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OLAC Newsletter
Vol. 29 | No. 1| March 2009

The OLAC Newsletter (ISSN: 0739-1153) is a quarterly publication of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. appearing in March, June, September and December. Permission is granted to copy and disseminate information contained herein, provided the source is acknowledged.

In this issue

From the President

From the Editor

Treasurer's Report

OLAC Meeting Minutes:

Conference Reports:

LC Update

MOUG/OLAC Liaison Report

Reports from the 2008 OLAC/MOUG
Conference, Part II:

Workshops:

News and Announcements

Announcement of New Officers

Book Reviews:

OLAC Cataloger's Judgment:

News from OCLC

 

** REPORTS FROM THE **
2008 OLAC-MOUG Conference
Cleveland, Ohio
Part II

Jan Mayo
Column Editor

WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS

WORLDCAT LOCAL
Presented by Cathy Gerhart
University of Washington

--reported by Debbie Ryszka, University of Delaware

Cathy Gerhart, Music/Media Cataloger at the University of Washington Libraries, presented an overview of their implementation of WorldCat Local. She likened WorldCat Local, a new search and discovery tool developed by OCLC, to Google, saying that it is a Google-like interface to an online catalog.

Her presentation primarily focused on the positives of the implementation at University of Washington Libraries and the capabilities of the product. She used a live feed to their online catalog to demonstrate searches, displays, and product features. Additionally, she pointed out the shortcomings of the system and what work and development still needs to be done by OCLC. Frequent updates and enhancements by OCLC continually change and improve WorldCat Local at the University of Washington Libraries.

University of Washington Libraries, serving approximately 60,000 on-campus users, installed WorldCat Local in a betatest mode in 2007. The Libraries have been using this as the interface to their online catalog since then. On the University of Washington Libraries web site WorldCat Local is prominently displayed by a search box entitled "Search UW Libraries and Beyond." This offers streamlined searching and discovery for users of the University of Washington Libraries online catalog.

Gerhart explained the many reasons why the Libraries decided to install WorldCat Local, among them: one interface for everyone who uses the University of Washington Libraries online web site, one search box for many catalogs, access to one form to fill out for Interlibrary Loan users, and an easy mechanism for teaching how to search and navigate WorldCat Local and the libraries online catalog.

Throughout her presentation, Gerhart reiterated that searching WorldCat Local is just like searching Google—just put something in the box. Users of their online catalog find it easy to use and seem pleased with the product. For the foreseeable future, WorldCat Local will be the way that users enter the University of Washington Libraries online catalog. To date, feedback from comments left by users has been overwhelmingly positive.

Because WorldCat Local is still in a pilot phase, changes are constant. Recent additions to WorldCat Local include records for articles from major databases, such as ERIC and MEDLINE.

On the downside, Gerhart noted, a search in WorldCat Local does not give users access to everything in the University of Washington Libraries collections, but OCLC and staff at the Libraries are working to remedy that situation. Materials not included in WorldCat Local searches are on-order or inprocess materials, records for works that have not been retrospectively converted by the Libraries, licensed third-party record sets such as EEBO, ECCO, and some microform sets. When users want research materials like these, they are encouraged to ask librarians for assistance.

Gerhart remarked that WorldCat Local may not be for users or scholars doing research on an in-depth level. Sophisticated researchers may not find WorldCat Local as useful as undergraduates and others seeking quick discovery. In situations such as these, researchers and scholars need to know to go elsewhere to meet their detailed information needs. When consulted, the librarians on the University of Washington Li-
braries staff direct these users to the right places to begin and conduct their research. Frequent and savvy users of the media and music collections at the Libraries are being encouraged to use the online catalog directly and to bypass WorldCat Local.

Gerhart showed those in attendance exactly how WorldCat Local functioned by performing specific searches. We were able to see how searches worked in WorldCat Local and how holdings for the University of Washington Libraries automatically floated to the top of search results. Gerhart navigated through specific displays by using many of the features and enhancements available in WorldCat Local. She pointed out
which information in MARC records is being displayed in WorldCat Local records currently and which fields are being ignored. For media and music materials, fields 508 and 511
do not display presently, and Gerhart thought that they should. Uniform titles, relator codes, and genre headings also do not display currently. A MOUG committee is looking at
these issues with representatives from OCLC.

For a more detailed description of the University of Washington Libraries implementation of WorldCat Local, consult:

Ward, Jennifer L., Steve Shadle, and Pam Mofjeld. "WorldCat
Local at the University of Washington Libraries." Library
Technology Reports, v. 44, no. 6 (2008).

