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OLAC NEWSLETTER
Volume 12, Number 1 & 2
March 1992


TABLE OF CONTENTS

FROM THE PRESIDENT

FROM THE TREASURER

TO HONOR: BEN TUCKER

OLAC 1992 CONFERENCE PROGRAM

OLAC 1992 CONFERENCE TOURS

ALA MEETING SCHEDULE

MOTION PICTURES AND VIDEORECORDINGS

LC CLASS NUMBERS

CAPC MIDWINTER

BUSINESS MEETING MIDWINTER MINUTES

EXECUTIVE BOARD MIDWINTER

ALCTS AV LIAISON REPORT

CC:DA OBSERVER REPORT

MARBI LIAISON REPORT

MOUG LIAISON REPORT

NEWS FROM OCLC

NEWS FROM RLIN

OCLC DATABASE SCANS

NEW AUDIO NEWSLETTER LAUNCHED

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


FROM THE PRESIDENT
Bo-Gay Tong

It was good to see all of you who came to our meetings during ALA Midwinter. Many interesting topics were discussed and lots of important information was exchanged during our meetings in San Antonio, as you'll read in the minutes and reports in this issue.

Look for the insert in this issue which contains the registration form for the OLAC Conference coming up October 1-3. October is just around the comer, so please mark your calendars and plan to join us. We are quite excited about the program and the tours planned, and are confident we'll have an informative conference and a wonderful time enjoying the Bethesda/Washington, D.C. area in the Fall.

I want to extend a belated thank-you to Sheila Smyth, who stepped down as the OLAC liaison to the ALCTS-AV Committee to assume her duties as Vice-President/President-Elect. We appreciate her contributions and her good work at keeping us informed of the activities of this committee. We now welcome Anne Moore, of Boston College, as the new ALCTS- AV liaison.

The results of the member voting on the revisions to the OLAC By-laws are that all three proposed revisions passed. As a result, 1) the office of OLAC Chair is now changed to President, 2) the office of Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect is now Vice-President/President-Elect, and 3) the, CAPC chair is now an officer and a member of the Executive Board.

Also, the results of this Spring's election of officers have come in: Karen Driessen is our new Vice-President/President-Elect; Heidi Hutchinson is our new Secretary. Congratulations to our new officers! Their terms will begin after the OLAC meetings at the ALA Conference in San Francisco in June. Thank you to all the fine candidates who agreed to run, and a special note of appreciation to Verna Urbanski (Chair) and Catherine Leonardi of the Elections Committee who put together a solid slate of candidates and conducted a smooth and successful election. And of course, thanks to all of you who exercised your vote as members.

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FROM THE TREASURER
Bobby Ferguson


      Reporting period: 
      November 29, 1991 through January 20, 1992

      Account balance November 29, 1991                     $12,850.28

      INCOME

          Interest                                                7.41
          Memberships                                          2884.23
                                                           ------------
      TOTAL INCOME                                             2891.64

      TOTAL                                                 $15,741.92

      EXPENSES
          Newsletter v. 11, no. 4 (advance)                     800.00
          Renewal notices and stationery                        406.16
          Bulk mail permit, Leonardi                            150.00
                                                            -----------
      TOTAL EXPENSES                                          1,356.16
                                        
      Account balance January 20, 1992                       $3,682.47
      CD at 7.20% matures 7/94                               10,000.00
      Ready assets trust                                        703.29

      TOTAL OLAC ASSETS                                     $14,385.76

      Current membership = 682

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TO HONOR AND PRAISE

The Retirement of Ben Tucker

Ben Tucker has retired from his position as Chief of the Office of Descriptive Cataloging at the Library of Congress. Ben as distinguished himself as a man of knowledge and honor. He has led the fight for consistent, high-quality cataloging through his scholarly approach to rule creation and interpretation. His work at the Library of Congress and on the Joint Steering Committee helped guide bibliographic description world-wide into a new age of cooperation. Quiet and self-effacing, Ben's wry wit has often steered a tense debate away from the disastrous edge of permanent disagreement to a safe harbor of understanding and compromise. Ever patient, Ben sought to provide the very best solution to cataloging problems. He was sensitive to the many constraints under which real time catalogers functioned. And, always, always, Ben was willing to listen, even to things he had heard numerous times before.

OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers owes a special debt to Ben Tucker. In the early years, Ben was a regular attendee at the meetings of OLAC Cataloging Policy Committee. He made himself available to advise CAPC on cataloging decisions and frequently consulted CAPC on matters under discussion at LC. This gave OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers direct input to nonprint cataloging policy decisions at the Library. More importantly though, Ben took OLAC seriously.' He understood the need for the organization and his understanding gave OLAC legitimacy. Ben was a man of influence. When he participated and gave guidance to OLAC, he made it possible for others equally influential to learn about and support our fledgling organization.

So, thank you, Ben, from all of us who have worked beside you the last few years to build respect for nonprint materials in libraries. We wish you well and ask you to remember that you will always have a home with OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers.

