The first cataloging SIG convened at the SENYLRC office on Tuesday morning, and it was a great introduction to this kind of collaborative get-together. These are some of the ideas exchanged and best practices we learned about through our discussions together. If you have any questions or recommendations for edits here, please contact Carolyn Bennett.
Questions from the group:
How can we learn more about cataloging?
RDA Toolkit (see links box on this page)
Technical Services Quarterly - a journal that Denise mentioned, see links box on this page
Who is using RDA?
Some people are using RDA, but not everyone - most people let RDA records in Worldcat let live.
Everyone has a different system and definition of FRBR.
We looked at the RDA Toolkit, and learned about LC-PCC PS - the proper rules for cataloging in RDA.
A good resource is Adam Schiff at UW is Mr. RDA - lots of comparasions to AACR2 (there is a link to these in the links box.)
We're populating records with RDA now, and hoping that the frameworks will catch up later.
"There's Geogloic time, and then there's Cataloging time." -Madeline
Ideas for future work on RDA:
Would we want an RDA trainer? Yes - there might might be interest.
NY3R's have used John Myers who is local, and he might be available, or he might know someone local.
Some of the catalogers were frustrated with the change over to RDA because some fields were taken away before the ILS could handle it.
Discussion about what kind of cataloging procedures and workflow we use:
SUNY New Paltz - the book travels through many people before getting to where it goes.
Bard - Understaffed, so acquisitions open the books themselves.
MSMC - clerical receives, goes to copy cataloger - a student processes, Denise final checks before going to the shelves. They have Shelf Ready for B&T orders. They went from Dewey to LC - paid for by an endowment, done by Backstage. She also maintains authority records, and we learned that she is the only one in the SIG who does that work.
RCLS - they don't have the physical item. MHLS - get what they can from scans or copies, they have 3 catalogers who only handle the bib records, and not the processing. RCLS - they get a note in the record, which sometimes ends up in the hands of the patrons.
Finklestein - clerks place orders, librarians check the acquisition records - there are lots of checks that need to be done for major fields. They have Shelf Ready & edit to the right format.
SUNY - may work on making authority records if they go cooperative. LC seems like it is getting on the ball with authority records.
Do people use local headings?
Yes - in Bard College: special projects & collections.
Lots of local history collections use them.
Dutchess CC stopped using them.
What about OCLC?
Academics use OCLC services. Public libraries can't afford that link - they get 10,000 a year they can use and look around at other libraries or use WorldCat. Colorado Prospector & Access Pennsylvania - both multi-type catalogs that Denise uses. (see links box on the side.)
RCLS - Sue Scott uses NY Public Library catalog to cut & paste into short records.
Does anyone outsource?
Binghamton does most of Dutchess's cataloging, but they still have a lot of processing. The books go to Binghamton first, and arrive mostly processed. That's been going on for about 5 years.
Rosemarie outsources items from foreign languages, but now has a consultant who can come in and do it.
Bard outsourced one large project to OCLC - Hannah Arednt's personal collection.
And then the talk on eBooks...
Bard & MSMC both say that the students don't want ebooks. They are using ConnectNY. The students want "a real book." The faculty doesn't want them either.
Megan - the directors should hear this information, but they are hearing ebook information at conferences, not from readers.
Parents like them because they are the cheapest. Leasing doesn't allow you to have your own copy.
Ebrary - you have to make your own account, and students don't want to do that.
Public libraries - they have a lot of demand for popular reading. They have the two kinds - advantage for their patrons only, and global for universal titles.
Some of the publics don't have a way to always share their ILLs and catalog records. Judy here at SENYLRC was talking about the next generation of SEAL, which might improve some delivery issues.
Dutchess feels like they have a high amount of ebooks, but perhaps because they have many commuting students. They have a good ebrary deal through SUNY. However, sometimes the title disappears from the library. Megan has a disclosure note that some books might not be available later - the collections are not stable.
Orange - they just purchased a large collection in the spring. The professors are embracing it, they are using EBSCO as a vendor.
Madeline - is anyone doing assessment on this? MSMC - usage reports (the stats are dismal.)
Sue - is anyone using streaming instead of physical videos? New Paltz has been trialing Kanopy - buy on demand films by usage (patron driven) This might solve some problems of quality, or sometimes videos not working correctly. Films on Demand was not great quality - didn't look good projected.
Denise - this would make better sense for online courses.
Rosemarie - is anyone renting out Rokus - it's probably not legal to lend out a Netflix password, but that's what is being done with Kindle lending.
Physical copies are no problem for sale or re-sale, but online items like ebooks, streaming, and video games are under a lease basis like databases, and can go away at any time.
Patron-driven acquisitions: done by both Bard & MSMC. MSMC also does them based on ILL requests.
2 years is not a terrible time for a streaming license - since that is the same time period physical discs last anyway.
Does anyone use a separate database for ebooks? Students look for them in the OPAC. The records aren't always that great.
Future of library catalogs...
Do you use discovery services?
DCC is moving to EDS - it is really hard to figure out how to display the ebooks.
New Paltz uses an EBSCO search - the library catalog does not display among the articles. The live example - wasn't working so well.
When you do add local notes, what do you add?
titles, content, summary, add at the OCLC record, so that it will be on the master record when the master records are added, because they will wipe out anything locally when One Bib comes along.
DCC has a lot of local notes that were added to plays - maybe they can talk to Maggie that they can make sure those don't get lost if they overlay new records.
To get to know each other, Megan & Madeline asked the group...
Who never thought you would be a cataloger? (about two of us) ... Who always knew you would be a cataloger (the majority of us)
How many people have created actual card catalogs? (two of us!)
How many people do something at their job other than cataloging? (Only one person catalogs all day!)
Who here is part of PCC? (no one was)
Has anyone ever cataloged something they have written? (Yes! Denise, Bonnie, and Madeline have!)
EDS - Discovery services... how to make them work out. (That could be opened up to non-catalogers) How to teach with EDS.
RDA Workshop
SUNY Catalogers
How frequently would we like to meet?
mid-to-late October might be good. This a good place for even librarians who are doing searches every day, so they can understand why things are they way they are.
Let's get the reference and cataloging SIG people together. Maybe also the instruction SIG.
Zack can teach us about MARC Edit.
August 12, 2014 In attendance: