Cataloging and Metadata Commons^™

Creating An Inclusive Metadata Policy, Nicole Lewis, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

Best of Core Forum webinar series

The BYU Library has created an Inclusive Metadata Policy for metadata creators to use when creating and remediating descriptions to be more inclusive. Accompanying the policy is a companion document with recommendations and examples, including links to many external resources. In addition to working with stakeholders in the library to develop the policy, we consulted with the University’s Office of Belonging. This presentation describes the process we used to undertake the creation of the library policy and recommendations document.

Creating An Inclusive Metadata Policy, Nicole Lewis, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

The BYU Library is creating an Inclusive Metadata Policy for metadata creators to use when creating and remediating descriptions to be more inclusive. Accompanying the policy is a companion document with recommendations and examples, including links to many external resources. In addition to working with stakeholders in the library to develop the policy, we consulted with the University’s Office of Belonging. This presentation describes the process we used to undertake the creation of the library policy and recommendations document.

Semi-Automated Techniques And Tools For Efficiency: The Case Of Etd Cataloging, Nicole Lewis

Faculty Publications

Technological advances in the library industry have opened doors for new approaches and techniques for efficiently managing, manipulating, and remediating metadata. However, the thought of automation can often bring visions of garbage in the catalog or, worse, job consolidation or loss. With the right balance of automation and manual review, catalogers and metadata experts can optimize workflows for efficiency and quality. This frees up time for other essential projects. Developing efficiency skills may also help increase productivity and excellence in current job duties and provide job advancement opportunities regardless of background. Using an ETD cataloging workflow as a case study, …

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Serials, Nicole Lewis, Sharolyn Swenson

Faculty Publications

Serials cataloging can be confusing with its unique properties. This session will discuss some of the challenges involved in cataloging serials including choosing a title, what to do if you do not have the first issue or an early issue of the serial, determining the dates of serials, frequency changes and cataloging serials in languages that are unfamiliar to the cataloger.

Cataloging Conundrums: Challenging Items That Have Crossed Our Desks, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Sharolyn Swenson, Kjerste Christensen, Jessie Louise Christensen

Faculty Publications

Some of the most interesting items that cross the cataloger’s desk present difficult cataloging challenges. When cataloging a collection of suspected forgeries, how do you determine the “publication” date for faked documents? Which cataloging workform do you use for a LEGO model of the Salt Lake Temple? Is it a kit? A game? A sculpture? In this session, we will share examples of unique items we’ve cataloged and demonstrate how to effectively solve the questions that come up when trying to help patrons discover exactly what they’re looking for.

Who Knew We Had This Stuff?: Collaborating To Expose Decades Of Hidden Collections Through Cataloging Before Processing, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Matthew Leavitt

Faculty Publications

Unprocessed collections are a barrier to access that many manuscript repositories face. Our goal is to provide at least basic access to collections that have been hidden for decades. Acknowledging that our current workflow might take as long as ten years to catch up on our backlog of unprocessed collections, BYU's Harold B. Lee Library is rethinking workflows to re-emphasize user needs as a top priority. In an effort to better share resources across the library to solve this problem, catalogers are taking the first stab at archival description for backlog collections. We have developed procedures to provide a collection-level …

Aidez Moi: Cleaning Up Non_English Language Cataloging, Sarah H. Theimer

Faculty Publications

From a Presentation given at ELUNA Learns, September 8, 2021. This presentation discusses the importance of using quality data in describing non_English Language material, as often errors negatively impact searching and public displays. By correcting the language codes, add 800 paired MARC fields, and correcting Diacritics the library can improve the quality of these records.

Building Digital Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual For Librarians, 2nd Ed. By Kyle Banerjee And Terry Reese Jr. [Review], Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cataloging Manuscripts And Archival Collections, Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Faculty Publications

Catalogers are increasingly responsible for creating metadata for a variety of unusual items. In the Beyond Books: Cataloging Special Format Items preconference at ULA 2019, participants learned how to catalog manuscripts/archival collections, artists’ books, zines, and posters. This webinar will reprise the Manuscripts and Archival Collections segment of that session, educating participants on when it’s appropriate to catalog special collections material archivally as a collection versus on an item level. Whether you have finding aids to use as a base for your catalog record or you are working directly with the materials, guidelines for using DACS and RDA for manuscript …

