LRTS Volume 51, No. 2
Quo Vadis, Preservation Education? A Study of Current Trends and Future Needs in Continuing Education Programs
By Karen F. Gracy and Jean Ann Croft
This research study assesses preservation education offered by continuing education (CE) providers in the United States. Educators teaching preservation workshops for regional field service organizations and other local and regional preservation networks were surveyed about the type and number of workshops offered, content of preservation offerings, audience, faculty resources, future plans for curricula, and availability of continuing edu-cation credits. The investigators hypothesize that preservation workshops offered by CE providers serve multiple purposes for the library and archival science professions, becoming not only an avenue for professionals to con-tinue to develop or reinforce their knowledge and skills in preservation, but also often the primary source of ru-dimentary preservation education for library and information science professionals and paraprofessionals. This paper reviews the literature relevant to the study of preservation in the CE environment, describes the research methodology employed in designing and conducting the survey, presents the resulting data, and analyzes the trends revealed by the data in order to understand more fully the goals and objectives of CE in preservation dur-ing the last decade and to gauge future directions of the field. This paper concludes by presenting plans for further research, which will expand upon initial findings of this survey.
DACS and RDA: Insights and Questions from the New Archival Descriptive Standard
By Beth M. Whittaker
Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is the new archival content standard published by the So-ciety of American Archivists (SAA). The publication of this forward-thinking and comprehensive response to changing information needs and technologies should be of interest to all cataloging communities. DACS raises issues about content standards for resource description that should be addressed much more broadly. The library cataloging community is in the process of an extensive revision of its cataloging codes, and new approaches in this standard appear to be embodying some of the same concepts as DACS. DACS, therefore, can be seen as a smaller and more focused implementation of some of the principles that will emerge in the new Resource De-scription and Access (RDA). Simultaneously, the standard can be used to examine whether taking some of these developments further would improve access to materials.
Mapping WorldCat’s Digital Landscape
By Brian F. Lavoie, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, and Edward T. O’Neill
Digital materials are reshaping library collections and, by extension, traditional library practice for collecting, organizing, and preserving information. This paper uses OCLC’s WorldCat bibliographic database as a data source for examining questions relating to digital materials in library collections, including criteria for identifying digital materials algorithmically in MARC21 records; the quantity, types, characteristics, and holdings patterns of digital materials cataloged in WorldCat; and trends in WorldCat cataloging activity for digital materials over time. Issues pertaining to cataloging practice for digital materials and perspectives on digital holdings at the work level also are discussed. Analysis of the aggregate collection represented by the combined digital holdings in WorldCat affords a high-level perspective on historical patterns, suggests future trends, and supplies useful intel-ligence with which to inform decision making in a variety of areas.
Application Profile Development for Consortial Digital Libraries: An OhioLINK Case Study
By Emily A. Hicks, Jody Perkins, and Margaret Beecher Maurer
In 2002, OhioLINK’s consortia of libraries recognized the need to restructure and standardize the metadata used in the OhioLINK Digital Media Center as a step in the development of a general purpose digital object re-pository. The authors explore the concept of digital object repositories and mechanisms used to develop complex data structures in a cooperative environment, report the findings and recommendations of the OhioLINK Data-base Management and Standards Committee (DMSC) Metadata Task Force, and identify lessons learned, ad-dressing data structures as well as data content standards. A significant result of the work was the creation of the OhioLINK Digital Media Center (DMC) Metadata Application Profile and the implementation of a core set of metadata elements and Dublin Core Metadata Element Set mappings for use in OhioLINK digital projects. The profile and core set of metatadata elements are described.
FRBR Principles Applied to a Local Online Journal Finding Aid
By Chew Chiat Naun
This paper presents a case study in the development of an online journal finding aid at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), with particular emphasis on cataloging issues. Although not consciously designed according to Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) principles, the Online Research Re-sources (ORR) system has proved amenable to FRBR analysis. The FRBR model was helpful in examining the user tasks to be served by the system, the appropriate data structure for the system, and the feasibility of mapping the required data from existing sources. The application of the FRBR model to serial publications, however, raises important questions for the model itself, particularly concerning the treatment of work-to-work relationships.
Linking Print and Electronic Books: One Approach
By Betsy Simpson, Jimmie Lundgren, and Tatiana Barr
Library catalog searchers expect to retrieve information for all resources in the catalog that matches their search strategy. They expect keyword searching to retrieve a rich array of resources. In an effort to enhance service to users, the University of Florida Smathers Libraries acquired table of contents data to enrich bibliographic records for print books with publication dates from 1990 to the present. Many of these books have also been acquired in electronic format. Because the record for the same book in electronic format did not include the enhancements, catalog users were likely to retrieve the catalog record for the print version only and remain unaware of the avail-ability of the electronic version. The authors, using insights from discussions surrounding the Functional Re-quirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) initiative, developed a method for serving users more effectively by linking these records to leverage the enhancements for both versions (two manifestations) of the same title.