Success Story from the Back Room by John Kennerly*

Here is a link to an interesting story that might be of some interest to you catalogers out there.

*HINT - click on the title to follow the link.

IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CATALOG THE WEB?

Is it impossible to catalog the web? The Internet itself holds so much information that is always changing. One Web 2.0 program, SimilarWeb, has decided to give it a try. I thought that I would experiment with this program, and downloaded it to my computer to see how it would work. If you have Firefox, it is very easy to install. You just go to their website, and download it as an add-on.

Okay, so I see the possibilities here. A scroll bar appears at the side of your screen, and anywhere you go, SimilarWeb will almost always come up with something. I say something, because, well, something just about describes it. There is definitely some relevance here, and with the help of the community, it could turn into a great program. I go to ala.org (American Library Association), and it shows me sla.org (Special Libraries Association), arl.org (Association of Research Libraries), cla.ca (Canadian Library Assocation), all of which I can see as being appropriate, and I am also allowed to add any sites of my own that I think have any relevance.

However, you can go to some sites, and receive nothing, and at others you will see a repeat of the site you are currently on. You are also supposed to be able to share these found sites using Facebook and Twitter. This function has yet to work, and although I was told by one of the software developers that it would soon be fixed in the new release, I have yet to see any progress on that line.

Okay, enough about the bad stuff. One of the things I love, as a student, is the ability to look up articles, and then find similar articles. It does make research that much easier, and it's applications for all types of library users are great. Kids can find the sites they like, parents can do research more easily, shoppers can discover new brands; music lovers can find new artists. The list of possibilities are endless, and I think if librarians and the general public start using this program, and adding their own opinion of which sites they believe to be similar, we may just have a whole new revolution in net surfing.

Submitted by Melissa Beezley Fitzgerald, MLIS Student

Time to shake things up...

Our own Jana Hausburg has written and published a book, It wasn't much, that will be a wonderful addition to media centers all across our state. This book chronicles the lives of 10 Oklahomans. What is unique about this book are the individuals themselves. They are for the most part ordinary citizens, who, due to circumstances beyond their control find themselves in extraordinary situations, and find the courage to do the right thing. The time span is intriguing, too. From World War II to the Iraq war and time in between, Hausburg brings the lives of Oklahoman's to life.

These mini-biographies would enhance any units on Oklahoma history. Included with the biographies are nice side-bars explaining in depth the more difficult concepts presented in the text. This is a reader friendly book that I would recommend for public libraries and media centers. Readers between 8-12 will find this book interesting.

Posted by MaryGrace Berkowitz

If you have something that you would like to see in the blog please email me at mberkowitz@occc.edu

Will LC continue to cut services?

In the November 15, 2007 issue of Library Journal the article, "Report on Cataloging Sparks Concerns", discussed what the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control may report on December 15, 2007. ALA is concerned that LC will make sweeping decisions on their cataloging practices without examining the concerns of the cataloging/library world beyond LC. ALA president-elect, Jim Rettig, testified before Congress explaining that many libraries throughout the country accept bibliographic copy from LC without editing the records. Rettig also testified that though search engines are useful that consumers must still rely on the traditional cataloging practices to fulfill their information needs. LC's Marcum responded that they appointed 3 ALA members to the working group. Marcum also reported that even thought the number of catalogers has decreased their output has increased.

So how do you all feel about the changes that LC has implemented recently? I know that Autocad and OCLCcat listservs were pretty wild about the series control issue not too long ago. Is anyone concerned about the possible "findings" in this report and how it makes effect us "out in the field"? I am concerned that LC is going to ditch controlled subject headings and rely totally on the 520 field. This doesn't make me very happy and I hope that I am wrong about this but I see more 520s and fewer and fewer subject headings being assigned to copy from LC.

To me it seems that the administrators of LC seem to not realize that they are a service to the library world. We do depend on them heavily for direction.

Top library blogs

So, has everyone seen the list of top library blogs at http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-librarian-bloggers-by-the-numbers? There has been criticism about their methodology, but it sure has gotten people talking. I subscribe to a number of these blogs and added one more when the list came out.

Here are some of the Technical Services related blogs on my blogroll:

025.431 : The Dewey Blog
ALA TechSource Blog
Cataloging Futures
Catalogablog
Hectic Pace (by Andrew Pace)
Library Juice
Library Stories (that’s our Adri!)
Library Stuff
Library Technology in Texas (Christine Peterson from Amigos - not really geographically limited)
LibraryCrunch
Planet Cataloging (a roundup of multiple cataloging blogs)
Stephen’s Lighthouse (Stephen Abrams of SIRSI)
The Shifted Librarian
TSRT Oklahoma (of course!)

Do you keep up with library or Technical Services-related blogs? If so, what are your favorites? If not, why not? I find the blogs really valuable in helping me stay current with the main topics of discussion in the cataloging and Technical Services world, but just like electronic lists, there is a lot of stuff I skip over. Which blogs are worth it to you? Inquiring minds want to know!

Submitted by: Sarah S.