Beyond Books 2: Cataloging Archival Materials, Allie Mccormack, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Nicole Lewis, Becky Skeen

Faculty Publications

View the video presentation in two parts at the following links:

Part 1 https://youtu.be/EQEhVpmfOBc

Part 2 https://youtu.be/XIAMdPYspFo

Archival materials can often be found in cultural heritage organizations that do not have trained special collections catalogers on staff. In this workshop, participants will learn how to catalog manuscripts, photographs, and audiovisual materials so they can be discovered in online catalogs and databases. Both item and collection-level cataloging will be discussed and participants will learn when and how to apply metadata standards like RDA and DACS. Time for hands-on practice will be included.

An Evaluation Of The Classification Scheme For Adventists And Ellen White, Felipe E. Tan, Terry Dwain Robertson

Faculty Publications

Libraries at Seventh-day Adventist affiliated colleges and universities collect their denominational materials exhaustively. Many use the Library of Congress Classification Scheme (LCC). The challenge is that these exhaustive collections must fit in a classification scheme based on a general collection that does not typically hold much on this topic. LCC uses BX6151- 6155 for Seventh-day Adventists. Following the LCC notation without modification or expansion results in the proliferation of decimals, impeding both library users and staff. When a number of institutions share this same need, finding a standard notation they all can use is a mutual benefit. This paper reports …

Small Data Management: Master Data For Better Collection Analysis, Jared L. Howland

Faculty Publications

While librarians often speak about data management for external data, little has been said about managing internal data in a systematic manner. Information about the need, along with tools and methodologies, for starting a small-scale data management program for internal collection analysis and assessment purposes was discussed.

Originally presented at the 2018 Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference held in Austin, TX.

Using The Anti-Racism Digital Library And Thesaurus To Understand Information Access, Authority, Value And Privilege, Anita Coleman

Faculty Publications

The new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, specifically the six threshold concepts about information mirror the experiences of the author as a researcher studying the representation of anti-racism in bibliographic information systems. Anti-racism, in general, is a great concept to use when teaching information literacy and the paper discusses how antiracism information literacy can be taught and learned as part of theological and religious studies education. Since the conference is in Atlanta, the article begins with two stories about the scholar Dubois who lived there and that illustrate some of the IL concepts discussed.

Collaborating On Description And Digitization: The Perry Special Collections Land Indentures Project, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Ryan K. Lee, Shanna Bessendorfer

Faculty Publications

A unique collection of English land indentures from the 16th to 20th centuries is at the center of a large undertaking at BYU’s Perry Special Collections. Born of a simple faculty digitization request, a much larger project with the potential to benefit other classes and researchers developed through the collaboration and coordination of multiple departments and individuals. This project required close collaboration between the faculty member who made the original digitization request, the Special Collections curator, our Collection Management team, the Conservation lab, our Manuscripts Cataloger, the digital lab, our Metadata Cataloging Specialist and multiple student workers. This presentation gives …

Notes On Operations: Classifying African Literary Authors, Marilyn A. Green, Susan Rathbun-Grubb

Faculty Publications

This paper reviews the literature on the inadequacies of the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) schedules for African literary authors and describes a modified practice that collocates African literature and facilitates patron browsing. Current LCC practice scatters African literature across the multiple European language classifications of former colonial powers. Future strategies could place individual authors more accurately in the context of their country, region, culture, and languages of authorship. The authors renew the call for a formal international effort to revisit the literature schedules and create new classification practices for African literature.

Posteritati: Cataloging Individual Movie Posters From A Collection, Patricia A. Frade, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Cory L. Nimer

Faculty Publications

This poster presentation demonstrates the workflow processes of a cataloging project for motion picture publicity materials at the BYU Library. In June 2015, the Library established a new policy on cataloging published materials in archival collections to provide better discovery for researchers. The first focus area for implementing this policy was a large collection of movie posters and other published items within our Arts and Communications collections. Under the policy, these materials are being individually cataloged. The poster outlines the decision-making process throughout the project regarding metadata standards, arrangement, classification scheme, and other relevant aspects of providing access to these …

Big Data: Challenges And Opportunities For Digital Libraries, Richard Hacken

Faculty Publications

Presented as a Keynote Address to the International Conference on Computing in Engineering and the Sciences in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 30, 2015.

