ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section

Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials

2005 Annual Meeting Minutes

1:00-4:00pm, Sunday, June 26, 2005

Palmer House, Room Clark 10

 

 

Members present:

Shi Deng (East Asia—UC San Diego), Chair

Bob Lesh (Africa—Northwestern), recorder

David Nelson (South Asia—Univ. of Pennsylvania)

Keiko Suzuki (Japan—Yale)

Giles Stewart Martin (Liaison—OCLC)

Lihong Zhu (Generalist—Washington State Univ.)

                                                     

Members absent (all being excused):

Joan Aliprand (Liaison—RLG)

Yurong Y. Atwill (Generalist—Pennsylvania State University)

Bindu Bhatt (Generalist—Columbia)

John Elits (Middle East—Stanford)

Cheng Yen Khoo (Southeast Asia—Ohio Univ.)

Phillip Melzer (Liaison—Library of Congress)

Charles Wilt (Liaison—ALA)

 

Guests present:

Akram Khabibullaev (Univ. of Chicago)

William Kopycki (Incoming new member—Univ. of Pennsylvania)

Joseph Lauer (Michigan State Univ.)

Dawn Lawson (Incoming new intern—New York University)

Hideyuki Morimoto (Columbia)

Elizabeth Plantz (National Library of Medicine)

Doris Seely (Univ. of Minnesota)

Ty Wang (Soka Univ. of America)

 

1. Chair Shi Deng opened the meeting at 1:00 PM with the introduction of the committee members and guests.  Shi Deng announced that Bob Lesh would be the incoming chair following the meeting.

 

2. The chair announced that Joan Aliprand, John Elits, and Shi Deng are outgoing members after this meeting is concluded.  On behalf the Committee, Shi expressed appreciation to Joan Aliprand and John Elits for their contributions.  Letters of thanks will be sent to them for their service on the Committee.  A welcome was extended to William Kopycki and Dawn Lawson, incoming new members of CC:AAM. 

 

3. The minutes of the previous meeting (Midwinter 2005 in Boston) were approved.  See: http://www.ala.org/ala/alctscontent/catalogingsection/catcommittees/catalogingasiana/MW05_CCAAMmin.doc

 

4. Actions taken between January 2005 and June 2005.

 

a. Keiko Suzuki, CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA, reported that she had coordinated the Committee’s comments on AACR3, part 1, and sent her report to CC:DA.  Keiko’s written report to CC:AAM and her report to CC:DA may be found in Appendix A.

 

b.&c. Shi set up a Program Planning Sub-Committee to plan a program on PCC for June, 2006.  The Sub-Committee members are: Bob Lesh (chair), Bindu Bhatt, Lihong Zhu, Shi Deng, and Jiping Wu.  Bob drafted the program proposal based on the input from members and submitted to both the ALCTS CCS Executive Committee and the ALCTS Program Committee. CC:AAM invited PCC to be the program co-sponsor in name only. PCC accepted the invitation.

 

d. The CCS executive approved the revision of CC:AAM  role descriptions, which will be available on the website. 

 

e. CC:AAM received the written response from MARBI to the CC:AAM motion urging MARBI to expand the character repertoire.  This was forwarded to members.  MARBI  “agrees with the intent of this motion and supports the goal of inclusion in the character repertoire of the Unicode Universal Character Set beyond that included in the MARC-8 subset. However, on a practical level, the Committee acknowledges also that character repertoire expansion will not occur in the U.S. environment until some of the technical issues that affect important constituents, such as OCLC and RLG, are resolved.”  For the full text of MARBI’s response, see Appendix B.

 

5.Old business

 

a. Bob reported on developments in the PCC Program.  The program proposal was prepared by the program sub-committee and forwarded to the CCS Executive Committee and ALCTS Program Committee.  Bob and Shi both met with CCS Executive Committee to present the PCC program proposal at the CCS Executive Committee. With several minor suggestions, the proposal was received favorably by the CCS Executive.  Bob will meet the ALCTS Program Committee on Tuesday. The program will consist of a moderator (Ana Cristan) and four panelists, to be decided.  The moderator and panelists will speak on BIBCO, CONSER, NACO, and SACO, the four components of PCC, and allow the audience ample time and opportunity to participate.  The program was planned to create an interactive and participatory environment, aimed at the maximum learning experience.  It will take place on Sat. or Sun. morning, 8:00-10:00 AM.  There was discussion on how to market the PCC program to give participants a more exact idea of how they can benefit from participation in PCC, with links to the PCC site.  We expect to recruit the panelists in the next few weeks. For the full PCC program proposal, see: Appendix C.

 

 

 

b. Keiko reported that AACR3 would now be known as Resource Description and Access (RDA).  There is no draft of RDA as yet.  A prospectus of RDA is expected in July, and in November/December the draft of RDA, part 1, would be available for discussion by CC:DA.  Jennifer Bowen presented the RDA report to CC:DA.

Shi reported that she conveyed CC:AAM’s concern at the CCS Executive Committee Friday meeting regarding the restricted access structure on reviewing AACR3, part I. It would still be an issue for the future RDA review process for getting input from the five area studies cataloging communities the CC:AAM represented. Jennifer Bowen, ALA representative to JSC and past chair of the CCS Executive Committee, after discussion with Mary Larsgaard, Chair of the CC:DA, recommended that CC:AAM could form a task force to include designated area studies experts from five regions, and the task force should be formed before the RDA review process started in October. Both Mary and Jennifer emphasized that members who agree to serve on the task force don’t have to be ALA or ALCTS members but have to commit themselves to read and comment on the RDA draft.

