Join CILIP on 4th May at 12:30 for a new module in the Data Driven Librarianship course powered by Nielsen BookData, recognised by CILIP. In the Research Module Update, Nielsen BookData will provide a full year review of the UK book market’s 2021 performance, including a look at their library loans data and further insights from LibScan. Register now for free: https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1623059&group=
The UK NACO funnel is being activated.
Established through the MDG, this is an initiative to allow UK libraries to contribute directly to the Library of Congress Name Authority File, the dominant authority file for the English Speaking World and beyond.
A total of 4 institutions (University of Aberystwyth, University of Liverpool, Sheffield Hallam University and University of Leeds) are in the process of training to contribute (a fifth, University of Cardiff, are already expecting to join in the next round of training), and full activation and utility will proceed subsequent to the full establishment of the funnel and completion of training and registration. Please contact Martin Kelleher (martind@liverpool.ac.uk) for further details and expressions of interest to join.
Proposals are invited for the CILIP Metadata and Discovery Group (MDG) biennial conference “Metadata and Discovery” to be held from 7th-9th September 2022 at IET Birmingham: Austin Court in Birmingham, England.
Conference theme
With our mission to advocate for Metadata and Discovery firmly established this year’s conference aims to explore a wide range of advocacy initiatives to showcase current metadata impact across the information sector. The focus of the conference will be on revealing the everyday metadata activities that drive discovery in our information economy and the skills and competencies needed to carry out this work. The conference will explore all aspects of metadata advocacy from traditional cataloguing to research data management and preservation and everything in between. We encourage submissions from information professionals, students and researchers, research data and open access specialists, data suppliers and standards and system developers on this theme and active audience participation.
Conference schedule
The main conference will take place over the first two full days. We are pleased to announce that, on the third day of the conference we will again be hosting the UK Committee on RDA for a day of RDA related news and activities. Visits to libraries may be arranged for the Tuesday preceding the conference.
Conference topics
MDG welcomes proposals that cover, but are not confined to, the following areas:
Proposals closely reflecting the main conference theme will be especially valued.
Formats
We welcome proposals, in English, in the following formats:
Submissions
We hope to hear from professionals in every library sector and also encourage submissions from current and recently graduated LIS students who would like to take this opportunity to present their research to the cataloguing community.
Cataloguers, indexers and other metadata specialists have a significant role to play in the future of information services and it’s something worth shouting about. Whether you are an experienced presenter or hoping to share your thoughts for the first time in front of a welcoming audience we hope you will consider submitting a proposal.
Submissions deadline
Submissions should be made by 15th April 2022in an attached document via email to w.peaden@aston.ac.ukand should include:
Proposals will be reviewed by the conference planning committee and selection will be made based on their content, relevance and overall fit with the conference aims. In some cases it may be necessary to make amendments in order to meet programme requirements.
Presenters will be notified of their success by email on13th May 2022 at which point further detailed instructions on conference registration, travel, accommodation and publication will be shared. If you have any initial questions do get in touch!
The new issue of Catalogue and Index (205) has been published.
Welcome to C&I 205,
And welcome to 2022! Hopefully it will be a happier and healthier year for
all of us than 2021. Or 2020.
We covered issues with the still continuing COVID19 epidemic last issue
however, which demonstrated the adaptability and innovation undertaken
by many in the face of one of the most significant crisis of the age,
however, and this issue looks hopefully into the future into how the kind
of innovations that many of us have been practising for years can be
surfaced, publicised and realised.
The topic for this issue is advocacy.
In many ways, the work of the metadata librarian has always been a
backroom job. Many of us experience the situation whereupon telling
someone our profession, if they use the library or institution we work for,
(or have done), that they admit to never having seen us working there,
no matter how well they feel they know the staff. This isn’t surprising,
since metadata work is often undertaken in the back room, and doesn’t
involve working at any of the customer facing desks in the library.
Now perhaps, many of us are often working even more backroom, in the
backroom of our houses, at least some of the time, as in an increasingly
normalised and common practice in the modern workforce than was the
case 2 years ago.
However low profile we may be in our terms of our customers, however,
there is an increasing need to increase our profile professionally.
