Showing papers on "Resource Description and Access published in 2015"

Breaking Records: The History of Bibliographic Records and Their Influence in Conceptualizing Bibliographic Data

Abstract: A bibliographic record is a conceptual whole that includes all bibliographic information about a resource together in one place. With the Semantic Web, individual data statements are linked across the web. This position article argues that the traditional conceptualization of bibliographic records affects the affordances and limitations of that data. A historical analysis of the development of bibliographic records contrasted with the Semantic Web model reveals how the “record” model shaped library cataloging and the implications on library catalogs today. Reification of the record model for bibliographic data hampers possibilities for innovation in cataloging, inspiring a reconceptualization of bibliographic description.

A History of Video Game Cataloging in U.S. Libraries

Abstract: Cataloging practices for video games have been in flux since the late 1970s, often lagging behind technological developments. This article describes the history of descriptive cataloging practices and MARC coding for video games. Also discussed are the special problems presented by Library of Congress subject heading and uniform title practice, which were developed for book cataloging rather than for the cataloging of video games themselves.

Library Linked Data in the Cloud: OCLC's Experiments with New Models of Resource Description

Abstract: This book describes OCLC's contributions to the transformation of the Internet from a web of documents to a Web of Data. The new Web is a growing ""cloud"" of interconnected resources that identify the things people want to know about when they approach the Internet with an information need. The linked data architecture has achieved critical mass just as it has become clear that library standards for resource description are nearing obsolescence. Working for the world's largest library cooperative, OCLC researchers have been active participants in the development of next-generation standards for library resource description. By engaging with an international community of library and Web standards experts, they have published some of the most widely used RDF datasets representing library collections and librarianship. This book focuses on the conceptual and technical challenges involved in publishing linked data derived from traditional library metadata. This transformation is a high priority because most searches for information start not in the library, nor even in a Web-accessible library catalog, but elsewhere on the Internet. Modeling data in a form that the broader Web understands will project the value of libraries into the Digital Information Age. The exposition is aimed at librarians, archivists, computer scientists, and other professionals interested in modeling bibliographic descriptions as linked data. It aims to achieve a balanced treatment of theory, technical detail, and practical application.

Preparing the Way: Creating Future Compatible Cataloguing Data in a Transitional Environment

Abstract: Linked data has dominated the recent discourse in cataloging and metadata. The daily work of the cataloger, however, remains mostly unchanged. This tension is investigated, with a view to reconciling cataloging practice with a linked data future. Aspects of linked data are outlined and a shift in focus in cataloging practice is recommended. Authorities, controlled access points, vocabularies, differentiated values, and local data should be emphasized, and focus should shift from free text fields, keystrokes, punctuation, and aspects of local practice. Through these recommendations, it is argued that catalogers can help prepare the way for the emerging information environment.

A Turning Point for Catalogs: Ranganathan's Possible Point of View

Abstract: Since the end of the last century, catalogs have been changing more and more quickly. This change is following a recognizable course, beginning with the publication of Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, passing through the reorganization of international cataloging principles, the revision of international standards of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (International Standard for Bibliographic Description), and the foundation of new cataloging codes, such as Resource Description and Access. While principles, models, and rules are well established, bibliographic formats seem to be a bottleneck and users seem far from libraries. This article aims to present an overview of current changes, potential convergences, developments, and weak points from Ranganathan's point of view.

AACR2 to RDA: Is Knowledge of Both Needed during the Transition Period?

Abstract: The cataloging community is at a crossroads. Will catalogers need to continue learning both Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2) and Resource Description and Access (RDA), or will learning RDA alone be enough? Through a selective literature review and examining the RDA Toolkit, it seems that there is currently a collective need to have access to both codes. However, when considering both Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging (LC-PCC) and OCLC initiatives and an example from this author's institution relating to authority control in RDA and bibliographic record hybridization, it may only be necessary to learn RDA in the future. Additional research into practitioner experience could be done in the future to further examine this.

