Catalogers Interest Group Meeting - April 26, 2007 Meeting Notes
Present: Brandy Babb (Campbell County Public), Susan Banoun (University of Cincinnati), Chris Campbell (International Paper), Andrea Christman (Dayton Metro), Ruth Coyle (Kenton County Public), Rita Doran (Oldham County Public), Charles Dyer (Hamilton City School District), Christopher Hill (Wilmington Public), Jodi Otto (Kenton County Public), Sarah Ray (SWON), Aaron Smith (Clermont County Public), Connie Strait (Greene County Public), Margaret Whitehead (Boone County Public)
A light look at LibraryThing
- Due to technical difficulties, the promised look at LibraryThing did not materialize. We did discuss it briefly, though; at your leisure, take a look at their relatively inexpensive LibraryThing for Libraries product.
Reports/Reviews:
- Introduction to MARC, 15 March, Wilmington
- We discussed last month’s workshop, noting that the general background and experience of this group was somewhat more advanced than in the past. There was general agreement that the workshop went well, but we fairly quickly moved to a discussion concerning new offerings that would meet the needs of local libraries more effectively. Prominent among the ideas were these:
- need for an intermediate-level workshop
- continuing focus on authority control
- general preference for half-day events with individual presenters vis-à-vis whole-day sessions with multiple presenters (for a number of reasons)
The ongoing SWON discussion forums may prove to be helpful in our planning.
OLC chapter conferences
- We noted that cataloging offerings were somewhat lacking at OLC-Southwest, and that a number of local folks traveled to Athens for OLC-Southeast accordingly. The audience at such events are generally broad, so focused workshops tend to be less effective, and less well-attended.
SWON catalogers' website
- Thanks to good work by Sarah, the SWON catalogers’ website is quite functional and offers much to us.
- Please experiment with it and consider using it as a ready source of links. We were not able to look at it in depth today, but I encourage you to continue to evaluate it, and make suggestions to Sarah or bring it to our attention via the listserv (catalogers@swonlibraries.org), particularly if your institution does not offer access to Cataloger’s Desktop or a similar resource.
OH-Cataloging
- Monitor statewide happenings and cataloging news in Ohio on Andrea Christman’s blog. Thank you, Andrea, for this effort to better share important information!
Catalog quality control
- As promised, Susan Banoun brought along excerpts from documentation she had used in the past codifying and organizing approaches to managing quality in library catalogs. Especially in light of recent and ongoing commentary in various cataloging contexts, the development of such an approach remains topical. The major challenges of time and human resources are omnipresent, but a cooperative approach to standards of quality saves time and increases confidence, whether within a given institution or in national or international databases.
- We agreed that quality assurance needs to be implemented in regard to both local and cooperative practices. Never stop asking the simple questions:
- How well does your catalog work?
- What are your obligations to the larger cataloging context (OCLC or consortial responsibilities)?
- Arising yet again in our discussion was the question of how well we are coping with the conspicuous absence of LC-originated series title authority. Although we offer no new answers, it is clear that these daily reminders of a significant loss cause all of us to invest more time and energy on creating local solutions that inevitably divert from those of others. So much for standardization!
The concept of flow
- Our intention to discuss this was hampered by technology failure, but it is important in all Internet-related functions, particularly when dealing with Web 2.0 applications. We will postpone our discussion on this until the July meeting.
Branch tour
- Thank you to Brandy Babb for offering a tour of the Technical Services offices at Campbell County’s Newport Branch Library, and to Doug Williams for volunteering the branch as host in the face of the scheduling conflict at Blue Ash.
Next meeting: Thursday, 26 July 2007, 1:30-4:00, SWON HQ, Blue Ash
Respectfully submitted,
Aaron Smith
Cataloging/Reference Services
Clermont County Public Library
513.735.7147
smithaa@oplin.org
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