The Future of Cataloguing: A CILIP CIG (MDG) Day Workshop, Tuesday 19th November, London

In July CIG polled its membership to seek permission to change the Group’s name to the Metadata and Discovery Group. This was overwhelmingly endorsed and has been approved by CILIP.

Now we want to gather your experiences and opinions to inform the next stage of our evolution as your voice in the Information Profession.

Building on the event originally designed and run by CIG Scotland (Edinburgh 7th June) and adapted and re-run by the Mercian Metadata Group (Aston 20th August) we want to offer you the opportunity to meet at CILIP HQ in London to discuss and inform the future of cataloguing (and metadata!)

The feedback from all 3 events will then be used to help us plan how we support you – our Cataloguing and Metadata Community of Practice – now and in the future.

The event will be run using the World Café method “designed to create a safe, welcoming environment in which to intentionally connect multiple ideas and perspectives on a topic by engaging participants in several rounds of small-group conversation”.

We will run four tables each with a broad topic on the future of metadata and cataloguing. Your facilitators are experienced practitioners who can lead and encourage discussion on their chosen topic.

Participants will have a chance to discuss all of the topics over the course of the day.

Table discussions
Table sessions will last around 30 minutes and we envisage that there will be 4-5 participants per table.

There are four broad areas proposed for discussion:

1.      The future of authority control, identifiers, linked data, subject analysis and controlled vocabularies (LCSH, FAST, TGN, etc.) – Facilitated by William Peaden
2.      The future of content standards (& data models) (RDA, ISBD, DCRM, etc.) & encoding models/formats (Marc, Bibframe, etc.) – Facilitated by Alan Danskin
3.      The future of cataloguing practice: what will the cataloguer or metadata manager of the future look like? – Facilitated by Helen Williams (London School of Economics)
4.      The future LMS/catalogue: will they exist? What form will they take? And what about the future of data (sources, suppliers)? – Facilitated Fran Abbs (University of Sheffield)

Discussions at the recent CIG Scotland and Mercian events also considered :

•       How can we realise the potential of connecting information through linked data when different organisations are implementing it with different standards and approaches?
•       Is subject analysis still a worthwhile exercise?
•       How important is it for cataloguers to understand the data models underpinning the content standards?
•       Is MARC really a dead man walking? Does it really need to die?
•       What are the most significant problems you face concerning your catalogue? Are they related to metadata quality, speed of delivery, accuracy of content coverage?
•       What are the biggest barriers to efficient, cost-effective metadata production in your institution?

We really hope that you will be able to join us!

To book onto the workshop please click on this link

https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cilip.org.uk%2Fevents%2FEventDetails.aspx%3Fid%3D1291014%26group&data=02%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C43dd08076531402d5ad608d755b16f67%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637072092883307082&sdata=ta4IutQ18Vx%2BZ1sAEEzADmhrC8jfbd%2BS8N6DfFK73i8%3D&reserved=0=

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European BIBFRAME workshop, September 2018, Florence

 

A report by Elly Cope.

Just about a month ago I attended the 3 day European BIBFRAME workshop in Florence on behalf of the Cataloguing & Indexing Group Committee. I was there to learn more about BIBFRAME as we’ve all been hearing it mentioned for what feels like a very long time without getting much more detail and see if I could identify anyone who might be willing and able to provide some training or more information on BIBFRAME.

Well, I was successful on both those counts but the content of the workshops was broader than just BIBFRAME and there was a lot of talks about linked data and projects different libraries have implemented or are planning to implement. One indication of how much there was to take in was the fact that I ended up with 15 pages of notes, even with quite a lot of those being “SEE SLIDES!!” or “CONTACT X TO FIND OUT MORE!!”.

Day 1 was an overview and introduction to BIBFRAME. In his opening address the Chair, Leif Andresen, announced that we were truly international as we had delegates from 20 countries including Qatar and Canada! I was also relieved when we went round the room to find that I wasn’t the only one with just a passing acquaintance with BIBFRAME.

