Cataloging and Metadata Commons^™

Law Library Blog (October 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

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Classifying The Data: A Comparative Analysis Of Traditional Library Classification And Linked Data Classification Systems, Saima Hanif, Saima Hanif

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background. With the evolution of information technology, library classification schemes have transformed to effectively manage the information in electronic environment. The availability of library data on the web makes it challenging to devise a classification scheme that meet the need of Linked Data (LD) technologies. Objectives. This study aims to survey the library classification system along with automated classification system. It also highlights the links between the library classification systems and web of document classification system as a joint venture of LD.

Methods. For achieving the objectives of the study, available literature related to the traditional classification schemes, automated …

Linking, Mapping, Matching, And Change: Contemporary Use Of Ranganathan’S Three Planes Of Work In Classification Activity, Wan-Chen Lee

School of Information Studies Faculty Articles

Scholars have identified interoperability issues in mapping metadata in a linked data environment (Zeng 2019). This study builds on previous research and proposes a creative use of Ranganathan’s (1989) three planes of work in classification activity. By extending the application of the three planes of work to the linked data environment, we can use this conceptual model as an analytical tool to highlight particular mapping challenges. This paper uses three cases to show how discrepancies between the idea plane, verbal plane, and notational plane may cause mapping issues. Further, we can see that mapping issues are not limited to differences …

Measuring The Value Of Professional Indexing, Philip Hider, Pru Mitchell, Robert Parkes

Information Management

This study provides both a quantitative estimate and qualitative analysis of the additional ‘retrieval power’ that professionally assigned subject indexing affords users of a typical database in the field of education. A full version of Informit’s A+ Education database and one stripped of its subject indexing were searched by four research assistants tasked with compiling exhaustive bibliographies on forty-eight topics. The searchers were then surveyed about their use of the two databases, while their bibliographies and search logs were also examined. A two-way ANOVA model was constructed to estimate the percentage of additional resources found by the searchers on the …

Representing Normal: The Problem Of The Unmarked In Library Organization Systems, Emily Drabinski

Publications and Research

The problem of bias in library classification and cataloging structures has been well documented and analyzed. Efforts to intervene in these systems have largely taken the form of advocating for added or revised subject terms to reflect the language of diverse users and diverse library content. This case study will analyze the status of marked and unmarked binaries related to social identities in LCSH.

Challenging Classification Bias With Linked Data, Juliya Borie, F. Tim Knight, Jordan Hale

Librarian Publications & Presentations

Can library classification systems find new ways to deal with charges of bias? Can linked data contribute a more inclusive representation of diverse voices and communities? This panel will discuss the inherent biases present in cataloguing and classification, and consider the potential for linked data to provide a space to highlight and explore the challenging political issues that can arise in our work. These include issues related to jurisdiction, territory, and community with examples drawn from legal classification and the classification of cartographic resources.

The Issues Of Chronology In Cataloging Chinese Archaeological Reports And Related Materials: An Investigation Of The Cultural Bias In The Library Of Congress Classification And Subject Headings, Junli Diao, Haiyun Cao

Publications and Research

This article discusses peculiarities of Chinese chronology in cataloging Chinese archaeological reports and related materials. It first examines cultural limitations embedded in the Eurocentric Library of Congress Classification (LCC) and calls for catalogers’ sensitivity to authors’ cultural background while cataloging the Bronze China archaeological materials. It then discusses the ambiguity in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) Manual H1225 and presents a debate on the necessity of including Chinese dynastic information in constructing subject headings through the comparison of facets extracted in this manual and elements derived from title patterns of Chinese archaeological reports. Furthermore, this article elaborates the significance …

Introducing An Automated Subject Classifier, Pru Mitchell, Tine Grimston, Robert Parkes

Information Management

The library community understands the value of controlled vocabularies in enhancing resource discovery. There is however ongoing tension between that value and the cost of maintaining and applying specialist vocabularies. This paper presents the outcomes of a 2014-15 trial of automated subject indexing at the Australian Council for Educational Research. The integration of a machine learning classification tool has resulted in streamlined workflows and increased use of machine-readable data. Insights were gained into the decisions human indexers make in using a controlled vocabulary, and into the importance of quality abstracts and metadata.

Survey Of Classification And Organization Of Videorecordings, Barbara J. Bergman, Jessica Schomberg, Dorie Kurtz

Library Services Publications

Libraries have long struggled with the question of how to best classify and enable access to videorecordings. While giving a presentation at a state library conference, the authors observed from comments during the question and answer portion of the presentation that the libraries represented in the audience use a variety of video classification and organization practices. To better understand how local practices and librarians’ attitudes regarding the efficacy of these practices vary, we conducted a survey soliciting responses from librarians representing a broad array of library types.