CC:AAM discussed the issue and voted to create a task force to review the RDA drafts until the CC:DA review process is complete. The task force will be chaired by CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA (currently Keiko) with volunteers or 2-3 designated experts from each of 5 regions, up to 15 members.  The task force must be formed before the CC:DA review starts.  There was a discussion on whether to form task forces for the RDA review in all area studies groups or to form a single task force within CC:AAM to participate in the RDA review.  It was agreed that CC:AAM would proceed with its own task force.  An effort would be made to reach beyond the membership of CC:AAM to involve other area studies people in the task force.  A charge would be written by CC:AAM for the task force.  Bob and Keiko will formulate the charge and forward it to CC:DA.  Permission to distribute the RDA drafts would be requested from CC:DA. [Initially, Keiko was designated to chair the task force. After the CC:AAM annual meeting, the Committee agreed with Keiko’s recommendation to appoint Hideyuki Morimoto as chair of the task force.   Keiko would continue her important work as liaison to CC:DA, working with Hideyuki Morimoto to relate the findings of the task force to CC:DA].  

 

c. Literature review and questionnaire to vendors on Unicode.  David Nelson conducted a review of writings on Unicode, and he reported that there was very little literature on Unicode and even less from vendors.  Joan Aliprand has two articles coming out on Unicode, and David will try to get the preprint version of them. There is also very little adequate vendor documentation on Unicode implementation.  David will write up his conclusions and forward them to CC:AAM members.  David has a list of vendors interested in Unicode, and the next step is to circulate a questionnaire/survey to determine how Unicode is being implemented in greater detail.  Looking into the future, many library software systems, such as Voyager, may be coming to the end of their useful life.  Information from this survey on Unicode may aid in guiding the decision-making process for new library systems.  Shi and Bob attended the meeting of AVIAC, the vendor group, and they spoke with Pat Harris, Secretary of NISO, about implementation of Unicode.  This contact may be helpful in the future. 

 

d. DDC proposal on Indonesian provinces.  Giles Martin reported no progress in this effort. 

 

e. John Eilts  was not present, but he forwarded a status report on Islamic law subject headings.  See: http://www.mela.us/islamicsh.html

 

f. John Eilts is working on a status report on Central Asian Romanization tables, which will appear when ready at: http://www.mela.us/translit.html  

 

 6. New business.

 

 a. The Committee voted to approve the Ladino Romanization Proposal without consulting experts in the field and discussion since the proposal was put together by and passed on by the field experts.  See: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/ladino.pdf

 

b. James Agenbroad’s resolution for access equity for nonroman library materials to be presented at the ALA Council meeting.  There was some discussion of the wording of the resolution, but opinions expressed were in favor.  There was a motion passed to support the Agenbroad resolution.  See: Appendix D.

 

c. Relationship with the five area associations linked to CC:AAM work.  David proposed greater links to area studies with CC:AAM.  Shi prefers to have a non-formalized relationship for practical reasons (e.g. potential commitment to attend other Area Studies annual meetings; difficulty appointing CC;AAM area specialists).  Joe contended that if the relationship between CC:AAM and the area studies groups were more formalized, the area studies organizations could appoint members who would attend CC:AAM meetings.  He felt that communications were not as good as they could be.  Shi felt that there had been much communication.  Joe suggested that more reports should go to the area studies associations.  An increase updating on the CC:AAM website and the forwarding of email to area studies listservs would help. 

After discussion, CC:AAM decided to keep existing practice which is informal, without official liaison between the Committee and each area studies association. In addition, CC:AAM will enforce communication by putting draft minutes on CCAAM web site soon after each conference and send out meeting agendas to area studies mailing list before each conference.

 

d. A schedule change has been proposed for all ALA meetings.  CC:AAM has the choice of having a single two-hour slot or two (consecutive) two-hour slots in the morning or the afternoon on Sunday.  After discussion covering conflict or near conflicts with RLIN, MARBI and our own PCC Program in June 2006, the Committee resolved to go with the 1:30-3:30PM time slot on Sunday and to accept all of the reports in a written form to be distributed previous to the meeting and to appear in the minutes.  This decision on meeting time will be revisited in one year. 

 

7. Reports.

 

          LC report by Philip Melzer (via email).  See: Appendix E.

 

          OCLC report by Giles Martin (via email and orally).  See:  Appendix F. 

          There has been a growing tendency on the part of LC and other SACO participants to cite internet sources in the 670s.  Joe Lauer finds some of these simply repeat data from other established reference sources or introduce new typos, or are of dubious permanence. Lesh asked Lauer for a short document with details.  This document will be forwarded to LC representatives.  David mentioned the online digital language dictionaries for South Asian languages as a good reference tool, and named several reference tools.  The CONSALD Bibliography of Asian Studies contains many of these with automatic linking to the full text.  Also, the South Asia Union Catalog is now up and running. Generally, these reference sources are Unicode compliant. 

 

          RLG report.  No report.

 

          Area studies reports:

 

          ALC Cataloging Committee by Bob Lesh.  Joe Lauer, who heads the Africana funnel, said that all submissions were thoroughly researched before being sent on to SACO.  Individual members may also forward submissions directly to SACO.  There has been little recent progress on the LCSH expansion of schedules for Indian Ocean islands.  Joe Caruso and Margaret Hughes will join forces to speed this project along.  Ghana and Zimbabwe were also mentioned as candidates for LCSH schedule expansion.  LC does not have the staffing to conduct this expansion, and three ALC members offered to look into this expansion.  Catalogers noted the lack of up-to-date, accurate and comprehensive reference sources for Africana.  Ethnologue is used by many, including LC, despite its well-documented shortcomings.  The internet has been mentioned as a reference source, but it is not always accurate and is unevenly utilized by catalogers.  Joe Lauer agreed to write a paragraph outlining the shortcomings of existing reference sources as cited in the 670 area of authority records for CC:AAM, which will be forwarded to LC representatives.  The PJ-PK and PL-PM schedules are being edited for new editions.  For full text see: Appendix G.

