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Section Meeting NotesTechnical Services Meeting Notes
Notes 4.28.09
Under attack in the lower level. What should be our plan?We discussed, at Colleen’s request, what we would do and best precautions should either we hear gun fire or be assaulted with gun fire in our office space. After a lively discussion we consider the following to be a good first draft. Always, though, one should always reconsider their options based on what they are seeing in the moment.
Hearing gun fire outside the Tech office: 1. The door should always be left closed. 2. Everyone/Anyone should use their cell phones to call 911. 3. If possible, exit the office using the back door and north fire exit. Prior to exiting the north fire door, pull the fire alarm. It’s just inside the door on the left… between the fire hose and the door. 4. You may want to stay in the bottom of the stairwell. It’s possible that there are other gunmen outside the door. The outside door cannot be opened from the outside. If you decide to open this door, open it cautiously. Look outside before you recommend anyone exit the building.
If someone enters Tech with the intent to shoot a gun: 1. The door to Tech should always be closed. It’s a minor deterrent, as they can see our activity through the window, but it is a deterrent none-the-less. 2. Call 911. If you can talk without making yourself noticeable, inform the police the library is under attack and the gunmen are in the lower level. If it’s not possible to speak without attracting attention to yourself, just leave your cell phone call open. The police will be listening. Hopefully, they’ll be able to use your cell’s GPS to determine where the conflict is. 3. Hide under your desk. Be quiet. 4. Until the police arrive, the gunmen are in control. If they give directions, follow them. 5. Do not run to an exit. Do not attract attention to yourselves. Do not attempt to be brave.
Cloud tags in InfoSoupKatie noted that OWLS has added tags to InfoSoup. They appear when you look at the full record. But patrons cannot directly add their own tags to the database as the tags are not really part of the Millennium system. The tags are being brought up from the LibraryThing.com database. If patrons wish to add their own tags, they must create their own account in LibraryThing.com and add their tags to the records in that database.
Serials InvoicingMichael has been working with our Ebsco representative to enable our ability to import Ebsco’s electronic invoice. As such, he’s been working with staff at the Evanville Vanderburgh Public Library. By setting the order status to “F – Serial No Enc(cumbrance)”, the order can be associated with an invoice without having established a unique encumbrance. This allows us to simply use the same .o number (i.e. PO number) over and over. The histories hang off the same .o number. Michael will be working to reset the fund codes of the PO’s created last week for 2010 renewal orders. He is in contact with Ebsco representatives to set up our vendor records to enable our system to download invoices from Ebsco.
No book jackets in III clientsKatie noted that since OWLS moved the book jacket subscription to Book Letters, the jacket covers no longer display in the clients. Michael offered to contact Evan about this. Notes 3.3.09
We reviewed the highlights of the March 2 Section Heads meeting.
Other Tech Services issues that were discussed:
Mary gave a report of the recent Safety Committee meeting.
Katie was asked to create a wiki for APL Digital Collections.
Videorecordings for the hearing impaired subject headingKatie noted that Library of Congress added alternative subject headings: Films for the hearing impaired and Television programs for the hearing impaired. There's been a cry against these headings as not offering clear distinctions from the prior (and preferred by most) Videorecordings for the hearing impaired.
AutoItem item recordsAbout a year ago, a process was created to automatically generate an item record as part of the bib record creation. This was specifically done to enable patrons to place holds on bib records without orders or items. Since then the system has been upgraded and OWLS requested we discontinue the practice as there are/were autoitem records hanging on bib records which should have been replaced with the item was cataloged. Michael has removed all of these autoitems from the database. Please watch for and let Michael know of patrons having difficulty placing holds on titles that don't have items attached; especially if you can see that the bib already has existing holds. It would be most useful if you could tell Michael the title causing the problem.
Weekly "in Tech" holds reportLinda requested that on Tuesdays the catalogers set the status of items they add to the catalog to "repair" instead of "processing" Circulation does not check in the cart of new books when the cart is delivered to Circulation, but at some later time often the next day. OWLS generates a list of items that have holds on them that have a status of "processing". These books should be in Tech waiting either cataloging or physical processing. But it also includes those items on the new books cart. Setting the Tuesday cataloged items with holds to repair should remove the books with holds on the Tuesday new book cart from this list.
Notes 2.24.09
Early morning patron access (pre- open hours)We reviewed the procedures for assisting patrons waiting to enter the building before open hours. Staff should request who they are and what their business is. If it sounds like a business meeting that is scheduled before the building opens, then they may enter. You should offer to bring them to the location of the meeting. If the person is a new employee, it's an opportunity to become acquainted. Administration will attempt to do a better job to keep staff informed when an early morning meeting is scheduled as a heads up.
Tech staff suggested that a visitors badge be created to enable staff to more easily identify people making special use of the facility. The badge could be given out in advance of the meeting, etc.
2009 Budget AllocationsThe Library Board approved the draft of the 2009 allocations for materials. Michael will discuss with Colleen or Tony whether there is still organizational value to maintaining separate lines for funds coming through OWLS, Lost & Paid, Calumet County, Memorials, etc. Last year, the method of handling the payment for materials purchased with these funds was changed as the funds are deposited to the City and then transferred into the Materials Budget line. Note: After a discussion with Tony, he feels there is still value in maintaining ties between the original funder and items purchased. If the Millennium Client is not used to track this information, all of this level of detail is lost. We would no longer be able to respond to funders when asked how the library spent their monies. So we will return to tracking purchases by funding source, even though we will process the billing form to be paid from a single funder.
Notes 1.6.09
2009 End of YearMichael will run an Open Orders report for Linda & Mary. He will confer with Tony to determine when we can close the 2008 books. He will work with Gerri to schedule a date/time to run Fiscal Close and open the 2009 books for orders. Any open orders will be carried forward as open orders in 2009. Michael will also ask Colleen how she would like to manage the allocations of the 2009 Materials Budget.
2009 GoalsTerry has asked that we prepare our 2009 goals and objectives, though the date due hasn't been set, nor has any special language requirements. Each APL employee will have an objective to prove them have met their sections technical competencies.
Notes 12.2.08
2006 orders to be purged from InfoSoupIt's been 3 years since Acquisitions went online. Gerri reminded us that the system has been set up to retain only the current year and prior two years of order history, so the 2006 orders need to be deleted. Linda and Mary couldn't see a problem with deleting this data from this source. They have standing order histories held in spreadsheets, etc. And we have paper copies of invoices held for 5 years.
Notes 12.2.08We reviewed the Section Heads meetings of November 24 and December 1
Michael would like the evaluations ready by Wednesday this week.