-- Verna Urbanski

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OLAC NATIONAL CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 1-3, 1992
OUTLINE OF CONFERENCE PROGRAM


GENERAL SESSION

Carol Mandel, Columbia University
Janet Swan Hill, University of Colorado, Boulder

WORKSHOPS

CATALOGING COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Presenter: Ann Fox, Library of Congress

CATALOGING SOUND RECORDINGS
Presenter: Deta S. Davis, Library of Congress

HOW TO TRAIN AV CATALOGERS
Presenters: Claudia Weston, National Agricultural Library
Heidi Hutchinson, University of California, Riverside

CATALOGING VIDEORECORDINGS
Presenter: Jay Weitz, OCLC

FORMAT INTEGRATION
Presenter: Glenn Patton, OCLC

CATALOGING GRAPHIC MATERIALS
Presenters: Lucy Keister, National Library of Medicine
Diane Vogt O'Connor, Smithsonian Institution
DEFINITION AND CATALOGING OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Presenter- Alice Jacobs, National Library of Medicine

LUNCHEON ADDRESS

Salvatore Costabile, President, Costabile Associates, Inc.

CLOSING SESSION

Sheila S. Intner, Simmons College

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TOURS DURING THE OLAC CONFERENCE
BETHESDA, MARYLAND, OCTOBER 1-3, 1992

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: This tour will include a visit to the recently renovated Main Reading Room and other areas of the library having to do with nonbook materials; the Prints and Photographs Division, the Computers Files Division, the National Demonstration Laboratory and the Motion Pictures, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: A tour is planned of the Nonprint Media Library, which includes videocassettes, videodiscs, 16mm films, audio cassettes, and equipment to support academic programs. The tour will include the Library's control room, and a description of the Library's other services and activities, such as Campus Cable, the National Agricultural Library's audiovisual collections, and the Public Broadcasting Archives. Also, a tour of the Music Library, including some of their unique collections, such as the International Piano Archives at Maryland and the Music Library Association Archives will be offered. This visit will include a demonstration of the Bosendorfer SE digital recording piano. In addition, a presentation is planned about the annex to the National Archives being built on the College Park campus. The annex will include the National Archives nonprint media collection.

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY: A general tour of one of the largest agricultural collections in the world will include demonstrations of computer technologies used for collection, storage, and dissemination of agricultural and related information.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE: This is a "hands on" session at NLM's Learning Center for Interactive Technology. The Center holds a collection of state-of-the-art microcomputer and optical disk hardware and educational software, including high quality working prototypes and commercially available products for health science education.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIBRARY: This tour of the library at the headquarters of National Geographic magazine will include the library's slide collection and their collection of stock footage from National Geographic films.

For tour information contact: Ellie Wackerinan, (301) 405-9322 OR (301) 314-9971 (FAX) OR Internet: ewl@umail.umd.edu

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ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE MEETINGS OF INTEREST

Prepared by Cecilia Tittemore

Data are taken from preliminary conference schedules. Please confirm all dates, times, and locations in the final conference program.

OLAC

ALCTS AV COMMITTEE

CC:DA COMPUTER FILES DISCUSSION GROUP
MARBI

NATIONAL LIBRARIES REPORTING SESSION
SUBJECT ANALYSIS COMMITTEE

VIDEO ROUNDTABLE BUSINESS MEETING
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MINIMAL-LEVEL RECORDS
FOR MOTION PICTURES AND VIDEORECORDINGS

Submitted by Glenn Patton, OCLC

OCLC users have recently asked a number of questions about Library of Congress minimal-level records for motion pictures (for example, OCLC #20359274 -- "Mississippi burning") which appear in the OCLC database. The following information results from consultation with staff at the Library of Congress.

These minimal-level records (Enc lvl 7) for both motion pictures and television programs on videorecordings are created by staff in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at LC using Archival Moving Image Materials and Moving Image Materials: Genre Terms as standards. They are distributed by LC as part of the MARC Visual Materials distribution.

The exact content of the records has varied over time as LC policies for the content of minimal-level records have evolved.

Description varies principally in the amount of research undertaken and recorded.

Access points are limited. Most records have added entries for genres (field 655); recent (1990- ) records may have added entries for directors and actors. Some records for non-fiction works have subject headings. Every record contains an added entry for an LC collection in a standardized form ("Copyright Collection (Library of Congress)", for example). Added entries are made according to Library of Congress policy for minimal-level cataloging, that is, headings are constructed according to AACR2, but no authority work is made unless a heading conflicts with an existing heading.

Few full-level records (which contain more fields and information) are being created currently (see Full Metal Jacket (OCLC #17323657) and Wings (OCLC #17323522) for examples). Most records now created are done at minimal level (Enc lvl 7) or at partial level (Enc lvl 5). The latter are not distributed outside the Library of Congress.

To see examples of these records, use the corporate name search "=copy,col,1" qualified by the format qualifier "med" and by a publication date qualifier of any single year from 1980 onward (or a range of years up to 1980).

These minimal-level records are among those which can be upgraded by OCLC users. The need to do so seems questionable, however, since the records most often describe 35mm theatrical releases of motion pictures and original videotapes deposited at LC by various television networks and production companies and are, therefore, unlikely to be acquired by other libraries. These records may, however, be useful as the basis for a new record for the videocassette release. OCLC users should, however, be careful to delete the information that pertains only to LC -- including the added entry for the LC collection.