 

          CONSALD report by David Nelson.  The CONSALD Bibliography of Asian Studies is now more up-to-date than in previous years and contains many reference sources with automatic linking to the full text.  Also, the South Asia Union Catalog is up and running. Generally, these reference sources are Unicode compliant.  Soon a major reference source, A Historical atlas of South Asia, edited by Joseph E. Schwartzberg, will be available in a full-text format.  See minutes of CONSALD:

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/Lib/meet/200503minutesdraft.html

 

          CEAL report by Shi Deng.  Shi Deng will send via email.  See: Appendix H.

           

          CORMOSEA report by Cheng Yen Khoo (via email).  See: Appendix I.

 

          MELA report by William Kopycki for John Eilts.  MELA has formed a Cataloging Committee, which will include Joyce Bell, Muhammad al-Faruque, Meryle Gaston (chair), Fereshteh Molavi, Sara Özturk, and William Kopycki.  The Committee is conducting a survey of Middle Eastern collections’ resources and cataloging with information from all the respondents on the MELA mailing list (members or otherwise).  The survey will include information on scripts, inputting figures, NACO participation, and opinion of the Islamic law subject headings.  The subject headings for Islamic law will be posted on the MELA Cataloging Committee website to assure greater diffusion.  The results of the survey will be compiled and presented to MELA. Anyone may subscribe to the MELANET (for all of MELA) and MIDEASTCAT (for the MELA Cataloging Committee).  

 

          CCS Executive meeting report by Shi Deng.  The Executive Committee discussed various programs and workshops.  The CCS Exec is involved in future programming, and our PCC Program was presented to the committee by Bob Lesh and discussed.  There was a discussion of various other programs or workshops: an LC classification workshop (2006); PCC series workshop (two-day workshop, the first day for copy catalogers and the second day for original catalogers); CENTRIC pre-conference program for catalogers; CCO pre-conference workshop for cataloging of cultural objects (2 days); CC:DA, in cooperation with the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, is planning a pre-conference or program for simplified subject headings for use with children’s literature; FAST is planning a program; a series workshop proposal was also discussed as well as a pre-conference program on education training and recruitment to librarianship.  Shi will report on our meeting to CCS, and information on all of the planned programs and workshops will appear on the website in the CCS minutes.  Jennifer Bowen reported on RDA; she was asked what role CCS will play in RDA and the JSC.  For the full text of the report, see: Appendix J.

         

          CC:DA report by Keiko Suzuki.  There was not much to report from the previous day’s meeting.  The second CC:DA meeting will be held, and members may attend that for further information. 

 

Bob Lesh became the CC:AAM chair at the end of the meeting.  He expressed thanks to all the committee members and particularly to Shi Deng, for all her fine work as committee chair.  He looked forward to working with the committee in the future. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.

 

(You will be able to read the full minutes of the meeting when available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/afs/alc/catcte.html)

 

 

APPENDIX A: Keiko Susuki’s written reports to CC:AAM and to CC:DA

 

June 2005

AACR3/RDA update

By Keiko Suzuki (CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA)

 

Background: After the extensive discussions and review of AACR3 pt.1 draft during winter/spring 2005, the JSC met in Chicago in late April. From the constituency feedback, the JSC finds the goals in the strategic plan for AACR are still valid: The rules should be based on principles; they should cover all types of materials; they should be applicable to, and operate in an online Web-based environment; they should be compatible with other standards for resource description and retrieval; and, they should be easy to use and interpret. There is an expectation that the rules will be used world-wide, and will be used as a resource beyond the library community to facilitate metadata interoperability and reduce overall costs.

 

However, the feedback indicated dissatisfaction with arrangement of the draft of part 1 (especially ALA expressed more dissatisfaction than did the others). Thus, the JSC and CoP affirmed that a new edition is still the best way to achieve the goals in the strategic plan, but agreed that a new approach was required: “A new standard for resource description and access, designed for the digital world.” The JSC has decided to stop referring to the new code as “AACR3”. In light of the more substantive changes now planned, the new working title, Resource Description and Access or RDA signifies that the new code (not new edition) will be more than just a “repackaging” of the existing rules.

 

In deciding to follow the new approach, JSC and CoP agreed that there needs to be increased consultation with stakeholders, in parallel with the revision process. Major stakeholders for the new edition include not only the JSC constituencies who have traditionally had a role in defining the content of AACR, but also library administrators, system developers, metadata communities, MARC format developers, and international programs such as the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, the ISSN International Centre, and IFLA. Plans are underway within the JSC and the CoP to consult more directly with these stakeholders as work on the new edition moves forward.

 

Major issues for the part 1of new code development will be discussed/reported in two CC:DA meetings in ALA Chicago. They are:

Organization of Pt. 1,

Focus of the description/source of information,

Generalization,

GMD,

Resources issued in successive parts/integrating resources,

Technical description (ISBD area 5),

Simplification

 

 

Schedule: The change in direction will result in an extension to the overall time line, including allowing time for a new draft of part I to be made available for constituency review. (The following timeline presents a “best-case” scenario and is subject to change):

 

May 2005-July 2005:               Development of prospectus

Oct. 2005-April. 2006:             Completion of draft of part I, and constituency review

May 2006-Sept. 2006:             Completion of draft of part II, and constituency review

Oct. 2006-Apr. 2007:              Completion of draft of part III, and constituency review

May 2007-Sept. 2007:             Completion of General Introduction, Appendices, and Glossary

2008:                                       Publication

 

For more information, please see the ALA Rep. Report to CC:DA “Report on the JSC meeting, Chicago, April 24–28, 2005” http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/jca/ccda/docs/jsc0506.pdf

 

 

CC:AAM actions: Possible proposals before/after of each draft review period

Pt.1: Clear instruction of language/script use, the term “Oriental”/?

Pt.2: ?