The periodical shift will take place beginning December 15.
Linda noted that there's only around $4K left in the budget to spend. We have sufficient items in carts to spend this by year end.
Tech holiday party will take place Monday December 22
Notes 11.18.08Pay Advice ChangesWe discussed the upcoming changes to the pay advices. They'll be distributed using email.
Health InsuranceStaff have received the health insurance selections at home. These need to be turned into Maureen by December 3. Several staff had a number of questions. Mary will forward questions to Administration.
Magazine ShiftLinda & Mary would like to conduct the Periodical Collection shifts the week of December 15th.
Notes 11.11.08We reviewed the agenda for the upcoming AAC meeting
Holiday Spine StickersKathy suggested a list of holiday spine stickers be posted to the T.S. wiki. Michael will ask Jeremiah to create and post the list. Anne asked if we had a Ramadan holiday sticker. No, stickers are easy to create. We should identify if we have other books on Ramadan (especially in the Children's section).
Ingram, Credit Card payment and CreditsMary noted that as we are paying Ingram via credit card, the credits we receive will automatically be applied to outstanding invoice balances the third week of each month. Linda & Mary are holding onto an outstanding credit to monitor the situation.
Katie noted that she's not able to add entries to the Tech Calendar. Michael will review and, if need be, enable Katie to be a user of the Tech Calendar.
Notes 10.7.08
Section Heads meeting notes are online.
New Cataloger AnnouncedGerri has offered the open OWLS funded cataloging position to Anne Paterson. Anne will begin late October.
Section ChangesWe reviewed how practices have changed over the years. The materials funds have increased nearly 5 times since 1981 from $137K to over $570K and the number of employees in Tech has remained the same number, thanks to OWLS providing a cataloger and a part-time library assistant.
Staff have been redistributed: 1981: 2 supervisors 2008: 1 supervisor. 1981: 1 cataloger 2008: 3 catalogers. 1981: 1 library assistant 2008: 2.5 library assitants. 1981: 1 physical processor 2008: 1 FTE physical processor. In 1981 cataloging staff cataloged for 1 library (APL). Today cataloging staff coordinate cataloging services for 51 libraries.
In large part, the ability to manage growth is due to the creative use of automation, the support of the APL and OWLS staff, the willingness of the Tech staff to review current practices and try out new procedures, and their willingness to change processes when they don't work well or when new technologies arrive.
Some of the changes staff identified as turning points include:
Other issues:Katie realized she doesn't have access to the Circulation module which is necessary for a few function performed by the catalogers. Michael will ask Gerri to extend this access to Katie.
We reviewed the implications of Bib Notification on locally edited records. In a nutshell, Bib Note defeats the value of editing bib records in the local ILS. This gaining OCLC Enhanced Cataloging Status for media cataloging will be a priority to obtain by 2010. We'd set the date earlier, but we have two new catalogers on the team.
Notes 9.2.08System Cataloging Problems statusWe reviewed how things were going since Holly's departure. Kathy, Katie & Michael are answering system cataloging and serials questions. Nearly all of the questions are being answered within 5 minutes, usually more likely within 2 or 3 minutes.
Children's Graphic Novels/Comics collectionThe collection development plan for this collection has been approved by Terry. Michael has added it to the CD plan posted on the Intranet/wiki. We reviewed our local cataloging and processing practices. ITypes for anything like comics (sequential framed art with most of the text contained within the frames) should be identified as Graphic Novel (3,13, or 23). The Location should state where the item is located (use OACGR for Child Graphic Novel/Comics collection, etc.). Discussion was held regarding consistency of subject headings and how to apply consistently when we only get to review records for APL.
Trip to Brown County Technical ServicesGerri & Michael had a brief and gracious tour of Brown County PL's Tech Services section. Most of the conversation focused on local practices of cataloging. The staff was also interested in how our system worked. An invitation was extended by Gerri for them to come visit us someday. Brown outsources cataloging to Baker & Taylor for newly purchased children's books and adult nonfiction (as of January 2009). Emily (head of TS) has Baker remove many subject heading subfields and she tinkers a fair amount with subject heading entries including removing data, altering the GMD, etc.
Notes 8/19/08
With Holly gone to a new job and Charles working from home, we reviewed how processes in Cataloging and Acquisitions were going. These issues came up: Baker & Taylor missing ISBNsBaker & Taylor local ISBNs seem to be missing from our bib records. In order to place an order for media, B&T uses their home-grown ISBNs (since most media only have UPC codes). The B&T ISBNs have to be entered by hand into the bib records. It's possible that they are being overlaid as part of the OCLC Bib Notification process. We'll have Linda & Mary watch for newer bibs missing these dummy ISBNs and see who updated the bib record.
Missing Order RecordsA few order records are missing from their bib records. The Get Smart DVD sets should have had an order record attached to them. When Linda & Mary went to order replacement copies, they found the orginal order record missing. It's possible that the original order was attached to a temporary bib. It should have been transferred to the full bib by the catalogers. If it happens again, Linda & Mary should notify Michael right away.
Missing Cataloging Tool Confirmation emailsCataloging Tool confirmations issues. Charles was having problems sending out the confirmation emails which let system staff know which bib records have been downloaded into the system. He now has this up and running, 'cept for APL. Michael will work with Charles to see if APL needs to do something to make this work (again).
Authority Control and Database cleanup is keeping upAuthority Control. Katie is monitoring the authority control Headings Reports. Both Kathy & Katie have been responding to system library cataloging needs and concerns about the catalog. Michael asked if either was reviewing the LC Weekly Headings report. He'll review and pass along entries which impact our catalog.
Easing access of shared documentsIn anticipation of hiring a new OWLS cataloger, Michael will look into moving spreadsheets and files used by both OWLS and APL staff to Google Docs in order to ease the pain of having to access both networks.
Updating the Bidex Index?Kathy will look into whether there is a newer edition of the Bidex files. The one Holly was using seems old.
Updating the Standing Orders listLinda will work with Michael to complete the APLTS wiki's Standing Orders page.
Notes 6/13/08
Child Graphic NovelsAs of today, the following collections have codes: oacgr - Child Graphic Novels
Notes 4/22/08As of today, the following collections have new codes. The collection code change for books on CD (aac and cac) was done for consistency sake. It turns out Appleton was set up with a different coding than the rest of the system libraries. All related items have already been updated to the new codes.
New Collection Codes:oaaad Appleton Book on CD
oacad Appleton Child Book on CD
oayad Appleton YA Book on CD
oayat Appleton YA Cassette
oayay Appleton YA Playaway
If you maintain your own collection tables, you'll want to update them.