When these records are loaded into the Online Union Catalog, they do not bump member-input records. If the tapeloading software can identify a match (again, something that would be unlikely since member libraries are not likely to be cataloging 35mm theatrical prints), LC's holdings would be set. Otherwise, it would be added as a new record.

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LC DISCONTINUES SUGGESTED CLASS NUMBERS

Submitted by Verna Urbanski

The following notice was distributed on the electronic discussion forum AUTOCAT: Library cataloging and authorities discussion group, on February 28, 1992. If you are, as I am, sorry to see this happen, let us take a minute to remember that vigilance is ever needed. When our opinion is asked, it is necessary that we answer.

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OLAC CATALOGING POLICY COMMITTEE (CAPC)

MINUTES, ALA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE

January 24, 1992

Submitted by Ellen Hines, OLAC Secretary

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 PM by Katha Massey, CAPC Chair.

  1. The minutes of the June 28, 1991 meeting were approved after these corrections

    1. in all references to discussions about the sources of information for videorecordings, the word "prescribed" should be used instead of "chief";
    2. the discussions about the "Guidelines for subject analysis of audiovisual materials" took place in a SAC "sub"committee (point #5);
    3. the correct spelling in point #4 is Linda "Bartley".

  2. Lowell Ashley and Nancy Olson outlined their proposal concerning Rule 7.OB2, the prescribed sources of information for motion pictures and videorecordings. Their proposal is that "container" be added to the list of prescribed sources for the edition area, the publication, distribution, etc., area, and the series area for motion pictures and videorecordings. This change would bring Chapter 7 into conformity with the prescribed sources for all other audiovisual materials (which do include "container" as a non-bracketed source of information). CAPC recommended that the word "container" go between "chief source" and 11 accompanying material" in Rule 7.OB2 and asked Catherine Gerhart (CC:DA Audience Observer) to work with Lowell to put this proposal together for submission to CC:DA.

  3. Catherine Gerhart (CC:DA liaison) updated CAPC on proposal 3 JSC/AUS/l/rev (the Australian proposal to move the technical specifications for videorecordings to the 300 field). She said that during their ALA conference meetings in Atlanta, CC:DA decided that the technical specifications note was the appropriate place for this information. The subsequent decision by JSC will be officially announced later this week.

  4. Katha Massey then led a discussion of an issue raised in a letter from Meredith Horan (National Library of Medicine) concerning the treatment of videorecordings of television programs in "series" (e.g., AID quarterly). Among the options/issues CAPC discussed were:

    1. treating the item as a "serial" or monograph (CAPC opinion was to treat this example as a monograph);
    2. putting "AIDS quarterly in the 245 $a, followed by $n Episode # (or date?), $p Episode title;
    3. adding 730 AIDS quarterly (Television program) and/or 440 AIDS quarterly (both on the same record?);
    4. how to handle separately tided segments on each video (e.g., 245 Title ; title ; title, 505,);
    5. was the original television program part of a series or was the published videorecording itself issued as part of a series?;
    6. LC changed "Nova" from a series to a uniform title in the authority file in 1986 (but Nova has no dates or episode numbers).

    The variety of opinions on this issue served as a good illustration of the problems resulting from the Library of Congress' lack of audiovisual cataloging. CAPC noted that no one is filling this void in terms of audiovisual rule interpretations and it was discussed whether OLAC should attempt to fill this void ... someone else? Would LC publish an OLAC rule interpretation? The Chair will attempt to touch base with Ben Tucker of LC on some of these issues prior to summer Conference.

  5. Katha Massey asked Glenn Patton (OCLC) to discuss some of the most recent LC audiovisual records in the OCLC database. LC's Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division cataloged many of these items (Enc Lvl: 7) and use the Archival Moving Image Material Manual and the moving image material genre terms for subject access. Glenn mentioned that since these records are Enc lvl: 7, they will not "bump" member input and can be upgraded just like Enc lvl: 8. Glenn will summarize the rest of this discussion for the OLAC newsletter. (See p. 10 -- ed.)

  6. Nancy Olson (OLAC's MARBI liaison) updated us on the status of the issue of validating the use of the 024 field for UPC codes from video containers (currently the 024 for UPC's is valid for sound recordings format only). Discussion Paper #53 on this topic is "scheduled" for Saturday's (January 25) MARBI meeting. The topic has become broader than just videorecordings because many other published materials now have UPC codes. The question of whether other formats should have a valid 024 will be discussed, too.

  7. Jennifer Bowen, Chair, CC:DA Task Force on Multiple Versions, updated us on the status of this issue. The Task Force is drafting a guidelines document to apply the hierarchical technique to reproductions. They have been working on getting examples and details completed on this document Some of the Task Force's discussions have revolved around the treatment of duplication agency for microforms, how to treat tides in reproductions when it varies, and should this "hierarchical" technique be used for formats other than microforms. A draft document of the Task Force's proposed guidelines will be distributed to CC:DA (and CAPC) in April for comment.

  8. Sheila Intner, Coordinator, CC:DA Task Force on Interactive Media, reported that they are recommending that the general material designator for this type of material should be "interactive media". No decision on the spelling of disc (or disk) has yet been made. The Task Force wants to have guidelines for cataloging interactive media formulated for routing to CC:DA by the annual Conference. Since a number of "ambiguous" issues remain, the Task Force established subcommittees to gather examples, define interactive media and to make recommendations on the spelling of disc(k). Sheila asked that any CAPC members with examples of interactive media send them to her by March 1, 1992 (include copies of sources, information about parts, full bibliographic record, etc.). The draft of this Task Force's guidelines will also be distributed to CAPC for discussion.

