January 2009 Article Abstracts
From Innovation to Transformation: A Review of the 2006–7 Serials Literature
By Patrick L. Carr
This paper reviews the leading trends in and contributions to the peer-reviewed and professional literature of serials librarianship published in 2006 and 2007. The review shows that a central topic in the literature is the nature and effect of libraries’ ongoing transition from acquiring serials in print to providing access electronically. Propelled forward by user preferences, this transition is reflected in publications that reconceptualize collections and describe innovative initiatives and strategies for acquisition, access, and management. Throughout the literature, the review traces a prevailing sentiment that libraries are advancing well beyond the confines of print-centered models and are assuming new roles, imagining new possibilities, and developing new solutions.
Criticism of Cataloging Code Reform, as Seen in the Pages of Library Resources and Technical Services (1957–66)
By Steven A. Knowlton
The history of cataloging rules is often written as a story of continuous improvement toward a more rational and efficient code. Not all catalogers, however, have been in agreement that reform of the cataloging code has been improvement. The debate of the 1950s and 1960s over cataloging code reform, hosted in part by LRTS, is an example of conflicting values in the cataloging community. Seymour Lubetzky’s proposal for a cataloging code based on logical principles eventually became the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, but many catalogers of the period felt that other values, such as tradition and the convenience of the user, also deserved consideration in the cataloging code.
Comparing Catalogs: Currency and Consistency of Controlled Headings
By Stephen Hearn
Evaluative and comparative studies of catalog data have tended to focus on methods that are labor intensive, demand expertise, and can examine only a limited number of records. This study explores an alternative approach to gathering and analyzing catalog data, focusing on the currency and consistency of controlled headings. The resulting data provide insight into libraries’ use of changed headings and their success in maintaining currency and consistency, and the systems needed to support the current pace of heading changes.
Supporting Name Authority Control in XML Metadata: A Practical Approach at the University of Tennessee
By Marielle Veve
While many different endeavors to support name authority control in Extensible Markup Language (XML) metadata have been explored, none have been accepted as a best practice. For this reason, libraries continue to experiment with the schema, tool, or process that best suits their local authority control needs in XML. This paper discusses current endeavors to support name authority control in XML for digitized collections and demonstrates an innovative manual solution developed and implemented by the University of Tennessee Libraries to achieve this goal. Even though this method for authority control in XML metadata still relies on manual efforts, it effectively reduces time and research work by efficiently setting priorities, identifying critical descriptive areas in the digital transcriptions, and identifying the most appropriate biographical resources to consult. The effectiveness of this approach in improving the rest of the metadata production workflow is evaluated and presented.
Using Batchloading to Improve Access to Electronic and Microform Collections
By Rebecca L. Mugridge and Jeff Edmunds
Batchloading bibliographic records into the catalog, as a rapid and cost-effective means of providing access to electronic and microform collections, has become in recent years a significant workflow for many libraries. Thanks to batchloading, previously hidden collections, some costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, are made visible, and library holdings are more accurately reflected by the online catalog. Subject specialists report significant increases in the use of electronic resources and microforms within days (and sometimes only hours) of loading record sets into the online catalog. Managing batchloading projects requires collaboration across many library units, including collection development, acquisitions, cataloging, systems, and public services. The authors believe that their experiences will be instructive to other libraries and that Penn State’s processes will assist them in making their own batchloading policies and procedures more efficient.