BOOK REVIEWS
Vicki Toy-Smith, Column Editor
Cataloging the Web: Metadata, AACR, and MARC 21
Edited by Wayne Jones, Judith R. Ahronheim and Josephine Crawford
My colleagues headed for Chicago to the ALA Preconference on Metadata for Web Resources, July 6-7, 2000, with enthusiasm and excitement. This landmark event, jointly sponsored by the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA), the Committee to Study Serials Cataloging (CSSC), the Networked Resources and Metadata Committee (NRMC), and MARBI (the Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee), included 26 broad-ranging metadata topics described by knowledgeable presenters. This collection of papers from the preconference gives an overview of Web information control using metadata (i.e., data about other data).
Jennifer Younger introduces the text with, "Metadata and Libraries: What’s It All About?" She thoughtfully traces the caretaking of knowledge from the Alexandrian Library era to the cyber age. She focuses on changes in library catalogs and cataloging including: proliferation of metadata schemes; search engines; a wired, networked information environment; and library catalogs that link to full text. Library catalogs now have greater functionality with direct access to electronic resources and holdings. Metadata librarians and CORC contributors serve as the outreach force to promote the use and standards of metadata. Gateways, scholars’ portals, and partnerships highlight this new age where resource discovery is focused on a specific audience.
The remaining part titles best illustrate the composition of the text: "Cataloging the Web: AACR and MARC 21"; "Cataloging the Web: Other Approaches, Other Standards"; "Tools for Cataloging the Web"; "Digital Libraries: Practical Applications of the Standards"; "Conclusion: Where Are We? Where Are We Going?"
The body of this text presents viewpoints and offers instruction. Diane Boehr, Regina Reynolds, Rebecca Guenther and Elizabeth Mangan discuss metadata initiatives from our national libraries. Beth Picknally Camden, Constance Mayer, and William Fietzer give perspectives from the university environment. Jean Hirons reviews AACR2 and seriality. Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), Data Documentation Initiative (DDI), Encoded Archival Description (EAD), and crosswalks become familiar topics with the publication of Cataloging the Web. Michael Gorman, in the last chapter, speaks of trust and identity issues related to metadata creation.
I recommend a slow and careful reading of this work. The field is complex, new, and evolving. Metadata librarianships are now more visible, advertised and appointed to institutions more frequently.
This is essential reading for those who wish to become metadata librarians and a noteworthy reference for others. Curious librarians can use this as an instructional work to help understand the nomenclature and new acronyms. I recommend this work to archivists, library managers, library students, catalogers, Web designers, and computer experts.
Published in 2002 by: Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md. (vii, 199 p.). ISBN 0810841436. $39.50.
Reviewed by: Meredith Horan
National Library of Medicine, NIH
Bethesda, Md.
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Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002
By Society of American Archivists and the Library of Congress
Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002 supercedes the 1998 Version 1.0 of the tag library. Version 2002, like the previous volume, is a companion to the Society of American Archivist’s Encoded Archival Description Application Guidelines, Version 1.0. Where the latter volume is written in a more narrative form in order to facilitate understanding EAD and its implementation, the Tag Library, Version 2002 presents the elements and attributes needed by archivists and others needing to turn their finding aids into the encoded archival description (or EAD) structure.
The volume was prepared by the Encoded Archival Description Working Group of the Society of American Archivists and the Network Development and MARC Standards Office of the Library of Congress. While each group has worked together on this volume, each holds a different responsibility for its creation and continued use. The Encoded Archival Description Working Group is responsible for updating and editing the EAD Document Type Definition (or DTD) and the tag library. The Network Development and MARC Standards Office of the Library of Congress is responsible for maintaining the online EAD documentation and the EAD Website (located at <http://lcweb.loc.gov/ead/>).
Certain changes appear in this volume, which have grown out of the collaborative needs from the international use of encoding standards. The EAD Working Group needed to address these international standards in order to maintain compatibility in various parts of the EAD structure. Besides addressing international needs, the Working Group also made changes in some of the elements and attributes that users of EAD found needed improvement. These changes are outlined in the Preface.
The volume is arranged in a very useful way. The first section covers EAD attributes and the properties and values they cover. The main part of the volume is comprised of the extensive alphabetical listing of the EAD elements. Each attribute entry covers a description of the element, where it may fall, and what it may contain. For those writing up their EAD finding aids, the compilers include useful examples for each attribute and its use.
The volume concludes with four appendices. Appendix A charts the metadata "crosswalks" between EAD and MARC21 and with ISAD(G), the international metadata standard. Appendix B outlines those standards that were previously used in the DTD in Version 1.0 and are no longer recommended or are obsolete. Appendix C has the examples of finding aids outlined in Version 1.0 which are updated to the new version’s tags. The last appendix contains an alphabetical listing of element names and its equivalent name using the tag library nomenclature, easing the user’s confusion in finding the correct element to pick.
The Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002 is an essential reference for archivists, librarians, and others using encoded archival description for their finding aids. The book is thoughtfully laid out, filled with the details of element use and examples of that use. Those who only have Version 1.0 of the tag library will want to update their bookshelves quickly with this volume.
Published in 2002 by: Society of American Archivists, Chicago. (314 pp.) ISBN 1-931666-00-8. $31.00 (SAA members $26.00)
Reviewed by Jacquelyn K. Sundstrand
Manuscript and Archives Librarian
Library Special Collections Department
University of Nevada, Reno
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Last updated: April 7, 2003
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