Getting to Know TS Librarians: Aaron Retteen

1. Introduce yourself (name & position). 
Aaron Retteen, Digital Services & Repository Librarian.

2. Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not?
Yes and no, because I do focus a lot of energy on maintaining and improving our institutional repository, but I have taken on a scholarly communications librarian role as well by consulting with faculty on all aspects of the research lifecycle. Copyright consultations regarding published scholarship, as well as educating faculty about scholarship impact data and altmetrics, are big aspects of my position that aren’t readily apparent in the title. Like many other librarians today, I also take on other roles as needed (and for me, these roles typically involve technology to some extent).

3. What are you reading right now?
Actually, a lot of different titles all of the time, but these titles are currently on my desk and resources I’m paging through a lot:

• Wu, Michelle M., editor. Academic Law Library Director Perspectives: Case Studies Andinsights. William S. Hein & Co., 2015.
• Kroski, Ellyssa, editor. Law Librarianship in the Digital Age. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2014.
• Allan, Barbara. The No-Nonsense Guide to Project Management. Facet Publishing, 2017.

4. If you could work in any library (either a type of library or a specific one), what would it be? Why?
I’ve always thought it would be cool to work in the Library of Congress in some capacity, because of my interest in politics and the United States government in general.

5. You suddenly have a free day at work, what project would you work on?
Oh man, there’s so many big projects I want to work on! I would probably work on my project to build a scholarship reporting solution through an easy-to-use web application. Or maybe start planning a library website refresh. Or collect empirical data for my scholarship project. I should look into getting an RA or two!

MarcEdit a.k.a. "A Cataloger's Best Friend"

Yael Mandelstam, Head of Cataloging & Metadata Services at Fordham University School of Law conducted an excellent day-long workshop on the functionality of MarcEdit during the 2018 AALL conference. If you were not able to attend that session, don’t despair.  “Free” instructional resources are available. 

MarcEdit, which includes a built-in help tool, was recently updated to version 7. New features incorporated into the latest rendition include linked data enhancements, BibFrame2 support, expanded command-line options, and integrated help. In addition, there is a Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) plugin. Basic MARC functionality has changed very little in the new version.    

As a follow-up to workshops offered at the NASIG 32nd Annual Conference, Terry Reese, Head, Digital Initiatives, Ohio State University and Wendy Robertson, Institutional Repository Librarian, University of Iowa, published an article that provides a brief history and overview of the many features of MarcEdit. The article, “A Beginners Guide to MarcEdit and Beyond the Editor: Advanced Tools and Techniques for Working with Metadata," is freely available on the University of Iowa’s Institutional Repository.   In addition, a YouTube series titled NASIGMarcEdit 7 Webinar Parts has been created to compliment the NASIG workshop. The videos provide brief explanations and demonstrations of the new features and tools found in MarcEdit 7. Topics covered are XML/JSON Profile, Using MarcEdit’s Clustering Tools, and Using MarcEdit’s Linked Data functionality.

Terry Reese includes many helpful topics and issues on his MarcEdit Development webpage.  Here, in addition to Current News, one finds MarcEdit 7.0 downloads and logs of changes made for Windows (32 and 64-bit), MacOS, and Linux; Getting Help; MarcEdit FAQs; and Technical Details. Additional software downloads include MSI Cleaner, XSLT files, and Plug-in downloads to create check digits, help with OCLC functionality, and an Internet Archive to Hathi Trust plugin.

If you wish to become familiar with the new features of MarcEdit 7, Reese’s video tutorials are available on his YouTube channel.  A series of webinars facilitating the use of the basic MARC features is available as well.

MarcEdit Webinar 1: Working with MARC Data

MarcEdit Webinar 2: Working with Non-MARC Data in MarcEdit

MarcEdit Webinar 3: RDA and Beyond

MarcEdit Webinar 4: Working with the Marc Editor

MarcEdit Webinar 5: Scripting with MarcEdit

One video I recommend is posted by Reaching Across Illinois Library System (rails).  This clip was presented by Emily Dust Nimsakont while she was at Schmid Law Library, University of Nebraska, Lincoln College of Law.  Although the video does not cover additions and changes made in the most recent update, the information presented is valid and useful.

The final YouTube that I’ll mention is “Introducing MarcEdit 7 --A Cataloger’s Best Friend." This is an entertaining piece written and performed by Jeff Edmunds as a tribute to MarcEdit 7.  I hope this ode brings a smile to your face as you investigate MarcEdit and the many features available in this remarkable software.

What's up with identity management?

A recent post The coverage of Identity Management work by Karen Smith-Yoshimura in OCLC's Hanging Together blog highlights developments in the probable shift in cataloging practice from "authority control" to "identity management". To put it most simply, our efforts to differentiate creators and correctly correlate their output would shift from constructing a unique text string for each entity to associating the entity with a unique identifier in the form of a URI. Movement towards identity management specifically aligns with the PCC's Strategic Direction 4 "Accelerate the movement toward ubiquitous identifier creation and identity management at the network level"  (https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/about/PCC-Strategic-Directions-2018-2021.pdf, page 5).

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging's ISNI Pilot  represents one venue to explore the possibilities of identity management in the context of cataloging. Association of creators with URIs will ease the transition of bibliographic data into a BIBFRAME/linked data environment. The presentations given at the PCC Participant's meeting at ALA Annual in New Orleans provide an overview of the project and examples of project participant's experiences.

Identity management also has the potential to facilitate authority control in the context of journal literature and institutional repositories. How should catalogers provide authority control for journal article authors? Name identifiers in the linked data world (Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 54:8, p. 537-552 (2016) examined the possibilities for using several sources of author identifiers available through international authority databases.  ORCID recently invited feedback on a draft recommendation for ORCID in repositories and is evaluating the use of identifiers for organizations. A recent paper published by JISC explores the potential of Persistent Identifiers to track scholarly work through the research life-cycle, linking the work of researchers with institutions, funding and publication. The focus of the paper is on OA workflows, but the use of PIDs should be applicable across both OA and paid publications.