To view the University of Washington Libraries installation of
OCLC's WorldCat Local, see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/

 

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RDA PROGRAM
Presented by
Glenn Patton, OCLC
Heidi Hoerman, University of South Carolina

--reported by Dr. Robert Ellett, San Jose State University

Glenn Patton, Director of WorldCat Quality Management at OCLC, discussed the history of RDA and the current and future state of development of the proposed cataloging code. He stated a caveat about his presentation in that some of the projections were over 18 months in the future. The RDA prospectus indicates that while RDA was built on the foundations of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2 nd edition, revised (AACR2r) and originally called AACR3, its broader scope included not only libraries but also other metadata communities such as archives, museums, and publishers. The constituent
organization responsible for the development of RDA includes U.S., U.K., Canadian, and Australian library organizations including the Library of Congress and the British Library. RDA has taken its roots from AACR2, Paris Principles (1961), International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD), Functional Requirement for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Functional Requirement for Authority Data (FRAD), the growth of electronic and digital resources with the prolifera tion of the Internet, University of Toronto Conference (1997) and the International Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloging Code. RDA includes element sets which encompass FRBR attributes and relationships. Mappings to the encoding standards of ISBD, MARC21, and Dublin Core will also be included as well as standardized terminologies known as RDA vocabularies. These vocabularies will make distinctions between content type, carrier type, media type, and relationship
designators. Patton introduced the concept of element set, such as title including sub-type elements of title proper, parallel title, other title information. RDA's core elements are influenced by the FRBR tasks of find, identify, select, and obtain and the FRAD user tasks of find item, identify in a catalog, contextualize, and justify. Patton then discussed the entity group 1 FRBR user tasks of work, expression, manifestation, and item. An outline of RDA structure will include a general introduction, two main parts on recording attributes and recording relationships, and a number of appendices. Other
communities such as publishers are working on a framework with RDA and ONIX data. A draft of RDA is projected to be available in late October with the initial release as an electronic document in the third quarter of 2009. Lastly, Patton discussed implementation issues such as testing and training.

Heidi Hoerman, Instructor, University of South Carolina's School of Library and Information Science, gave a very humorous presentation entitled "How Should I Prepare for RDA?, Should I Prepare for RDA?" Being a cataloging instructor, Hoerman stated clearly she "didn't have a horse in this race". Her best guesses about RDA were derived from reading, poking informants, and thinking about the process. Hoerman predicted that due to time constraints and economic downfalls, RDA will not be published, but instead AACR2/2010- would be published with some underlying RDA principles. RDA's
goals of getting rid of AACR2 baggage, being more global, and solving the multiple versions problems are too drastic a change for the cataloging community. Hoerman indicated that goals for RDA are conflicting-both to break from the past but
also be compatible with AACR2. Hoerman stated that there are several nails in the RDA coffin, including the Library of Congress Working Group on Bibliographic Control's decision to suspend work on RDA, and the national libraries' reluctance to implement it prior to extension testing by the national libraries and cooperative partners. Hoerman insisted that while the value and merit of RDA was being debated, the cataloging
community still needs to update its existing cataloging rules.

 

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POSTER SESSIONS

--reported by Rebecca Belford, University of Oregon

The well-attended poster sessions featured eleven posters. The presenters displayed a range of projects and developments in media cataloging and metadata: digital collections, moving image metadata schemes, cataloging tools and decisions,
workflows for specific formats, and new discovery mechanisms for music.

Collaboration on digital projects was the focus of two of the posters. Kate James (Illinois State University) presented a collaboration of the Milner Library and the School of Art in "The Art of Collaboration: Creating an Effective Metadata Workflow for a Digital Project". James demonstrated the collaborative workflow for digitized art images in a flowchart illustrating the multiple locations of metadata assignment and review:
the slide library, the digitization center, and the metadata unit. Quality control in the project occurs at multiple levels, involving review and approval first by the metadata librarian, then by the slide library manager, and final review and approval by
the metadata librarian. The growing collection is available online through a CONTENTdm interface on the library's Website.

Harris Burkhalter (Minnesota State University Mankato/Westonka Historical Society) presented a collection resulting from collaboration on a statewide scale in "Metadata Use at the Minnesota Digital Library and User Research". Burkhalter presented the development of metadata practices and guidelines for the "Minnesota Reflections" collection, the first project of a coalition of museums, libraries, and colleges across
Minnesota. Dublin Core—with a few modifications and additions—was chosen to organize the collection, based on the simplicity and extensibility that allow both non-cataloger
vollunteers and catalogers to easily enter metadata. The collection of over 30,000 digitized historical images and documents is available online, offering both easy and advanced search capabilities as well as a social element in permitting user comments.

PBCore, a specialized metadata standard, was the topic of"PBCore: A Dynamic Metadata Standard for Motion Media" by Tom Adamich (Visiting Librarian Service). Based on the
Dublin Core metadata standard, PBCore is used to describe media created by the Public Broadcasting community. Adamich profiled the creation and structure of PBCore, addressed display with XSLT and HTML, and cited related resources. Accompanying screenshots illustrated the project's home page and the search fields available in the Educator Search mode.

