Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access

Library of Congress Liaison Report to ALA/ALCTS/CCS/CC:DA Midwinter Meeting, January 2003 Submitted by Barbara B. Tillett, LC Liaison to ALA/ALCTS/CCS/CC:DA

  Also available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file

LC exhibit booth at ALA

The Library’s exhibit booth is 1249 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia. The schedule of in-booth presentations will be publicized in Cognotes (the conference daily newspaper) and on the Library’s Conference Web page at <http://www.loc.gov/ala/>.

Mail Delivery at the Library of Congress

Mail for the Library continues to be delivered to an off-site mail handling facility in Prince George’s County, Md., where it is irradiated and inspected before it arrives on Capitol Hill. Mail still remains several weeks late.

Recruitment

The Cataloging Directorate was authorized to hire 44 new catalogers (including a cooperative cataloger) and decimal classifiers in fiscal 2002. Because of delays in the posting process, only seven positions were actually announced by September 30. Nearly all the vacancies have now been announced and most have closed. Only two selections have been announced, both in the Law Team, Social Sciences Cataloging Division, but others are expected to be announced soon. Postings for the Religion, Philosophy, and Psychology Team, SSCD; for two decimal classifiers; and for three music and sound recording catalogers remained open or were expected to be reposted as of Jan. 21, 2003. Interested potential applicants should check the USAJOBS Website or “Current Job Opportunities” on the LC Website frequently, as postings usually have short deadlines.

Prospective candidates for Chief of the to-be-established Integrated Systems Operations (ISO) Division are encouraged to meet with Cliff Cohen, LS Director of Operations, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at the Recruitment Booth on Sunday, Jan. 26. The ISO Division supports the Library of Congress Integrated Library System (LC ILS) and identifies and assesses future systems needs of users of the LC ILS and related enterprise systems related to the mission work of Library Services. ISO is responsible for managing resources to successfully plan and prioritize integrated systems implementation, upgrade, and maintenance. ISO works with vendors and Library units to implement systems, new software releases, and new functions and products. ISO also supports Library Services and its directorates/divisions in planning and implementing business process improvements. Prospective leads can be directed to Jennifer Somosky who will be staffing the Recruitment Booth from 12-5:00 pm Friday, 9-5:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, and 9-1:00 pm on Monday. Print copies of the position description for the Chief, ISO will be available for those interested in the position and to get the word out regarding the upcoming vacancy expected to open in early March.

LC People on the Move

Beacher Wiggins was appointed acting associate librarian for Library Services on Sept. 1, when Winston Tabb retired after thirty years of service to the Library of Congress.

Judith A. Mansfield was appointed acting director for cataloging, effective Sept. 16, 2002.

Dennis McGovern continues as acting chief of the Decimal Classification Division (Dewey) until the chief’s position can be filled.

Robert L. Worden, Chief of the Federal Research Division, was detailed as acting chief, Asian Division, on Oct. 1, 2002, and will serve until a permanent chief is appointed. Dr. Worden participated in the interview process for the chief’s position, which was completed in Dec. Karl K. Lo ended his six-month temporary appointment as acting chief on Sept. 30.

LC Budget

The Library of Congress is on its 6th continuing resolution that expires January 31, 2003. We hope to have a budget by mid-February, but expect severe across the board cuts.

LIBBRARY SERVICES

Cataloging Directorate

Cataloging Policy & Support Office

AACR2 2002 Revision. The Library of Congress implemented the 2002 revision of the 2nd edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules on December 1, 2002. Revised Library of Congress Rule Interpretations were published and are available in Cataloger’s Desktop or as printed copies. A summary of significant changes that will be seen in LC’s bibliographic and authority records is posted on the CPSO public Website: < http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/aacr2002.html>. Training materials used at the Library of Congress are also available, including an overview on the changes in Amendments 2002, and two separate presentations on the impact of changes on updating loose-leaf publications and remote access electronic resources < http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/train.html>.

LCSH. Authority records to control the approximately 3,250 free-floating subdivisions in LCSH have now been created and distributed to subscribers. The records represent topical, form, and chronological subdivisions that can be combined with main headings according to rules to create pre-coordinated subject heading strings. The records provide subdivision usage information for catalogers and can be used by cataloging systems to validate assigned subject headings. Subdivision authority records may be accessed in Classification Web. Plans call for including information on free-floating subdivisions from the records in an expanded introduction to the next printed edition of LCSH. A document on subdivision authority records, including examples, is posted to the CPSO Web site <http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/>.

