LC Cataloging Newsline

Online Newsletter of the Cataloging Directorate, Library of Congress

Volume 6, No. 6, ISSN 1066-8829, May 1998
Contents

PCC Is Now a Member of CC:DA
NACO Expansion
BIBCO Expansion
CONSER Documentation Updates for Spring 1998
Asian Materials Cataloging Seminar
Seymour Lubetzky
Taxonomic Authority Files
LC Report on Pinyin Implementation

PCC Is Now Member of CC:DA

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) has joined other library organizations in the United States in becoming a non-voting member of the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA). CC:DA is a committee of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). CC:DA formulates the official ALA policy on descriptive cataloging. One of its members serves as the ALA representative to the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR (JSC).

The PCC is an international program aimed at expanding timely access to materials in library collections. It supports the creation and dissemination of bibliographic and authority records through its component programs, Bibliographic Record Cooperative Program (BIBCO), Cooperative Online Serials Program (CONSER), Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) and Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO). Within the PCC, the Standing Committee on Standards is responsible for developing, promoting, and evaluating conformance of mutually acceptable quality standards in support of bibliographic records in a cost-effective manner. PCC representation on CC:DA will strengthen both organizations as they strive to coordinate, together with the Library of Congress, cataloging policy developments nationally and internationally.

Joan Schuitema, head of cataloging at Loyola University and chair of the PCC's Standing Committee on Standards will serve as the first PCC representative to CC:DA, effective immediately, for a term continuing through 1999.


NACO Expansion

The PCC continues to expand membership and welcomed four new participants to NACO. During the first quarter of 1998 the Library of Virginia; Rutgers University; the Academic Book Center; and the University of Missouri, Kansas City, have received NACO training. There are training sessions scheduled in the immediate future for OCLC TechPro, San Francisco Public Library, the State Library of Pennsylvania, and the Northern California Funnel Project composed of Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, San Jose State University, the University of the Pacific, and Berkeley Public Library. This brings the total number of NACO participants to 251.


BIBCO Expansion

The PCC welcomed two new members to BIBCO, the bibliographic record cooperative component of the PCC. The addition of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, increases the total number of participants to twenty-seven which are now contributing to and sharing their bibliographic records in the national databases.


CONSER Documentation Updates for Spring 1998

The CONSER Program has recently completed CONSER Editing Guide (CEG) Update 8 (Spring 1998) and CONSER Cataloging Manual (CCM) Update 8 (Spring 1998). These updates will be issued by LC's Cataloging Distribution Service in the upcoming months. For details on ordering and availability, please contact Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, Customer Services Section/Dept. W, Washington, DC, 20541-5017; email: cdsinfo@loc.gov; URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/cds/train.html

The most significant change that is reflected in both updates is the revised definition for the "type of record" leader code "m" for computer files that was included in Update 3 of the USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data. Most computer file serials will receive "type of record" code "a" (language material) rather than code "m" as the result of redefining code "m" more narrowly. The change in the leader code is significant as it determines the arrangement of 008 fixed field data in the record, along with the "bibliographic level" code. CONSER has also made available on the World Wide Web "Use of Fixed Fields in CONSER Records," which is an excerpt of the CEG update (URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/acq/conser/ffuse.html).

New indicator values and subfields for field 856, "electronic location and access," are also included in the spring 1998 updates. New to field 856 is the first indicator value "4" for HTTP access that is used for World Wide Web documents. Second indicator values for the field are also newly documented and identify relationships between resources represented in 856 fields and cataloged items.

Changes relating to the "type of record" code and field 856 will soon be included in CCM excerpts available online through the CONSER home page: "Cataloging Electronic Serials" and "Cataloging Electronic Newspapers" (URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/acq/conser/issues.html).


Asian Materials Cataloging Seminar

The Library of Congress held an Asian Materials Cataloging Seminar on Mar. 30 and 31, attended by 135 technical services librarians from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Asia. Forty-four of the participants were staff from LC. The purpose of the seminar was 1) to promote participation in the PCC, the goal of which is to provide more dependable and timely cataloging in a cost-effective manner, and 2) to expand the contributions of high-quality, core-level cataloging records for materials in Asian languages or related to Asian studies.

Beacher J. Wiggins, director for cataloging; John Byrum, chief of the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) whose staff sponsored the seminar, and Helen Poe, chief of the Asian Division made introductory remarks. Byrum noted that LC classification, Dewey classification, and the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2) have given greater emphasis to areas outside North America and Western Europe. He added that "nevertheless, many problems remain for further attention. Today's seminar will provide a unique opportunity to pursue discussion of at least a few of these problems."

Following the introductory remarks, the seminar began with an orientation to the PCC by Ann Della Porta, head of the Cooperative Cataloging Team (RCCD). Della Porta described the benefits of participation in the PCC, including the opportunity for libraries to produce more dependable, timely, and quality cataloging by using shared standards. More cost-effective cataloging results by utilizing copy. Libraries that participate in the PCC have a strong, coherent voice in the review and development of cataloging standards. They also have access to expert training.

