Showing papers on "Resource Description and Access published in 2005"

Quality Control Issues in Outsourcing Cataloging in United States and Canadian Academic Libraries

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the quality control (QC) issues in cataloging outsourcing programs implemented in U.S. and Canadian academic libraries. Most libraries provided the outsourcing vendors with detailed cataloging and/or processing specifications before the outsourcing programs started. They have set up QC procedures as an integral part of their outsourcing operations. In most cases, both librarian-catalogers and senior library assistants/technicians were involved in the QC programs. The error rates reported were low and the majority of bibliographic records provided by the vendors were either LC/OCLC records or records compatible with the Core-Level Standard recommended by the Cooperative Cataloging Council's Task Group on Standards. A large majority of these libraries were satisfied with the services provided by the outsourcing vendors. Based on the definition of quality of cataloging as a combination of accuracy, consistency, adequacy of access points, and timeliness, most l...

Building an Information Commons at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Library: A Case Study

Abstract: With the advent of the new Knowledge Society, special libraries need to review user zones and services to ensure that they continue to provide features customers want and need. They must now offer spaces and places for people to come together, as in the English Commons of old, to share ideas and technologies. They must heed the call of the open access movement and begin to play a part in it. This article discusses details of the transformation of physical and virtual spaces of the Research Library of the National Institute of Standards and Technology over the past two years into a comprehensive InfoCommons. Introduction The Information Commons is here to stay. New times and user expectations now call for libraries to redraw blueprints and move to innovative service models. We need to adapt, evolve, and reassess to ensure that library spaces—physical and virtual—are useful to users in today’s Knowledge Society. Two years ago, the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Services Division and Research Library in Gaithersburg, Maryland began recreating itself to align with a concept of the Information Commons tailored to its customers. Two cross-divisional teams conceived ideas that would optimize the building’s physical space and place digitized NIST documents within the public grasp. A group of reference librarians worked with an advisory board of scientists to add open access journal links to the library’s web site.

Utilization of students as cataloging assistants at Carnegie category I institution libraries

Abstract: A survey of 261 libraries was undertaken to determine the level of use of and duties performed by student assistants in monographic cataloging operations. Ninety-five of 142 responding libraries (64.1 percent) indicate that they use student assistants for some type of monographic cataloging tasks. These tasks are downloading of bibliographic and authority records, monographic cataloging, classification, subject heading authority control, holdings, database maintenance, and editing of 246 or 505 MARC tags. Some respondents expressed reluctance to use student assistants for higher-level cataloging tasks. ********** Despite being surrounded by a steady labor supply of thousands of inexpensive and intelligent individuals, the use of student assistants at the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY-Albany) traditionally has been limited to processing of materials (applying call number labels, security strips, property stamps) and other similar lower-level duties (retrieving of materials from the stacks, pulling loose periodicals to be bound). Since 1999, graduate students from the university's School of Information Science and Policy (SISP) have been used for special projects. Two SISP graduate students worked on language-specific projects due to their bilingual or polylingual skills. One project involved the upgrading of brief records for Chinese language materials and the other project involved the processing of gift books in Russian and other Slavic languages. For these two projects, the workflow was fairly simple and linear. A third graduate student worked on the cataloging of new acquisitions that were to become part of the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children's Literature collection. Due to the detailed and unique cataloging provided to these materials, the staff member responsible for cataloging these materials worked one on one with the graduate students. However, changes, both internal (reduction of staff) and external (fewer print materials being purchased, increased emphasis upon electronic resources) over the last several years have led the current administration to examine workflow and the level of staff required to complete the various duties in monographic cataloging. Cornel] University librarian Sarah E. Thomas stated, "the world's information resources are abundant, but time is a scare commodity" and that "there is a chronic imbalance between the amount of work to be done and the resources available to do it." (1) These two statements reflect what many academic libraries, both large and small, are encountering. These circumstances caused SUNY-Albany to consider the utilization of student assistants in monographic cataloging workflow. A survey was constructed in order to gather information about how other institutions were or were not employing students, with the idea that SUNY-Albany could then take advantage of the knowledge and experiences of other institutions. Literature Review Using student assistants in cataloging has been discussed in the current literature, but published papers primarily focus upon their use in projects rather than as part of the standard workflow. Gnidarelli and Cary discussed the use of art students to catalog a gift of approximately 12,000 art exhibition catalogs at Virginia Commonwealth University. (2) Over four years, six different student assistants (both graduate and undergraduate students all involved in the study of the arts) worked on cataloging this collection. Three of the students already had been trained in copy cataloging using Library of Congress records. Under the close supervision of librarians, these students were able to use their previous copy cataloging knowledge and subject knowledge to enhance less than-full records, including the assignment of call numbers and subject headings. Guidarelli and Cary made the significant points that using students: (1) cost less than half the cost of outsourcing when estimating the cost of copy cataloging per title; and (2) produced more complete records. …

