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CONFERENCE REPORTS
Jan Mayo, Column Editor


** REPORTS FROM THE **
2007 ALA Midwinter Conference
Seattle, Washington


Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee (MARBI)
Liaison Report
submitted by John Attig
Pennsylvania State University


The Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information (MARBI) Committee and the U.S. MARC Advisory Committee met for two sessions during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Washington. The following is a summary of the meeting. More information is available on the U.S. MARC Advisory Committee Web page at <http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/marcadvz.html>.

Proposal No. 2007-01: Definition of Subfields $b and $j in Field 041 in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
OLAC had been asked to prepare a proposal to separate the coding of language of abstracts/summaries from the language of subtitles/captions. This proposal redefined subfield $b to be the language of abstracts or summaries and proposes a new subfield $j for language of subtitles or captions. The proposal was approved.

Proposal No. 2007-02: Incorporating Invalid Former Headings in 4XX Fields of the MARC 21 Authority Format
The proposal seeks a means of encoding, in a MARC authority record, former headings that are not valid references and which may conflict with other headings in the authority file. It had previously been decided to use the 4XX fields, and to add coding to subfield $w to identify former headings. It was finally decided to add value "h" in byte 1 defined as "Do not display in any reference structure" and to use the existing codes "e" and "o" in byte 2 to indicate that the field represents an earlier established form of heading. This decision was approved.

Proposal No. 2007-03: Addition of Subfield $5 (Institution to Which Field Applies) in Fields 533 (Reproduction Note) and 538 (Systems Details Note)
This proposal deals with information about digital preservation masters, and proposes to add subfield $5 to fields 533 and 538 in order to identify the different masters made by or for different institutions. It was decided that subfield $5 should also be added to the corresponding fields (843 and 538) in the Holdings Format. The proposal was approved.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP01: Changes for the German and Austrian Conversion to MARC 21
This discussion paper contains a set of sixteen changes to MARC 21 proposed by the Deutsche Bibliothek as part of its conversion to MARC 21. The discussion constituted a first reaction from the Anglo-American MARC community; based on these comments, a set of proposals will be developed.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP02: Use of Field 520 for Content Advice Statements
This discussion paper presents the need to include warnings about content in records describing materials intended for disabled users. In answer to the questions proposed in the paper, MARBI indicated that (a) provision should be made for content advice statements; (b) field 520, rather than 521, should be used for such statements; (c) a new indicator value should be defined to distinguish content advice statements from other uses of the field; and (d) subfield $2 should be added to identify the source of the statement. These preferences will be embodied in a proposal.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP03: Recording the Linking ISSN (ISSN-L) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic, Authority, and Holdings Formats
This discussion paper presents two options for encoding the new linking ISSN, which is to be used to collocate the different medium-specific versions of a continuing resource (each of which has its own medium-specific ISSN). The two options involve using either subfields or an indicator to distinguish the linking ISSN from the medium-specific ISSNs; the use of a subfield was preferred, and the need for additional subfields for cancelled and invalid linking ISSNs was also determined. A proposal will be developed.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP04: Addition of Field 004 for Linking Between Bibliographic Records in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
OCLC submitted this paper to raise the question of linking records within the same system. They will need to do this when they load the RLIN institutional records and link them to the master record in WorldCat. The paper suggested defining field 004 to contain the control number of the related record, similar to its use to link holdings records to the bibliographic record within a given system. MARBI was uncertain whether this was the correct solution, as it would be impossible to encode additional information such as the nature of the relationships between the records. It was also questioned whether the distinction between linking to records in the same system and linking to records in another system was a significant one. OCLC took the discussion under advisement, and may bring further discussion to MARBI in the future.

Other Business
MARBI heard reports from:

Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA)
Liaison Report
submitted by Greta de Groat
Stanford University Libraries

RDA Discussions and Actions at ALA Midwinter in Seattle
The JSC met in October, and responded on its Website to the document on RDA development issues that CC:DA had submitted. Majority opinion within CC:DA is that the response was not adequate in addressing the concerns raised. Those in touch with the JSC say that the concerns of the American cataloging community do not seem to be shared by the other JSC member organizations, and they are strongly opposed to a significant delay in publication. The JSC did agree to a small extension of the timeline, moving the rollout date to early 2009 and delaying the draft of the revised Chapter 3 and Chapters 6 and 7 until later in 2007, with the Part B draft not appearing until late in the year. This is why no draft appeared before this meeting to review. The hope is that a revised Chapter 3 will be out in March, and Chapters 6 and 7 (the order now reversed) will be out the week of ALA Annual. The JSC plans to spend its April meeting looking at the detailed comments on Chapters 6 and 7 that were compiled last September.

CC:DA Discussions - January 2007
As CC:DA had no RDA drafts on which to comment, the extra Friday meeting was cancelled. During the regular meetings, Jennifer Bowen reported on the JSC deliberations and the revised schedule. Jennifer is not seeking a second term as the JSC representative, so another representative will need to be appointed. Several task forces were dismissed, but the Task Force on rules for technical description of digital media will continue in order to respond to the revised Chapter 3. The liveliest debate of the meeting centered on the new CONSER Standard Record and RDA.

Other CC:DA Activities - Reports: Other CC:DA Activities:
CC:DA produced a list of specialist cataloging manuals for RDA.

In addition, CC:DA reviewed the draft of the Consolidated ISBD. Members had difficulty ascertaining what the goal of the Consolidated ISBD is. If the goal is merely to consolidate the current ISBDs, CC:DA should provide only minor editorial comments. If the goal is to produce a robust cataloging code for the future, then CC:DA should point out that major revision and rethinking is needed.