The following codes are no longer in use:
Retired codes:oaya (will eventually be retired, prefer the more specific form above)
oaaac
oacac
Notes 4/16/08
Playaway Collection CodesThe new collection codes for Playaways is ready for use.
Please use:
oaaay for playaways going into Adult materials (location will read: Appleton playaways)
oacay for playaways going into the Children's collection (location will read: Appleton Child playaways)
oaya for playaways going into the YA collection (location will read: Appleton YA audiobook)
Notes 3/18/08We reviewed highlights of the 3/17/08 Supervisor's meeting.
Himmel & Wilson will be meeting with section staff next week to discuss each section's building & technology needs. Michael will schedule the meeting with Maureen.
Michael presented a printout of the IUG Enhancement Ballots for Cataloging, Serials and Acquisitions. As voting ends April 11, we will turn our ballots in by April 1.
Linda and Mary plan to focus this week on resolving open orders problems, claims, and Wisconsin serials.
We had a lively discussion about holds management, hold queues, hold ratios, patron hold limits, and their impact on materials circulation, budget expenditures, hold fulfillment rates, etc.
Notes 3/11/08Wiki changesI've moved the Tech wiki to a new location last week. It's new address is: http://aplts.pbwiki.com/. If you attempt to get to our wiki via the APL Intranet, the Tech Services link will take you to a redirect page and after 5 seconds will automatically take you to the new wiki.
If you want to edit any of the pages, you'll need to create an account for yourself at pbwiki.com. After setting up the account, log into it and go to our wiki. When you attempt to edit a page, the wiki software will ask you for an access key. The key for our wiki is: library
So to summarize:
Notes 2/18/08
We reviewed highlights of the Supervisor's meeting of the 17th. We will continue to discuss technology competencies at upcoming staff meetings.
Mary Campbell volunteered to represent TS on the Safety Committee. Katie also volunteered if Tony doesn't get sufficient respondents.
Wisconsin HallJeremiah and Missy continue to update the location of and relabel items found in the Wisconsin Hall. Michael and Meg reviewed items still located in the Business Collection. Reference is keeping the serial service reports on an index table that will continue to be called the Business Collection. A few other items were identified that still had an incorrect location or had been withdrawn a while back, but the item records had not been updated. At this point, all of the problems lingering with the Business Collection have been resolved.
Mary has entered fund accounting for the Ebsco billed. Each title ordered through Ebsco now displays the cost of the title.
Michael has entered the 2008 Materials Budget allocations into the acquisition system. He also created new fund heirarchies based on the Acquisition's monthly report. It's hoped that staff will come to rely upon the online reports more than the monthly printed reports as the online editions are live.
Mary has been working with Karen and Michael to clean up problems with serials and binding in the Wisconsin collection. It's Michael's interest that all of the library's serial holdings be accurately displayed in InfoSoup. Karen has been conducting an inventory of the Wisconsin Collection and is reorganizing some of the material in this collection. Some serials will be stored in the WI Pamphlet file. Eventually, all serials will have check-in cards and holding statements that reflect what the library has received and at least an item record that informs where the serial is residing, including if it is a folder in the WI Pamphlet file.
Michael expressed interest that we expand our use of the new tools for ordering against next years funds. This process, created late last year, worked very well, though it's use was limited to only those items staff identified as having very high patron interest. Michael is working on methods to reduce the backlog of orders the library accumulates due to the closing out of accounts at yearend. In addition, Michael is investigating alternative methods for ordering and obtaining bibliographic records. The importance of expediting bib record acquisition has become much more important as other libraries have come online with their own order programs. They rely upon Appleton to acquire the bulk of the bib records for items they want to order, and their acquisitions staffs don't have easy access to OCLC to obtain bibs. This became apparent this January with a spike of calls from libraries for requests for bib records for forthcoming titles. Even with Linda and Mary ordering as fast as their fingers could type, other system libraries were placing their orders much sooner than we were able.
Notes 2/12/08
We reviewed highlights from the Section Heads meeting of 2/11/08 including a discussion of building security anticipating Friday's staff meeting on the Black Belt Librarian program.
Administration and supervisors have approved the budget line allocations for the 2008 materials budget. The final budget can be found linked from our Tech Wiki (http://apltechservices.pbwiki.com/). If you have problems access either our Wiki or the spreadsheet, please contact Michael.
Speaking of the allocations, Linda & Mary will be updating the funds online to reflect the allocations and Michael will be recreating new heirarchies to duplicate the monthly reports provided to staff. More to follow as the heirarchies become available.
The next Tech Talk meeting will happen tomorrow (Wednesday) from 9:15am to 11:30am.
Two new collections now have collection codes available for use in InfoSoup. The Hmong Resource Center's collection code is: oaahr. The Basement Storage collection code is: oaaos. Michael will work with Colleen and Kristie to identify Hmong materials already owned. These items will have to come to Technical Services for recoding the collection and relabeling. Reference has stored some materials to the basement. Shanna and Jeremiah will be identifying these materials and recoding the collection in the item records. Presently, these materials will not be relabeled. If patrons ask for them, Reference staff will be retrieving them from storage for the patron and can return them to the collection when the patron is finished with them.
The next step in the evolution of ISBN-13 has taken place: publishers are beginning to use the new ISBN-13 prefix: 979. 979 ISBN's have no 10 digit ISBN equivalent. If you're searching for materials by ISBN, you'll need to type all of the 13 digits. There will be no shorter equivalent.
Notes 1/29/08
We reviewed notes of the Section Heads Meeting including Carry-over funds, the statewide study on the economic impact of public libraries on the state's economy, and the I Love My Library fundraiser dinner.
Jeremiah and Missy are about half way finished changing the location identification in the item records and relabeling these materials to the Adult Reference collection. Meg has been weeding the Adult Reference collection in order to make space for these materials.
Colleen & Kristie have requested that the new Hmong collection be titled the Hmong Resource Center. Michael has submitted the request to Gerri Moeller. She has to work with III in order to create the collection name and code in the system and to have the scopings altered to include the new collection. Until this happens, the new collection isn't available for use. InfoSoup should display the collection as: Appleton Hmong Resource Center. The collection code requested is: oaah.
Last Friday, Reference staff moved some materials from the Wisconsin Storage collection (South Reference Workroom) to the basement. Meg will have Shanna identify the barcodes of all of these materials and give to Michael to have the item records altered to show their current location. Michael has requested a new collection name and code to Gerri Moeller. The new collection name will display in InfoSoup as: Basement Storage and the code requested is: oab.