  9. OLD BUSINESS:

      Verna Urbanski reported (via Katha Massey) that the "Unpublished non-print manual" manuscript is with the publisher and should be published in March 1992. It was also stated that ALA asked OLAC to pay $250 to get copyright permission for quotes from AACR2R.

  10. There was no New Business and the meeting was adjourned at 9:57 PM.

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OLAC BUSINESS MEETING
MINUTES, ALA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE
January 25, 1992

Submitted by Ellen Hines, OLAC Secretary

The Business meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM by Bo-Gay Tong, OLAC Chair. Board members present were Bobby Ferguson, Ellen Hines, Dorian Martyn, Sheila Smyth, and Cecilia Tittemore. Guests included Verna Urbanski, Katha Massey, Diane Boehr, Glenn Patton, Ed Glazier,-Anne Moore, Karen Driessen, Lowell Ashley, Nancy B. Olson, and Jean Weihs.

  1. Secretary's report -- Ellen Hines

      The minutes of the June 29, 1991 OLAC business meeting were approved.

  2. Treasurer's report -- Bobby Ferguson

      See the semiannual treasurer's statement for a complete review of OLAC's current financial and membership status.

  3. Newsletter editor -- Cecilia Tittemore

      The December 1991 issue of the OLAC Newsletter is now available. Cecilia also asked that people interested in being volunteer book reviewers for the Newsletter should contact Anne Salter for information (check the inside cover of the Newsletter for her address).

  4. - CAPC report -- Katha Massey

      CAPC met Friday, January 24th and Katha Massey presented a summary of the meeting. For details, please refer to the CAPC minutes.

  5. Nominating Committee report -- Bo-Gay Tong (for Verna Urbanski and Cathy Leonardi)

      The slate of candidates for this year's election is:

        VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT:
        Karen Driessen (University of Montana)
        Sue Neumeister (SUNY at Buffalo)

        SECRETARY:
        Ellen Hines (Arlington Hts. Memorial Library, IL)
        Heidi Hutchinson (Univ. of California, Riverside)

      No additional nominations from the floor were forthcoming and the ballot will be mailed out separately in a few weeks. Results will be officially announced during this summer's ALA Conference in San Francisco.

  6. OLAC Conference Committee report -- Diane Boehr

      Plans for OLAC's biennial national conference (to be held October 1-3, 1992 at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza, Rockville, Maryland) were discussed by Committee co-chair Diane Boehr. The theme of the conference is "Quantity vs. quality: Are they compatible?" Keynote speakers will be Carol Mandel and Janet Swan Hill. Seven workshops (on topics such as training AV catalogers, sound recordings cataloging, format integration, and graphic materials cataloging) will be offered and each individual will be able to sign up for at least five of these sessions. Registration information will appear in the June 1992 OLAC Newsletter. Tours will also be available to such places as the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and the National Geographic Society Library.

  7. Liaison reports -- Nancy Olson (MARBI), Anne Moore
    (ALCTS:AV), Lowell Ashley (MOUG)

      Nancy reported that the UPC code discussion scheduled for today's MARBI meeting was tabled until Monday. She will write up a full report on all pertinent MARBI discussions for the OLAC Newsletter after all the MARBI meetings are over.

      Anne Moore said the ALCTS:AV would be meeting Sunday morning to discuss interactive media and that her full report will be printed in the March 1992 issue of the Newsletter.

      Lowell Ashley reported that the NACO Music Project (the cooperative effort to add MARC name/title authority records for headings that are represented on LC bibliographic records but have no formal name authority records) has been expanded again. The MOUG Board established an Advisory Committee to supervise all internal activities. Lowell also said that MOUG's 1992 annual meeting is next month in Baltimore, MD.

  8. Utility reports -- Ed Glazier (RLG) and Glenn Patton (OCLC)

      These reports will be printed in the March 1992 OLAC Newsletter.

  9. New business

      Bo-Gay Tong reviewed the changes to the OLAC By-Laws proposed by the OLAC Board during their June 1991 Executive Board meeting. (OLAC members will vote on these changes via the mail-in ballot located in the December 1991 Newsletter.) The two key proposed modifications are:

      • that the current title OLAC "Chair" be changed to OLAC "President". The term "chair" will only be used to refer to OLAC committee or subcommittee heads. And;

      • that the Chair of the Cataloging Policy Committee (CAPC) become a member of the OLAC Executive Board.

      Ballots are due in to Ellen Hines (OLAC Secretary) by February 21, 1992.

      Diane Boehr asked if OLAC had ever considered establishing a liaison- like relationship with the ALA Video Roundtable. It was decided that we would investigate this question further for future discussion.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM and was followed by the traditional questions and answer session.

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OLAC EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
MINUTES, ALA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE
January 26, 1992

Submitted by Ellen Hines, OLAC Secretary

The Board meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM by Bo-Gay Tong, OLAC Chair. Board members present were Sheila Smyth, Dorian Martyn, Bobby Ferguson,, Ellen Hines, and Cecilia Tittemore. Guests included Laurel Jizba, Katha Massey, Anne Moore, Mary Konkel, Karen Driessen, Brian McCafferty and Johanne LaGrange.

