API allows libraries to create their own cataloging applications

WorldCat Metadata API available on the OCLC WorldShare Platform.

OCLC member libraries can use the WorldCat Metadata API to conveniently add and enrich WorldCat records and to maintain WorldCat holdings information and local bibliographic data. Libraries can now  create new applications using the WorldCat Metadata API to manage their cataloging workflows. As always, libraries can continue to catalog their collections in WorldCat using OCLC-built applications, such as Connexion and the upcoming WorldShare Metadata Record Manager.  However, it's pretty exciting that the WorldCat Metadata API enables libraries to manage WorldCat data through integration with library- and partner-built applications.

BIBFRAME "Early Experimenters" issue discussion papers

http://bibframe.org/documentation/annotations/

Sally McCallum, chief of LC's Network Development and Standards Office, announced on May 2 the availability of a discussion paper on the BIBFRAME annotation model, prepared by a subgroup of the BIBFRAME Early Experimenters team. The paper is the first in a planned series which will eventually include discussion papers on BIBFRAME authorities, relationships, Schema.org, resource types, holdings, and aggregates.

The BIBFRAME model defines four core resource classes: Work, Instance, Authority, and Annotation. According to the introduction to the Annotations paper, "a review of a BIBFRAME Work, Instance, or Authority is considered an Annotation of that resource. Review is one of several potential categories of information to be treated as Annotations. Other categories include contributor biographical information, publisher description, cover art, and sample text."

Feedback on the paper is invited via the Bibliographic Framework Initiative discussion list (http://listserv.loc.gov/listarch/bibframe.html).

Cataloging the Stream?

     Recently, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings issued a document entitled "The Netflix Long Term View," in which Netflix details their plans to start produce more original programming, anticipating that users will abandon "linear TV" in favor of "Internet TV". Their recent release of House of Cards and the upcoming release of a new season of Arrested Development are the prime examples of this model, created for self-paced (often binge) watching and not dependent on TV schedules or on the classical TV commercial model.

    Amazon has recently come out with its own original programming. Hulu, DirectTV and others also have their own original programming competing with the broadcast and cable TV networks. While this is highly convenient, it also speaks to another trend, the growing ubiquity of streaming and the slow heat death of the physical item. With music streaming on sites like Pandora, Grooveshark, and Spotify and even more interactive sites like SoundCloud, physical compact disc sales have followed downward trends predicted six years ago, and all signs point to physical DVD sales doing the same.  (even though Netflix is maximizing their potential profit by issuing physical DVDs of House of Cards).

   So if there are no physical items, how are libraries to catalog access to items on a streaming service, where items can be available one day and not the next? Do we adopt the discovery layer model for searching article databases, leaving the "cataloging" up to the discovery layer's indexing? Or is there a need for catalog record at all if we will necessarily have to search the streaming service?

   Stanford's cataloging reference does provide information on how to catalog streaming video, but this is understandably geared toward streaming video housed on local servers. Access to items on streaming services such as Netflix are impermanent, but in the future may be the only access point and exist permanently outside of a library's "collection" but within their "access," so perhaps the question is not how to catalog such material, but whether it should included in the purview of the catalog.

   

More on RSS feeds

Here are some additional options for managing your RSS feeds.

Feedspot provides a simple interface, easily imports your GoogleReader feeds and can interact with your social media (Facebook, Twitter) accounts.

The Old Reader provides a nice stripped down interface.  The process to import your feeds is a bit more complex, requiring export of an OPML file from GoogleReader and a wait as your feeds are imported.  The feed presentation is simple enough that it works well on an iPad.

Both of these options have user feedback areas and are taking user suggestions for enhancements and other developments.

NACO series training materials available

http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/courses/rda_naco_series/course%20table.html

The RDA Series Training Task Group, part of the PCC Standing Committee on Training, has developed and made available online its RDA NACO Series Bridge training materials. The bridge training is intended for NACO catalogers who are already independent in series authority work and want to make the transition to RDA series authority work. The eight-module series  includes slides, videos, scripts, quizzes and a handbook. Among the topics covered are Identifying Series, Recording the Attributes of Series, Constructing the Series Authorized Access Point, and a comparison of series treatment in AACR2 and in RDA. An email account has been established to take questions about RDA series work: series@indiana.edu. NACO catalogers who undergo the bridge training must work with a reviewer to achieve independent status before contributing RDA NACO series authority records to the national authority file.

NISO Publishes Recommended Practice on Presentation & Identification of E-Journals

On March 27, 2013, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced the publication of a new Recommended Practice: PIE-J: Presentation & Identification of E-Journals (NISO RP-16-2013). 

This Recommended Practice was developed to provide guidance on the presentation of e-journals—particularly in the areas of title presentation, accurate use of ISSN, and citation practices—to publishers and platform providers, as well as to solve some long-standing concerns of serials, collections, and electronic resources librarians.