LC Classification. LC implemented subclass KBP, Islamic Law on January 20, 2003. Subclass KBP is the most recent of the religious law schedules to be added to the forthcoming hard copy publication of KB subclasses: KB (Comparative religious law), KBM (Jewish law), KBP (Islamic law), KBR/KBU (Canon law).
      The P schedules in Classification Web have now been reconfigured so that they work properly with the enhanced and hierarchy browsers. Use either the standard, enhanced, or hierarchy browsers with class P and all of its subclasses, as well as with all of the other LC classes.

Cataloging Directorate Statistics

Cataloging (Books and Serials) Production

                                    Fiscal 2002      Fiscal 2001
             	                 			
LC Full/Core-Level Cataloging         199,586          176,636
Copy  Cataloging                       49,576           31,652
Minimal-Level  Cataloging              38,328           23,204
Collection-Level Cataloging             4,259            4,073
TOTAL records created                 291,749          235,565
TOTAL volumes cataloged               310,235          270,801

Authority Records
Names                                  88,475           91,880 
Series                                  8,909            8,279
Subjects                                7,365            6,933
TOTAL                                 104,749          107,092

For more information contact: Judith A. Mansfield, Acting Director for Cataloging, Library of Congress, LM 642, Washington, DC 20540-4300 (telephone: 202-707-5333 or Internet: juma@loc.gov).

Rare Book Cataloging

      In fiscal 2002 the Rare Book Team cleared 16,639 items, including 14,833 for the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, 940 for the Law Library, 244 for the Prints and Photographs Division, 2 for the Music Division, 13 for the Manuscript Division, 11 for the African and Middle Eastern Division, and 596 for the general collection.
      Completed work includes: Shapiro Bruce Rogers ephemera cataloging and end-stage processing (ca. 2,950 items; Bruce Rogers was a 20th-century American type and book designer; Solomon Shapiro, a collector of Rogers’ work); Lincoln cataloging (ca. 150 items; materials from Abraham Lincoln’s descendants, many with his provenance); Bitting gastronomy ephemera cataloging (208 items; Katherine Golden Bitting was a food chemist for the Dept. of Agriculture at the turn of the century); Batchelder theatre programs cataloging (61 items; John Davis Batchelder was a collector of books, manuscripts, and artifacts of Western culture); Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers surplus added copies cataloging (612 items; same Bruce Rogers as above; this collection actually owned/formed by Rogers and later purchased by Carl Howard Pforzheimer); 18th-century Russian decrees cataloging and end-stage processing (ca. 284 items in the Law Library); Heyl and Minz theatre programs cataloging (78 and 55 items respectively); Pforzheimer unanalyzed titles inventory (1053 items); Shapiro Bruce Rogers books end-stage processing (ca. 150 items); Roman law bound-withs end-stage processing (ca. 60 items).

Cataloging in Publication (CIP)

Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD) and Motion Pictures, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)

78 rpm Sound Recordings Cataloging Project. The Music and Sound Recordings III Team processed 5,429 discs during fiscal year 2002. This includes both album sets (15) and singles (5,414). MSR II cleared 11,338 discs (mostly 78 rpm discs) in Fiscal 2002.

American or Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) Project. AFRTS (known variously as the American or Armed Forces Radio and Television Service), the broadcasting service of the Department of Defense, has been providing radio broadcasts to military personnel since the 1940s. Until the mid-1990s, commercial and AFRTS-produced shows were provided to member stations on 33 1/3 rpm discs on a weekly basis. They range from informational shows to religious programming to popular shows such as the Charlie Tuna show. As archival materials, many of these recordings are unique, and few other copies are likely to exist. This project aims to catalog over 100,000 discs that are not yet represented in the ILS. Planning began in November 2001, and processing in March 2002.
      Processing this collection has required close cooperation between the Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD) and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS). Creative methods are being used to catalog discs which were created for use by broadcasters, not for library use: individual shows were often pressed in parts on more than one disc to facilitate handling by DJs, and more than one show might occupy a single disc. This makes the physical processing more complicated. Two kinds of records are being created; a modified collection level format is being used for some shows, and individual records are being created for each iteration of others. Between March and December of 2002, over 65,000 discs were processed by full and part time, temporary college-age staff. We anticipate the bulk of the collection will be processed by the end of summer 2003.

