NEW MEMBERS INTEREST GROUP FOR ALCTS
Troublesome Catalogers and Metadata Fairies
(with apologies to a stalwart group of folks on Facebook)
Written by:
Victoria Carlson Kemp
ANMIG Co-Vice Chair
Technical Services Manager
Flower Mound Public Library | 972.874.6154
3030 Broadmoor Lane | Flower Mound, TX 75022
Overview
Technical Services are the behind-the-scenes activities a library undertakes to process library materials loaned to the public. These activities include ordering, classifying and cataloging, preparing materials for the library shelves, inventory, and weeding. Other technical services include the activities related to acquiring donated materials, and repairing and preservation of library materials.
Cataloging
Library collections house a wide variety of materials on many different topics and in many different formats. The challenge in making these things available for use by library patrons is letting those patrons know what is in the library collection. This is the reason for having a library catalog or database.
Cataloging is the process followed by librarians to create the bibliographic record. To perform catalog work means to record details about a published item, such as, title, author, publisher, date, physical description, subject headings, edition, and call number. A set of standardized rules for cataloging and transcribing information about library materials governs the cataloging process. Catalog librarians assign subject headings to assist the public in finding materials on a particular subject when an author or title is not known. Libraries strive for consistency in subject heading use so all items with the same subject will be listed together in the library catalog. To assist library customers in locating materials within the library, catalogers assign call numbers which are printed on labels that are attached to individual materials.
Physical card catalogs of old have been replaced by electronic versions. A variety of computer software packages are available to produce catalog records. These computer programs help libraries develop online catalogs for local use, and in addition make their catalogs available to remote users via the World Wide Web. In order for the computer to interpret the information found in a cataloging record, libraries follow a standard professional practice called MARC record cataloging. MARC is an acronym for Machine-Readable Cataloging Record. The official rules and documentation for cataloging in MARC format is compiled by the Library of Congress.
When library materials are cataloged in a careful and complete manner, access is provided for the library patrons and staff to all sources of information on a particular topic, by a particular author, or in a particular format, that the library possesses. The better the access, the more use the collection receives, and the more satisfied the patron is in his or her search for information in the library.
Centralized/Cooperative Cataloging
Centralized cataloging is defined as a cooperative arrangement for the preparation of bibliographic records by one agency to which all cooperating agencies may have access. Advantages include high quality professional work, increased processing, decrease in unit costs, and improved dissemination.
Cooperative cataloging means separate libraries are responsible for adding and maintaining their own MARC cataloging records in a shared database.
Library catalogers tend to consult FOUR sources of information when they catalog library materials:
1. The system handbook of the computer program used by the library.
2. A rule book defining national code standards.
3. A subject heading guidebook.
4. A materials classification system.
The rule book of national code standards is produced by NISO (National Information Standards Organization), which is a non-profit organization accredited by ANSI (The American National Standards Institute). These standards are used so library records around the world are consistent. This makes it possible to share library records and combine online catalogs in a state, in the country, or worldwide. Records can be shared electronically because libraries use a consistent machine-readable electronic format. A subject heading guidebook provides a unique, authorized list of headings that catalogers will add to catalog records so patrons can get results more quickly and precisely when they perform searches on the library catalog. Classification schemes, such as Library of Congress or the Dewey Decimal System, allow libraries to physically arrange books and other library materials together by topic which in turn helps patrons find the physical materials.
Resource Description and Access vs. Ango-American Cataloging Records
RDA, or Resource Description and Access, is the new set of rules for cataloging and metadata creation, which replaces AACR2. Most library catalogs will share AACR2 records and RDA records for a long time to come. RDA is a standard implemented in 2013 by the Library of Congress. RDA guidelines provide more room for local decisions than AACR2 did. RDA utilizes FRBR, or Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, a conceptual model incorporating user tasks into a bibliographic record. It is an attempt to provide a more holistic description of the material a patron holds in their hand. This description is based on the relationships between various entities, such as a book, a video, an audio recording of a specific item. A title, for example, A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, exists in a variety of formats, produced by a variety of publishers, each with its own specific characteristics. FRBR and RDA attempt to codify each work and its multiplicity of expressions; manifestations and individual items.
In 2002, Roy Tennant wrote a provocative article entitled “MARC must die” (http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2002/10/ljarchives/marc-must-die/#_), proclaiming MARC an arcane standard, but, until something better is implemented, it remains the standard. In 2012, LOC partnered with Zepheira to develop a web-based alternative to MARC. This has led to a new standard called BIBFRAME, which can be represented in the following illustration:
Bibframe 2.0. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 1 March 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIBFRAME
Denver Public Library has implemented BIBFRAME in beta mode with Zepheira. Search for Molly Brown and one of the first links is https://catalog.denverlibrary.org/search/title.aspx?cn=756069 a collection of Molly Brown papers housed at the Denver Public Library. Not many libraries get their results showing up in Google, on the first page! BIBFRAME may prove to the elusive answer to getting library catalogs displaying in Google for discovery by Internet users. Right now, due to many factors, including the use of LOC controlled vocabulary, catalogs are hidden on the Internet. I recommend attending library workshops on the subject of BIBFRAME. Libraries must work to allow linked data to allow creative connections between libraries and Web data.