Sally McCallum from the Library of Congress kicked us off with an introduction to BIBFRAME, its history and plans for the future. They’ve expanded the pool of cataloguers trained in BIBFRAME cataloguing and are fully committed to working in BIBFRAME, with a target date of 2.5 years to fully adopt it. They are working very closely with Casalini Libri (our hosts for the workshops) on developing conversion and creation technologies and there was a talk by Tiziana Possemato from Casalini on the technical process they’ve developed for converting MARC to BIBFRAME.

Later in the day we heard from Niklas Lindström from the National Library of Sweden on their project to convert their catalogue to linked data. He raised the spectre that seemed to pervade all 3 days for me which is that even though it’s called linked data it’s actually proving rather difficult to share… He did also have the analogy of the workshop for me regarding their linked data project: it’s like Lego – they’ve managed to build the fire station and they may even be able to add the fire engine but they’re also very aware that there are helicopters, dinosaurs and knights out there too!

There were a couple of talks to round out the day on actual editing tools. Stanford University have a tool called CEDAR which anyone can play with as long as they create an account and it’s really good because you don’t need to have your own triple store! https://metadatacenter.org Bioportal: https://bioportal.bioontology.org Jodi Williamschen from the Library of Congress spoke about the BIBFRAME editor which is also available as open source and anyone can download it but you would need your own triple store and it’s not designed to be a public interface – she did describe it as “an editor only a catalog[u]er could love”!

Days 2 and 3 were much more focused on the workshop elements and we had several breakout sessions to discuss particular areas which seemed to come up repeatedly in the talks and questions. One big theme was how BIBFRAME and RDA will work together and the discussion included thoughts on mapping from RDA to BIBFRAME and then back again to see where the common areas are and the possibilities of creating an authoritative alignment so that everyone in the community could use the same mappings. The granularity of RDA was felt to be important as it would be possible to revise it to simpler models if necessary. The other key theme for me was the issue of training and how people can access it without each library who wants to take on a project having to reinvent the wheel. A document containing resources has been added to the ‘Work in progress’ folder in the European BIBFRAME Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/100PmbDIgFMwnOJNcixYLNbDP4KH6_USg

All the presentations can be found on the website: http://www.casalini.it/EBW2018/

In amongst all the work there was an opportunity to admire some amazing Florentine architecture – our venue was a villa that is now a campus for the European University Institute and we got to visit the former headquarters of Casalini Libri and actually climb the Torro rosso that features in their logo! The other delegates were fascinating and extremely helpful and I had some fantastic conversations with them – hearing about Switzerland’s plans to merge 5 union catalogues into 1 at the same time as implementing Alma was a particular highlight! This is an extremely valuable community and one I hope CILIP CIG and the UK community more widely can get more involved with in the coming years.

Catalogue & Index Issue 192: indexing

From the editorial – Catalogue and Index: Issue 192.

Welcome to issue 192 of Catalogue and Index which is devoted to the
topic of indexing. The term “indexing” can have different meanings, as
indexing takes place in many different ways and formats. So, we are
delighted that this issue gives a taste of the different ways indexing is
used in various parts of the information professions. We have
discussions about Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and
FAST, which may be the ways many of us encounter indexing in
everyday cataloguing life. However, the issue also contains articles
about keywords in abstracting and indexing databases, subject indexing
in repositories, and back-of-the-book indexing. We hear from those who
do indexing and lead developments in indexing, as well as from those
who research indexing. Above all, this issue shows the variety and
vibrancy of indexes, indexing and indexers.

Contents:

• FAST forward?
• Methodologies for classifying repositories
• Subject indexing in a repository
• History of index creation 
• Comedic indexes
• Foundation of the Society of Indexers
• Directions in indexing
• Change needed in the subject index 
• Online language classification
• Machine translation 
• Retrospective cataloguing case study 
• CILIP 2018 conference report
• Letters and responses
• Full Issue (192)

CIG 2018 – pre-conference meet up, 4th September

Hello CIG Conference delegates!

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at this year’s CIG Conference in Edinburgh, 5-7^th September.   If you’re local or arriving early, and don’t have any plans for the evening before conference starts, you are cordially invited to an informal meet up on the 4^th September from 6 pm.