Pt.3: Non-roman headings and references (*related agenda: 6-a. James Agenbroad’s resolution for ALA membership meeting at Annual)

à ALA Rep. Jennifer Bowen will consult with the JSC about the timing for such a proposal and will get back to us. Jennifer would think that the JSC could consider it before the Draft of Part 3 comes out, but She doesn't think we have to rush to get something out in time for the next JSC meeting.

 

c.f. From Barbara Tillett's presentation

http://www.oclc.org/research/events/frbr-workshop/presentations/tillett/FRBR_and_cat_rules.ppt

 

5. Access Points

5.1.3 Language

- Names expressed in several languages, prefer:

      *Information from manifestations of the expression in the original language and script, but

      *If original language and script is not normally used in the catalogues, the heading may be based on forms found on manifestations or in references in one of the languages and scripts best suited to users of catalogue

- Access should be provided in original language and script whenever possible, through either the authorized heading or a reference.

- If transliterations are desirable, an international standard for script conversion should be followed.

 

CC:DA Meeting Report -- 2005 ALA Annual Conference, Chicago

 

The Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access held two meetings during ALA Annual 2005: on Saturday, June 25, 2005 (2:30pm-5:30pm) and on Monday, June 27, 2005 (8:30am-12:30pm). The report summarizes and emphasizes topics related to area studies cataloging. For more information, see at the CC:DA Website: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/jca/ccda/agen0506.html

 

 

****************************************************

 

 

1. Major Reports from CC:DA Task Forces and other Representatives

a) LC Report

LC Representative Barbara Tillett reported, among other activities, the LC’s plan for Unicode implementation. The LC is planning to upgrade to the Voyager Unicode Release in this November. Also LC is testing Unicode version of ClassWeb using original scripts for some Uniform titles and LCC Buddhism captions, etc.     

 

b) Report on FRBR in 21^st Century Catalogues: An Invitational Workshop

The workshop was held May 2-4, 2005 at OCLC, Dublin, Ohio. Several CC:DA members have attended. The report prepared by Tillett and Patrick Le Boeuf is available: http://www.oclc.org/research/events/frbr-workshop/report.htm

 

c) Planning Task Force for the “Cataloging Cultural Objects” Program

TF Chair Matthew Beacom reported that the event was successful with attendance of about 200 in Saturday morning. ALA has agreed to publish "Cataloguing Cultural Objects" on behalf of the Visual Resources Association and the print publication is scheduled for release in June 2006. Also the pre-conference workshop of CCO has been planned in 2006 Annual. CCO homepage: http://www.vraweb.org/CCOweb/index.html

 

d) Program Planning Task Force for ALA Annual 2005

TF Chair Beacom reported that the event was very successful with attendance of 500-600 in Sunday morning. The enthusiastic responses to the program, CC:DA or CCS will form a new Task Force for continuous update sessions in ALA conferences/meetings till RDA publication.  

 

e) MARBI Report

MARBI Representative Everett Allgood reported on the discussion of the report: “Assessment of options for handling full Unicode character encodings in MARC21 Part 2: Issues”. The MARBI approved restriction on the use of “PUA (Private Use Area)”, and decided to discuss continuously on other issues further in future.

 

 

2. AACR3 to RDA

Jennifer Bowen, ALA Representative, reported the outcome of April meeting of the Joint Steering Committee summarizing that 1) new direction to RDA (Resource Description and Access) from AACR3, 2) a plan for hiring a production manager of RDA (in process now), and 3) more outreach efforts for RDA. See her report for more detail: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/jca/ccda/docs/jsc0506.pdf

 

Bowen also solicited the discussions on some major issues along with this new development of RDA and review process of AACR3 Pt.1 draft:

a) RDA as an electronic product

Bowen explained that JSC wants to know what kinds of functionalities are needed to enhance RDA as an electronic product. These are some of responses from the discussions: could highly-customized by each user, could display rules of certain types of cataloging (i.e. continuing resources cataloging by meta-tagging), could browse easily with hierarchy display, could adjust font sizes, could access to earlier version/edition of rules, easy printing, actual example photos (copyright?), etc.  

 

b) Source of Information in RDA

Bowen confirmed ALA’s preference over the LC proposal to the editor’s follow-up with some concerns from CC:DA members on, especially sources of title proper. ALA response was already sent to JSC in late May. 

 

c) Simplification of Rules for Publication Information

Bowen confirmed ALA’s general agreement. Yet, some optional practices needs to be discussed with relation to levels of description. Robert Maxwell, ACRL liaison asked to Tillett, LC rep. about a change of current rule on publication date of not in Western-style Arabic numerals. Tillett confirmed the change in the LC proposal.

 

d) Call for Simplification of Special Rules (AACR2 Ch. 21)

Some cataloging communities such as Law and Music were asked to submit their responses in the Confluence website in mid. July.  

 

e) GMD/SMD Working Group

Bowen announced the formation of the working group requested by JSC chair on this issue. This JSC working group will be chaired by Patricia Thurston. 

 

f) Incorporating Responses to AACR3 Pt.1 Draft into RDA

Bowen explained JSC’s plan of how to incorporating AACR3 Pt.1 draft responses to development of RDA. The agreed issues by the constituencies will be automatically incorporated to RDA. Major disagreements between constituencies have to be discussed in JSC. Thus, ALA needs to notify JSC which issues should be given the priorities to discuss first. Then Bowen will report to JSC. The deadline of this to JSC is also mid. July.  

 

 

3. Other business

a) New TFs

CC:DA will form two new task forces: TF on reviewing DCRM(B) and TF on RDA Forum chaired by Matthew Beacom (actually this might be CCS- level TF).

 

b) Schedule for 2006 Midwinter meeting

CC:DA will meet at regular Saturday afternoon and Monday morning meetings. In addition, CC:DA is planning a multi-TF meeting on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted by Keiko Suzuki, CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX B: MARBI’s response to CC:AAM resolution.