An Exploratory Study Of The Subject Ontogeny Of Eugenics In The New Classification Scheme For Chinese Libraries And The Nippon Decimal Classification, Wan-Chen Lee

School of Information Studies Faculty Articles

This study explores the subject ontogeny of “eugenics” by documenting the class numbers for “eugenics” in all thirteen editions of the New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries (CCL), and all fourteen editions of the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC). The CCL and the NDC are the major classification schemes used in Taiwan and Japan respectively. We observe the relative stability and concentration of class numbers assigned to “eugenics” in the CCL and the NDC comparing to DDC (Tennis 2012), and the semantic changes of class numbers over time. Using two union catalogs, Taiwan’s National Bibliographic Information Network (NBINet) and Japan’s National …

Queering The Library Of Congress, Carlos R. Fernandez

Works of the FIU Libraries

This poster will attempt to apply the techniques used in Queer Theory to explore library and information science’s use and misuse of library classification systems; and to examine how “queering” these philosophical categories can not only improve libraries, but also help change social constructs.

For millennia, philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, have used and expounded upon categories and systems of classification. Their purpose is to make research and the retrieval of information easier. Unfortunately, the rules used to categorize and catalog make information retrieval more challenging for some, due to social constructs such as heteronormality.

The importance of this …

A Process Of Original Cataloging Of Theses And Dissertations, Cedar C. Middleton, Jason Dean, Mary A. Gilbertson

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this paper is to describe the reasoning, methodology, and impact behind a semi-automated cataloging process for electronic theses and dissertations, including explanations of the importance of retention and addition of cataloger created metadata. The authors explain an automated process that is generated by ProQuest and student entered data, and also the addition of metadata including the subject headings, classification number, etc. The study includes a survey of the public service librarians’ perceived usefulness of the cataloger and ProQuest generated metadata to describe theses and dissertations.

Culture And Classification: An Introduction To Thinking About Ethical Issues Of Adopting Global Classification Standards To Local Environments, Wan-Chen Lee

School of Information Studies Faculty Articles

Ethical issues arise from adapting standardized classification schemes to local environments. Research affirms mutual influences between culture and classification schemes, however, there are various conceptions of culture. Before diving deeper into discussions on designing a culturally sensitive model of classification and providing ethical information services, it is critical to clarify how culture is defined in the literature. In order to gain a deeper understanding of how scholars view the concept of culture, we review, compare, and aggregate discussions on culture from two bodies of literature: knowledge organization and anthropology. Based on the review, we then propose a working definition of …

How To Deal With Published Maps In Your Collection, Katherine Rankin

Library Faculty Presentations

This program is aimed at archivists and other special collections staff who have published maps as opposed to manuscript maps as part of their collections but do not have much expertise in map librarianship. The program includes information on kinds of maps, the basic parts of a map including those found mainly on pre-19th century maps, how to store and preserve maps, why they should be cataloged, how cataloging rare maps differs from cataloging current maps, why maps should be classified with a standard classification system, how Library of Congress call numbers can be used to locate certain kinds of …

Discovering Jewish Studies Collections In Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide, Izabella Taler

Publications and Research

The U.S. colleges and universities offering non-sectarian educational programs in Jewish Studies rely on the support of their academic libraries for research materials and library services. For college libraries which use Library of Congress Classification scheme, it is a common practice to integrate "studies" resources into their general library collections. Since Jewish Studies sources span a vast number of subjects within all major disciplines, shelving integration leads to the dispersion of all relevant sources and such dispersion in turn leads to a variety of problems for library professionals and library users. For collection development librarians the problems range from lack …

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, …

Bliss: The Man And The Classification, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

This paper discusses the career of Henry Evelyn Bliss, founder of the Bibliographic Classification, which is currently being revised. Dissatisfied with the current classification systems, Bliss devised his own, which was based on a main class order that provided for collocation of related classes. Although not currently used in the United States, the Bibliographic Classification continues to be utilized by approximately 50 libraries in the United Kingdom. Advantages and criticisms are presented for Bliss's system, which is often praised in library science textbooks, yet seldom used as the trend in libraries has been to either the Dewey Decimal or the …

A Classification For Forestry Literature, Faculty Of The Yale Forest School

Yale School of the Environment Bulletin Series

The following classification for forestry literature has been prepared by the Faculty of the Yale Forest School for use in its library. It is published to supply the demand for a simple and comprehensive classification that is adapted to any library system. The work was begun about one year ago and included a study of all available data on the subject. A tentative outline was submitted to prominent members of the profession from whom helpful suggestions were received.

The subject has been divided into nine parts of approximately equal importance. The secondary divisions also have been limited to nine and …