Cataloging

About: Cataloging is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4770 publications have been published within this topic receiving 32489 citations.

Nonroman scripts in the bibliographic environment

Abstract: The representation of nonroman scripts in Latin characters causes information to be distorted in various ways. USMARC now provides for "alternate graphic representation," so that text in the authentic script(s) may be included in bibliographic records. As more library systems with nonroman capability are developed, conformance to standards for the encoding of nonroman data becomes more critical. The development of a single global character set standard is a significant change that must be accommodated in USMARC. In Rule 1.0E, AACR2 mandates that the bibliographic description be written in the same script as the source of information "if practicable." (1) For more than a decade, machine-readable cataloging and bibliographic transcription in a nonroman script were mutually exclusive. During this period, the only way to represent nonroman data in machine-readable form was by transcription into Latin letters (romanization). The first part of this paper criticizes romanization as information distortion. The USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data was modified to accommodate nonroman scripts in 1984. (2) The previous September, a Chinese/Japanese/Korean (CJK) capability had been added to the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) system. (3) The USMARC modifications are outlined in the second part of this paper, since not all readers will be familiar with them. The remainder of this paper describes efforts to develop a universal character set, and its potential effect on USMARC. ROMANIZATION AS INFORMATION DISTORTION Currently, most local systems are limited to Latin script; romanization is necessary if the automated catalog is to be a comprehensive representation of the library's holdings. The practice of romanization has two causes: the lack of the proper typographical facilities and the concept of the "universal" catalog, "the catalog in which all items in the collection are entered in a single alphabet from A to Z, regardless of language, regardless of form, regardless of subject. The American ideal." (4) The deficiencies of romanization from the point of view of the reader have been documented. (5-7) However, many nonspecialist librarians are unaware of the deficiencies and still regard romanization as adequate for access. Language experts reject this view; they persuaded the Library of Congress (LC) to continue to provide original script cataloging on cards for material in the so-called JACKPHY languages: Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Hebrew, and Yiddish. Not only does romanization impede access, it distorts the presentation of information in a number of ways. The presentation of the text is unnatural. Distinctions present in the original language may be lost, or distinctions not present in the original script may be artificially created. Different transliteration schemes are used in different countries or contexts. Finally, the normalization used in automated indexing and searching, when applied to romanized text, introduces another layer of distortion. Unnatural Presentation Romanization is the presentation of language text in unfamiliar letters. Readers of a language may, in time, become used to a particular romanization scheme, and be able to read their language even when it is written in Latin letters. In the People's Republic of China, pinyin, the national standard for the romanization of Chinese, has a number of applications: it is used to show the pronunciation of ideographs (in which Chinese is normally written), and it underlies a system of finger-spelling for the blind. A reader faced with text rendered in an unfamiliar way may find it incomprehensible. This can be illustrated by the case of alternative romanization methods. Hebraica bibliographers in the United States have become used to reading Hebrew written in Library of Congress romanization (which includes the vowels that are usually omitted in Hebrew orthography). …

Employer Demands for Cataloger and Cataloger-like Librarians and Implications for LIS

Abstract: What does it mean to provide bibliographic control in the year 2007? What do catalogers do? What do their employers expect them to do and know? Are they even called catalogers? The work reported here is part one of an exploratory study on the current state of employment involving bibliographic control. This paper describes online employment ads for positions with a cataloging orientation to determine current employer demands. Content analysis was used to categorize the skills and attributes denoted in the ads, and subsequently analyze them with frequency counts and correlations. The results indicate a high demand for a modest amount of previous library experience, knowledge of long-established cataloging standards, subject or domain knowledge, and general skills in communicating and working with people and data. In addition the results indicate only a mild demand for knowledge of e-library and newer technology tools. Introduction: Cataloging Since 1990 Over the last decade the role of catalogers has changed. In the 1990s deep cuts in library budgets pushed many cataloging unit to find alternative ways to maintain or even increase service to their user communities. One of these alternative solutions that met with some success was to contract out, i.e., outsource, some or all of the library's catalog processing. This alternative solution gave the cataloger freedom from many repetitious clerical-type cataloging tasks and an opportunity to refocus his or her attention on more undefined problems including the seemingly boundless challenges of providing bibliographic control within a digital library. Ellen Duranceau claims that outsourcing allowed catalogers to contemplate ". . . our identity as librarians, calling into question our assumptions about our ultimate purpose, our place in the scholarly information chain and how we can best serve our institutions."1 Prognosticators of the 1990s said that catalogers in the future library would be working with the prevalent computer files and digital resources. The catalogers could provide the bridge between the concept space of the systems librarians and the public services librarians. Sheila Intner, in 1 991 , predicted the cataloger's role in organizing information for ease of retrieval would remain valid, but the expanding digital library would require catalogers to have agility with systems architecture and database design so they could lead the way in providing bibliographic control of digital resources.2 Yet others predicted that catalogers would start developing local Web pages, creating electronic finding tools and novel schemes for organizing the bibliographic and authority files in more meaningful ways3, designing helpful interfaces, developing system navigational aids, and determining which elements to index.4 By the turn of the century there were suggestions that catalogers would need to work smarter by continuing to construct bibliographic surrogates while leveraging computational methods and social processes to add value to the bibliographic databases and ease access to meaningful information5. Current and Future Cataloging Digital resources and digital libraries are becoming more prominent and more frequently used in the pursuit of information and knowledge. One scholar tells us that digital libraries are ubiquitous.6 There are roughly 800 publicly accessible digital collections listed on the Web page of the Digital Library Federation, whose mission includes supporting scholarship and learning by providing access to international networks of digital libraries.7 Although this number does not reflect the absolute current number of digital libraries in existence, or even the number of publicly available digital libraries, it does provide us with a ballpark figure from a reputable source. This number is two orders of magnitude greater than "the handful of experimental projects" available in the early 1 990s.8 As of 2005, Lynch predicted digital libraries will become ubiquitous in the next decade. …

Cataloging intangible cultural heritage on the web

Abstract: The E.CH.I. project involves the definition, implementation, population and search of a Register of the intangible cultural legacy of trans-border Italo-Suisse heritage, aiming to design such a register in line with the new heritage paradigm proposed by Unesco. In this paper we will present the ICH cataloging card for the inventory of intangible cultural heritage on the web, which is one of the results of the E.CH.I. project, integrated in the AESS database that stores information concerning the oral history of the Italian Lombardy territory.

What Users Really Think: How They See and Find Serials in the Arts and Sciences

Abstract: New users encounter numerous stumbling blocks in their search for serials. Beginning with the index, understanding the citation, searching the online catalog for the serial record, interpreting the holdings, and finally locating the item on the shelf are all steps that must be negotiated. Each step presents a variety of problems that users bring to the reference desk. The authors suggest user-oriented solutions relating to cataloging practices, screen design, and linking local holdings to periodical databases. Increased collaboration between librarians on the front lines and those creating the records and providing the access is essential for meeting end user needs.