As the use of union catalogues have been proven to be a valuable and
efficient approach to sharing data, so the sharing of practices, standards
and support between ourselves and with other stakeholders is increasingly of value in ensuring and improving the quality and consequent value of that data. Furthermore, to develop the kind of higher profile that facilitates greater engagement with stakeholders and higher profile that facilitates greater engagement with stakeholders and the ability to serve the purposes of our customers, there is a need to advocate for the value of the services we provide.
In order to gain the kind of support and empowerment that will empower us to fulfil the mighty role that data management is to take, as not only libraries but the information world in general slowly moves towards the next great leap in networking. This next great leap is into the much heralded semantic web, the full realisation of the
potential of linked data, and to be empowered to do that, we need a voice, or perhaps many voices, and in many ways, perhaps those voices need to be our own.
In short, we need to employ the art of advocacy.
There are 3 papers featured in this issue, covering the various aspects of advocacy.
Jenny Wright’s article directly addresses the value of metadata and defines it’s value and sets a strong
argument for why it’s something that requires and deserves advocacy in the first place.
Emma Booth’s article applies to fulfilling this need and demonstrates the effective application of advocacy by
herself and others to increase the recognition of metadata as a valuable resource, and the resultant positive
impacts upon standards and practices in the library and library supply industries
Finally, Anne Welsh reasserts the value of publication-in-hand cataloguing, and advocates for the recognition of the same as an important and vital part of the modern metadata landscape, demonstrating it’s importance through historical reference and contemporary demonstration of need and value of it’s application.
Altogether, these 3 papers work together to provide a well rounded argument, which, if applied effectively (and certainly these papers already demonstrate how such advocacy is already being used effectively) provide a sound footing for the demonstration of the value of metadata.
Hopefully, they will inspire and educate all of us who read them to advocate more effectively for the value of metadata which can only be a good thing for those who use the services we provide.
Martin Kelleher
Catalogue & Index Call for Papers – September (issue 204) 2021
For the next issue, we’re looking at the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our work with metadata.
What are the key work struggles that you have faced over the past year, and how have you attempted to handle them? Does the phrase “new ways of working” fill you with dread, or have you discovered positive aspects to remote working? Have any projects suddenly become more achievable, or swathes of work become impossible to accomplish? Have you worked on anything that has been directly connected to tackling the pandemic, or reducing the risks for the users of our resources? How have you tried to stay in touch with colleagues, formally and informally? And do you have any sense that certain changes will be here to stay?
The deadline for this issue is 31st August. Please contact the editors (Philip Keates: P.Keates@kingston.ac.uk and Martin Kelleher: martind@liverpool.ac.uk) with proposed papers, 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. We encourage people from all sectors to contribute, and actively welcome international contributions as well. Papers can be up to 2,000 words, and we are happy to include a selection of images. Please check our guidance for contributors:
Our March issue presents a range of papers on many aspects of subject headings and controlled vocabularies, from ethical challenges to standardisation efforts.
The issue is available here:
Articles include:
Of ouija boards and teaching Library of Congress Subject Headings, by Karen Snow
Controlled vocabulary and authorities: problems everywhere, by Preston Salisbury and Joy DuBose
FAST and the British Library: where we are now, by Janet Ashton and Caroline Kent
Collaborative working across the Atlantic – participating in the Subject Headings Working Group of the Cataloguing Code of Ethics, by Jennie-Claire Crate
Making change that matters in the library catalog, by Laura E. Daniels, Jacqueline K. Magagnosc, and Margaret F. Nichols
Sizeist subjects: an investigation into sizeism in Library of Congress Subject Headings, by R. M. Waldorf and Jonathan Furner
The ethics of describing images: representing racial identities in photographic collections, by Paula Jeannet
The Homosaurus, by Brian M. Watson, Chloe Noland, Amber Billey et al.
Creation of Nepali subject headings with international standard : a project, by Bina Vaidya and Gita Thapa
And book reviews from Karen Pierce and Anne Welsh
This issue, the spotlight is on subject headings.