Seminar participants were also given an intensive training session in NACO by Thomas Tsai and Carolyn Sturtevant, both catalogers in RCCD. Sturtevant and Tsai discussed basics for creating and revising name authority records with special emphasis on authority records associated with Asian materials. Sturtevant's training session centered on name authority headings for corporate bodies while Tsai covered creation of authority work for personal names.

The plenary session ended with a question and answer period during which general cataloging and shelflisting questions were addressed by LC staff. Breakout meetings coordinated by LC staff followed. During these, participants from other institutions met with the LC participants to review questions that attendees had already submitted.

On the second day, Lynn El-Hoshy, senior cataloging policy specialist, Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO), offered training in subject analysis and classification. El-Hoshy instructed participants in four key areas: 1) performing subject analysis of library materials, 2) assigning LC subject headings, 3) understanding the basic structure and principles of LC's subject headings system, and 4) becoming familiar with the basic documentation that supports LC subject headings and classification.

Kio Kanda, senior cataloger on the Japanese I Team, RCCD, presented a half-day course that gave a general introduction to subject cataloging of Asian religions, with a focus on Buddhist materials. Kanda brought the seminar to a close with a discussion on the problematic nature of descriptive cataloging of Buddhist sacred books.


Seymour Lubetzky

Under bright sunny skies and in the recently completed Tom Bradley International Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, more than two hundred fifty friends, family, and associates gathered on April 18 to celebrate the one hundredth birthday of Seymour Lubetzky who is widely considered as the "foremost cataloging theorist of the twentieth century." The event was sponsored by the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and held in conjunction with the UCLA Library & Information Science Alumni Association's annual gathering. Michele V. Cloonan, dean, organized the event, and Professor Lubetzky attended throughout the day. John Byrum, chief of the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division and Barbara Tillett, chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support Office and program director for integrated library systems, attended on behalf of the Library of Congress.

In the morning, there was a panel presentation covering recent research in the field of cataloging. Marcia Bates, professor at the UCLA Department of Library & Information Science, moderated and opened with a description of her work to investigate subject cataloging issues in relation to the Dublin Core and the challenge of providing subject access to the myriad electronic resources on the World Wide Web. Sara Layne, head of cataloging at the UCLA Science & Engineering Library, reported on a research project that explored a methodology for matching attributes of topics studied by art historians in relation to the nature of the material they require for such study. Allyson Carlyle, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Washington, described three related research projects she had undertaken, one of which resulted in an award-wining article "Fulfilling the Second Objective in Online Catalogs: Scheme for Organizing Author and Work Records in Usable Displays" published in Library Resources and Technical Services in 1997. Martha Yee, cataloging supervisor at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, explored several questions, including "Why are Seymour Lubetzky's principles not more fully implemented in today's catalogs?" Gregory Leazer, assistant professor, UCLA Department of Library and Information Science, presented a summary of his work on the topic "Applying the Concept of the Work to New Environments."

There followed a luncheon, with Professor Lubetzky, former UCLA library school deans Lawrence Powell (who is ninety-five years old) and Robert Hayes seated at the same table. Following presentation of a birthday cake and a reading of greetings from Library of Congress Director for Cataloging Beacher J. Wiggins, Michael Gorman (dean of Library Services, Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno) gave the key-note address: "Seymour Lubetzky--Man of Principles." This talk covered the milestones in development of cataloging theory and practice from Panizzi to Professor Lubetzky's work, with a detailed analysis of the shortcomings of cataloging rules in place prior to AACR2. Gorman argued that the Lubetzkyan principles that are at the heart of the Paris Principles were not fully implemented into the Anglo-American tradition until the publication of the Second Edition. He closed with a tribute: "As a maker of cataloguing rules and as a cataloguing theoretician, Seymour Lubetzky is unrivaled and all of us who are involved in cataloguing are forever in his debt."

In the afternoon, the presentations focused on "The Ideology and Technology of Cataloging at the End of the Millennium." Elaine Svenonius, professor emerita, UCLA, moderated and presented the first paper which she and Professor Lubetzky had co-authored. It explored in particular the work yet to be accomplished to enable online catalogs to collocate effectively and display meaningfully information about works, persons and topics that are related. Michael Carpenter (associate professor, School of Library and Information Science, Louisiana State University) spoke on "The Past and Future of Main and Added Entries". Margaret Maxwell (professor emerita, School of Information Resources and Library Science, University of Arizona) shared her recommendations as to what to preserve and what to discard as AACR2 is further developed. John Byrum presented his views and those of cataloging policy specialists at LC. Mitch Freedman (director of the Westchester (New York) Library System) also covered the topic, speaking from the perspective of a public library. The final speaker was Michael Malinconico (EBSCO Chair in Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama). His presentation provided an emphasis on strategies by which catalogers might meet the challenges of providing access and control to the innumerable resources on the World Wide Web. He argued that, while librarians are uniquely qualified to deal with this problem, catalogers will need to acquire new and different skills as well as adjust cataloging approaches to focus more on principles when confronted by situations not covered by rules. Barbara Tillett reviewed work in which she is engaged both at LC and as a result of IFLA assignments and then summarized the afternoon presentation.