June 8, 2005

 

Shi Deng, Chair

ALCTS/CCS CC:AAM

Catalog Dept., UCSD Libraries

9500 Gilman Dr., Dept. 0175K

La Jolla, CA 92093-0175

 

Ms. Deng,

 

On behalf of the ALCTS/LITA/RUSA MARBI Committee, I want to acknowledge and thank you for your letter regarding the motion from CC:AAM to MARBI that was passed by CC:AAM in June 2004. 

 

MARBI considered this motion at its midwinter meeting in Boston in January 2005.  The Committee agrees with the intent of this motion and supports the goal of inclusion in the character repertoire of the Unicode Universal Character Set beyond that included in the MARC-8 subset.  However, on a practical level, the Committee acknowledges also that character repertoire expansion will not occur in the U.S. environment until some of the technical issues that affect important constituents, such as OCLC and RLG, are resolved.  At the Boston meeting, we learned that the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office would have a discussion paper ready for consideration at the 2005 ALA Annual Meeting in Chicago that should help us move forward with the process of expanding the character repertoire.  LC recently released this report, entitled “Assessment of Options for Handling Full Unicode in Character Encodings, Part 2: Issues.”  It is available at http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/2005/2005-report01.pdf and  will be discussed at MARBI’s June 25, 2005 meeting in Chicago, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Wacker Avenue, Grand Ballroom F.

 

MARBI appreciates your concern and desire to move this process forward.  I hope that you and/or other members of CC:AAM will be able to attend and participate in the discussions about Unicode at our meeting in Chicago.

 

Sincerely,

 

Adam L. Schiff

MARBI Chair

 

 

APPENDIX C: PCC program proposal:

 

TITLE:

Area Studies Librarians: Do you PCC?  What PCC can do for YOU. 

 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

          Panel presentations (four panelists, moderator) on PCC in area studies, with time devoted to audience participation and discussion.  The purpose of the program is to promote awareness of PCC and encourage participation by area studies librarians.  The themes that may emerge are: successful/unsuccessful stories of PCC participation; engaging the library administration to support PCC; initiating involvement in PCC; issues and challenges of PCC; improving cataloging at the participating institution and sharing with others; international participation.  

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM:

          Panel presentation on PCC in area studies, with time devoted to audience participation and discussion.  At the beginning, the moderator would give a brief introduction to PCC (about 10 minutes) so that those not familiar with the Program will have a better idea of it.  The panel would consist of four area studies catalogers who have long experience with PCC.  Each panelist would give a very brief introduction and presentation (about 10 minutes each) on their PCC participation and experience, reflecting their area of specialization.  Each panelist would be asked to speak about one of the four areas of PCC participation: NACO, BIBCO, CONSER, or SACO.  The SACO presentation should include some coverage of the area studies subject funnel projects.  Each of the subject area panelists could identify issues of particular importance to his/her subject area: such as, personal name formulation, Romanization, Unicode, reliable reference sources, LC responsiveness to queries, etc.  The panel would be moderated by a senior PCC expert.  The moderator would not be part of the panel. 

          The emphasis of the program is on creating an atmosphere where audience and panelists will engage in a free discussion aimed at promoting an interactive exchange of ideas and participation to maximize the learning experience for the audience.  Much of the responsibility for this interactive discussion rests upon the moderator/facilitator.  To this end, the moderator will conduct a brief oral survey at the beginning of the program to outline the participants’ expectations.  The moderator will ask for a hands-up survey of the audience to determine their background, level of participation, and interest in PCC (asking for the number of area study librarians, the number of PCC participants – BIBCO, NACO, SACO, CONSER, the number of prospective PCC participants).  The moderator may also ask selected members of the audience (of his/her choosing) to articulate the expected outcomes of the program.  (Possible questions: What do you hope to learn or take away from this program?  What was the most difficult aspect in initiating PCC at your institution?)  The moderator could prepare other questions, and CC:AAM members could have a list of questions or discussion points prepared in case the discussion flags.  If one person (on the panel or in the audience) tends to dominate the discussion and take up too much time, the moderator will intervene to give everyone a chance to speak.  We hope to see the panelists and audience involved in a give-and-take discussion of the issues raised.  In closing, the moderator may restate the learning outcomes that the audience expressed at the beginning, touching on the relevant points raised in the discussion.  Key points garnered in the initial questions and the discussion could be recorded on an overhead projector so that the participants could refer to these points as the program progresses. 

The purpose of the program is to promote awareness of PCC and encourage participation by area studies librarians.  Some of the themes that might emerge from the discussion would be: successful (or unsuccessful) stories of PCC participation; experiences in engaging the library administration to support PCC; how to initiate involvement in PCC; issues and challenges of PCC participation by area studies catalogers; promoting participation by international institutions; improving the cataloging at the participating institution and sharing a growing body of accurate LCSH with the broader library community.  

 

OBJECTIVES:

1.     Raise awareness of PCC among the area studies library community as well as the general cataloging community and to promote more PCC participation.

2.     Share PCC participation experiences with the area studies library community and the general cataloging community. 

3.     Discover the expectations of the audience, make the program relevant to their expectations, and engage them in the learning process.

 

TARGET AUDIENCE:

          Area studies catalogers, general catalogers, administrators, and other librarians.

 

APPENDIX D: The charge of the CC:AAM task force on RDA.

 

Charge of the Task Force on RDA

 

          At its June 26, 2005, meeting, CC:AAM voted to form a Task Force on RDA (Resource Description and Access), which will replace AACR2, revised edition.  The Task Force will review new drafts of RDA regarding their treatment of Asian and African materials and will formulate a written report of its findings to be presented to CC:AAM.  The findings of the report will in turn be related to CC:DA, in accordance with CC:DA prerogatives.  These findings may consist of criticisms, comments, suggestions, and changes in the text of the drafts, focusing on Asian and African materials.  The final report would take a constructive approach and suggest solutions to any issues or problems in RDA as foreseen by the Task Force.  The Task Force may also want to take into account the comments on RDA of other groups.    