Metadata Competencies for Entry-Level Positions: What Employers Expect as Reflected in Position Descriptions, 2000–2013

Abstract: The emergence of metadata schema and implementation of Resource Description and Access changed the technical services workplace environment and demands increased regarding complex education requirements for metadata librarians and catalogers across the country. The proliferation of bibliographic description formats required practitioners to pursue extensive training and professional development opportunities. The researcher employed a descriptive content analysis methodology and examined 146 entry-level position announcements posted from September 2000 through August 2013. Conducting a descriptive content analysis enabled the researcher to describe substance and form characteristics examined in the position announcements and to make inferences to the community of catalog librarian practitioners.

Building a Platform to Manage RDA Vocabularies and Data for an International, Linked Data World

Abstract: The management of vocabularies in the evolving linked data environment requires different tools and processes from those libraries and other memory institutions have used in the past. The RDA (Resource Description and Access) standard has taken the lead in building tools and providing services as part of its RDA Registry development. The evolution of the current RDA Registry and the Open Metadata Registry (OMR), on which the RDA Registry is built, are described, including the rationale for directions, decisions, and ongoing development.

Libraries and the Digital University

Abstract: Joan K. Lippincott is the Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), a joint program of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE; e-mail: joan@cni.org. Author’s note: Thanks to Clifford Lynch and Diane Goldenberg-Hart of the Coalition for Networked Information; Scott Walter, editor of this journal; and Lori Mestre of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for providing comments that improved an earlier draft of this article. © 2015 Joan K. Lippincott, AttributionNonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) CC BY-NC. Introduction The trajectory of U.S. higher education in the next 20 years is portrayed by some as an arc of potential disaster and by others as a slightly upwardly inclined plane that may have some dips along the way. Generally these scenarios focus on the teaching and learning program of higher education institutions and give very little attention to the research or service functions of those institutions. With the pace of developments in technology, and in particular those that have implications for higher education, is it sensible to predict the future of higher education, let alone academic libraries? In what ways is the recent past a prelude to the future? In 1988, David W. Lewis, at that time the Lehman Librarian at Columbia University, wrote the article “Inventing the Electronic University,” which sounded a call to librarians to take action to transform not only the library, but the university itself in light of the rapidly accelerating pace of technological developments.1 Lewis alerted his readers to specific topics in a variety of areas, including learning and teaching, scholarly communication, preservation and access, standardization of technology, staffing, and funding, to bring the most salient issues into focus. He also provided advice for how librarians could help invent the “electronic university.” His article was important for a number of reasons, including its relatively early exposition of issues related to the impact of technology on teaching, learning, and research. While Lewis discussed The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in his article, the term “Internet” does not appear in it; the term was not yet in general use. Still, he correctly recognized that networked communication access would be widely used in universities at a time when many people still thought that network access and access to high performance computation would remain scarce resources limited to researchers. He also realized that the broad availability of communications networks would profoundly impact the major functions of the university. Lewis understood that new technologies would result in fundamental changes in how individuals would work, whether they were students or faculty. In 1988, many libraries placed signs by their computers stating that the machines were solely for the purpose of accessing the library catalog or library-licensed databases. Lewis had a very different view, in line with much later practice, and wrote that “the scholarly process will become seamless; students and faculty will use the same machines for data collection, analysis, and communication. The library will need to encompass all of these activities.”2 At the time, most of the focus on technologies in libraries was on how they would change library practice; Lewis instead analyzed how technologies would change practices of the user community. This was perhaps the most important contribution

Resource Description and Access (RDA) Database Enrichment: The Path to a Hybridized Catalog

Abstract: This article examines the benefits of a Resource Description and Access (RDA) enrichment project for libraries. Enrichment projects “hybridize,” or enrich legacy Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2) bibliographic records with RDA data. Until a replacement for MARC is developed, bibliographic data will continue to be encoded in MARC 21 in many integrated library systems. Library catalogs contain records coded under both AACR2 and RDA standards. RDA enrichment projects benefit the patron experience because the data is cleaner and more consistent for patron use and display, cataloging staff workflows are simplified, and the consistency of the data is advantageous for system development and data exchange with other communities.