For the full-story and a link to the PIE-J, head to the NISO news release: http://www.niso.org/news/pr/view?item_key=a4cb17fa3cd324c142e9a33dc74e577663578359

Amazon to acquire Goodreads

Amazon.com announced on March 28th, 2013, that it has reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads, a leading site for readers and book recommendations that helps people find and share books they love.

Read the press release here: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1801563&highlight=

RSS post Google Reader

   

As you may have read, Google Reader will soon be like Monty Python's Parrot, and cease to be. So how will this impact anyone using Google Reader for their RSS feeds?

The answer is probably not much, as there are, and have been several alternatives to Google Reader. A recent article on The Verge (http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4119006/the-best-google-reader-alternatives) explores just that topic.

Feedly is probably the best of these alternatives. With free mobile apps and an easy user interface (it handles keyboard shortcuts!), it is visually friendly and not overly complicated to use. That being said, if you are requiring your reader to handle more feeds, NewsBlur is probably the feeder you need to be using. It not only handles a large amount of feeds, it refreshes every minute, which is more often than the standard you've come to expect with Google Reader. 

One warning that should be taken out of the Verge article is that with Google out of the "free" reader business, expect the market for premium reader services to pick up. 

MARC Usage in WorldCat

Roy Tennant of OCLC research recently released a new website, MARC Usage in WorldCat.  The site reports how MARC has actually been used as evidence by the "WorldCat aggregation".

For each MARC field, you can see the number of uses of each subfield.  A screen shot of the report for MARC field 337:Media Type shows that the field has been used in 199,079 records held by 1,764,210 institutions.  In some cases underlined subfields maybe expanded to show the actual data elements entered.

This is intended as a temporary service to be updated quarterly through 2013.

Recording and slides from ALA Midwinter RDA Update Forum available

http://alamw13.ala.org/node/9050

ALA has made a number of recordings of sessions from January's Midwinter meeting freely available online. Among these is the RDA Update Forum; speakers at the Forum include representatives from LC (Beacher Wiggens), ALA Publishing (Troy Linker), OCLC (Cynthia Whitacre), JSC (John Attig) and PCC (Philip Schreur). Users can access a PDF version of the presentation slides, an MP3 of the audio portion of the presentation, and the recorded audio and slides together. The recording is over one and a half hours long, but well worth listening to because of the broad range of RDA-related information presented. Changes to the RDA Toolkit, proposed revisions to RDA itself, updates on PCC task group activities, and a review of OCLC's new RDA Policy Statement (effective March 31, 2012) are all covered.

ALA Midwinter Tech Wrap

A ALA Midwinter Tech Wrap up recording is now available.


Technology trends from ALA midwinter are presented by Jason Griffey, Head of Library Information Technology, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, and blogger for ALA TechSource, Marshall Breeding, Director for Innovative Technologies and Research, Vanderbilt University Libraries, Library Automation Writer and Expert, and Sue Polanka, Head of Reference and Instruction at the Wright State University Libraries in Dayton, Ohio, Vice President/President Elect of the Academic Library Association of Ohio and author/moderator of No Shelf Required.

Several interesting trends/products were highlighted.  All three presenters mentioned a new product called Mediasurfer, a piece of hardware designed to maintain and circulates tablets, iPads and e-readers. E-books continue to gain importance.  Ebrary has launched an IOS app for its content featuring Facebook sign in and the ability to read offline within the app.  Sue Polenka highlighted an interesting comparison of statistics.  Overdrive reports that it has "doubled" its usage with 1.6 billion  title pages viewed, 9.9 million visitors, 3.5 million check outs and 1.7 million holds.  Compared with Library Journal's Patron Profile data reporting that 23% of patrons are unsuccessful in their attempts to download ebooks because of technical issues, 44% reporting content unavailable and 74% reporting that they want more titles at their library.

Marshall Breeding concentrated on trends in integrated library systems.  He refers to the new genre of systems with different underlying assumptions as "Library Services Platforms".  These systems, exemplified by  ExLibris' Alma product, attempt to provide unified workflows across material types, make use of highly shared "knowledge-base" data models, and are designed to live "in the cloud".

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Libraries, Discovery, and the Catalog

Dempsey, Lorcan. "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Libraries, Discovery, and the Catalog: Scale, Workflow, Attention." Educause Review Online, December 10, 2012. At: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/thirteen-ways-looking-libraries-discovery-and-catalog-scale-workflow-attention.

Demsey reviewed various trends in discovery and library catalogs. He offered the following observations: 1) Discovery has scaled to the network level; 2) Personal and institutional curation services are now also central to reading and research behaviors; 3) Library services may focus on different targets such as location and fulfillment, disclosure, particularization, and research advice & reputation management; and 4) Knowledge organization will move to the network level.

Tablets are here, but are they usable?

The sales of tablets reached an all time high in the last fiscal quarter of 2012, with the market growing by a whopping 75% in one year alone, while the sales of PCs have gone down. While there are few if any apps that will let the tech services work directly with library databases, there are several things you can do with a tablet that will let it work in concert with the technology already in place.