Shanna submitted a list of items currently held in the Wisconsin Hall collection that have the wrong location in their item records. Michael will have Jeremiah work on changing the item location and these items will have to be relabeled to reflect their current location. This task will take place after the work on the Business Collection reclass is completed.
Michael is working with Linda and Mary to identify fund hierarchies created last year that proved useful. The rest of them will be cleared out. New fund hierarchies will be created based on the monthly fund reports. These new reports will give selectors current fund status information on all of their relevant funds in an easily accessible location.
Michael has finished adding all of the current collection's magazine holdings into the database and he has reviewed all of the Appleton's magazine listings in InfoSoup and has updated the holding statements to correctly reflect the issues held.
Notes 1/22/08
We reviewed the highlights of the 1/21/08 Section Heads meeting including:
Michael reviewed the new policy with staff. Concern was expressed over the need to be more agressive about identifying sick leave as FMLA. If staff are not sure whether a sick leave event would/should be covered as FMLA they should consider filling out the paperwork anyway.
Michael has finished adding all (read: ALL) of the periodical back issues from both the Adult and Children's collections into InfoSoup.
Linda & Mary suggested purchasing 2 new taller carts to hold incoming books. What with the budget increase and the training time required for Katie, it's expected that it will take longer for the catalogers to stay abreast of incoming new materials. Without the carts, we will have to look at alternative storage methods. Michael asked Jeremiah to work with Linda & Mary to identify the desired product and to submit an order for them.
Jeremiah and Missy have begun re-identifying materials in the Business Collection as Reference Collection. In addition, they are relabeling materials. This is very labor intensive. Meg is working to identify older materials that are no longer relevant to the Reference Collection in order to free up space for the re-integration of the collection.
Shanna gave Michael a list of items that are still identified in InfoSoup as being in the Wisconsin Collection, when they really reside in the Wisconsin Hall Collection. Michael will work with the processors to re-identify these items and relabel them.
Notes 1/15/08
We reviewed highlights of the 1/14/08 Section Heads meeting including:
Mary, Michael, Meg, Colleen & Dan all worked last week to consolidate the Adult Periodicals into the smaller shelving area. A little (read: very little) space has been left for changes to the current publications should there be title changes, etc. Meg came to understand the poor condition of the loose Life magazine issues. Colleen suggested that next year, we should perhaps move this title into storage and be brought out for student use as needed. Michael suggested that the entire run of the Readers Guide to Periodical Index be brought downstairs and shelved with the periodicals. Meg agreed and Michael asked that the collection be brought down to Tech so the collection could be recoded in InfoSoup and to relabel the items. This should help free up space in the Reference Collection so Meg can reintegrate the Business Collection into it. There's a space crunch on the second floor with new & more Internet workstations coming up soon.
Katie noted that her login to the Millennium client displays as Kathy. She's concerned that her work will be attributed to Kathy. Michael said he'd ask Gerri to look into it.
Michael ran the Acquisitions Year End processing. The processing happened without a hitch. Linda & Mary are now able to submit orders against 2008 funds.
Michael is coming close to having all of the back issues of the magazines in the Adult Collection online and available to circulate via the self-checks. This process should be completed by next week (with luck).
Notes 1/8/08We welcomed our new cataloger, Katie Scullion, to the Tech team. Katie is a recent graduate from UW-Madison's Library Science program.
We reviewed the main points of the Section Heads meeting including:
We reviewed the three shelving charts presented by the Reference staff. Linda and Mary have some concerns about the current holdings fitting into two of the shelving options. They also are not finished swapping out some of the periodical boxes for skinny periodical boxes. Once they've finished this operation, they'll have a better feel for how well the collection will fit in either of the three options being presented.
Staff asked by we were still retaining the old reels of IAC microfilm, when we've paid for perpetual access to this data online. There's also concern about the value of the film itself as they were never fixed very well and many had already begun fading when the product was popular. Michael will ask Meg whether it's worth our retaining the films.
Michael has asked Colleen and Kristie what they want to call this collection. It's the first step to being able to being able to create item records for materials being moved into this collection.
Holly also wondered if the Literacy Collection wouldn't get better use if it was on the first floor.
It became apparent that OWLS Network News is only going to Michael & Holly. Michael stated he would setup an Outlook rule to automatically forward these messages to the entire Tech staff.
Notes 12/18/07
We reviewed Michael's notes from the 12/17 section head's meeting.
We reviewed the 3 possible floor layouts for the current periodical collection. Michael asked Linda & Mary to work with Meg to help her understand both their time schedule/needs and their needs for shifting the periodicals again. There are at least three criteria: Keeping some open space between titles, moving The Magazine Antiques from the As to the Ms, and to collapse some titles from 4 boxes per year to 3 boxes per year in the A-H section. There may be other concerns not mentioned at the meeting.
2 concerns were discussed: Does the weekly old holds list include holds generated by system patrons? or just APL patrons? Michael will ask Gerri to review the criteria for this report and if it's not including system patron holds to include them.
The second concern is due to the realization that the cart of new materials which goes up in the afternoon each day, doesn't get checked in until the next day. The upshot is that the catalogers work to get new materials cataloged and the processors work to get items ready on the date of their release and Circulation doesn't check them in until the day after release.
So, after discussion, we have decided that since Circulation doesn't check in items until the next morning, then we will send up new materials the afternoon prior to their release date. I have also discussed with Vicki and we will put items with holds onto a separate cart. This should help Circ staff more quickly process and distinguish items with holds.
Holly noted that Charles updated the Ebscohost fulltext periodicals titles in InfoSoup. Charles reported that there were around 3,000 new full-text serial entries in the online database. All of these can be accessed via InfoSoup. Unfortunately, lots of the hobby & cooking magazines are still not full-text, just indexed.
We plan to have our Holiday party on this Thursday during lunch.
Notes 10/30/07We reviewed highlights of the 10/29/07 Supervisor's meeting.
Staff "signed" up to attend one of the two sessions of the APL Staff Training program that will happen this Friday and next Friday.
Linda, Mary & Jeremiah will manage this year's periodical shift. Linda & Mary will work with Tony to create a schedule... making sure enough recycling bins are available. Michael will work with Kris Kipping to make sure Jeremiah is available to work an early shift on the days of the shifting. Sara & Missy will be offered some extra hours to make up the lost productivity on the days of the shifting. Holly suggested we consider magnetic shelf labels to identify the title of the periodical label and the holdings statement. Michael asked Jeremiah to look for these type of labels. This would allow us to not have to make all new box labels every year. Michael suggested that we create display signs which show the color key of the years held. When we get examples of the label products we'll present a mockup to staff.
We discussed the impact of our loss of Marty. Fortunately, this is happening at the end of the budget year, when we traditionally begin to run low on funds. Holly & Kathy expressed some frustration on having to catalog & classify items on hold that can't be released for another week (due to publisher's release dates). Linda & Mary offered to use some of the shelving between the catalogers to hold these items and will note on the shelf what the release date is. This may also conserve time as a lot of these records are really brief (or very poor) and have to be closely reviewed. Taking a couple extra days to get to them, may allow for other catalogers to perform the cleanup on the bib records.
Jeremiah told us that some staff in Circulation had taken the tour of City Hall to see the new chair options and the Library had purchased new chairs for them. Staff had been informed of this, but Michael thought Tony had some issues to be resolved before staff would be invited to investigate the chairs and place requests. Michael will ask Tony about the status of this project.
Michael
Notes 10/9/07
We reviewed Michael's notes from the Supervisor's meeting on 10/8
Michael noted that Baker & Taylor Entertainment has (finally) begun EDI invoicing. They have yet to get EDI acknowledgements to work. More later on this!
Linda & Mary will be hosting Debbie & Ellen from Kaukauna PL later this week to walk them through the III ordering process.
Marty announced his resignation on Monday. His last day will be October 26. We are very sad to see him leave. He's been a great asset to our team and a lot of fun to know. We wish him well in his future endevors wherever they lead him.
mn 10/15/07
Notes 10/2/07We reviewed the section head meeting notes.
Linda noted that the unencumbered balances are very low, somewhere around $10,000. Michael will meet with Linda & Mary separately to review the figures.
Notes 9/18/07
Calumet fund expenditure ideasWe reviewed notes from the Section Heads meeting on Monday. Highlights covered were the status of the 2008 budget... Terry stated that so far our budget requests were holding intact. Staff considered ideas for using the Calumet funds and suggested replacing the chairs in the meeting rooms with something more comfortable. Seems like it's one of the most frequent complaint from OWLS meeting use.
Kathy noted that she has signed up to participate in Project Play. This Web 2.0 introduction program sponsored by OWLS began today.
Michael is attending an APL meeting with WILS staffer, Kristen. The catalogers asked him to complain about the poor quality of the new Baker & Taylor level 3 cataloging. The records are missing so much, staff have to do original level work on them and we don't get full credit for upgrading the record. Linda noted that she had 43 items with such bib records in the latest Baker & Taylor Hotpicks cart and she had to create temporary order records by hand since the cataloging staff don't want them added to InfoSoup.
Notes 9/11/07
We reviewed the supervisor's meeting notes from 9/10/07. Michael asked Linda & Mary to locate the cost for the DearReader.com service: It's still $275/year.
We talked about the projects we've come up with for the student: Lynn Martin to do. These include recoding the locations for the InfoDesk and Ready Reference collections. Marty will coordinate the daily management and oversee the training of Lynn this week as both Michael and Kathy have the week off. The catalogers have several reclassification projects they'd like to see cleaned up that they'll train Lynn to do.
Linda & Mary noted that BWI is still having problems settling into their new digs in McHenry, IL. We have had several shipments of duplicate items due to the move to the new quarters. BWI is aware of the problem and is working to correct it.
Holly returned from her vacation to find that the LSTA grant she's been working on for several months, has to be abbreviated. The instructions changed after the process was posted. No one at the state informed grant writers of the change.
Notes 8/21/07
Security concernsBarb Kelly joined us to address staff concerns about security in Technical Services. Some of the concerns expressed were caused by the appearance of unexpected "visitors", and the loudness of people in the halls or using the meeting rooms. Barb had requested that Tech keep it's door open as a sign of welcome, but could appreciate that there are a fair number of non-library related people who feel that openness just means they are free to walk in and start a conversation, ask for help, make demands of staff time, or just act like they own the place. Barb stated that she, Terry and Tony would consider alternatives to improve the security of the section. In the meantime, she recommended that when all staff or even just a few staff are in the office "alone", that the door be closed. If the room is unattended, the room may be locked, especially over lunch time or the evening.
Travel/Training changesMichael noted that there is a new travel/training form and process. Details are noted on the Intranet.
Project PlayMichael & Kathy have signed up to participate in Project Play. As the program evolves, they will share their experiences with the staff.
UW-Milwaukee StudentTech will be sharing with Reference the time of a library science student from UW-Milwaukee. Holly suggested that in addition to having the woman work on some reclass projects, that she assist with the development of the Tech wiki. After thinking some about it, Michael thought this might be a good suggestion, to help staff facilitate the transferring of relevant information from our old intranet site to this site.
MN
Notes 8/14/07
Staff reviewed for Michael the highlights of the TechWorks/CircWorks meeting. Charles demonstrated his tool for system libraries without OCLC access to provide him with sufficient bibliographic information for him to search OCLC for them. This web page/service replaces the need to photocopy the title & verso of new materials for these libraries. It also automatically checks Infosoup to determine if the bib record already exists.
bib template change 024Based on a conversation in the TechWorks meeting, Holly modified the media bibliographic record template to request 024 (UPC code) data. This should help cataloging staff identify purchased media that get ordered using Baker & Taylor's dummy ISBNs. Michael plans to redo aspects of the Acquisition's Monthly Budget Reports using a web query tool built into Excel. This should help streamline this report even more. If he is successful, the reporting structure will be demonstrated and used as a template to other system libraries using the acquisitions module.
Kathy asked that Michael contact Naime to see if she's still available to sew barcode number labels on the new puppets.
Holly continues to work on the Rosetta Stone grant. She noted that even more system libraries are now interested in participating and promoting the service, should the grant become awarded.
Jeremiah noted that he is still waiting for outstanding orders for book jackets and security labels to appear. Michael stated that the security label vendor called to thank us for the order and to ask if we would like a partial shipment or wait a week for a full shipment. He asked to have the vendor ship what was currently available and back-order the rest.
MN
Michael reviewed the topics discussed at the Section Heads meeting on Monday. Of special interest to Tech is that the Mexican Consulate will set up an office at the library in the lower level meeting room on Thursday through Sunday from 9am until 3pm. Also of interest is that the Mayor and other are going to Chinandega, Nicaragua and that our sister city does not have a lending library. The third point of interest to Tech is that next week (July 31) we will share our living space with an ostrich! Well, it'll be next door...
Tony has asked that if Tech wants to submit supply orders to new vendors that vendor contact information be directed to him first for an account to be opened. Tony will coordinate establishing relations with the new vendor.
Harry Potter 7 is scheduled for release Saturday morning. Our copies are due to arrive Friday afternoon. Michael has asked all three processing clerks to work the afternoon shift, as we don't exactly know when Harry will arrive. Copies of the books will go to Cataloging and an item will be generated. The clerks will create added item records and then labels and jackets, etc. The copies will then be re-boxed, sealed and placed on a cart to go to Circulation later that afternoon. Circ is committed to not opening the boxes until Saturday morning prior to opening.
There is speculation that even though AAC opted not to offer special handling for Harry, that local holds might still be filled with local copies of the books. Barb & Terry are in discussion with Rick & Gerri.
Other AAC highlights include all videos will now circulate for 1 week with 2 renewals. At the next AAC meeting they are to discuss changing the circulation period of music CDs.
Other sectional issues:
Linda & Mary worked with Holly to fix cataloging issues with APL microfilms. They also created holding records and check-in cards for these serials.
Mary continues to work on resolving labeling issues with Wisconsin serials. This includes streamlining the labeling, redoing the WI stickers to a generic sticker, and fixing the holdings statements so they reflect what's really owned. Reformatting the labeling will enable more WI collection serials to be handled by the processing clerks.
Michael noted that the oaaou collection now reads Appleton programming in Infosoup. The items with this collection code used to read: Community Services. The items in this collection are those duplicate items stored in the Reference Office Hallway. They are primarily for use in programming.
MN
We reviewed the highlights from the Section Heads meeting
Linda & Mary went back to creating dummy item records upon receipt of new materials. Since staff are requested not to have 2 sessions open at a time, you need to check to make sure which template the client is defaulting to. The templates tend to stick to the last operation opened. If you work in the Acquisitions client for creating item records using one template and then check in new magazines, the system doesn't recognize the change in workflow and continues to default to the earlier template.
Michael informed staff that Meg met with her staff and was in agreement with the catalogers regarding Cuttering computer books under the application name or the operating system version. This would help to pull together the books on Microsoft Windows Vista or Macintosh X Panther (the next version due out soon). It would also pull together books on Dreamweaver even though the original creator (Macromedia) was bought out by Adobe (who just released a new version under the old product's name).
Linda noted that Dealer's Cost (automobile list prices) has gone out of business. She has contacted Meg to find out what Reference would like to do with the current issues.
Michael will send out the URL to the Tech Services wiki to staff for their input. He and Holly have been testing it out and while some aspects of it are very easy to use, other things seem rather difficult to make work properly. Perhaps by putting all of our heads together on this, we can help make this program work well and better than the last Tech Services intranet. The current URL is: http://aplts.pbwiki.com/
MN
We reviewed highlights from the Section Heads meeting.
Michael informed us that he brought last week's concern about the dummy item records to the Section Heads meeting and asked if staff were concerned about the impact of the loss of data in the catalog. Terry asked a number of questions and at the end of the conversation requested that we continue to implement the dummy items procedure as they give patrons some idea of the status of recently received materials. Michael did explain that bibliographic records will continue to exist in the catalog without items even if we continue to attach dummy barcodes due for several different reasons. Most of the item-less bib records are awaiting other libraries to attach their items to them. The second largest reason for item-less bib records are those whose items have been marked for discard and have to wait for the end of the month when statistics are collected. The third reason for item-less bib records is for those bibs which have orders attached. At the last AAC meeting, the system libraries voted not to display order information in the catalog, much to Michael's dismay. If one or two libraries have one or two orders attached to a record, the display in InfoSoup looks fine; but if more than a couple libraries place orders on the same title, the order information quickly becomes ugly. This and the fact that order information displays in InfoSoup in staff mode (login: staffmodelogin, password: staff) and in the client, was sufficient to sway the system directors to vote against displaying order information in the public view of the catalog.
So, at Terry's request, we reviewed our workflow options in order to minimize the impact of creating and using the dummy item records. Mary noted that the difference between creating the dummy item records and not creating them was an additional two steps, though all of the steps are different. Marty thought the concern expressed by Holly was one of just getting used to looking differently at the item records, an issue Holly conceded is very possible. Michael pointed out the item record could always just be deleted and recreated again using the template at the point of cataloging the thing.
Holly also suggested that we investigate displaying order information using item records since AAC opted not to display order information itself in the catalog. This could give patrons and staff a much clearer idea of what's happening to item-less bib records. Michael will follow up on this.
Holly also asked if a status of "Received" could be created and have that display in the dummy items instead of the status: "Processing". She has had a number of librarians calling from APL and other system libraries wanting to know when the item will become available. She believes a status of Received will be clearer. The status would be changed from Received to Processing by cataloging staff when they actually add the item to the database.
Michael informed Linda & Mary that there will be 3 new Foundation Grants funded that will need to be spent by the end of June. Any leftover Foundation funds will be turned over to the Memorials account after the accounting has taken place.
Linda noted that all of the outstanding Children's orders have been placed as well as all of the Adult fiction and media orders.
Kathy, Holly & Marty asked Michael to clarify how the library wants computer books to be Cuttered: under the application's name or the manufacturer's name? Michael suggested he would bring the question up with Meg to get her and her staff's input.
MN
We reviewed the high points of the Section Heads meeting.
Michael asked staff how the implementation of adding dummy item records to recently received materials was impacting staff workflow. Linda and Mary stated that the new workflow added a number of new steps not necessary prior to EDI invoicing. Holly & Michael felt it took a lot more time to figure out what was missing or wrong from the item record, than it took by creating the item from the templates.
Michael suggested that we check out the Rapid Receipt process as it looks like it utilizes the information from EDI invoicing, but doesn't require the generation of an item record. He will work with Linda and Mary to see how the process works and if it's a possible answer.
MN
We reviewed the IUG conference based on statements made at the supervisor’s meeting by Vicki Lenz who attended this year’s conference.
We reviewed highlights of the last AAC meeting. Highlights included: OWLS is setting up wireless Internet connections in 12 system libraries; Little Chute PL will be closed May 21-26 to have new carpet installed; InfoSoup now has a spell-checker embedded into it, and it will now retain user login information until the user logs out of the session; the system libraries opted not to have order information display in InfoSoup due primarily to the amount of space the entries could take up should lots of libraries opt to purchase a title; Gerri provided a large number of options which could be set up to enable libraries to circulate nonfiction videos for 4 weeks, all of the options have negative impacts on staff and/or service, it is expected that only 2 of the options will be voted on at the next AAC meeting; Charles Ledvina demoed his new cataloging assistance tool for system libraries; Gerri gave a overview of the current status of PC management software and requested a group of interested libraries act as a recommending committee; Anne Hunt of New London gave an overview of her implementation of the Acquisitions client… STR, WAU, MAR, KAU, LIT all expressed interest in implementing the program at their libraries.
Acq Item Template Problems Remember to check which item template you’re using when receiving new materials. The system seems to remember which template you used last. This is particularly important after checking in serials as that item template defaults to a non-circulating status. This will frustrate patrons from being able to place holds on materials just received.
Order catch-upLinda & Mary expressed an interest in spending more time catching up with orders before implementing EDI invoicing for Baker & Taylor and BWI.
Adult VHS & DVD collections mergeRemember that the Adult Nonfiction VHS and DVD collections have been merged. The location code to use for this collection is OAAV. OAAD is only used for Adult (fiction/ feature films) DVD. You might want to let the processing clerks know when sending nonfiction videos for processing as they have to modify the label program to make the format display on the spine label.
New "Cataloging Tool" available (thanks Charles!)At the AAC meeting, OWLS released Charles new tool to assist system libraries with getting bib records into InfoSoup. Instead of making copies of the title & verso pages, they log onto a website (http://www.owlsnet.info/cgi-bin/cataloging.pl) and type the ISBN. The website searches Amazon.com, retrieves pertinent information about the ISBN and enters that information into a database. The application will also search InfoSoup to determine if the ISBN is already in InfoSoup and inform the user the bib number. Charles can access the database, search OCLC for the appropriate bib record, transfer it to the catalog; then inform the library of the request status. It’s a very slick product.
WILS Peer Council meeting is this Thursday. Holly, Kathy, Marty & Michael will be attending. MN Michael reviewed the concerns and requirements regarding use of browsers and IM clients. Specifically, In order to use Firefox the application must be set to 1. Update automatically 2. One of the tabs must be set to the Library’s Intranet 3. The Infosoup toolbar is the only extension authorized for use. And anticipate that if you require Network Services staff to resolve computer problems, they may uninstall Firefox in order to determine your computer’s problems.
Following the Library’s Communication Policy requirement that IM application must be set to capture the history of the tool’s sessions, Michael will verify that those using Windows Messenger have the setting set to Capture History.
Admin has requested that section minutes be posted in a timely manner (by the week’s end). The minutes must be written in Word and posted to an Outlook Public Folder as an attachment. Michael will review the process as needed as this is the same process we use to post evaluation document updates.
All sections will store their section’s minutes/meeting notes in a public folder in Outlook. Links or shortcuts can be made from these folders to either the Outlook Bar or the Outlook Favorites (depending on which version of Office you are using). Michael can help set this up for you. The shortcuts are convenient as it becomes bold when new messages arrive in the folder and a number appears to the right of the folder name defining how many unread messages the folder contains. It also provides a very easy way to gain access to the specific public folder.
Barb demoed some of the Web 2.0 tools Sarah has incorporated in the APL Teen web pages. There is some cool stuff being considered and evaluated. It was suggested that we take some time to review some of the tools Reference has been discussing. Michael & Holly will schedule some time in the OWLS lab for an overview of new technologies.
City Training: Marty, Kathy and Mary attended this year’s required City Training session yesterday.
Use of EDI Invoicing for Ingram seems to be working pretty well. Linda resolved the (hopefully) last hurdle/burden of working with the invoice printouts yesterday. A third copy of the invoices (as opposed to the strip at the bottom of the invoice) will be printed and sent along with the payment voucher. They asked to hold off using EDI Invoicing for BWI and Baker & Taylor until at least next week. They need time to catch up with orders.
Michael has asked the processing staff to count items processed by type and time used to process in order to determine new baseline expectations. We’ll be capturing data for a month and then we may repeat the process periodically throughout the year.
MN
Sometime last year we implemented EDI Ordering. EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. It's an international standard for data exchange between businesses' computers. In this case, between the III acquisitions module and our materials vendors such as Baker & Taylor, Ingram and BWI. The standard allows us to create an order online within the acquisitions module and submit it to the appropriate vendor electronically over the Internet. Look Ma! No Paper! No Stamps!
This week, we began setting up EDI Invoicing. EDI Invoicing allows us to "download" invoices from the vendors to the III acquisitions module. The acquisitions module "reads" the invoice data, associates it with the original orders, allows review, and then queues the system to update encumbrances and expenditures. Look Ma! No Typing! (well almost no typing!).
Part of this new implementation is that a temporary item is created as part of the receipt process. So at the moment, you may run into records in InfoSoup that show an item to be in a collection, but to have no call number and to have an item status that says: "Processing". Once the items make their way through Cataloging, the item will be updated and look more normal. Nothing's wrong, the item is in-house and is working it's way through Tech to Circulation. Holds can still be placed on these items.
Which brings up a useful change: Many APL items (hopefully most items) will now have temporary items attached to the bib records as the orders are checked in. Previously, an item on order would look like a bib record with nothing attached. The InfoSoup user would have no idea if this item was coming soon or on it's way out of the collection. This should go a long way to help resolve that identification problem.
Please bear with us. We are still learning how to implement EDI Invoicing. We may change some of these processes and those changes may likely display in InfoSoup.
New London begins implementation of III AcquisitionsWhile on the subject of III acquisitions, New London has been using the system for ordering for several months now, and Door County Library System is in the process of setting it up. So, expect some new information about on order information to appear in InfoSoup for more library!
And if you have any questions or suggestions, we're all ears! (well not literally all ears, be we are open to hearing your ideas!)
MN
Recent Activities in Technical Services
Reference has decided to organize the YA graphic novels and comic books into a formal collection. At the request of Circulation, we requested a new location be created in the database. The new location code for the YA Graphic Novels collection is: oaygr. The parallel item type is 13: Book - YA graphic novel. Holly updated the item type for a large number of YA graphic novels. Diana provided Michael with a list of the graphic novel series monitored by Young Adults staff for inclusion in the collection. Michael located what he believes are all of the items from those series and has updated both the location codes and the item types. He then went upstairs and changed all of the rest of the items not in series that are part of this collection (that were on the shelves). Circulation staff will need to monitor returned materials that are part of this collection for the code: oaygr. Anything going into this collection that still has a location code of: oayf or oay should be sent to Michael to be updated. New spine labels designating the new collection name have not been created. If this is desired and deemed worthy, then we will create new spine labels for all of the items in this collection.
As a result of the changes made to date, we will be able to gather circulation statistics on these materials.
Volume Records vs. Monographic RecordsThis came us as a tangent to the graphic novel conversation above. I'm sure you've noted that some series use use a volume structure (see Boys Over Flowers) and other series use a monographic structure(see Yu-G-Oh!). Both forms are valid, the question is are there circumstances under which it is better to prefer one or the other?
In the old catalog, most OWLSnet libraries preferred to use the monographic structure in order to bypass GEAC's limits on patron's ability to place holds on volume records; but Millennium doesn't have that problem as long as the the volume information is properly encoded in item record. And, the monographic structure allows for more detail about the book. A volume record is generic by definition, but a monographic record can detail all sorts of notes and summaries which can be very useful to the patron. So, in an effort to provide better patron service, we will opt to obtain, or create, a monographic bib record for those items in series which have unique information in each volume.
This ties into the discussion of graphic novels (as an illustration) very well. Many graphic novels arepublished in multi-part volumes, but each book within the series tends to be a complete story, (subplots and characters may well continue across volumes). By creating monographic records for each book in the series, the patron gets content and summary notes. Series title entries link the records together.
Authority Control Improves Patron Service At the last AAC meeting, Holly gave a great demonstration on how our new Millennium system provides new tools we can use to help improve the results of patron's searching strategies. You'll want to read Holly's article which contains screen shots of how she's able to review patron's failed searches and implement changes to the catalog that will enable patrons using those searches to either find relevant materials or be directed to a better search strategies. You can read Holly's article by opening the attachment (the full path is: P:\techserv\authority\patron searches overview.doc).
Holds on Recently Received MaterialsWe are investigating a new process which will enable us to identify items waiting for cataloging that have had holds placed on them after they've been received but before they've been cataloged. In the past we had to wait for an Old Holds report to be generated and that report waited for 30 days to pass before it reported outstanding holds.
This new process requires a new location code identifying Technical Services as a collection: oaor. In Infosoup, oaor will translate to "Appleton in processing" in the location field. In order to implement this process, Acquisition staff (Linda Muench and Mary Campbell) will need to alter their workflow. They will need to split the item receipt and invoicing into two processes. As part of the receipt process, an item record will be generated. It is the item record which will enable us to identify materials in Tech which acquire new holds after having been received. A test period will be conducted to determine if the process works properly and the impact the new process has on staff time.
If the workload impact is manageable, then an additional enhancement will likely result: the reappearance of order status information in Infosoup. The appearance of the order status of items on order did appear when Infosoup first came up. During the first two weeks after migration, we began noticing a problem with the order status in the database, i.e. order status never stopped displaying, even after the items were received. After trying lots of alternatives, we couldn't find a reasonable solution, so opted to have OWLS turn off this display. If the process of creating item records as part of the receipt process is implemented, then we should have sufficient points to enable the control of order status in Infosoup.
Weeding reports can now be generated in-house! Please submit your requests to Michael. Please identify what collection(s) you wish to review and your parameters. Parameters may include publication date, acquisition date, number of circulations, number of circulations this year (or lack thereof), etc.
MN
New Foundation GrantsTerry approved 3 new APL Foundation grants: YA Spanish language materials ($400), Graphic novels for first and second graders ($500), and poetry for young children ($500).
Computer issuesWe discussed software used to conduct work in the section. Cataloging staff continue to be concerned with the need to load software applications & some DVDs in order to catalog the materials or to complete the cataloging for these items. Software compatibility with OWLSnet libraries is also very important. Kurt will be upgrading Kathy & Marty's computer in the near future.
Wisconsin Digital ArchiveHolly noted that bib records are being added for the Wisconsin Digital Archive. The records have two 856 (URL) tags. One tag contains a direct link to the file, the second tag contains a PURL to the same file. The PURL links require an extra click to get to the file.
Carpet changesThe Tech office space was cleared out by Friday of last week in order to have new carpet installed. The carpet in Tech was the original carpet from 25 years ago. The new carpet and the painted east wall make a huge improvement to the room. Tony's guys had most of the room set up by the time the catalogers began arriving. The rest of Monday was spent putting materials back on shelves and cleaning out unnecessary stuff. The media processing area has been completely reorganized and downsized. The extra space has been added to Charles' area. Mary Wieczorek noted that the new arrangement of the furniture and space in the media processing area seems to make the workflow much more efficient. Staff are invited to come down and take a look at our modified digs. The Technical Supervisor's office and the lower level hallway will have their carpets replaced this weekend. The meeting room's carpet is to be replaced next weekend.
How to Access Acquisitions Funds StatusWe are still getting used to the new acquisitions and cataloging systems. Selectors wanting to review the current state of their budget line can find up-to-date information by clicking this URL: www.infosoup.org/manage, then select Acquisitions/Fund Reports from the list on the left. Log into the system using "acirc" and password "7213". The Financial Status reports for Appleton will appear. There are 2 parts to this display. The left panel lists various fund groups. The right panel displays the fund status information for the selected group. The screen defaults to displaying all of the funds for Appleton (which is the top fund group on the left panel). To find information for just a specific group, select the box to the left of the group name from the left panel and the information display for that group will appear in the right panel. If you don't find a grouping that meets your needs please contact Michael and he'll work to make the grouping.
LC Drops Series Headings ManagementRecently, the Library of Congress (LoC) has decided to cut costs by no longer authorizing series headings (i.e. series titles). This has caused a huge stir in the cataloging community as most libraries (especially public libraries) depend on LoC for this information. In fact, a huge number of libraries assume that LoC cataloging has a certain level of credibility and reliability and they don't bother reviewing records from LoC. Some other national agencies will continue providing authority records for series headings. Another aspect of this could also be a problem as software developers rely upon LoC to set standards that they incorporate into their (read: our) catalog(s). Things like this could have huge impact. The justification LoC used to cut this service is that patrons primarily search via keyword. Thus, they felt it unnecessary to authorize title searches as they apparently are no longer relevant.
RDA (coming soon, someday...)RDA, or Resources Description and Access, is expected to be the new set of cataloging rules to replace AACR2. The new set of rules are a complete rewrite and to a large extent a rethinking of cataloging and it's purpose. It is also expected to be a single set of rules that will unify and replace all of the individual cataloging rule sets that are in current usage worldwide. You can find more information about RDA at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rda.html. The RDA is expected to be finalized in 2008. Holly noted that one of the rules being submitted would not allow the bib record for unpaged books to state "unpaged" in the bibliographic description tag; instead the cataloger (or some cataloger somewhere) would have to count the number of pages in the book and enter a specific number for the number of pages.
MN
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