Cataloging Music Sound Recordings in the United States: An Evolution of Practice and Standards

Abstract: The bibliographic control of sound recordings has been an issue ever since libraries began acquiring them. The description of recordings is generally more difficult than that for print materials, due to the prominence of both composers, as creators of the works recorded, and the performer(s) of these works, and also to the anthology-like nature of many recordings. One of the foremost problems with recordings is whether to catalog each work on the recording separately or the entire recording as a unit. The variety of ways in which works have been packaged has necessitated changes to cataloging and description standards over the years in order to consistently display information to users to support their decision making. This account looks back at how the cataloging of sound recordings has been handled over the decades, to provide a historical context in which to place the development and adoption of Resource Description and Access (RDA) as it relates to description and access of sound recordings.

Library Marketing: Education & Practice

Abstract: Marketing and outreach services are an increasingly important part of library services. The main objective of this research project is to study library marketing and outreach, both in education and in practice, and to propose changes to the field at large and in the sub-field of library marketing to ensure a more sustainable future for library and information science institutions. The key questions of this project are: what is the demographic landscape of public library marketers; what is the ideal educational and professional background for public library marketers; what processes and methods are used by public library marketers; and what institutional setup, framework, and support helps facilitate successful library marketing. For the purposes of this project, successful library marketing is defined as library marketing activities performed by library professionals who: (1) engage their patron base in an active dialogue; (2) demonstrate the value and importance of their library to their community & stakeholders; and (3) use innovative and creative methods for promotion and outreach.

Convenience to the Cataloger or Convenience to the User?: An Exploratory Study of Catalogers’ Judgment

Abstract: This mixed-method study explored cataloger’s judgment through the presence of text as entered by catalogers for the 11 electronic resource items during the National Libraries test for Resource Description and Access (RDA). Although the literature discusses cataloger’s judgment and suggests that cataloging practice based on new cataloging code RDA will more heavily rely on cataloger’s judgment, the topic of cataloger’s judgment in RDA cataloging was not formally studied. The purpose of this study was to study the differences and similarities in the MARC records created as a part of the RDA National Test and to determine if the theory of bounded rationality could explain cataloger’s judgment based on the constructs of cognitive and temporal limits. This goal was addressed through a content analysis of the MARC records and various statistical tests (Pearson’s Chi-square, Fisher’s Exact, and Cramer’s V). Analysis of 217 MARC records was performed on seven elements of the bibliographic record. This study found that there were both similarities and differences among the various groups of participants, and there are indications that both support and refute the assertion that catalogers make decisions based on the constructs of time and cognitive ability. Future research is needed to be able to determine if bounded rationality is able to explain cataloger’s judgment; however, there are indicators that both support and refute this assertion. The findings from this research have implications for the cataloging community through the provision of training opportunities for catalogers, evaluating workflows, ensuring the proper indexing of bibliographic records for discovery, and recommended edits to RDA.

The expansion of the personal name authority record under Resource Description and Access Current status and quality considerations

Abstract: Persons are complex, and their representation in library authority records is becoming increasingly sophisticated through the addition of attributes under Resource Description and Access rules. This case study, using a longitudinal approach, examines attributes in authority records from the MERLIN cluster of academic libraries at both six months (i.e. September 2013) and one year (i.e. April 2014), after the official adoption of RDA to assess trends in attribute field usage. After one year of Resource Description and Access cataloging, this study investigates the metadata quality indicator of completeness. Overall, attributes supplied tend to be sparse; 87.58% of authority records had no attributes at all, but the number of records with content had increased over the previous six months. Almost 8% of authority records had at least one attribute after a year; and almost 5% had two or more attributes.