A-Z Cassettes Project. MSRIII processed 3,789 Copyright cassettes in Cuadra Star and Voyager. Beginning in February, the cassettes were processed in the ILS as brief records.

CDRs. CDRs are compact discs-recordable. MSRIII processed 4,349 discs as brief records with 4,153 records created for new works and 196 discs processed as duplicates. Classical CDRs represent a minute quantity of the thousands of CDs we process, but need to be mentioned here as the first CDs in our workflow for which catalogers create original, core-level records. Because these are the sound recording equivalent of manuscripts, copy does not exist on the utilities. Some of these recordings represent the only recordings of works otherwise missing from the LC catalog, which justifies providing the authoritative access furnished by a core bibliographic record.

CDs workflow. The MSR III Team processed 33,869 discs during Fiscal 2002 by using the resources of the MUZE and Voyager databases. The IBC records are then sent to OCLC to be processed through RetroCon Batch and MARS; to date 37,271 records were sent to OCLC for processing with 13,494 returned as exact matches and 5,436 returned as “maybe” matches, for a total return of copy cataloging for the CDs workflow of more than 50 percent.

National Public Radio (NPR). The MSR III Team cleared a total of 8,779 reel-to-reel tapes from the National Public Radio collection during Fiscal 2002.

Digital Resources Traffic Manager. The Computer Files & Management Team has been working with Information Technology Services (ITS) to develop an online workflow system to assist with the processing of digital resources. This digital resources traffic manager’s design is based on the Electronic Cataloging In Publication (ECIP) Traffic Manger System. ITS has promised delivery by the end of January.

American Memory cataloging. The Computer Files and Microforms Team cataloged twenty National Digital Library American Memory sites in Fiscal 2002: America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets; Background Papers and Technical Information: Building Digital Collections at the Library of Congress; The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1780-1925; Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection; Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry; Fifty Years of Coca-Cola Television Advertisements; The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820; History of the American West, 1860-1920; Inside an American Factory: Films of the Westinghouse Works, 1904; The Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley and the Pan-American Exposition, 1901; The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898-1906; Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida’s Natural History, 1884-1934; Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860; Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth-Century America; Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film; Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869; Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921; We’ll Sing to Abe Our Song!: Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War; Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion, 1820-1890; Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting.
      In January a detailee to CPSO started to work systematically on updating book records for titles from the general collections, law, and rare book collections that have been digitized as part of American Memory and associated programs, e.g., International Horizons, Meeting of the Frontiers). There is now a dual track approach to cataloging of digitized collections: one retrospective collection (i.e., already digitized and available) and one “in process” collection (not yet released in digital form); then we have a number of other retrospective collections to address (perhaps 2,000 individual titles).

Electronic Resources Cataloging Expansion Pilot Initiative. In a pilot training project to train senior catalogers in each of the four print monograph cataloging divisions to catalog electronic resources, four catalogers were detailed to the Computer Files and Microforms Team for 120 days each. Training for the cataloging of remote-access digital resources at the core level was easily achieved using the OCLC Web-based educational course, Cataloging Internet Resources Using MARC 21 and AACR2. A cataloger with excellent descriptive cataloging skills can typically become independent in about three weeks after completing the course and working under the review of a senior cataloger with electronic resources expertise. Learning to catalog direct-access digital resources, such as CD-ROMs, is much harder and requires more training, and for this reason the detailed catalogers were trained to do minimal level cataloging rather than core level for direct-access resources.

Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD)

Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team (BEAT). The Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team (BEAT) celebrated its 10th anniversary in November. BEAT is a Cataloging Directorate initiative aimed at developing tools to aid catalogers, reference specialists, and searchers in creating and locating information. Major components of the team’s work are enriching the content of Library of Congress bibliographic records, improving access to the data the records contain, and conducting research and development in areas that can contribute to furthering these efforts. The team’s membership represents a wide spectrum of the Library’s functions reflecting the Cataloging Directorate’s desire to provide benefits from its projects to as wide an audience as possible and to incorporate within its program objectives the needs and interests of various constituencies beyond those of technical services. Additional information regarding BEAT and its work may be found at < http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/beat/>.
      Questions about BEAT or its projects may be directed to the BEAT Chair, John D. Byrum, Jr., Chief Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division, Library of Congress, at jbyr@loc.gov.

