Published by rwatstein September 27th, 2008
in libraries and cataloging.
In the sober, settled atmosphere of a library there is a radical movement afoot that is knocking books off their long-established shelves and throwing Dewey out the window. At 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, two bold and daring librarians are stirring at the Frankfort (Ill.) Public Library, shuffling books and tearing off those time-honored Dewey Decimal Classification numbers. Frankfort is one of the first libraries in the U.S. to retrofit its collection and go Dewey-free, eliminating the numbers and categorizing nonfiction books by topic.
Read the full article here
Share This
Published by rwatstein September 21st, 2008
in Library of Congress and cataloging.
Carla writes: “LC’s Cataloging and Acquisitions homepage contains a myriad of cataloging resources. One great resource that was just posted last week is an FAQ about form/genre headings (PDF file). Who hasn’t struggled occasionally to keep the distinction between subject headings and form/genre headings clear, or to figure out whether an authority record represents a form/genre heading or not?”
Read the full article here
LC’s Cataloging and Acquisitions homepage
Share This
To pump up its web presence, the Darien Library is now offering SOPAC 2.0, a new open source social catalog created by staffer John Blyberg, which not only features faceted browsing, tag clouds, and total integration of patron-added content like ratings, comments, and reviews but is tailored to be a repository of community data from many libraries.
Read the full article here
Share This
Published by rwatstein July 26th, 2008
in Canada, cataloging and OPAC.
BiblioCommons’ revolutionary system is set to replace user-facing OPAC functionality in Canada, allowing for faceted searching and easier user commenting and tagging. Libraries serving more than half of Canada’s population are expected to adopt the product, and it is also stirring interest in U.S. libraries as well. Gail Richardson, Oakville PL’s acting director of online services told Library Journal, “People don’t want a library that acts like just a glorified card catalog online. They want a catalog that’s as good as Google and Amazon.”
Read the full article here
Share This
This virtual museum is for the new generation of librarians who may not be familiar with the tools and methods used before technology and the digitization of library catalogs stepped in. It is also for those experienced librarians who have been in the profession for many years; perhaps the museum will bring back a bit of nostalgia. This site provides a look inside the history of libraries and librarianship. Librarians have always worked hard to adapt to the constantly changing technology that is meant to make libraries more efficient. The changes vary from the methods used to catalog items to the tools used to catalog them. Within these pages can be seen the transition, innovation, and the differences from one method or tool to the next.
Virtual Museum of Cataloging & Acquisitions Artifacts web site
Share This
Published by rwatstein March 29th, 2008
in OCLC and cataloging.
When Frederick G. Kilgour founded OCLC in 1967, he saw libraries across the U.S. doing the same, repetitive tasks in cataloging—rooms full of typists entering the same information on catalog cards. The OCLC online union catalog (now called WorldCat) and shared cataloging system dramatically reduced these inefficiencies by making it unnecessary for more than one library to originally catalog an item. Records in the online union catalog could be shared and used by others to produce catalog cards. When Frederick G. Kilgour founded OCLC in 1967, he saw libraries across the U.S. doing the same, repetitive tasks in cataloging—rooms full of typists entering the same information on catalog cards. The OCLC online union catalog (now called WorldCat) and shared cataloging system dramatically reduced these inefficiencies by making it unnecessary for more than one library to originally catalog an item. Records in the online union catalog could be shared and used by others to produce catalog cards.
Read the full article here
Share This
Published by rwatstein March 29th, 2008
in libraries and cataloging.
Vanderbilt University Library users can locate and access more quickly an expanding variety of resources – print, digital and electronic – thanks to the new online service DiscoverLibrary. Over the past two years Vanderbilt partnered with Ex Libris, a leading vendor of library automation and systems software; the University of Minnesota and Denmark’s Electronic Research Library to develop Primo, which powers DiscoverLibrary. “DiscoverLibrary goes well beyond the current concept of the library catalog,” said Jody Combs, assistant university librarian for information technology. “It contains all of the records from Acorn, the library’s current online card catalog, as well as records from the Television News Archive, the library’s largest digital collection. DiscoverLibrary can grow to contain information about all of the library’s resources, and, eventually, even campus resources that are not traditionally associated with the library catalog.” He also said that the new system is designed to be fast and intuitive with features that Web-savvy users have come to expect.
Read the full article here
Share This
Published by rwatstein March 16th, 2008
in archives, Canada and cataloging.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collects and preserves Canada’s documentary heritage, and makes it accessible to all Canadians. This heritage includes publications, archival records, sound and audiovisual materials, photographs, artworks, and electronic documents such as websites. As part of its mandate, LAC works closely with other archives and libraries to acquire and share these materials as widely as possible. LAC is committed to making as much of its collection as possible available online. LAC has determined that genealogical records are a priority.
Read the full article here
Share This
A Library of Congress task force has completed its mission to look at the future of cataloging and other forms of bibliographic control and recommend steps on how the library community can continue to provide effective access in a changing technological world. The LC Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control released On the Record (PDF file), its 44-page final report, January 9 after responding to suggestions from a wide range of organizations and individuals who read a draft version issued November 30.
Read the full article here
Read On the Record here
Share This
The Library of Congress may step down from its role as the primary institution for classifying and cataloging library materials, according to a report it released last month. “The Library of Congress does not necessarily want to have the same role in the future that it’s had in the past - implementing cataloging standards,” said Mary Bolin, chairwoman of technical services for University of Nebraska-Lincoln libraries. “They want to move further into a world where they aren’t the only players, where everyone shares and collaborates.” In order to get away from the Library of Congress being the sole arbiter of cataloguing standards, the report urged libraries around the country to share more records with one another, to create more awareness of their special collections and to make greater use of online databases.
Read the full article here
Share This
Published by rwatstein December 22nd, 2007
in OCLC and cataloging.
Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) has announced that it is conducting a pilot project to explore the viability and efficiency of capturing metadata from publishers and vendors upstream. Further, it plans to enhance that metadata in WorldCat, an online resource for finding library materials. The move is expected to provide added value to libraries and publishers by enhancing and delivering data that can work in multiple contexts and systems.
Read the full article here
Share This
The opening paragraph of the report, issued recently, is stark: “The future of bibliographic control will be collaborative, decentralized, international in scope, and Web-based. Its realization will occur in cooperation with the private sector, and with the active collaboration of library users. Data will be gathered from multiple sources; change will happen quickly; and bibliographic control will be dynamic, not static. The underlying technology that makes this future possible and necessary—the World Wide Web—is now almost two decades old. Libraries must continue the transition to this future without delay in order to retain their relevance as information providers.”
Read the full article here
Share This