1. Remote desktop applications -- These applications let you log in directly into your office or home PC on your tablet. The user wouldn't have to install an ILS client onto their tablet, but rather uses the client already installed on their PC.

2. Cloud storage and Office emulators -- By using Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Evernote and other cloud storage apps with apps that can handle Office files such as GoDocs and CloudOn, it is possible to work on files outside of the office and save them without fear of losing data.

3. Photography and Scanning -  As mentioned in a previous post, tablets allow you to use the cameras built into most tablets for both photos and scanning.

New BIBFRAME website announced

The Library of Congress has launched a new website (http://bibframe.org/) in support of its Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative. Begun in May 2011, the Initiative "aims to re-envision and, in the long run, implement a new bibliographic environment for libraries that makes 'the network' central and makes interconnectedness commonplace." The new model for linked bibliographic data is called BIBFRAME, short for Bibliographic Framework. In the Overview section, the BIBFRAME.org website provides access to background documents about BIBFRAME and to webcasts presented by Kevin Ford of LC and Eric Miller of Zepheira (LC's BIBFRAME development partner). Other sections of the website present the draft BIBFRAME model vocabulary, sample collections of linked data translated from MARC into the BIBFRAME model, and two tools to evaluate MARC bibliographic data in the BIFRAME model: the "comparison service" and the "transformation service." The comparison service allows you to "[e]nter the bibliographic identifer (MARC BIB field 001) or a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) and view a before and after presentation of a MARC record from the Library of Congress's database as BIBFRAME resources." The transformation service permits you to "[s]ubmit your own MARC bibliographic records (as MARC/XML) and view them as BIBFRAME resources ... "  Finally, there is a link to the BIBFRAME online discussion list (http://listserv.loc.gov/listarch/bibframe.html), for those wishing to contribute to the discussion about the development of BIBFRAME.

Archiving and Recovering Database-driven Websites

From D-Lib Magazine, January/February 2013 (vol. 19, no. 1/2)
An ever increasing amount of information is provided by database-driven websites.  Many of these are based on Content Management Systems (CMS). The author developed and implemented a procedure that enables storing both file and database data from a website in a single XML document based on an XML Schema, where the data in the database are mapped into a standardized form to facilitate recovery on different systems.

Cornell and Columbia to Integrate their Technical Services Operations

The libraries at Columbia University and Cornell University are taking an unprecedented new step in their 2CUL partnership: integrating technical services operations.

For library users, the 2CUL integration will mean better and faster access to more materials — including licensed journal articles, foreign materials and other content. When negotiating with vendors and other third parties for services and content, the technical services operation will exercise bargaining power on behalf of both research libraries.


The integration will also include:

• Seeking a common library management system that integrates data and workflows;
• Establishing collaborative collection building and coordinated processing;
• Reviewing policies, practices, workflows and job responsibilities at each institution, with an eye toward reconciling them as much as possible;
• Drafting best practices and guidelines; and
• Adopting a new organizational structure and culture.

For more information, see: http://communications.library.cornell.edu/news/130116/2cul

SkyRiver Joins LC’s BIBCO Program

The Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) has designated SkyRiver as a Bibliographic Record Program (BIBCO) utility. Under this program qualified BIBCO catalogers may create and upgrade bibliographic records to BIBCO standards using SkyRiver’s cataloging client. 

For more information, check out SkyRiver's press release.

Perspectives on the future of e-books in libraries in universities

This article reports research into the perceptions and predictions of academic librarians regarding the future role and development of e-books, and e-book collections and services.  A number of recent studies reported in the literature review indicate increasing interest in e-books.  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 academic librarians, in seven case study libraries.  Most interviewees anticipated a significant growth in the size and role of e-book collections in academic libraries over the next five years.  The actions and policies of each of the key stakeholder groups, e-book vendors (publishers and aggregators), academic libraries and users are viewed as pivotal to the future use of e-books in universities.  The growing importance of e-books will have a number of consequences for academic libraries, in terms of the technologies that they make available to users, the use of library space, user education and staff workload.

Please see the full text of the article at http://lis.sagepub.com/content/44/4/217

Information standards quarterly: The future of library system

Information standards quarterly v.24, no. 4 (Fall 2012) features an overview of future trends in library systems.  In his introductory essay, guest editor Marshall Breeding refers to these next generation systems as "library service platforms".  Three general approaches to building new platforms are described.  "Sometimes you just have to start over", is an approach exemplified by ExLibris Alma and Serials Solutions Intota.  The "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" approach used by Innovative's Sierra and VTLS's Open Skies products approach change in libraries as a more evolutionary rather than revolutionary process.  Finally, "we are open" refers to open source software approaches such as Evergreen and Koha.

A narrative overview of features for the new systems is provided along with a summary comparison chart.  Articles describing experiences with some of these systems follow.