Bicentennial Action Plan

Beacher Wiggins, acting associate librarian for Library Services, will chair the third Conference 2000 Action Plan Forum on Sunday, January 26, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center-Room 102A. The Forum will provide an update on progress in carrying out the 29 work items in “Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A Library of Congress Action Plan.” This Plan stems directly from recommendations made during the Library’s Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium, November 15-17, 2000. The plan can be viewed on the Conference Website at < http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/conference.html>.

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)

NUCMC staff produced 3,790 RLIN bibliographic records describing collections held by repositories located in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington (State), West Virginia, and Wyoming.
      In addition to local, regional, and state historical societies, the NUCMC Team produced cataloging for a variety of special focus repositories. Special topics addressed during the reporting period included African Americans (Arkansas Baptist College, Benedict College, Bowie State University, Claflin College Archives, Clinton Junior College, Delaware State University, Fayetteville State University, Harris-Stowe State College, Lewis College of Business, Lincoln University, Morgan State University, Paul Quinn College, Southwestern Christian College, and University of Maryland, Eastern Shore), ethnicity and gender (Frankenmuth Historical Association and Museum of Women’s History (Billings)), folklife and oral history (Maine Folklife Center), maritime history (Nantucket Historical Association and New Bedford Whaling Museum/Kendall Institute), municipal archives (Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, Municipal Archives and Records Center (Manchester, N.H.), and Seattle Municipal Archives), national parks (Boston National Historic Park, General Grant National Memorial, Gettysburg National Military Park, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, and Harpers Ferry National Historic Site), performing arts (Boston University Dept. of Special Collections and Chicago Symphony Orchestra), religious archives (Congregational, Jewish, and Presbyterian), state archives (Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Wyoming), and U.S. presidents (Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center).

NUCMC Website. The NUCMC Website continued to earn high marks from the public and the archival and manuscript community. A reorganized, simplified home page now includes answers to frequently asked questions concerning the NUCMC program in general and searching the gateways in particular. In a move to better utilize staff resources, the team removed all pages and links to Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States and substituted a link for the Archives and Manuscript Repositories of Primary Sources site maintained by Terry Abraham at the University of Idaho. The Web counter recorded 65,077 hits for fiscal 2002. NUCMC continued to receive praise for its provision of the gateways providing free searches in the RLG AMC file and the OCLC Mixed Materials file. Fiscal year searches on the RLG gateway totaled 118,920; searches during the same period on the OCLC gateway totaled 38,446.

Montana Union List Project (MULP). Accessions were received from Cascade County Historical Society Archives, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, Montana Historical Society, and the University of Montana–Missoula. At the end of the fiscal year, NUCMC had received a total of 4082 accessions of cataloging data since the project’s inception. Of that number, 2925 (71.6%) had been converted to full records in RLIN; 867 (21.2%) are represented by preliminary RLIN records; and 290 (7.1%) await some level of cataloging.

Cooperative H(istorically Black Colleges and Universities) Archival Survey Project (CHASP). To date 156 collections were cataloged from seventeen repositories: Allen University, Arkansas Baptist College, Barber-Scotia College, Benedict College, Bennett College, Bowie State University, Claflin College Archives, Clinton Junior College, Delaware State University, Fayetteville State University, Harris-Stowe State College, Lewis College of Business, Lincoln University, Morgan State University, Paul Quinn College, Southwestern Christian College, and University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

National Services Directorate

Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS)

CDS cataloging products and services can be accessed on their Web site: <http://www.loc.gov/cds/>.

Classification Web. CDS will give demonstrations of Classification Web, a new fee-based service offering Web-based access to LC Classification (LCC) and LC Subject Headings (LCSH). CDS released the new service in June 2002. The service has been a remarkable success. A 30-minute presentation and demonstration of Class Web will take place in the LC exhibit booth theater at 12:00 P.M. daily. Continuous demonstrations of Class Web will be conducted throughout the day at the booth.

