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CONFERENCE REPORTS
Jan Mayo, Column Editor


** REPORTS FROM THE **
2007 ALA Annual Conference
Washington, D.C.


Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee (MARBI)
Liaison Report
submitted by Kelley McGrath
Ball State University


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

Proposal No. 2007-04: Use of Field 520 for Content Advice Statement
This proposal provides a way to indicate information about potentially offensive content, primarily for visually-impaired users. It defines a new indicator 4 to indicate that 520 is being used for a content advice statement, as well as a new subfield $c to identify the agency that supplied the advice and subfield $2 for the source code of the classification system used. The proposal was approved. A content advice 520 could potentially be used for the justifications for MPAA and ESRB ratings that often appear on packaging, such as “sequences of action violence and some mild language”. It is not clear that it is beneficial to users to separate the rating information (which clearly implies intended audience) and the content advice that justifies the rating. OLAC suggested that an example be included in the MARC documentation showing the AACR2 practice of combining notes to remind catalogers that although it is now possible to separately encode these two pieces of information, it is not necessary.

Proposal No. 2007-05: Definition of 022 Subfields for Linking ISSN (ISSN-L)
This proposal defines two new subfields for 022 to hold linking ISSN-L and cancelled ISSN-L numbers. The ISSN-L is intended to bring together the various versions of a given continuing resource (e.g., print, online, CD-ROM). The ISSN-L will be the same as the first medium-specific ISSN assigned to a continuing resource. The ISSN Center is planning to make available free tables of corresponding medium-specific and linking ISSNs to help bibliographic utilities and other entities update their records. This proposal was approved.

Proposal No. 2007-06: Changes for the German and Austrian Conversion to MARC 21
This proposal contains a set of thirteen changes proposed by the Deutsche Bibliothek as part of its conversion to MARC 21. The proposal included the definition of subfield $0 in a number of fields in the bibliographic, classification, and community information formats to hold a related authority record control number. It also included proposals to handle the German practice of creating bibliographic records both at the set level and at the individual item level for multivolume monographs and monographic series, to add an 008 nature of content code for offprints (expanded to include preprints, postprints, etc.), to define an indicator for type of uncontrolled keywords in Field 653 (e.g., personal name, corporate name, genre/form), and to define a new Field 751 for non-hierarchical geographic names used as added entries (e.g., event place, publication place). Most of the proposals were approved, some with minor modifications.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP05: Data Elements Needed to Ascertain Copyright Facts
This discussion paper lists a set of copyright-related elements for inclusion in the bibliographic record to help users make reasonable judgments about what use is allowed of a given resource. It was decided to define a new field for copyright information rather than try to combine the information with Field 540. This discussion paper will return as a proposal.

Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP06: Representing Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
This discussion paper presents a variety of additions to the MARC 21 classification, bibliographic, and authority formats to enable OCLC to represent DDC in MARC 21 rather than their current proprietary system. It also includes changes wanted by the German and Austrian communities, such as better representation of parts of Dewey numbers in the bibliographic record in ways that can be leveraged for improved retrieval. This discussion paper will return as a proposal.


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

RDA Discussions and Actions at ALA Annual in Washington, D.C.
John Attig has been appointed as the new ALA representative to the JSC. The JSC met in April in Ottawa. Talks are beginning with MARBI concerning mapping of new elements, as are more general discussions of encoding of RDA in various formats. Some “data about data”, such as details of basis for description, will be moved to another part of RDA. The outcomes of the JSC meeting are posted at <http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/0704out.html>. Within this are links to the current RDA “Scope and Structure” document, an RDA element analysis and an RDA to FRBR mapping.

The revised draft of RDA Chapter 3, on physical and technical description, was issued in March. It is an improvement over the previous draft, but there were still points of dispute. For media catalogers, it is notable for having more elements that apply to digital and video resources, though it was not always clear how to apply those elements. Abbreviations are going to be eliminated, though abbreviations concerning some measurements are apparently allowed because they are not considered abbreviations, (e.g., cm). The revised Chapters 6 and 7 (their order now reversed) were issued just before ALA, and the comment period on them is now closed. Chapter 6 has been divided up to indicate which added entry types belong to which FRBR entities, but the OLAC group reviewing the draft found this poorly conceived when it comes to moving image materials in particular. Chapter 7 on bibliographic relationships is extremely long and repetitive, and occasionally confusing. Since ALA, CILIP issued a proposal to change in RDA the current text of AACR2 1.1B1 section on introductory words, and instead use the examples as things which should be transcribed. The OLAC reviewers are vigorously opposing the proposal.

Just after the JSC meeting, RDA, Dublin Core and IEEE Learning Objects Model communities met at the British Library on April 30-May 1, 2007, to consider the metadata models used by each community. The result of this meeting was a recommendation to work jointly to develop an RDA Element Vocabulary; an RDA Application Profile based on the FRBR and FRAD models, formal vocabularies for the values of various RDA elements. The outcomes of this meeting are posted here: <http://www.bl.uk/services/bibliographic/meeting.html>.

CC:DA Discussions June 2007
CC:DA discussed loose ends and unresolved issues from the comments on RDA Chapter 3, such as whether RDA was mandating British spelling (the intent is unclear from the draft, but we doubt it). There was also discussion of how to deal with alternative titles, or more particularly, the “or” in alternative titles since the JSC has decided that they will not be part of the title. Bilateral treaties were also an issue. RDA is targeting a Spring 2009 release. There will be a print product, but the online product is considered the primary product and is the focus for the design.

Other CC:DA activities included reports on:

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Last updated: October 7, 2007
http://www.olacinc.org/newsletters/sept07/conrpts.html
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