This is an abstract of the speech:

Thanks to technological progress, thanks to the copious Internet, thanks to geometrically burgeoning social media and to quickly proliferating sensors, the flood of data available to us is surging larger and larger, faster and faster. Paradigms for management and analysis are at the core of data-driven businesses and institutions, fueling the velocity of scientific research and development. The phrase “Big Data” was itself coined by scientists as they manipulated exploding …

Oa In The Library Collection: The Challenges Of Identifying And Maintaining Open Access Resources, Nathan Hosburgh, Chris Bulock

Faculty Publications

While librarians, researchers, and the general public have embraced the concept of Open Access (OA), librarians still have a difficult time managing OA resources. To find out why, Bulock and Hosburgh surveyed librarians about their experiences managing OA resources and the strengths and weaknesses of management systems. At this session, they shared survey results, reflected on OA workflows at their own libraries, and updated audience members on relevant standards and initiatives. Survey respondents reported challenges related to hybrid OA, inaccurate metadata, and inconsistent communication along the serials supply chain. Recommended solutions included the creation of consistent, centralized article-level metadata and …

A User-Centered Approach To Addressing Issues Of Discoverability And Access, Nathan Hosburgh, Tess Graham

Faculty Publications

eResource access problems challenge electronic resources librari- ans and frustrate users. Challenges of using library systems can include information overload, links that do not work properly, incorrect metadata, and questionable relevance to search results. Nate Hosburgh, Electronic Resources Librarian at Montana State University, gave a presentation titled “A User-Centered Approach to Addressing Issues of Discoverability and Access” at the Mississippi State University Libraries’ eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit held in the Mitchell Memorial Library on August 2, 2013. Hosburgh spoke of lessons he and his team learned about troubleshooting eResources and his team’s approach to issues of discoverability and access.

"Oral History Core": An Idea For A Metadata Scheme, Nancy Mackay

Faculty Publications

The best way gain a handle on the vast amount of information within oral histories is to develop standards for collecting and organizing this information that institutions of all kinds and sizes can easily adapt. This report presents an idea for such a solution: a metadata scheme for oral histories with the working title Oral History Core.

Moving Authority Control From Manual To Automated, Shannon Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Authority control is very expensive; however, a controlled vocabulary is important for the users of a library catalog. Ways must be found to do authority control faster, cheaper, and better if we are to maintain a high-quality library catalog.

William Stetson Merrill And Bricolage For Information Studies, Anita Coleman

Faculty Publications

Purpose – This paper examines William Stetson Merrill, the compiler of A Code for Classifiers and a Newberry Library employee (1889‐1930) in an attempt to glean lessons for modern information studies from an early librarian's career. Design/methodology/approach – Merrill's career at the Newberry Library and three editions of the code are briefly examined using historical, bibliographic, and conceptual methods. Primary and secondary sources in archives and libraries are summarized to provide insight into Merrill's attempts to develop or modify tools to solve the knowledge organization problems he faced. The concept of bricolage, developed by Levi‐Strauss to explain modalities of thinking, …

Marc Vs Xml, Peter A. Zuber

Faculty Publications

Some of the issues in discussion between MARC and XML deal with the desire to expand the content of the bibliographic record. An often-cited example is the library that wishes to enrich the current electronic record with a table of contents. Although a table of contents inclusion is actually possible with the MARC record, it is certainly not an ideal platform for such content. The MARC record is described as being a "flat" record, meaning it does not have a hierarchal nature. As such, it is a poor candidate for hierarchal structures such as a table of contents. A discussion …

Portals To The Past, Diane Duesterhoeft, Trish Keogh

Faculty Publications

The article describes the effort to preserve the artifacts of a unique organization: video recordings of the President’s Peace Commission symposia held at St. Mary's University. Since cultural and educational institutions preserve their history with varying degrees of success, libraries can provide an important link to preservation. In addition to describing the reasons and process for coordinating with the St. Mary’s Learning Resources Center for videotaping of panel sessions, the original cataloging of these videotapes and incorporation into the Louis J. Blume Library collection is described. These videotapes can disseminate what transpired to a larger audience, and they provide a …

Experiments With Grow, Anita Coleman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.