The French cataloging code of 1791: a translation

Abstract: The Instruction issued by the Revolutionary French government in 1791 for the cataloging of the libraries seized from the religious houses was important in the history of cataloging for two reasons: it is the first national code of descriptive cataloging, and it is the first mention of the card catalog. The Instruction set out, on a step by step basis, the actions to be taken. First, all the books are to be numbered. Next, the bibliographic information on each work is to be written on the back of a playing card. The cards are then put in alphabetical order, fastened together, and the cards are sent to Paris, while a copy remains in each library. Following are instructions for manuscripts and suggestions for making the library more accessible.

RDA in Turkey: Perceptions and Expectations on Implementation

Abstract: Integration of user-generated content with library catalogs is a remarkable point with the developments in web technologies and semantic networks. In the light of these developments, library catalogs are linked with open data resources like VIAF, DBpedia and amazon.com with the aim of bibliographic description via URI based structures. On the other hand "Resource Description and Access" (RDA), as a new cataloging standard, supports libraries for their bibliographic description studies by increasing access points. Furthermore, many initiatives have been launched by countries who would like to keep themselves up-to-date by using and implementing RDA in their library catalogs. In this context, developing catalogers' opinions and perceptions regarding of RDA implementations is of great importance. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the requirements, awareness and perceptions of catalogers in academic libraries in Turkey about RDA implementations. The contents of this paper were originally presented at the international conference FSR 2014 "Faster, Smarter, Richer: Reshaping the library Catalogue", held in Rome, 27-28 February 2014.

How Much Does It Cost to Catalog a Document? A Case Study in Estonian University Libraries

Abstract: In the current socioeconomic climate, efficiency and performance have become very important in libraries. The need for library managers to justify their costs to their parent organizations has become particularly important. Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) helps libraries to get a better picture of the cataloging activities that they are actually engaged in, and their costs. This article reviews the relevant literature to provide an overview of different cost accounting methods suitable for the measurement of the cataloging process. Then, through a case study conducted among Estonian university libraries, the TDABC approach was used to analyze the activities of cataloging process in two university libraries.

Metadata Best Practices for University Archives Images

Abstract: Academic librarians and archivists have long partnered on the development and implementation of cataloging best practices for archival materials. Much of this shared history involves cataloging in traditional integrated library systems, using metadata, descriptive standards, and software originating in bibliographic cataloging to create records in artisanal detail. The University of Denver cataloged and digitized the whole of an archival collection in two years by taking advantage of patterns inherent in archival arrangement to batch-create metadata using archival collection management software. Using this approach, the University of Denver scaled up the production of records, while keeping costs down and maintaining quality, and developed a set of best practices that has extended to other shared cataloging and digitization projects.

RDA Element Sets and RDA Value Vocabularies: Vocabularies for Resource Description in the Semantic Web

Abstract: Considering the need for metadata standards suitable for the Semantic Web, this paper describes the RDA Element Sets and the RDA Value Vocabularies that were created from attributes and relationships defined in Resource Description and Access (RDA). First, we present the vocabularies included in RDA Element Sets: the vocabularies of classes, of properties and of properties unconstrained by FRBR entities; and then we present the RDA Value Vocabularies, which are under development. As a conclusion, we highlight that these vocabularies can be used to meet the needs of different contexts due to the unconstrained properties and to the independence of the vocabularies of properties from the vocabularies of values and vice versa.