          The Task Force will consist of a chair and 10-15 members, to be appointed by CC:AAM.  The membership should reflect the broadest possible representation of the area studies covered by CC:AAM.  The CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA would be an ex officio member of the Task Force.  The members should be experienced area studies catalogers and may be associated with the African and Asian area studies organizations.  Those who are not associated with the area studies organizations may also be considered for membership on the Task Force.  The members must pledge to thoughtfully and thoroughly review the text of the drafts provided to them and forward their findings to the chair.  The chair will coordinate the workings of the Task Force and synthesize the members’ findings into the written report for presentation to CC:AAM and ultimately to CC:DA.  The CC:DA presentation will be made in cooperation with the CC:AAM liaison to CC:DA.  This report may be presented by the CC:AAM liaison, the chair of the Task Force, or the two working in tandem.  The Task Force will expire when its work on the RDA drafts is completed.   

 

 

APPENDIX D: from Jim Agenbroad.

 

2005 Annual Conference                       [stamped:] Reviewed for Confirmation With

                                                                           Guidelines

                                                                           by Council Resolutions Committee

Resolution for ALA Membership Meeting, June 2005

       

EQUAL ACCESS TO NONROMAN RESOURCES

 

Whereas many American libraries acquire resources in languages written in nonroman

alphabets and other writing systems for readers from and students of places where

nonroman materials are used;

 

And whereas access equity is an ALA priority (cf. ALA policy manual, 1.3.A, goal 1:

"All individuals have equal access to libraries and information services.") that requires

those seeking such materials not be forced first to expend extra effort to determine how

catalogers chose to represent in the roman script the authors, titles and other headings for

items they want;

 

And whereas since the mid-1980's the display of some nonroman scripts and the

assignment of nonroman access points to catalog records for such materials in a few

languages (Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hebrew and Yiddish (aka

"JACKPHY")) has demonstrated the feasibility of nonroman display and retrieval;

 

And whereas some vendors of cataloging systems have already implemented other

alphabets for foreign customers;

 

Therefore be it resolved that the American Library Association urges: 1. Those

responsible for codifying the cataloging rules (ALA's Committee on Cataloging:

Description and Access (CC:DA) as part of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for the

Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR)), (Mary L. Lasgaard is chair of CC:DA

and Jennifer Bowen is the ALA representative to JSC), and 2. Those responsible for

defining allowed in MARC records (ALA's interdivisional committee on

Machine Readable Bibliographic Information (MARBI) chaired by Adam Schiff, and 3.

The various vendors responsible for developing cataloging software (Automation

Vendors Information Advisory Committee (AVIAC) John Espley (VTLS, MARBI represntative), to each do their part to provide for catalogs with original

script/vernacular access as easy as that for English materials as soon as possible for all

languages and scripts in American libraries' collections--or at least for all languages

in the ALA/LC romanization tables. In short, for those seeking nonroman materials

romanization doesn't work. They now must try harder and get poorer results--far from

equal access. For equal access we must change MARC and our catalogs to allow searches

with the characters of all languages in our collections and change our cataloging rules to

allow the creation of headings with these characters for the authors and titles of

nonroman resources.

 

Background

 

ALA Units and/or Committees Consulted: The Committee on Cataloging: Asian and

African Materials (CC:AAM) of ALCTS' Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS) on expansion of the MARC character repertoire; the CCS Committee on Cataloging:

Description and Access (CC:DA) on a change to AACR.

 

Endorsements by ALA Units and/or Committees: CC:AAM endorsed adding the remaining characters of Unicode to MARC and notified MARBI, CC:DA endorsed the

addition of a rule to AACR that would have allowed the optional assignment of

nonroman access points. It later withdrew the proposal due to negative responses from

other AACR authors.

 

Fiscal Implications (If Any): A version of the cataloging rules is now being prepared. Its

title probably will be Resource Description and Access. ALA is one of six authors and

one of three publishers so the fiscal implications are complex and unclear. Much would depend on how specific they chose to make the new rules for nonroman access. A rule

that said, "When appropriate and feasible assign access points in nonroman scripts and

make references to them from alternative forms in such scripts." would not cost much.

Overcoming the longstanding bias in favor of exclusive reliance on romanization may be

difficult but not expensive.

 

Policies and Positions:

 

     1. This resolution does not change existing policy.

 

     2. This resolution clarifies that the policy cited above includes equal access to

materials, not just entrance to library buildings.

 

     3. This resolution does not conflict with existing ALA policy of equal access cited

above; the AACR cataloging policy that requires all access points (except perhaps title

proper) be romanized does conflict with existing policy. By allowing nonroman

access points it resolves the current conflict in favor of the ALA policy of equal access.

 

     4. No ALA position statement would seem needed after expansion of the MARC

character repertoire is documented appropriately and AACR authorizes assignment of

nonroman access points for materials in languages using other than the roman alphabet.

But such changes can take time an ALA position statement might be in order stating that

"Access equity include providing readers seeking materials in other writing systems

with catalogs as easy for them to use as catalogs for English materials are."

 

Initiating Committee or Unit (if any): None, initiated by an ALA member.

 

Mover: James E. Agenbroad 301 9846-7326

 

Seconder: Maurice Freeman 914 231-3223

 

June 8, 2005

 

 

 

APPENDIX E: LC report by Philip Melzer.