Join members of the CIG & CIG Scotland Committees, as well as fellow delegates, in the Summerhall bar, which is only ten minutes’ walk from the Conference venue and accommodation (see directions below).  An excellent choice of food and drink is available, plus outdoor courtyard if the weather stays fine.

The café-bar –  which was once the Small Animal Hospital of the Dick Vet School – is surrounded by an eclectic mix of art and business venues, including a micro-distillery and micro-brewery (sorry, these will be closed).  Just head straight into Summerhall, cross the courtyard, and the bar will be right in front of you.  CIGS will be flying a flag to let you know where and who we are.

We’d love to see you there, and welcome you to Edinburgh for the start of CIG 2018!

How to get there

You can find the website at https://www.summerhall.co.uk/the-royal-dick/  with map at https://www.summerhall.co.uk/about/location/

Directions from the conference venue can be found on google maps at https://tinyurl.com/yc2ytb4g

If you have any queries, please get in touch with cigscot@gmail.com

See you at CIG 2018!

CIG & CIG Scotland Committees

Report from CILIP Conference 2018, Brighton

As per the experience of Laura Cagnazzo

Twitter: @LauraFCagnazzo

Winning a bursary from the Cataloguing & Indexing Group was such a thrill! I would have not been otherwise able to attend my first CILIP Conference. Seen from the perspective of a newly-qualified information professional (that I am), CILIP Brighton 2018 was a triumph of positivity, inspiration and passion for the profession. For those who were not able to attend, I would recommend to flick through the Conference pictures, visit the Conference website, check out the related tweets on Twitter (@CILIPConf18, #CILIPConf18) and listen to the special episode of the podcast “Librarians with Lives” by Jo Wood. I hope that reading this report will also give a taste of what attending the conference felt like.

CIG Scotland AGM 2018

The Cataloguing & Indexing Group in Scotland warmly invites you to its 2018 Annual General Meeting, which will take place at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow on Friday 17th August, 2018.

Interested parties can contribute to the agenda by contacting CIGS Secretary, Eilidh MacGlone at cigscot@gmail.com.

Find out more information about the event and book your place through Eventbrite: CIG Scotland AGM 2018

When and Where

• Date: Friday 17th August, 2018
• Time: AGM will start at 1:30
• Venue: Activity Space, Kelvin Hall, 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AW

See you all in August.

Cataloguing and Indexing Group in Scotland

 

2018 ISKO UK Student Research Grant

The opportunity:

Are you a student?
Would you like a grant of up to £500 for your research project?

If you are in the planning or initial stages of your dissertation and need funding to help you with your research, ISKO UK has a fund of up to £500 for research related to Knowledge Organization.  This could include (but is not limited to) research on:

•       Cataloguing
•       Classification
•       Authority files
•       Thesauri
•       Metadata
•       Linked open data
•       Ontologies
•       Taxonomies,
•       Information architecture

For further details please visit:

http://www.iskouk.org/content/isko-uk-grants-students

Do apply as soon as possible. A decision on the applications is expected to be made by the end of July 2018. Best of luck to all of those who decide to apply.

International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO)

The International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO) is a membership organization that advances the theory and practice of knowledge organization (KO). As the UK chapter of ISKO, we run regular conferences, meetings and seminars, many of which are free to students.

You can find more information about ISKO and about ISKO UK, including past and future events, at www.isko.org and www.iskouk.org respectively.

 

Catalogue & Index: Call for papers (Issue 192) – Indexing

The theme for the September issue is indexing; this may be something that comes within the remit of your cataloguing role, or you may be a professional indexer.  The term covers several areas of expertise that we would be interested in hearing about.

• Subject indexing – controlled vocabularies, subject headings e.g. (LCSH, MeSH, FAST), discussing challenges of multilingual subject access, specificity, machine indexing, subject analysis, social tagging and folksonomy, purpose of indexing
• Book indexing – introduction to the profession, indexing practice, effect of automation and software, ebook indexing, future of the profession, technicalities, standards
• Database indexing – what it encompasses, linked to subject or book indexing

We are seeking articles on these or any other topics broadly related to indexing.