How do you view the importance for discoverability of subject access through headings, and do you have any stories or research to support this? Have you worked on projects that have involved subject headings? Have you fought to change outdated and/or offensive headings, and do you have any thoughts on the ethical challenges presented by this aspect of librarianship? Do you use, or are you involved in creating or maintaining, any specialised or bespoke vocabularies? We’d be very happy to help spread the word about vocabularies you’ve found useful which others might not know about.
The deadline for this issue is 28th February. Please contact the editors (Philip Keates: P.Keates@kingston.ac.uk and Martin Kelleher: martind@liverpool.ac.uk) with proposed papers, 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. We encourage people from all sectors to contribute, and actively welcome international contributions as well. Papers can be up to 2,000 words, and we are happy to include a selection of images. Please check our guidance for contributors:
Philip Keates and Martin Kelleher
Co-editors, C&I
We are pleased to announce that MDG has partnered with BCS IRSG to secure discounted registration on Search Solutions 2020 for MDG members.
Main event: Weds 25 November, ONLINE
Tutorial: Tues 24 November, ONLINE
Innovations in Search and Information Retrieval
Search Solutions is the BCS Information Retrieval Specialist Group’s annual forum focused on practitioner issues and latest innovations in the area of Search and Information Retrieval. The programme includes presentations, panels and keynote talks by influential industry leaders on novel and emerging applications in search and information retrieval. Search Solutions offers a tutorial programme the day before the main event.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, Search Solutions 2020 will be completely online, making it accessible for a worldwide audience. Further information about Search Solutions 2020 including past events can be found at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Firsg.bcs.org%2FSearchSolutions%2F2020%2Fsse2020.php&data=04%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C2f5b40aa690a4aa789ae08d88754bd42%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637408145755697049%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=u54M1k4v5en2a7G04QV8pfZH5FKNp%2FVdngEowyjs7Yg%3D&reserved=0. Further information about tutorials can be found at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Firsg.bcs.org%2FSearchSolutions%2F2020%2Fss2020tutorials.php&data=04%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C2f5b40aa690a4aa789ae08d88754bd42%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637408145755707040%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=wdNieEHFIbIMpB36298ZlLUpfcfU3Li%2FpkA6N0qx%2F%2BY%3D&reserved=0.
PROGRAMME (Wed November 25) – UK timezone
10:00-10:05 Introduction
SESSION 1
10.05-10.35 Elaine Toms, University of Sheffield: Conceptualising Search as a Set of Cognitive Prostheses
10.35-11.05 David Maxwell, University of Delft: Searching, Stopping and User Modelling
11.05-11.15 Q&A
SESSION 2
11.30-12.00 Paul Cleverley, Infoscience Technologies: The Impact of COVID-19 on Enterprise Search
12.00-12.30 Paul Levay, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence: Systematic searching in the age of uncertainty: identifying the evidence for NICE guidelines
12.30-12.45 Q&A
12.45-13.30 Lunch break
13.30-13.35 Introduction
SESSION 3
13.35-14.05 Charlie Hull, OpenSource Connections: Building the best ecommerce search with open source software
14.05-14.35 Agnes Molnar, Search Explained: Impact of information quality on successful enterprise search implementation – a case study
14.35-14.45 Q&A
SESSION 4
14.45-15.15 Marianne Sweeney, Daedelus Information Systems: IR Intelligence: Introduction to Neural IR & Learning To Rank
15.15-15.45 Michael Bendersky, Google: TF-Ranking: Learning-to-Rank in Tensorflow
15.45-15.55 Q&A
SESSION 5
16.05–16.35 Tony Russell-Rose, UXLabs/Goldsmiths University of London: Searching fast & slow
16.35-17.05 Jeremy Pickens, OpenText: Challenges and Opportunities in Ediscovery and Information Governance: Not Everything is Big Data
SESSION 6
17.10–17.40 Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Northeastern University at Silicon Valley: Search Biases
17.40–18.00 Q&A and closing remarks
TUTORIAL (Tues November 24)
Alexander Kuhnle, Miguel Aroca-Ouellette, John Reid, Dell Zhang (Blue Prism AI Labs): Reinforcement Learning for Information Retrieval (Full-day Tutorial)
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Firsg.bcs.org%2FSearchSolutions%2F2020%2Fss2020tutorials.php&data=04%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C2f5b40aa690a4aa789ae08d88754bd42%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637408145755707040%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=wdNieEHFIbIMpB36298ZlLUpfcfU3Li%2FpkA6N0qx%2F%2BY%3D&reserved=0
LOCATION
Online: for further details see https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Firsg.bcs.org%2FSearchSolutions%2F2020%2Fsse2020.php&data=04%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C2f5b40aa690a4aa789ae08d88754bd42%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637408145755707040%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=AJyguFvpqR%2FjMS4Us17NLjdsTwBH%2FMQfqUEeUAvSKBY%3D&reserved=0
REGISTRATION
Please register at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Firsgss2020.eventbrite.co.uk%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjdaniels%40CARDIFFMET.AC.UK%7C2f5b40aa690a4aa789ae08d88754bd42%7C189dc61c769b40488b0f6de074bba26c%7C0%7C0%7C637408145755707040%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=l1JeR1pHYZ9xBQy2TqL27sWtdLlhDlep36qtkqF2FHA%3D&reserved=0.