Interrelations among Public, School, and Academic Libraries

Abstract: A BOUT eleven years ago Robert T. Grazier accepted an assignment similar to mine today. The resulting paper was published in the January, 1958, issue of Library Trends under the title \"Cooperation among Libraries of Different Types.\" The issue was edited by Ralph Esterquest, who had been director of the Midwest InterLibrary Center when he accepted the editorial assignment. The issue was entitled \"Building Library Resources through Cooperation.\" I dare say that most of the contributors to this Conference have re-examined that issue of Library Trends in quest of perspectives, and even though \"perspective\" is in questionable repute in our time, librarianship can hardly afford to reject it. Grazier encountered some of the same problems that I have faced, one of them being very little hard-headed appraisal in the literature of co-operative programs and experiments involving different types of libraries. We librarians have a marked tendency to write starry-eyed descriptions of innovative (and not so innovative) programs and ideas, but when they fail, or settle down into relatively routine operations, we remain silent. In these times of deification of innovation, it seems almost irreverent to ask whether an innovative program may fail or succeed-or even what its purpose is. Add the holy water of \"cooperation,\" and innovative co-operation becomes unassailable. Parenthetically, it must be conceded that we have made little progress toward the evaluation of library service in general, so it is not surprising that systematic, objective appraisals of co-operative programs are few. The problem is one of defining relevant criteria in terms of which to measure attainment or non-attainment of objectives. In an effort to compensate for the paucity of literature, Grazier wrote to what he termed an \"unscientific sample\" of some thirty-odd \"metropolitan libraries,\" about half public and half academic, asking for information about cooperative relationships involving more than one type of library. More specifically he inquired concerning objectives, degrees of success and failure, problems, and factors related to success and failure. With a view to using Grazier's facts and interpretations as bench marks, I wrote a similar letter to the same libraries and a few others. My principal sources, therefore, are: Grazier's paper and the replies he received; some thirtyodd responses to my letters of inquiry; a considerable number of state Library Services and Construction Act plans and program reports (Genevieve Casey had recently collected such materials from the state library agencies of all fifty states); and all of the recent state and regional surveys of resources and needs that I could lay hands on, from the Pacific Northwest Library Association's Library Development Project Reports of 1960 to Ralph Blasingame's Survey of Ohio Libraries (1968). It soon became apparent that the last decade has produced a new \"spirit of ecumenicity\" among the librarians of

Connecting RDA and RDF: Linked Data for a Wide World of Connected Possibilities

Abstract: Libraries have struggled with connecting a plethora of content and the metadata stored in catalogs to patrons. Adding more value to catalogs, more tools for reference librarians, and enriched patron search, linked data is a means to connect more people with more relevant information. With the recent transition to the Resource Description and Access (RDA) cataloging standard within libraries, linking data in library databases has become a much easier project to tackle, largely because of another standard called Resource Description Framework (RDF). Both focus on resource description and both are components of linked data within the library. Tying them together is the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) conceptual framework. Acknowledging that linked data components are most likely new to many librarians, this article seeks to explain what linked data is, how RDA and RDF are connected by FRBR, and how knowledge maps may improve information access.

A Review of RDA: Strategies for Implementation by Magda El-Sherbini

Abstract: Magda El-Sherbini's RDA: Strategies for Implementation is an excellent tool to prepare catalogers for the implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA). The book is organized in nine chap...

Linked data design for the visible library

Abstract: EDITOR'S SUMMARY In response to libraries' frustration over their rich resources being invisible on the web, Zepheira, at the request of the Library of Congress, created BIBFRAME, a bibliographic metadata framework for cataloging. The model replaces MARC records with linked data, promoting resource visibility through a rich network of links. In place of formal taxonomies, a small but extensible vocabulary streamlines metadata efforts. Rather than using a unique bibliographic record to describe one item, BIBFRAME draws on the Dublin Core and the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) to generate formalized descriptions of Work, Instance, Authority and Annotation as well as associations between items. Zepheira trains librarians to transform MARC records to BIBFRAME resources and adapt the vocabulary for specialized needs, while subject matter experts and technical experts manage content, site design and usability. With a different approach toward data modeling and metadata, previously invisible resources gain visibility through linking.

RDA: Resource Description and Access: The new standard for metadata and resource discovery in the digital age

Abstract: RDA (Resource Description and Access) is going to promote a great change. In fact, guidelines – rather than rules – are addressed to anyone wishes to describe and make accessible a cultural heritage collection or tout court a collection: librarians, archivists, curators and professionals in any other branch of knowledge. The work is organized in two parts: the former contains theoretical foundations of cataloguing (FRBR, ICP, semantic web and linked data), the latter a critical presentation of RDA guidelines. RDA aims to make possible creation of well-structured metadata for any kind of resources, reusable in any context and technological environment. RDA offers a “set of guidelines and instructions to create data for discovery of resources”. Guidelines stress four actions – to identify, to relate (from FRBR/FRAD user tasks and ICP), to represent and to discover – and a noun: resource. To identify entities of Group 1 and Group 2 of FRBR (Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item, Person, Family, Corporate Body); to relate entities of Group 1 and Group 2 of FRBR, by means of relationships. To enable users to represent and discover entities of Group 1 and Group 2 by means of their attributes and relationships. These last two actions are the reason of users’ searches, and users are the pinpoint of the process. RDA enables the discovery of recorded knowledge, that is any resource conveying information, any resources transmitting intellectual or artistic content by means of any kind of carrier and media. RDA is a content standard, not a display standard nor an encoding standard: it gives instructions to identify data and does not care about how display or encode data produced by guidelines. RDA requires an original approach, a metanoia, a deep change in the way we think about cataloguing. Innovations in RDA are many: it promotes interoperability between catalogs and other search tools, it adopts terminology and concepts of the Semantic Web, it is a global standard, it can be applied by different agencies to create data. RDA is expected to be enriched by wide community of professional, from all the world, in a collaborative, well-aware, recognized and global perspective. By RDA, the great tradition of cataloguing goes one step further and enters in the digital age definitively.

The Evolution of the Library System (New York)

Abstract: BE~FORE I get into the particulars of what is going on in New York State, there is one network generalization-perhaps I should admit it is really a bias-which I feel a certain compulsion to share: Although library networks can, and do, rest on every conceivable type of base, there are several reasons why a state is one of the more satisfactory bases for many networks. For example: (1) it hardly seems necessary to point out that moving to the state level automatically and painlessly eliminates innumerable minor civil boundaries, each of which would otherwise constitute a barrier to free library use; (2) most states are large enough to serve as a base for most network purposes; (3) states are a potential source of fiscal support, with revenues which are not available to political subdivisions below the state level; and (4) state library agencies have a leadership potential that cuts across types of libraries, all varieties of library interests, and all levels of government below the federal. This being the case, the governmental framework within which library development occurs in a state can be critical for network development. Certainly it has been so in New York State, and without taking more time in support of the point, I suggest that a first step in statewide library network development might often be to see that the state library agency is properly placed in state government and is made strong enough to carry out its critical role. Now, let me quickly sketch in the current library scene in New York State, to provide some idea of the completed picture as we proceed to examine the bits and pieces in more detail throughout this paper. There are in the state today 725 independent public libraries, of which approximately 700 have voluntarily become members of the 22 public library systems. Ninety-nine per cent of the population of the state is served by these public libraries and, to a limited extent, directly by the systems. A total of $75,000,000, more or less, is being spent annually on public library service, of which approximately $15,000,000 consists of state aid to the public library systems. When this amount is divided by the state population, we arrive at a per capita support level for public library service of roughly $4.50, of which slightly less than $1.00 is state aid. Remember, too, that the three New York City public libraries serve about onehalf of the population of the state and account for at least one-half of all of these statistics. The twenty-two public library systems, supported mainly by the state funds referred to above, provide a wide range of services to their member libraries-services designed to improve, in turn, the services which these libraries render to their communities. As already implied, the member libraries are completely autonomous, receiving their support from local sources, maintaining their own boards of trustees, selecting their own books, and operating their own programs. In joining a system,

A Comparison of Recorded Authority Data Elements and the RDA Framework in Chinese Character Cultures

Abstract: To investigate which authority data elements are recorded by libraries in the Chinese character cultural sphere (e.g., Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam), data elements recorded by each library were examined and compared to authority data elements defined in the standard Resource Description and Access (RDA) design. Recommendations were then made to libraries within this cultural sphere to improve and internationally standardize their authority data. In addition, suggestions are provided to modify RDA in an effort to increase compatibility with authority data in the Chinese character cultural sphere.