Baker and Taylor level 3 records

Does anyone else view those Baker and Taylor level 3 records with dread when they come up on an OCLC search? Do you then do a title search to try and find a better record? There's a whole discussion going in in AUTO-CAT about this. Here is a short summary of the discussion. Here is Glenn Patton's official OCLC response.

I'd almost rather catalog from scratch than use one of those records. OCLC says they are there to be upgraded by member libraries, vendor cataloging staff, etc. What are your thoughts?

Submitted by Jana

Name change list

Dear TSRT readers,

Ian Fairclough (Marion [Ohio] Public Library) and I have set up a notification list for issues about personal names in bibliographic and authority records. The list is PERSNAME-L. This list will interest those of you who are concerned with the accuracy of headings, which I trust includes most readers of this message.

If you find a personal name heading that has been inappropriately assigned, or that needs changing-- FIRST you should report such matters in the first instance to the appropriate agency in accordance with that agency's own policies. (For example, report WorldCat records to OCLC at mailto:bibchange@oclc.org; report records of the Library of Congress online catalog http://catalog.loc.gov/ to mailto:cpso@loc.gov.) ADDITIONALLY, you can report them to PERSNAME-L so that other people working with those records can be advised. NACO members are welcome to report newly established headings, as well as adjustments to existing records, particularly when you have successfully disambiguated a vexatious situation. If you have a question about a personal name, you can ask, and hopefully receive advice, on PERSNAME-L.

If you simply wish to be advised when a heading has been updated in a record, PERSNAME-L will serve as a means for doing so. You can then adjust your local database as appropriate. It's recommended that you first take steps to insure that any action you take is in accordance with local policy and procedures.

PERSNAME-L is intended for announcements rather than discussion. To insure that our subscribers receive only pertinent material, we will moderate PERSNAME-L and approve only those messages which we deem appropriate. Based on my experience with the DEWEYERROR list, I'm confident that your subscription will be worth the time you invest in reading the messages that are posted.

As before, discussion of such matters can take place on OCLC-Cat, Autocat, and other forums. Why then start PERSNAME-L? PERSNAME-L is intended strictly as a tool for cooperative quality assurance. It will join a suite of such tools as DEWEYERROR and the Typo of the Day for Librarians blog. In situations where people are assigned responsibility for different aspects of quality assurance, individuals can work with just those tools that apply to the aspect they're concerned with.

To subscribe to PERSNAME-L, follow this link http://lists.ou.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=PERSNAME-L and click on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)". Or send a message to MAILTO:LISTSERV@LISTS.OU.EDU with the words SUBSCRIBE PERSNAME-L followed by a forename and surname. To post to the list, send your message to MAILTO:PERSNAME-L@LISTS.OU.EDU. The list has no formal connection with OCLC, the Library of Congress, or the NACO project.

P.S. Corporate names are not in scope!

Submitted by: Ian & Jay

Discord over Dewey

In Discord over Dewey, an article in the Wall Street Journal online for July 20, 2007, Andrew Lavalee describes a branch library in Arizona which has dispensed with the Dewey Decimal classification and labeled the book spines with English words, such as “history” or “weddings.” There is still an online catalog, but no call numbers. The library looks and is arranged much like a chain bookstore, and apparently has been popular.

This piece of news leads me to opine that one size doesn’t necessarily fit all libraries. Perhaps all collections don’t automatically and with no consideration for their users NEED a classification system. Do small libraries with small collections designed primarily for leisure reading need to be arranged by call number, just as the collections in large research libraries are?

Even in large libraries, there may be individual collections which have not been classified because of size or type of materials. That fact alone refutes the argument that classification is always necessary as a finding tool.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink our desire to standardize, and consider fitting the arrangement of our collections to the kinds of users that our libraries attract.

By
Michele Seikel
Cataloger, Assoc. Prof. of Bibliography

Local catalogs dying?

Roy Tennant’s article in the July 2007 issue of Library Journal is entitled “Demise of the Local Catalog”. In it, he argues that the integrated library system (ILS) should “…be relegated to the backroom where it has always belonged.”

After devoting a brief section to what vendors are currently working on vis a vis metasearching and unified searching (that is, searching for information in multiple sources), Tennant then argues that the catalog will disappear and some “centralized finding tool” will take its place. His final section discusses briefly the new WorldCat Local, which is essentially WorldCat with search results ranked by location and relevance, with local holdings on top, regional holdings next, and then worldwide holdings.

Tennant does disclose his employment with OCLC, which is important since OCLC developed WorldCat Local and has a lot riding on its success. I understand that Tennant is coming at this question from the point of view of a digital librarian, and new thinking is important in our profession, but I believe that Tennant is a bit dismissive of the local catalog and the fact that most public libraries still catalog mostly print books, compact discs, and movies, not online resources and websites, and so for a lot of public libraries especially, the local catalog is the “centralized finding tool.”

What do you all think? Any other perspectives?

Submitted by Aaron K.

Verification codes aid in book digitilization

This NPR story discusses verification codes being used to aid in the digitalization of books.

Submitted by Ila

TSRT Oklahoma 2007 Officers

Chair
Jay Shorten, OU

Chair-Elect
M. Afzal, Cameron University

Secretary
MaryGrace Berkowitz, OCCC