  1. Minutes -- Ellen Hines

      The minutes of the June 30, 1991 OLAC Executive Board meeting were approved as written.

  2. Treasurer's report -- Bobby Ferguson

      Bobby reviewed OLAC's current financial and membership status. OLAC has 682 members and a balance of $14,385.76. For further details, please refer to Bobby's semiannual treasurer's statement.

  3. Newsletter editor -- Cecilia Tittemore

      The deadline for submitting articles, minutes, reports, etc., for the March 1992 issue of the newsletter is mid-February.

  4. Nominating Committee report

      Bo-Gay reported that this years election ballot will be a separate mailing to all OLAC personal members. The ballot will be mailed by March 1 (by Cathy Leonardi) and need to be returned to Verna Urbanski by April 1, 1992, so the results can be published in the June newsletter.

  5. Publications updates

      Karen Driessen and Sheila Smyth distributed an outline of their audiovisual physical processing manual. Their draft chapters will go to the OLAC editorial committee (Bobby Ferguson, Jean Weihs, and Nancy B. Olson) soon, and be back to the authors by April 1, 1992. They would like to have the Joint Committee on Non-Book Materials review the manual after summer ALA conference for further feedback. Sheila asked that anyone with examples of interactive media should contact her immediately.

      Verna Urbanski's unpublished non-print materials manual is with the publisher and should be published by March 1992. It was also reported that ALA charged OLAC $250 to cover copyright permission for quotes from AACR2R.

  6. OLAC Award Committee report -- Dorian Martyn

      Dorian announced that a nominee had been chosen and that the choice will be announced in San Francisco.

  7. OLAC Conference Committee report -- Diane Boehr

      Conference Committee co-chair, Diane Boehr, discussed plans for OLAC's national conference in Rockville, MD (October 1-3, 1992). The theme is "Quantity vs. quality: Are they compatible" and keynote speakers will be Janet Swan Hill and Carol Mandel. Conference participants will be able to attend five of the seven scheduled workshops and a number of tours in and around the Washington, D.C. area have been arranged.

      After some discussion, a few additional decisions were reached about the Conference:

      1. early registration (before August 15th) will be $70 for OLAC members and $80 for non-members ($80/$90 after that date);
      2. library students will be charged $20 for registration;
      3. the March publicity mailing will be done via regular direct mail and will include library schools, academic. public and special libraries, networks, library journals, ALA division newsletters, etc. An estimated 600-700 flyers will be distributed.

      The Board congratulated the Conference Committee on the thorough and exhaustive job they have done in planning this conference.

  8. Newsletter electronic archive

      The Board decided that since the Newsletter Editor has moved from a WordPerfect environment into a Mac-based Microsoft Word environment, maintaining an electronic archive of our Newsletter has become extremely impractical. (A printed archive of our Newsletter will continue to be maintained.)

  9. OLAC mailings

      Cathy Leonardi has agreed to take on the responsibility of mailing out OLAC ballots, renewal notices, and the indexes.

  10. Liaison guidelines -- Cecilia Tittemore

      Cecilia has drafted liaison guidelines for the OLAC Handbook for the Board to review. We will discuss these guidelines via a conference-call later this spring.

  11. New business

      Laurel Jizba asked the Board to consider whether OLAC should investigate establishing some sort of "link" with the ALCTS Computer Files Discussion Group. This discussion group seems to be covering topics that are increasingly cataloging-oriented (e.g., cataloging interactive media). It was decided that we should monitor the activities of the Computer Files Discussion Group to see if their recent shift towards a cataloging emphasis is temporary or more permanent.

      Laurel also stressed the increasing importance of AutoCat and suggested that OLAC make use of it to announce our meetings, conferences, etc.

      At 9:50 PM, the Board went into closed session to discuss appointments to CAPC.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 PM.

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REPORT FROM ALCTS AUDIOVISUAL COMMITTEE
SAN ANTONIO, JANUARY 1992

Submitted by Anne Campbell Moore,
OLAC Liaison to ALCTS AV

Joan Swanekamp, Chair, reported that the discussion held the previous Sunday morning on interactive media had gone well. Two suggestions for summer topics were processing issues and policies, and cataloging educational material which is packaged in portfolios.

The Producer/Distributor - Library Relations Subcommittee has finalized the CD ROM survey. It will be sent to academic, large public, and law libraries, and to acquisitions/serials groups. From the results of this survey, the subcommittee hopes to produce an informational brochure for publishers and vendors.

The AV Standards Subcommittee has completed its document on packaging videos, which is being reviewed by the ALCTS Board. When the document is complete it will be sent to NISO, which will establish a committee to review it and decide whether to follow its recommendations.

ALCTS AV will be sponsoring a program on Saturday, June 27 from 9- 11 a.m. on interactive media. Speakers will be Nancy Olson, Ann Sandberg-Fox and Michael Leopold . ACRL AV will be co-sponsoring the program. The CCS Policy & Research Committee will be sponsoring a pre-conference on cataloging and classification research and has asked ALCTS AV to co-sponsor it.