Cataloger’s Desktop. CDS will also demonstrate Cataloger’s Desktop (CD-ROM) throughout the day at the booth. CDS has updated Cataloger’s Desktop with the 2002 revision of AACR2 and with updated versions of related LC publications such as Library of Congress Rule Interpretations.
      Issue 4 for 2002 of Cataloger’s Desktop and its companion product Classification Plus was shipped to customers in mid-November 2002. This was the final issue of Classification Plus (CD-ROM). Classification Plus has been replaced by Classification Web. CDS has been working with Class Plus customers to transition their subscriptions to Class Web. Cataloger’s Desktop will continue on CD-ROM for the foreseeable future. A Web version is planned for 2003/2004.

New CDS Publications. A completely new edition of the CONSER Cataloging Manual (2002 edition) was published in November 2002. Changes reflect the 2002 revision of AACR2. Also featured will be new editions of two popular LC training manuals: Cataloging Concepts (2002 edition) and MARC Content Designation (2002 edition).
      CDS has recently published four new or updated SCCTP training courses. SCCTP is the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program, which operates under the auspices of the CONSER program. Training manuals for the following courses were introduced by CDS in PDF format during 2002: Serial Holdings Workshop (2002), Electronic Serials Workshop (2002), Basic Serials Cataloging Workshop (2002), and Advanced Serials Cataloging Workshop (2002). Basic Serials was previously published in paper format. All of the SCCTP courses are now published in PDF format for ease of updating and timeliness of delivery to customers. Prices and order information are available on the CDS Website <http://www.loc.gov/cds/>.

Operations Directorate

LC Integrated Library System (LC ILS)

The Integrated Systems Office continues to focus on expanding access and improving service for external users of the Library of Congress Database. The Library has initiated an effort designed to increase the number of external users of the Library of Congress Online Catalog < http://catalog.loc.gov> as well as Z39.50 access to the LC Database. The Library expects to raise the number of OPAC and Z39.50 users gradually over the first few months of 2003.
      The Library successfully upgraded its integrated library management system in February 2002 to the 2000.1.3 version of the Voyager software. The Library intends to upgrade to the 2001.2 version of Voyager in May 2003. Planning has also begun for the implementation of the Unicode standard for LC’s MARC 21 bibliographic, holdings, and authority records. The first step is a test conversion of a full copy of the LC Database to Unicode in January 2003. Current plans call for LC to implement the Unicode Release of the Voyager software in the summer of 2003.
      The Library has established a new service, Library of Congress Authorities <http://authorities.loc.gov> that provides free access to LC’s authority data via the Web. This service was made available on a trial basis on July 1, 2002. During the trial period, the Library sought feedback from users worldwide to assist in evaluating the service. User response was overwhelmingly positive. Based on user feedback, the Library made improvements to LC Authorities and decided to offer this free service on a permanent basis. The Library welcomes comments from users, which should be sent via email to ils@loc.gov. LC staff will demonstrate LC Authorities in the LC Exhibit booth theater on Saturday, Jan. 25, 12:30-1:00 P.M. (repeated on Sunday, Jan. 26, 12:30-1:00 P.M.).
      In November, LC initiated a telework pilot that enables staff to work at home. Some LC staff in acquisitions, cataloging, and reference have access to the LC Database along with all the tools available to staff onsite on Capitol Hill via laptop computers configured as ILS workstations.
      In 2002, the Library implemented the use of BatchCat for certain database maintenance tasks. LC also implemented the first e-commerce activity by taking advantage of EDI capabilities for accepting electronic invoices from two of LC's largest subscription agents; testing is underway with a third supplier. The Library has begun using the claiming functionality in Acquisition/Check-in on a limited basis, with expansion planned for the autumn of 2003.
      In January 2003 the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) will migrate its database to LC’s ILS environment. The NLS Database is scheduled to be available via the Web in February 2003.

Records in the ILS

For the fiscal year closed on Oct. 1, 2002:

JACKPHY                    465,513
Books                   10,239,831
Computer files              13,632
Manuscripts                 11,206
Maps                       263,702
Music                      376,416
Serials                  1,112,903
Visual materials           292,222
Subject authorities        271,880
Name authorities         5,460,037
Holdings records        13,076,349
TOTAL                   31,583,691

Network Development & MARC Standards Office (NDMSO)

Z39.50 International Next Generation. The Library of Congress has organized an initiative, ZING (Z39.50-International: Next Generation), to evolve Z39.50 to a web platform protocol that will be attractive to information providers, vendors, and users. After inaugurating this proof-of-concept initiative with a small international development and implementation group in June 2001, LC hosted another meeting in July 2002 and their specifications were finalized and announced in October 2002. ZING is not intended to replace Z39.50 as currently defined and deployed, but to parlay experience to web-based end-user activities.
      SRW, the “Search/Retrieve Web Service,” is a facet of ZING that builds on Z39.50 along with web technologies — XML, SOAP/RPC, and HTTP. The SRW strategy is that building on Z39.50 semantics will enable the creation of gateways to existing Z39.50 systems while reducing the barriers to new information providers, to make their resources available via a standard search and retrieve service. The Website for this initiative is < http://www.loc.gov/standards/zing/>.

