Introduction to LIS512 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Introduction to LIS512

Thomas

KrichelSlide2

course resources

Course homepage http://wotan.liu.edu/ home/

krichel

/courses/lis512b10a

Class mailing list https://

lists-1.liu.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwp-lis512-krichel

Me. Write to krichel@openlib.org or

skype

:

thomaskrichel

. Slide3

today

set the scene of the class topic

explain the method behind the madness in the course structure

discuss assignmentsSlide4

LIS512

There are many ways to deal with LIS512.

Basically, there are two views of the subject.

There is the practitioner’s view.

There is the theorist’s view. Slide5

theorist’s view

This is embodied in the course title, which I think dates back from times when Richard

Smiraglia

was the “course leader” for the course at the Palmer School.

This view insists that the course should be about basic principles. It should not be an applied cataloging course. Cataloging should be dealt with in less basic courses. Slide6

course title

The course title is really problematic. “knowledge” is something that is in peoples’ head. It is not what is written down in books, or stored on computer disks.

The latter is information.

We really should be talking about “information organization”. Slide7

knowledge organization

Librarians have been involved in knowledge organization, but only to a

limited extent.

Librarians have also been involved in setting up classification scheme. For example the Library of Congress Subject headings are a way to organize knowledge. Slide8

classification

Classifying an item by assigning it a call number in a library, depending on an analysis of the subject, is not knowledge organization, it is organizing information.

You will organize knowledge if you devise a scheme that allows users to classify items.

setting up classification codes

devise rules how codes can be found from items.

Who of us will get into that? Slide9

practioner’s view

“oh, it’s the intro to cataloging”.

Some times it has been a hands-on introduction to cataloging.

This has been criticized as not being general enough.

How many of us will get really involved in cataloging.

Last time I asked class nobody wanted to become a cataloguer.Slide10

cataloging

Cataloging in libraries is in the process of tremendous change.

The old standard AACR2 is being phased out.

A new one is coming along, RDA.

Copy cataloging solves most basic cataloging issues for common cataloging tasks.Slide11

cataloging critics

Detailed cataloging is a tremendously expensive task.

It is not an idiot’s task.

It does not scale beyond some library materials.

For example, libraries have not usually done article level cataloging of serials material.

They would just catalog what holdings they have of what serial. Slide12

antiquated standards

Some critics charge that the cataloging rules embody a thinking about card cataloging. They have not changed fundamentally since then.

The same critics can not agree on changes. Slide13

invaders into cataloging

There are some new kids on the cataloging front.

Amazon

LibraryThing

They are not tied to all the past rules and make clever way of new technologies.Slide14

the future of books

Printed books are ok to read but

they are very costly to update

they are difficult to search

They may stay on for some leisure ready. Older books will be covered by the Google book project. Slide15

ebooks

Ebook

readers are slowly becoming popular.

The capacity of such readers will increase over time.

In our lifetimes, we will see people with the content equivalent of what is now a public library in their pocket.

What will become of cataloging. Slide16

move towards networks

There is a move, over time, from information being tied to physical assets.

Libraries may be closest to our concern but they are not the biggest players that are in turmoil.

the music industry

the printed pressSlide17

libraries are getting ready

There is some very interesting work out there to publish library data (mainly cataloging data) as linked open data.

data is accessible on the web

it has very flexible usage condition

there is essentially one web address per

item

This would go beyond an intro course however. Slide18

libraries expand their remit

Libraries took the lead in the development of Dublin Core, an effort to standardize descriptions of resources on the web.

Libraries took the lead in the development of OAI protocol for metadata harvesting, a standard to exchange metadata.

Libraries build digital repositories.

None of these efforts use traditional cataloging.Slide19

the big challenge

It is ok for pieces of information to fly around.

What is there can be gone tomorrow.

The challenge is to make sure it stays at a place where we can access it tomorrow.

This is what libraries have traditionally done.

But cataloging methods will bring little to this task.Slide20

my own work

I have close to 20 years experience

in scholarly communication documentation work.

I built two metadata formats a transport format.

I have been involved in subject classification through subject experts.

My main area at this time is name authority control.

Slide21

the course

The course tries to blend theory and practice and old and new.

At this stage it is probably too theory heavy.

It may also be to “non-cataloging” heavy.

Let us look at the planned set of lectures. Slide22

entity-relationship model

The entity relationship model has been developed in conjunction with relational databases.

Basically, we define entities to be described and the relationships between them.

Most formally structured information is held in relational database.

This includes all the cataloging data we will create. Slide23

FRBR

FRBR are the fundamental requirements for bibliographic records.

It is a document issued and edited by IFLA.

It is tremendously influential even outside libraries.

Basically, it applies an entity relationship model to the domain traditionally occupied by libraries.

It is a fundamental conceptual framework.Slide24

characters records and identifiers

In this class we discuss the basic tools of the trade that we need to build a descriptive environment like the one that is described in FRBR.

These are fundamental concepts that we need to understand to build digital record sets such as the one contained in a library catalog. Slide25

MARC & koha

copy cataloging

MARC is the basic format common to almost all library catalogs.

As part of the course, each of you will compose a library catalog containing

6

records.

Five of the records will be composed by copying MARC records from

LoC

or others. Slide26

koha library and catalogs

koha

is an open source library cataloging system.

I have a running installation of the staff interface at http://wotan.liu.edu/koha.

It is a federated system allowing you to maintain various branches.

Each of you gets a branch.

koha

uses a relational database to operate. Slide27

XML based metadata & MARC XML

Here I am looking at metadata formats other than MARC.

Almost all metadata formats out there that have some relevance to the libraries are written in XML.

I will illustrate XML by discussing MARC records in XML format (rather than the native, discussed earlier)Slide28

creating a bibliographic record

Up until there , we have been looking at reading cataloging records.

The remaining class time is spend on discussing what can be in the record.

You may say: we have MARC.

Yes but MARC gives us only a form.

We need rules to fill out the form. Slide29

AACR2

The Anglo American Cataloging Rules are used by most libraries in the

English-speaking world.

These rules are not 100% precise there is a lot of room for local interpretation, and there has to be.

The problem is that the rules are not freely available but cost $80 to buy. Slide30

ISBD

This is the International Standard for Bibliographic Description.

It is an international version of what is AARC2.

It is downloadable but I don’t think it can be printed.

It deals with description only.Slide31

access

Within bibliographic records, access points are a complicated subject.

Basically, once you have access point, you can find the bibliographic resources through the access point.

names of authors, subject headings, and Slide32

subject headings

Subject headings are a way to group items on the same subject together.

This really comes into play when a consistent terminology is being used.

The

LoC

have such a system at the classificationweb.net. Login as “

palmerschool

” with the password “

logcata

”. Slide33

classification

Classification, when used in the cataloging world, means that we set a code for the item.

The code is constructed in such a way that related item by subjects have codes that are close to each other by order of the code.

It is a tool that is used to align similar items along a self close to each other.

It is extraordinarily complex.

I intend to study the

LoC

classification scheme.Slide34

assignment

Q

uizzes every week except next week and this week.

This makes 12 quizzes.

The two weakest performances are discarded.

Copy cataloging exercise. Copy catalog 5 books (?), hopefully related, and report on your experience in 2 page paper.

Create an original cataloging record.Slide35

Thank you for your attention.

Thomas

Krichel

http://openlib.org/home/krichel