The proceedings of the 1990 program will appear in the January issue of Technical Services Quarterly.

The Committee discussed the new copyright regulation requiring libraries to label computer files with a warning about copying. This raised a number of questions, including the problem of software that is already loaded onto hardware and/or is part of an electronic network. Joan asked whether this is an issue that the committee would like to pursue.

The committee will be sponsoring a tour of the Pacific Film Institute on Friday, June 26 from 3-5. The Institute, part of the University of California, collects archival and rare film footage. The tour will include the archives and a showing of some film shorts. A fee will be charged to cover the cost of the projectionist.

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REPORT FROM CC:DA MEETINGS
SAN ANTONIO, JANUARY 1992

Submitted by Catherine Gerhart
OLAC CC:DA Audience Observer

The Cataloging Committee: Description and Access had some very productive meetings at ALA Midwinter. A Task Force was appointed to write guidelines for the cataloging of interactive media. This Task Force. chaired by Ben Tucker, hopes to have a draft of the guidelines by the Annual ALA meeting this summer in San Francisco. The Task Force is gathering examples and would like anyone with interesting examples of interactive media to send photocopies or descriptions to Sheila Intner by mid-March. These guidelines will include: determining chief source of information; what to use for a GMD; how to do the physical description; what to put in notes; what spelling of disc, disk, disque to use; and examples.

The Task Force on Multiple Versions will be submitting their final report at the Annual ALA meeting this summer. The Task Force will be submitting two documents, one will include the guidelines, including the holdings records and one will contain the concerns that the Task Force has for the future of multiple version. The Task Force recommended that CC:DA appoint another task force to look into the definition of "edition" in AACR2. CC:DA agreed that a task force was needed and volunteers were asked to sign up. The Task Force on Multiple Versions felt that their work was frustrated by the lack of a good definition of "edition" in AACR2 and hopes that after the new task force is done many multiple versions questions will also be answered.

The Joint Steering Committee agreed with CC:DA and OLAC in not supporting the move of technical specification for videorecordings to the physical description area. This proposal is now dead. CC:DA is trying to find out what happened to their very old suggestion to move the indication of format to the first note. It seems that somehow this suggestion got lost in paperwork somewhere.

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REPORT FROM MARBI MEETINGS
SAN ANTONIO, JANUARY, 1992

Submitted by Nancy Olson
OLAC Liaison to MARBI

MARBI met for a total of eight hours during the 1992 Midwinter ALA conference. Eight proposals and four discussion papers were on the agenda. Discussion papers are presented for discussion; the topic may come back to a later meeting as a revised discussion paper, or as a formal proposal, or it may be dropped. Proposals may be accepted, revised and accepted, or sent back to be rewritten.

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MUSIC OCLC USERS GROUP (MOUG) REPORT

Submitted by Lowell Ashley, MOUG Liaison to OLAC

Jennifer Bowen, chair of MOUG, reported in the November 1991 MOUG Newsletter that she had attended the OCLC Users Council meeting last October. OCLC invites user group chairs to attend any Users Council meeting at the user group's expense. She was very positive about the value of her attending the meeting and came away with a greater understanding of the Users Council's role and a sense of having increased the visibility of MOUG among the delegates.

The NACO-Music Project has undergone some major expansion in the past year. The music libraries at Vassar, the University of Louisville, Yale University, and Stanford have become participants and have begun to contribute to the Library of Congress Name Authority file. The MOUG Board has established an Advisory Committee charged with supervising all internal activities of the NMP.

The Associated Music Libraries Group has received Title 11-C funding to continue its retrospective conversion project in 1991-1992, and the funding includes support for NACO work in conjunction with their retrospective conversion. About 10,000 name authority records are expected to be contributed from the fall of 1991 through 1992. These records are processed through the central NACO-Music Project office at Indiana U. with the help of staff and equipment supported by the grant.

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NEWS FROM OCLC
As reported at the OLAC Business Meeting, January, 1992
Submitted by Glenn Patton, OCLC

USMARC UPDATES: OCLC completed work on Update 3 in September 1991. Included in this project were a large number of database conversion and cleanup activities. Work on Update 4 has begun. The process of incorporating Update 3 changes into the various format documents has begun and will continue over the next few months.

PRISM/NEW NETWORK: Installation of the new OCLC telecommunications network was completed on schedule late in 1991. Migration of cataloging activity to the PRISM service was approximately 90% complete at the end of January 1992. One set of PRISM enhancements, including a new searching qualifier to limit search results to records created by LC, member input based on LC cataloging and cooperative cataloging (NCCP, CONSER, etc.) was installed in early October. A second set, including greatly enhanced searching capabilities for the OCLC Authority File, will be installed in spring 1992.

DATABASE QUALITY ACTIVITIES: OCLC's Duplicate Detection and Resolution project (DDR) is about half complete for Books format records. Approximately 300,000 records had been merged by mid- January. After the completion of books records, OCLC will begin to explore DDR for other formats. In addition, a wide variety of other cleanup activities have been completed or are planned in an effort to make older records conform to stricter PRISM validation rules. Included among these is correction of invalid relationships between "Type of material" and "Technique" codes in AV records.

TAPELOADING OF RECORDS: OCLC hopes to make AVLINE records from the National Library of Medicine available to OCLC users in the spring. There has been no progress on loading of LC Computer Files records.