Z39.50 Gateway. LC’s WWW/Z39.50 Gateway now contains more than 500 databases on 400 servers; 145 of the databases listed are non-U.S., from over 20 other countries. Servers of over eighteen different library system vendors are represented.

Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS). NDMSO staff participated in the development of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema for creating XML documents that express the hierarchical structure of digital library objects, the names and locations of the digital files that comprise those objects, and the associated metadata. NDMSO is the maintenance agency for the METS standard that is being taken up by many digital library projects, worldwide. The official METS website was established at the Library < http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/>, a METS Listserv is maintained by the Office, and NDMSO staff serve on the METS Editorial Board. METS development continued with Version 1.1. At the November 2002 Board meeting, the MODS schema, the MARCXML schema for MARC 21, a schema for DC, and the NISO MIX schema for still images were adopted as METS extension schemas. MIX was jointly developed by NISO and NDMSO (see http://www.loc.gov/standards/mix/).

MARCXML. NDMSO has developed a new XML Schema and toolkit (MARCXML) for working with MARC metadata in XML. The schema uses a slim approach to describe MARC data and as a result provides a flexible “bus” through which metadata can be transformed and manipulated in various ways. Users can now convert MARC data to and from various descriptive metadata standards such as Dublin Core, ONIX, and NDMSO’s Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS). MARC data encoded in the slim schema can easily be used to display MARC records on the web in HTML. The toolkit is being developed in a modular fashion while emphasizing the use and promotion of freely available open-source tools.
      NDMSO also continues to maintain and make available a previous version of a Document Type Definition (DTD) and a set of utilities created for the purpose of converting MARC records to SGML and XML. NDMSO supports these tools for users who already utilize them with their local systems while encouraging them to migrate to the new MARCXML toolkit.

Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS). In December the trial use period for the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) completed and version 2.0 of the schema is now out for review. It is a lightweight version of MARC using language based tags rather than numeric ones (e.g. “Title” rather than “245”), that is intended to carry selected data from existing MARC 21 records as well as supporting original resource description records. It targets applications that require richer resource descriptions than simple Dublin Core but not as complex as full MARC. Several projects using MODS have been initiated inside LC, including the Audio-Visual Prototype Project and MINERVA. MODS may potentially be used as: a Z39.50 Next Generation specified format; an extension schema to METS; to represent metadata for harvesting (e.g. Open Archives Initiative); for original resource description in XML syntax; for representing a simplified MARC record in XML; for metadata in XML that may be packaged with an electronic resource. MODS is intended to be a compliment to other metadata formats. It is more compatible with library data than other metadata schemes such as ONIX; richer than some such as Dublin Core, but simpler than the full MARC format. (See http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/).

MARC 21. The harmonization of the MARC 21 format with UKMARC was completed with agreement among MARC 21 users and UKMARC users to changes to MARC 21. This is a major milestone for catalog sharing and efficient interoperability with the UK and other users of UKMARC. The 2002 updates for MARC 21 were published in December 2002. For the January 2003 MARBI meeting 3 Discussion Papers and 2 Proposals were prepared and put on the agenda.

MARC 21 Authorities Format Updates. LC will not be implementing the new Leader/05 Status value of “obsolete” that was added for FAST; we will also be deferring the 148, 448, and 548 until they can be indexed in our system.

Public Service Collections Directorate

Geography and Maps Division (G&M)

Field 072 No Longer Supplied for Maps Records. Starting December 1, 2002, the Library of Congress will cease adding subject category codes in field 072 to bibliographic records created by the Geography and Map Division. This affects records distributed via MDS-Maps. The Division has decided to discontinue using field 072 to cut cataloging costs and because the field is not accessed by the Geography and Map Division reference staff. Additionally, the information supplied by the code is duplicative of information elsewhere in the bibliographic record. Outside agencies have been queried as to the impact of this action. Based upon responses it appears that the impact will be minimal. Records from outside cataloging agencies that contain field 072 will continue to be accepted and distributed via MDS-Maps.