Taxonomic Authority Files

A workshop on the development, management, and dissemination of taxonomic authority files will be held in Washington, D.C. on June 22-23, 1998 at the Radisson-Barcelo Hotel. This event will include librarians, representatives from taxonomic database projects, and data managers from disciplines where taxonomic authority control is desired.

The workshop will be opened by Stanley Blum (Natural History Museum, University of Kansas and the workshop's principal investigator) and by John N. Mitchell (chair, Task Force on a Forum for Natural History Cataloging Issues, Cataloging and Classification Section, Association for Library Collections & Technical Services).

Beacher J. Wiggins (director for cataloging, Library of Congress) will speak about the PCC. Other librarians will address training issues, access, record distribution, and thesaurus construction.

The motivation for this workshop stems from the scientific taxonomic community's desire to coordinate authority control in a manner similar to that developed in the library community. Librarians are involved because of their experience in developing and deploying community-wide authority control standards for cataloging library contents, e.g., subject and name authorities, discipline-specific thesauri, and programs to promote cooperative cataloging of common data objects. The workshop will provide the library science and systematics communities with an opportunity to compare respective program domains, goals, and methodologies. Interested individuals may apply directly to Stanley Blum at sblum@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (include institutional affiliation, reasons for interest in attending the workshop, and professional activities and responsibilities). An expeditious response is encouraged. Invited papers and summaries will be published electronically on the World Wide Web.


LC Report on Pinyin Implementation

On March 25, 1998, Philip Melzer, head of the Korean/Chinese Team in the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD), gave a status report at the Plenary Session of the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL), outlining the Library of Congress' plans for the conversion to pinyin from Wade-Giles for the romanization of Chinese. LC established a Pinyin Task Group in May 1997. The task group is responsible for carrying out the implementation plans. It includes representatives from CPSO, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Geography and Map Division, Acquisitions and Support Services Directorate, Asian Division, and RCCD. The task group held a brainstorming session in May 1997 with participants from OCLC, RLG, and CEAL. The group urged LC to 1)announce publicly its intention to convert to pinyin, 2) issue guidelines for pinyin romanization, 3) declare a "day 1" implementation date, and 4) formulate a general strategy for conversion.

In September 1997, LC issued a formal statement of its intention to convert to pinyin, promising to consult with CEAL on various aspects of the conversion project, such as the development of guidelines for romanization of Chinese based on pinyin.

LC has accepted a proposal by RLG to convert Chinese records in the RLIN file to pinyin, including over 100,000 Chinese bibliographic records contributed by LC. LC is working with RLG to develop conversion specifications and testing procedures. This undertaking will ensure that LC and RLIN files remain compatible. OCLC is also participating in this planning process.

LC's Pinyin Task Group has developed the following recommendations:

  1. only machine-readable records should be converted; when non-machine-readable Chinese records are converted, they should be romanized in pinyin;
  2. an acceptable level of accuracy in converted records for conversion should be defined;
  3. insofar as possible, conversion should be performed by computer program; human review should be minimized;
  4. there should be an extended period of work on specifications and thorough testing of conversion hypotheses and workflow procedures
  5. LC should convert its undistributed Chinese records to pinyin;
  6. during the conversion process, access points on bibliographic records should be compiled; that list should be used as the basis for the conversion of name authority records
  7. the access points on non-Chinese records should be brought into conformity with the headings in the authority file
  8. converted LC bibliographic and authority records should be redistributed.

LC's Pinyin Task Group will draft a general implementation schedule during the coming months. A small subgroup has been formed to investigate subject headings that are candidates for conversion and to assess the impact of the conversion on the classification schedules.


LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE (ISSN 1066-8829) is published irregularly by the Cataloging Directorate, Library Services, Library of Congress, and contains news of cataloging activities throughout the Library of Congress. Editorial Office: Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4305. Editor, Robert M. Hiatt; Editorial Advisory Group: William Anderson, John Byrum, Roselyne Chang, Angela Kinney, Albert Kohlmeier, John Mitchell, Susan Morris, Geraldine Ostrove, David Smith, Linda Stubbs, and David Williamson. Address editorial inquiries to the editor at the above address or rhia@loc.gov (email), (202) 707-5831 (voice), or (202) 707-6629 (fax). Listowner: David Williamson. Address subscription inquiries to the listowner at dawi@loc.gov

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