FORMAT DOCUMENTS: As OCLC staff continue planning for the implementation of Format Integration at the end of 1993, consideration is being given to combining the eight current format documents (Books, Serials, AV, Sound Recordings, etc.) into a single format document Thus far, user reaction has been favorable. Glenn Patton solicited input from those present on this issue. [Comments may be made by mail (6565 Frantz Road, Dublin OH 43017), by phone (800-848-5878, ext 6371), by FAX (614-764-6096), or by e-mail (gep@rsch.oclc.org).]

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NEWS FROM RLIN
As reported at the OLAC Business Meeting, January, 1992
Submitted by Ed Glazier, RLG

  1. Support for Arabic script installed in Fall 1991. RLIN now supports the original script input in the full range of LC's JACKPHY languages (Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hebrew, and Yiddish), plus Cyrillic. LC does its original input for monographs in all the JACKPHY scripts in RLIN.

  2. USMARC Update 3 installed (finally) in December. This was ready to install earlier, but had to be coordinated with the Arabic installation. Documentation included a changes memo and update pages for the RLIN Supplement to USMARC mailed in September.

  3. Clustering enhancements. (Described in recent RLIN Operations Update and in detail in the revised chapter 2 of the RLIN System Reference Manual, distributed in December). Installed in 12/91 were several enhancements to the clustering algorithms, particularly in Books and Serials. A major change is that clustering of non-distinctive (so called "generic") titles (e.g., Newsletter; Proceedings of the Conference) now includes examination of the 1xx under certain circumstances. In sound recordings, the size in 300$c is now examined so that properly coded LPs and CDs will no longer cluster together.

    A mechanism was created so that central staff can more easily repair incorrect clustering (both things incorrectly clustered and things not clustered) when they are identified. No database rebuild was done in any file, but some large clusters, especially non-distinctive titles in Books and Serials, were reclustered at the time the changes were installed.

  4. Dataloads: 8.5 million records in FY'91. Several million already since then. Of major interest to this group would probably be the ca. 1. I million records of the Rigler Deutsch index of 78 r.p.m. recordings and the ca. 75,000 art exhibition catalogs created in a local system by the University of California at Santa Barbara.

  5. Aviador Videodisc. This was a joint development with the Avery Architecture Library at Columbia University. It is a system that links ca. 40,000 images of architectural drawings with associated records in the RLIN database. It works with a PC linked to a videodisc player. Users may search RLIN and call up the linked video image, or scan images on the videodisc and call up the associated record.

  6. CitaDel: RLIN's new Citation and Document Delivery System to be introduced this spring. Will include a number of citation files, with agreements for document delivery. Will include both commercially available files (4 UMI files to be introduced: Periodical Abstracts, Newspaper Abstracts, ABI/INFORM, Dissertation Abstracts) and scholarly files not available online elsewhere. First file, History of Technology, to be introduced shortly. Existing CIT file, Engineering Information's Ei Page One, will become part of CitaDel. Avery Architecture Index, now an RLIN special database, will also become a CitaDel file later this year.

    Commercial files will be available for unlimited searching by subscription. Searching other files will be covered by search rates for the rest of RLIN's bibliographic files.

  7. Access to CARL Uncover's periodical index and document delivery service is currently available through RLIN.

  8. Early Printed Books (EPB): A Euro-STC inventory of non-English early printed books will be available as a separate RLIN file. Currently ca. 12 countries will be represented, the first being Swedish and Dutch imprints. This is part of RLG's Unique Resources project.

    These are the major developments. For information on these or others, call the RLIN Information Center (1-800-537-RLIN; email: BL.RIC@RLG.BITNET) for details.

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OCLC DATABASE CORRECTION SCANS

Submitted by Glenn Patton, OCLC

With the implementation of stricter record validation in the OCLC PRISM Service, users sometimes encounter problems with older records. A common problem for AV users has been invalid relationships between coded values in the Fixed Field elements "Tech" (Technique) and "Type mat" (Type of material). The incorrect coding often resulted from the fact that, at one time, "Tech" did not apply to videorecordings.

To ease these problems, during the month of February 1992, OCLC completed a series of database scans to "rationalize" the codes in these two elements. If "Tech" contained the value 'n' and "Type mat" was either 'm' or 'v', then "Tech" was changed to 'u'(unknown). A more specific code for either "live action" or "animation" could not be supplied without examining each record manually. This scan affected 43,179 records.

In addition, if "Tech" contained the value 'blank' (an obsolete value), the value was changed to either 'n' or 'u' depending on the value specified in "Type mat". This scan affected 62,177 records.

Both scans identified some records that could not be fixed by machine conversion. This group of records (about 400, including some microforms incorrectly entered in the AV format) will be examined manually and corrected.

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NEW AUDIO NEWSLETTER LAUNCHED

Audiofile, an newsletter focused on critical reviews of audio books on cassette, will publish its first issue in June 1992. Unabridged and abridged publications will be reviewed for sound and production quality, voice compatibility with text, relevance to needs and interests of library collections. Related issues such as packaging, copyright, security, audio readers and patron/user groups will be presented in feature articles.