Three posters addressed workflows and ideas in cataloging specific formats: spoken-word recordings, video games, and screen cast tutorials. Lucas Mak (Michigan State University)
detailed an economical solution to cataloging spoken-word recordings in "Using Student Employees in Cataloging Digital Spoken Word Recordings". The MSU Vincent Voice Library
contains over 40,000 hours of spoken word material. Most of this material is not accompanied by abstracts and requires complete listening to construct accurate summaries. The library has hired students to perform the time-intensive work of
listening to the recordings to check audio quality and write summaries. Students create brief database and OCLC Connexion template-based MARC records for each recording. The records are later reviewed and enhanced by a catalog librarian. The presentation addressed some of the drawbacks of this method, including issues of typographic accuracy, bias in summaries, and difficulties with subject analysis.

Video games were the topic of "Video Games PWN the Library" by Megan Dazey (University of Oregon). Dazey included talking points for recommending adding a video game collection in an academic library, noting that video games account for 15% of circulation at the UO science branch library and that students use the collection for social events publicized through Facebook. A complete MARC record and cataloging tips demonstrated the cataloging decisions made in this project. Issues in creating a collection development policy and circulating complex items like console sets were also addressed. ("Pwn" is gamer slang for the domination of a rival, derived from the word "own".)

Marcy A. Strong (Binghamton University), in "Cataloging Screen Cast Tutorials in Dublin Core and MARC", addressed the history and workflow of cataloging tutorials created by
subject librarians using the Camtasia software for research instruction. Subject librarians catalog the tutorials in Dublin Core upon creation using a feature in Camtasia. Working
from a screen capture of the Dublin Core record, catalogers later catalog the tutorials as electronic resources in MARC format under the title of the resource being taught and are collocated with a consistent tracing in the MARC 793 field. In response to faculty and teaching assistants' preferences for easy access to the tutorials, records are added to the library catalog with direct links to the tutorials.

In "Use of a Series Title to Track Named Collections," Valarie Adams (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) presented a poster rich with both MARC and OPAC examples of the Lupton Library's approach to tracing named collections with a series title using MARC field 830. In part a response to donors' desire for named collections to be kept together, the series tracing allows virtual access to a named collection without
housing the collection together physically. The series titles are also used to add title access and browsing for electronic journals, audiobooks, and other formats that would be otherwise difficult to retrieve as a set.

Tools that increase efficiency and functionality in cataloging were the focus of two posters. Teressa Keenan and Leslie Rieger (University of Montana) outlined the four major phases in their library's adoption of the Macro Express utility in "All
Aboard the Macro Express". The phases were discovery, which involved research into the product, cost, and training; implementation of the macros for OCLC downloading, hold-
ings and item information, and purchase orders; sharing within Mansfield Library; and future possibilities and evaluation. Rich with advice and supporting statistical evidence on the reduction in time spent on specific workflows and in repetitive keystrokes, Keenan and Rieger demonstrated the increased efficiency gained at their library through the use of Macro Express.

Susannah Benedetti and Gary Moore (University of North Carolina-Wilmington) also demonstrated helpful utilities for catalogers in "Catalog 2.0: Implementing Browser Tools for Customized Searching". A set of "2.0" utilities was compiled for catalogers at their library: a search box in the library toolbar, imbedded search boxes, tutorials, and ISBN searches. Catalogers can use these tools to access the library catalog directly without first navigating to the OPAC and to access external resources like Classification Web, OCLC's Bibliographic Formats and Standards, and local resources. While the tools
are of high value to catalogers, many also enhance search efficiency for public users.

Addressing the practical need to track library collections, Gayle Porter (Chicago State University) offered information and advice in "Lessons from Using RFID on Media: A Case
Study of RFID Implementation at Chicago State University." Porter discussed RFID technology, retrospective conversion issues, pros and cons of use for media, and best practices for RFID use on various media types. Numerous examples of fully
processed media items supplemented the information in the poster and provided a forum for audience questions.

Departing from traditional cataloging and metadata, Susannah Cleveland and Gwen Evans (Bowling Green State University) presented "Moody Blues: The Social Web, Tagging, and Non-Textual Discovery Tools for Music." The HueTunes project, in an early phase, grew out of conversations about the needs of the graphic design department in locating album cover art. Currently, users tag musical selections by selecting a
color from a palette. Phase 2 will see increased data collection and analysis. The project aims to reduce language barriers, reach non-text-based learners, reduce the dependence on expert knowledge in interpreting catalog records and finding music, and examine the relationship between music and mood or color.

The posters as a group represent the diversity of activity in audiovisual and multimedia cataloging in a variety of different libraries. Innovations in traditional workflows coexist with collaborative digital collections, unique metadata schemes, non-textual discovery, and "2.0" features. The session demonstrated that traditional AV cataloging is thriving while moving in new directions.



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