Registration fees (including VAT) are as follows:
• Search Solutions + Tutorial (BCS/ISKO/CILIP MDG member): £20.00
• Search Solutions + Tutorial (Students): £13.00
• Search Solutions + Tutorial (Non-Member): £25.00
• Search Solutions only (BCS/ISKO/CILIP MDG member): £15.00
• Search Solutions only (Students): £10.00
• Search Solutions only (Non-Member): £20.00
• Tutorial only (BCS/ISKO/CLIP MDG member): £10.00
• Tutorial only (Students): £5.00
• Tutorial only (Non-Member): £15.00
Organising Committee
Ingo Frommholz, University of Bedfordshire
Tony Russell-Rose, UXLabs and Goldsmiths, University of London
Udo Kruschwitz, University of Regensburg
Stefan Rueger, Open University
Dyaa Albakour, Signal AI
Martin White, Intranet Focus Ltd
Haiming Liu, University of Bedfordshire
Enquiries
For further enquiries please contact Ingo Frommholz <ifrommholz@acm.org>.
Catalogue & Index
The bumper 200th issue of Catalogue and Index is now available on our webpages: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.cilip.org.uk/resource/collection/0C44DCEE-84F7-4540-A5B6-716A05454B64/C&I_200.pdf
C&I has been published since 1966 and has been a witness to many momentous events in the world of metadata over the years. To this end, we thought this issue should adopt an historical slant as its theme and so we have invited past editors of C&I and past chairs of CIG (now MDG) to offer their views from their time in tenure. We also take a look back through the 200 issues to find out just what topics people have been writing about in the world of metadata for the last 54 years.
We also want to look forward (to the next 200 issues!) and feature pieces from four collaborative regionals groups operating within the UK who are discovering strengths and benefits from working together. In addition we have a research piece from Nigeria examining the challenges associated with performance appraisal systems used to assess cataloguers.
We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to any feedback from you. December will bring our conference paper issue, and remember to look out in 2021 for our calls for papers for future editions.
Karen Pierce and Philip Keates
Co-editors of Catalogue & Index
Catalogue & Index call for papers – Issue 200 (September 2020)
In January 1966 the first issue of Catalogue & Index was published, a year after the inauguration of the Library Association Cataloguing and Indexing Group. In September of this year we will reach issue number 200 and thought it a worthy achievement to celebrate. We are inviting people to not only look back over 54 years of cataloguing history and to comment on the innovations and leaps forward that have occurred but also to look forward to see where our profession is heading. We are open to a wide selection of topics for this issue. What is important to you in the coming years? What has been of benefit to you? If you have been working with metadata for a while what milestones have there been on your journey. This issue will celebrate history, but is also keen to look forward to what might be achieved in the future.
The deadline for this issue is 31st August. Please contact the editors (Karen Pierce: PierceKF@Cardiff.ac.uk and Philip Keates: P.Keates@kingston.ac.uk) with proposed papers, 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. We encourage people from all sectors to contribute, and actively welcome international contributions as well. 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://www.cilip.org.uk/members/group_content_view.asp?group=201298&id=764614
CILIP Metadata and Discovery Group 