For more information contact: Robin F. Whitten, 37 Silver Street, PO Box 109, Portland, ME 04112-0109, (207) 774-7563, or (207) 775- 3744 (FAX).

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
V. Urbanski, Column Editor

QUESTION: The medical videotape that I am cataloging has no on-screen titles or personal credits, so I cataloged it from the cassette label. What is your opinion of the preferred treatment of a phrase found on the label: "Featuring Robert Young." I watched enough of the tape to see that Robert Young does on-screen narration, guiding the viewer through most of the film, but does not conduct the film's interviews with doctors and scientists. They speak independently. Should this statement be treated in a quoted note because this is the wording on the chief source of information? Or, should it be treated in a 511 performer note because he falls into the category of "narrators who appear on screen?" I listed Robert Young in a 511 note and traced him in a 700 (which I didn't feet was more credit than he deserved) when I edited the OCLC record for our system.

ANSWER: I agree with your treatment using the 511. The 511 has the advantage of providing a label indicating the function performed by Young "narrator, presenter, etc." In some online systems the 511 is indexed when garden variety 500 notes are not. Unless there is some historical context that makes tracing Robert Young sensible, I probably would not provide an access point for him. It depends on how prominent he is in the video and how valuable an access point his name is perceived to be.--- VU

QUESTION: I have a group of mounted photographs (not reproductions, like postcards, but regular photos) which are views of Tasmania. The photos are in sepia tone. They are mounted on 36 stiffish, cardboard like pages. The pages are stitched on one side. There is no title page and no date associated with the item. The pages are unnumbered. Would you treat this as media or as a book? It is being cataloged for general academic library use, not treated as a special collection item.

ANSWER: I would catalog as an AV item using chapter 8 and the AV formal The GMD would be picture with a physical description that names the number of photographs, for example: " photographs sepia ; size of photographs (or range of sizes, if appropriate)". A note would then describe the fact that the photographs are mounted and bound, such as: "Mounted for viewing on 36 leaves and bound." Do you know anything about the origins of this material so that notes could be made? Sounds like unpublished nonprint material.

Have you decided how these photos will circulate? You may want to have a case made for them by your inhouse binding folks, or else put them in an acid free folder and store them in a box with a hinged lid.--- VU

QUESTION: We have a large comic book collection. One of the items received for the collection has us stumped. It is a tray with a comic strip on it. One of us thought it should be cataloged as a book because the comic strip was printed like a regular comic strip. The idea is that anything printed with words, whether tee shirt, coffee mug or serving tray, should be cataloged as a print item. Others in the department felt it was a candidate for the audiovisual media format.

ANSWER: Definitely a nonprint item. AACR2R rule 10.0A1 lists the type of material to be covered by chapter 10. The type of material mentioned clearly allows a parallel to be drawn between a serving tray and themselves. Note also that several of these items could, and probably would, include written information -- coins, for instance, or paperweights, or sculptures. Be sure to provide an access point for the comic strip since that undoubtedly is why you have this item. Use the GMD realia.--- VU

QUESTION: I am cataloging a videocassette which has a full range of writer/director/producer/publisher information on the video when you view it, but no title. It is a commercially produced item and I am quite sure that it has not been altered to delete a previously existing title. I want to use the cassette label as the source for the title, but I want to transcribe the other data as found on the video itself. Do I need to bracket the statement of responsibility information which I am transcribing from the video, if I take the title from the cassette label?

ANSWER: No. Transcribe the title as found on the cassette label as the title of the work. Transcribe the statement of responsibility, etc., information as found on the film without bracketing and provide a note which indicates that the source of the title is the cassette label. This should be sufficient to identify the item and alert users of the cataloging record as to the origin of the information.

In thinking about this question, I cast my mind back to when we started using AACR2R. I remember Ben Tucker of LC saying that even though the structure of the instruction on chief source [that is: " ... a) the item itself ... b) its container ... "] had changed (and the "and" dropped), the intent of the instruction was the same as that which existed in AACR2. That intent is that the chief source of information for motion pictures and videorecordings is still the "... film itself (e.g., the title frames) and its container (and its label) if the container is an integral part of the piece."

In applying this instruction, I think of the information found on the film itself and information taken from a video label as coming from the same chief source. After selecting these places as my chief source, I then do not bracket unless I move outside those areas for information --such as accompanying material, external container, etc.

Also, it seems logical that if a and b are two separate chief sources, then the phrase that follows could not treat chief source in the singular ... that is, "If the information is not available from the chief source, take it from the following sources ..." (AACR2R 7.0B1). Since it is a point that really can affect the catalog record, I contacted Ben Tucker to check my interpretation. He writes:

You are quite correct in your answer about chief source. If you need more arguments, here are two:

  1. Since the question is about bracketing, don't stop at 7.0B1 1, for the really pertinent rule is 7.OB2. The latter gives "chief source of information," clearly meaning "either of the two choices given above for chief source."

  2. The intent of the rules for materials other than books is to be more relaxed about bracketing than in the case of books, with the result that brackets are much less used for non- book materials. This intent flows from the obvious fact that by and large only books have a fairly standard basis for the operation of brackets, i.e., the title page. (There is also the trend within the last decade for all materials, including books, to opt for less bracketing: cf. discussions within CC:DA and IFLA.)
--- VU with Ben Tucker

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