ACRL Media Resources Discussion Group Report
submitted by Jeannette Ho
Texas A&M University Libraries

The ACRL Media Resources Discussion Group met at the ALA Midwinter Conference in Seattle on Sunday, January 21, 2007, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It featured three presentations by OLAC members: "Cataloging Genre Headings at the UW Libraries" by Cathy Gerhart, "Media Finding Aids at Ball State University" by Kelley McGrath and "Performance Rights in Catalog Records" by Richard Baumgarten. The presentations were followed by discussion.

Cathy Gerhart, Music/Media Cataloger from the University of Washington (UW) Libraries began the meeting by presenting her institution’s policy on assigning Library of Congress form/genre headings for video recordings. In 2000, the UW Libraries’ Monographic Services Division began to provide form/genre access to videos in their online catalog. The policy (available at <http://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/monos/catdocs/GenreFormVideo.html>) was developed in consultation with the Media Center staff at UW, and eliminated the need for that unit to maintain a separate printed list of genres. As the Media Center staff preferred broad headings, the following "top-level" headings were assigned as appropriate: "Animated films", "Animated television programs", "Feature films", "Short films", "Silent films" and "Television programs". Gerhart also described how the UW Libraries provide access to fictional films and television programs in languages other than English. For such videos, the top-level headings are geographically subdivided (e.g., 655 _0 Feature films $z France; 655_0 Television programs $z United States). Additionally, these headings are assigned to the same record without geographical subdivisions. The headings "Foreign language films" and "Foreign television programs" are also assigned as local form/genre headings subdivided by language (e.g., 655 _7 Foreign language films $z Chinese $z Cantonese. $2 local). A list of form/genre headings used by UW Libraries, along with their scope notes, is available at <http://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/monos/catdocs/videogenres.html>. Users may browse the list of hyperlinked headings and click on a heading to automatically generate a search in UW Libraries’ online catalog.

Kelley McGrath, Cataloging and Metadata Services Librarian at Ball State University, presented a group of media finding aids that she developed for her library’s Website (<http://www.bsu.edu/library/librarycatalogs/mediafinders/>). The media finding aids are Web search forms that allow users to browse materials in a particular format, while making use of information from the library’s online catalog. She demonstrated a media finding aid that enabled users to find feature films, TV dramas, and other fiction on video. The user enters search terms or selects a specific genre on the Web page (e.g., "Action & Adventure"). This generates a search in the online catalog. Searches for genre categories are based on programmed Boolean combinations of keywords from relevant form/genre headings in catalog records (e.g., "((feature OR short) films{su} AND ((adventure) (films OR television){su}))"). Users may select more than one genre category and combine them with their typed search terms. They may also conduct or limit searches by region, country, state, time period, types of characters ("African American", etc.), original country, original date, format, awards, and whether a video is close-captioned or audio described. The geographical categories are based on data from the 043 field, while the types of characters are based on Library of Congress subject headings in catalog records. Meanwhile, searches for dates of original release or broadcast are based on notes with locally standardized wording in catalog records. McGrath pointed out that the latter method, while not perfect, was necessary, since online catalogs do not provide other methods to make original dates easy to search at this time. She also demonstrated a separate media finder for all video recordings that allows users to limit by the categories "Public performance", "Closed circuit TV", and "Non-commercial cable programming, based on local notes entered in the 590 field by database maintenance staff at Ball State University. Finally, she showed the media finder for non-classical music, which also allows users to search for genres based on terms taken from Library of Congress subject headings.

Richard Baumgarten, a cataloger from the Johnson County Public Library, shared his library’s local practice of including information about video public performance rights in the catalog. He gave a brief introduction to copyright law and the requirement to purchase public performance rights for videos intended to be shown outside a classroom setting. He then described how the Johnson County Public Library initially included the phrase "public performance rights" in the 690 field as a local subject heading, and now includes it as a local note in the 590 field. This enables users to search the online catalog for videos with public performance rights and is especially useful to student and community groups.

After Baumgarten’s presentation, meeting attendees discussed copyright restrictions for videos and their libraries’ local practices for including this information in their catalogs. Both Langara College in British Columbia and the University of San Francisco include this information in the 540 field, and use locally determined standard terms and phrases in this note (a list of Langara College’s phrases is available at: <http://www.langara.bc.ca/aemac/restriction_phrases.html>). Meeting attendees also discussed whether to put this information in bibliographic records vs. holdings or item records. It was noted that holdings or item records may be preferred when the bibliographic record is shared with other libraries within the same system. It was also noted that selectors need to inform catalogers about public performance rights or copyright restrictions in order for this information to be included in catalog records.

Meeting attendees also discussed other topics related to video cataloging, including methods for writing summary notes, libraries’ acceptance of cataloging copy, and libraries’ cataloging practices for videos in digital formats (including streaming), and television series. Techniques shared for writing summary notes included: making them objective; including keywords (e.g., places, names, time periods, and genre); and making use of information on the Internet. Several meeting attendees also commented that they attempt to view videos to verify information on a regular basis, rather than accept cataloging copy without review. Practices for cataloging digital video were also shared, with the majority preferring to use separate records for digital and DVD versions. Reasons given included: differences in content and length between DVD and digital versions (e.g., Films for Humanities) and greater ease of loading records in catalogs for the digital version. Finally, attendees shared how they cataloged television series, including the method of cataloging DVD packages as multipart sets.

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Last updated: June 16, 2007
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