Please contact the editors with any proposed papers and we will reply with further information:

Karen Pierce: PierceKF@Cardiff.ac.uk

Deborah Lee: Deborah.Lee@courtauld.ac.uk)

Please also contact the editors if you have any queries, or if you want to offer a paper that does not fit into the theme mentioned.  We are always happy to consider papers on topics unrelated to an issue’s theme, especially if it is the result of some research you have conducted, or a project you have been involved in.

Papers can be up to 2,000 words, and we are happy to include a selection of images; papers for this issue will be due on 31^st August.

Please check our guidance for contributors: https://archive.cilip.org.uk/cataloguing-indexing-group/catalogue-index/guidance-contributors

Catalogue & Index: Call for papers (Issue 191) – Ethics for cataloguers

Ethics, values and trust are important topics in library and information work in 2018, and the position of ethics within our professions is a hotly discussed issue.

• What does “ethics” mean for cataloguing, classification and indexing?
• What is your ethical stance as a cataloguer, and do you have ideas about what you would like to see as the ethical position(s) of cataloguing?
• Do people trust the library catalogue or the classification/indexing of library resources, and more to the point, should they?
• Have you encountered a particularly problematic area of a classification scheme or cataloguing issue which you consider to be ethically problematic?
• What do you think we could do about it? How do you deal with ethical cataloguing/indexing/classification issues in your own library or information setting?
• Who do you think are the custodians of cataloguing ethics?
• Do you think our ethical practices and policies need to change as we move from older library cataloguers to a potential linked data future?

We are seeking articles on these or any other topics broadly related to ethics, value and trust within metadata, cataloguing, classification, and indexing.

If you would like to write a paper for this issue we will send you more information. Please contact the editors:

• Karen Pierce: PierceKF@Cardiff.ac.uk
• Deborah Lee: Deborah.Lee@courtauld.ac.uk

Please also contact the editors if you have any queries or if you want to offer a paper that does not fit into any of the themes mentioned. We are always happy to consider papers on topics unrelated to an issue’s theme, especially if it is the result of some research you have conducted or a project you have been involved in.

Papers can be up to 2,000 words, and we are happy to include a selection of images. Please check our guidance for contributors: https://archive.cilip.org.uk/cataloguing-indexing-group/catalogue-index/guidance-contributors.”

Library Juice Academy classification course: a report by Anna Hughes

I recently received a bursary from CILIP’s Cataloguing & Indexing Group to complete a four week Dewey decimal classification course run by Library Juice. I saw this opportunity advertised on the CIG blog (via Twitter).  As well as being used at most academic libraries in the United Kingdom, the Dewey decimal classification system is common in public libraries too. While my cataloguing role at The University of Manchester Library (UML) involves copy cataloguing shelf-ready items to DD23, I am not involved with the classification of the new material passing through the department. The online course aimed not only to expose novices to the steps necessary to assign classification and build Dewey numbers using Web Dewey, but to give them a solid foundation in the creation and interpretation of Dewey decimal classification numbers as well. For those (like me) who are more used to copy cataloguing Dewey numbers, this was an opportunity to understand the methods used to build the classification numbers from scratch.

This course consisted of lessons and practical exercises to give participants experience with classifying various types of resources. There were also group discussions which were extremely useful when you had a classification quandary, which given the subjective nature of classification, was pretty regularly! Each week’s content was posted on a Sunday night with a week to read through the subject matter and complete the assignments and exercises. Deadlines were not strict though which meant that the course could work around my job which was perfect.

So what have I gained from taking this course? I hadn’t realised how complicated the Dewey decimal classification system is! Although I already had a basic familiarity with the system thanks to my PG.Dip in Library & Information Management, and from copy cataloguing in my day to day role, elements of classification such as using the Dewey decimal classification tables to add depth to classification numbers took me way out of my comfort zone. However, this course gave me an understanding of how and why material is classified where it is and enabled me to develop in-depth classification numbers using building blocks. Although classification at UML is made more complicated by the fact that we classify material to a range of Dewey decimal, dependant on the subject matter, thanks to CILIP and CIG, hopefully, I’ll be able to put what I’ve learned into action soon.