Cataloging Correctly for Kids: An Introduction to the Tools

Abstract: Library catalogs are doorways to accessing the information treasures available within. To provide excellent service for all who wish to enter, especially children, this classic cataloging reference has provided the key for almost two decades. Since 1998, when the third edition of "Cataloging Correctly for Kids" was published, library cataloging has experienced explosive changes in practices, technological tools, scope of services, and available materials. The new fourth edition, again published in conjunction with the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), addresses those changes and continues to make catalog data accessible to children while following consistent and universal standards. Starting with updated "Guidelines for Standardized Cataloging of Children's Materials," this definitive edition calls on the foremost experts in cataloging to: explain the unique ways children search so catalog information is accessible to them; identify ways to incorporate AACR-2 and MARC standards; show how to use standard heading forms including LC's children's headings; and illuminate the challenges of cataloging nonprint materials and automating the process. Children's service librarians, school media specialists, and all public, school, and academic librarians responsible for children's cataloging will find a comprehensive, authoritative one-stop guide to better serving the youngest library users at the catalog.

Places to Go: New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Abstract: Organization and navigation present a challenge with any resource of this type. As pleasant as it is to simply browse (and this option is, of course, available on the Browse page), you'll become exhausted after several hundred images, and browsing 275,000 images would take a lifetime. Not knowing exactly what is in the collection, however, poses a challenge to the less casual visitor. One hopes for serendipity, but simultaneously seeks guidance; it's a fine balance.

The U.S. Library Program: Analysis of the Impact on Staff in Louisiana Public Libraries

Abstract: The U.S. Library Program is in the process of donating computers to public library buildings across the country. This paper reports the results of a survey conducted shortly after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through its U.S. Library Program, awarded a statewide grant of computers and software to public libraries in the state of Louisiana. The aim of the survey was to gather data about the grant's impact on, staff in these libraries, many of which had no prior implementation of computing technology.

E-Books: Expanding the School Library.

Abstract: At little to no cost, using technologies that are already available at most schools, it is possible to expand the school media center’s collection of books, at the same time making many of the books more accessible for students. Digital libraries can be created on a stand alone computer, made part of the school network, or placed on the internet. As part of the school network, students have access to the electronic text portion of the collection from networked computers throughout the school. An additional benefit is that books that have passed into the public domain can be given to students at no cost.

Meta-What?: Metadata and Information Management For School Library Media Collections.

Abstract: Introduction Perhaps this paper is better titled, "Metadata; or, bringing them back to the card catalog," because that is exactly what we want to do. Think about the old days, the days before the technological advances of computer systems. Think about the hours of working with students to help them find the information they wanted by looking through the card catalog. Think about the extreme satisfaction on the part of both student and librarian as the desired book is located by using good library skills. Things are different today. Although teaching students how to use the catalog is no less important now than it was in the pre-computer days, computer technology affects not only how our students get to the books in our libraries but also how they get to electronic information. Many of us have electronic databases that now comprise the first line of attack for research questions. However, too often the second (sometimes even the first) line of attack is "THE WEB." Internet access to information has lured students away from beginning first at the catalog despite our best efforts. As long as the catalog remains a secondary resource, no matter how many books are required for an assignment, students will not look at it as a gateway to information. We must make the catalog useful again; we must make it as alluring as the Internet. We must make it so that the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) itself takes the students beyond the library walls so that they no longer need to look first in the OPAC, then to the bookmarks, then to the databases, and then to the Internet. We must make the catalog the place for one stop information shopping. To do that, we must include in the OPAC records for electronic information packages. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, is to familiarize the reader with some advances in cataloging that may not be so esoteric in the near future for school librarians. Second, is to provide hints for easy cataloging of traditionally uncataloged electronic information and thus enhance information access through the school library OPAC.