 

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

COMMITTEE ON CATALOGING: ASIAN AND AFRICAN MATERIAL

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2005

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING REPORT

 

 

 

REGIONAL AND COOPERATIVE CATALOGING DIVISION

 

 

The Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division received 24,663 items in the first half of fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005) and completed processing 24,563.  Full or core level cataloging was completed on 8,424 items; 5,539 new name authority records were created, along with 852 new series authorities; 2,993 name authorities were changed by RCCD staff; 151 subject authorities were established, 141 new class numbers were set up, and 10,197 bibliographic records were updated.  The rate of production for regular work rose to 0.36 items per hour.

 

Members of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) contributed 79,999 new name authority records and 5,088 new series authority records; they updated 34,403 bib records; submitted 1,485 new subject heading proposals, revised 221 subject authority records, and submitted 1,444 new or changed LC class numbers.

 

When the new RLIN21 technical services client moved to production mode on March 1, a number of LC catalogers and technicians conducted extensive tests, identified problems and reported them to RLG.  Between March 1 and the end of April, when they began performing input and update on the system, JACKPHY catalogers and technicians were obliged to perform duties other than working on RLIN21.  Because a number of indexing and data integrity errors have occurred since March 1, LC staff continue to conduct additional searches and reviews and to recreate lost or damaged data, and to verify that RLIN21 data has migrated successfully to the LC database.  Although catalogers of Arabic, Persian, Hebraic and Yiddish (HAPY) material have begun to create records in production mode, there are problems with bi-directional text on both new and existing HAPY records.  Furthermore, the absence of a MARC21 filter in RLIN21 have allowed the creation of non-MARC21 characters in bib records.  As a result, it was necessary to institute a time-consuming review of all records created and updated on RLIN21 to identify and correct non-MARC21 characters.  Unfortunately, these factors, along with periods of down and slow time, have caused production of JACKPHY material to be considerably reduced in the past four months.

 

Division staff continue to participate with the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) and ILS Office in planning for Unicode implementation as it relates to JACKPHY language cataloging policies, including the application of non-roman scripts in records and coordination with RLG and others to ensure synchronization of practice.  These efforts are in preparation for a planned upgrade of LC’s local Voyager database, which will have the capability for display and input/update of non-roman scripts.

 

Japanese Teams I and II

 

Kio Kanda is coordinating a project to catalog Mongolian materials for the Asian Division.  Approximately 1000 titles will be cataloged as MLC.  Information needed for cataloging was provided by visiting scholars.

 

Manae Fujishiro cataloged Shio Sakanishi’s manuscript collection, which includes more than 10,000 pieces.  S. Sakanishi was the former head of the Library’s Japanese Section from 1930-1941.  The collection includes the letters she wrote to Japanese scholars and publishers to improve the Japanese rare book and reference collections.  Also included are her correspondence with scholars in the US and Japan promoting Japanese studies in the US, many drafts of her own work, translations, speeches, etc.

 

 

Korean/Chinese Team

 

 The Library received a manuscript that consists of the biographies of 80 people of Korean origin from the former Soviet Union who helped establish and administer the North Korean government in the 1940's and 1950's.  Because it will be a highly sought-after reference source, Elaine Kim has begun to catalog the manuscript on a priority basis.   

 

Led by Young Ki Lee and Elaine Kim, LC staff held several meetings to draft revisions to Korean romanization and word division guidelines.  The draft will soon be sent to the CEAL Committee on Korean Materials for their comments.  Sook Hee Weidman and Sarah Byun have begun to draft guidelines for the cataloging of Korean rare material.  The guidelines are being prepared in collaboration with a group of CEAL librarians.  Team members Lydia Hsieh and John Topping are assisting the Law Library as it reclassifies thousands of older items that were assigned the class “Law”.

 

The team is fortunate to host two interns, one a library school graduate and the other a library and information science school student, for the next three months.  The interns are beginning to learn to perform searches in the LC and RLIN databases, and to create initial bibliographic control records on RLIN.

 

 

Hebraica Team

 

Implementation of Unicode and RLIN21

Team members have also served in library-wide planning efforts for RLG’s new RLIN21 technical services client. With ongoing problems with “bidirectionality” of roman script data appearing in right-to-left non-roman fields, the Hebraica Team (and the MENA Team) were obliged to delay implementation of RLIN21 for production and export of Hebraic, Arabic and Persian script records until after RLG’s initial database migration in March 2005.  Until that point, the teams created test records in RLIN21, which are now in the process of being updated and exported. The bidirectionality problem, which since the migration has impacted the display of records created in the former RLIN for Windows, in addition to system response/reliability and other issues, has negatively impacted the team’s productivity and production capability during the extended implementation period.

 

Romanization

CPSO has approved and published (Cataloging Service Bulletin, Summer 2004) a new table for the systematic romanization of Ladino, developed jointly by the Association of Jewish Libraries Cataloging Committee and the Hebraica Team.  With input gathered, further efforts will be undertaken to seek formal adoption of the table as the standard ALA/LC romanization system.  In addition, a member of the Hebraica Team has led the effort to formulate a table for the romanization of Judeo-Arabic.

 

Classification

LC staff have continued efforts to refine the new LC Classification Schedule KBM for Jewish law, which was first implemented on a trial basis in Spring 2002.  In addition to applying the schedule for newly cataloged works,  LC continued a project to reclassify materials which were previously assigned only the LAW shelf designation.  The BM schedule for Judaism, on which KBM is based in part, has also undergone revision, and efforts continue to synchronize the two schedules.

 

Cooperative Cataloging

The Hebraica Team has contributed to cooperative cataloging efforts by supporting the expansion of the NACO Hebraica Funnel Project, which is under the auspices of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging.  Hebraica Team staff provide participating Hebraica/Judaica catalogers with training in the creation of name and series authorities, review of BIBCO records, and guidance in developing SACO subject heading and classification number proposals.  For further information on the NACO Hebraica Funnel, please see:

http://www‑sul.stanford.edu/depts/ts/tsdepts/cat/hebraica/hebraicafunnel/libraries.html

 

Collaboration with the Judaica library community has led to the development of a SACO Judaica Funnel Project to encourage cooperative efforts in developing Judaica subject headings and related classification numbers. For further information on the SACO Judaica Funnel Project, please see: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/saco/judaicafunnel.html

 

 

Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Team

 

High demand for Middle Eastern material from Congressional and LC reference staff continues.  Full scale cataloging of Kurdish material has begun, including subject authorities.  Work continues on refining the KBP schedules (Islamic law).

 

Staff working in RLIN21 continued to be hampered by problems. Unfortunately, the MENA and Hebraica Teams were not able to go into production mode until March due to problems with bi‑directional text.  Even then the problems were not resolved.  A great deal of staff time was spent on testing, searching and re-searching, and additional steps were added to our complex workflow in an effort to identify problems and ensure the integrity of the relatively few RLIN records we did produce.  That being the case, staff increased their focus on Western language materials dealing with the Middle East and North Africa.

 

 

South Asia Team

 

Phong Tran has begun to catalog the Asian Division’s extensive Albrecht Weber Collection, which has been laying dormant for several years.  The collection includes rare 19^th century imprints from the personal library of the esteemed Indologist and Sanskrit scholar Weber.  Many copies of the collection feature handwritten annotations by Weber, as well as laid-in correspondence, printed article reviews, notices of transmittal, etc.

 

 

Cooperative Cataloging Team

 

Thomas Tsai of the Chinese Team and Susan Summer of Columbia University provided a BIBCO workshop for 23 catalogers and acquisition staff at Harvard-Yenching Library on May 23-25.  This was the first occasion on which CJK cataloging was added to the BIBCO training course.

 

The May NACO training session at the British Library, conducted by Antony Franks, also included CJK catalogers.  Look forward to seeing CJK authority records from the British Library before the end of the calendar year.

 

 

Examples of descriptive cataloging of East Asian material

 

Drafts of AACR2 Chapters 25 (Uniform Titles) and 26 (References) have been added to the examples of Descriptive Cataloging of East Asian Material that are posted for comment on the CPSO home page.  The examples may be found at:

 

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/CJKIntro2.html

 

 

CATALOGING POLICY AND SUPPORT OFFICE

 

The Library hopes to implement the Unicode version of Voyager in November of this year.  This upgrade will open the door for expanding the Library’s use of nonroman scripts, particularly as references in authority records.  There will probably not be any major changes to cataloging policy until we have had an opportunity to use Unicode and explore automatic transliteration software and other issues. 

 

It is anticipated that new editions of the PJ-PK and PL-PM classification schedules will be issues later this year.

 

 

SERIAL RECORD DIVISION

 

The last of the uncataloged Korean serials, including law serials, have now been cataloged.

 

RCCD STATISTICAL REPORT

FIRST HALF OF FISCAL YEAR 2005 (October 1, 2004-March 31, 2005)

 

 

Japanese Teams I and II

 

Japanese

Receipts                             4165

Completions                                   4319

Full cataloging                     1559

Copy cataloging                  336

 

English

Full cataloging               145

Copy cataloging                          91

 

 

Chinese Team and Korean/Chinese Team

 

Chinese

Receipts                                   4586

Completions                             3885

Full cataloging               1557

Copy cataloging                        2214

 

Korean

Receipts                                   1440

Completions                             1169

Full cataloging               919

Copy cataloging                        231

 

English

Receipts                                   910

Completions                             901

Full cataloging               365

Copy cataloging                        124

 

 

Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Team

 

Arabic

Receipts                                   1934

Completions                             1735

Full cataloging               1080

Copy cataloging                        281

 

 

 

 

 

Persian

Receipts                                   527

Completions                             729

Full cataloging               339

Copy cataloging                        225

 

Turkish

Receipts                                   445

Completions                             376

Full cataloging               220

Copy cataloging                        142

 

English

Receipts                                   742

Completions                             695

Full cataloging               366

Copy cataloging                          72

 

Kurdish

Receipts                                      15

Completions                               430

Full cataloging                 224   

Copy cataloging                            6

 

Other

Receipts                                   517

Completions                             471

Full cataloging               452

Copy cataloging                            3

 

 

Hebraica Team

 

Hebrew script

Receipts                                   1056

Completions                             1114

Full cataloging               306

Copy cataloging                        495

 

English/Western

Receipts                                   1126

Completions                             1114

Full cataloging               345

Copy cataloging                          93

 

 

South Asia, Southeast/South Asia Teams

 

Bengali

Receipts                                   159

Completions                             161

Full cataloging                   3

Subject only                               59

 

Burmese

Receipts                                   271

Completions                             271

MLC                                        137

Subject only                               55

 

Gujarati

Receipts                                     74

Completions                               74

 

Indonesian

Receipts                                   265

Completions                             360

Subject only                            

 

Hindi

Receipts                                   277

Completions                             277

Full cataloging                  18

Subject only                                34

 

Kannada

Receipts                                   102

Completions                             103

 

Malay

Receipts                                     83

Completions                               83

Subject only                               25

 

Marathi

Receipts                                     75

Completions                               76

Subject only                               15

 

 

Mongolian

Receipts                                     21

Completions                               21

 

Nepali

Receipts                                     87

Completions                               87

Subject only                               34

 

Oriya

Receipts                                     65

Completions                               65

Subject only                               15

 

Panjabi

Receipts                                     63

Completions                               63

 

Pushto

Receipts                                       9

Completions                                 7

 

Sanskrit

Receipts                                     88

Completions                               89

Full cataloging                 12

 

Sinhalese

Receipts                                     12

Completions                               12

 

Tamil

Receipts                                   151

Completions                             152

Subject only                               44

 

Telegu

Receipts                                     49

Completions                               49

 

Thai

Receipts                                   271

Completions                             278