Map Cataloging Manual. In December, the members of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Committee for Cartographic Materials reviewed final drafts of the revision of Cartographic Materials: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2.

Prints and Photographs Division

Recent Additions to PPOC, the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog:
Abdul Hamid II Collection: About 400 photographs mounted in albums (records being added), ca. 1880-1893.
Photographic survey of the Ottoman Empire, showing educational, military, and other government facilities as well as historic sites.
Edward S. Curtis Collection: About 850 photographic prints (records being added), 1890-1929. Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, New Southwest, Great Basin, Great Plains, Plateau Region, California, and Alaska. Features studio and field photographs.
Japanese Fine Prints, pre-1915: About 300 prints and a few drawings, 1688-1915. Primarily woodcuts depicting actors, women, landscapes, scenes from Japanese literature and daily life, English and European visitors.

Item-level Still Picture Records Distributed via CDS. In November and December 2002, the retrospective file of 40,000 item-level still picture records created in the Prints & Photographs Division began to be distributed through the MDS-Visual Materials service in CDS. (The full set of all distributed records has now reached almost 50,000.) The individual pictures represent a wide variety of subjects and genres, with historical American events, places, and people predominating.. Most records link to a visual digital reproduction on the Web. MDS-Visual Material subscribers can expect to receive approximately 5,000 new records annually. Some sample searches are: children, civil rights, sewing, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Egypt, San Francisco, World War, 1914-1918.

High-Density Book Storage Facility

On November 18, LC opened a new high-density book storage facility at Fort Meade, Md., to alleviate an overflow of books on Capitol Hill and to provide a paper-friendly environment with cool temperatures and controlled humidity that are expected to prolong the life expectancy of paper-based items from 40 years on Capitol Hill to 240 years in the new facility. With the move to Fort Meade, the Library will have access to 100 acres on which the Architect of the Capitol can build up to 13 additional storage modules over the next 50 years. The first module will maximize use of the 8,000-square foot space by storing 1.2 million books and bound periodicals sorted by size in boxes that will be double-shelved on shelves that are 30-feet high and 36-inches deep. The items will be packed upright in heavy boxes that filter out damaging pollutants, and the area will be illuminated with sodium-vapor lights that do not give off paper-fading ultra violet rays. The collections will be safeguarded with electronically controlled security and fire-protection systems, and materials with be tracked with bar codes and computers. Despite all this technology, the facility will support active use of the materials. There will be a twice-daily delivery service to readers. A book listed in the Online Public Access Catalog may be requested in the morning, retrieved from the smallest box on the highest shelf 25 miles north of Washington, and delivered to a researcher in the afternoon. Materials requests in the afternoon will be delivered the next morning. Approximately 90,000 items have been moved in so far. A Materials Selection Working Group developed criteria for selecting the least frequently used collections, including portions of agriculture, medicine, and literature collections as well as portions of collections in the custody of the Law Library and the Asian and African and Middle Eastern divisions.

Office of Strategic Initiatives

MINERVA

The Library of Congress’ mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. An ever-increasing amount of the world&@035;s cultural and intellectual output is presently created in digital formats and does not exist in any physical form. Such materials are colloquially described as “born digital.” This born digital realm includes open access materials on the World Wide Web.
      The MINERVA Web Preservation Project was established to initiate a broad program to collect and preserve these primary source materials. MINERVA has had significant achievements during the past year. Four major web collections have been undertaken in partnership with the Internet Archive that has provided the technical expertise on Website collecting. The September 11th Web Collection, consisting of over 30,000 Websites and 331 million objects, premiered during September 2002 and is accessible at <http://september11.archive.org/>. Also during the past year, Website collecting operations have been completed for three collections (Winter Olympics 2002, September 11th Remembrance, and Election 2002). Cataloging and preparations to provide collection access at the Library is in process for all four of these collections.
      These four collections have provided the MINERVA team, a multidisciplinary team of Library staff representing cataloging, legal, public services, and technology services, with a broad spectrum of challenges during the past year on the best methods to evaluate, select, collect, catalog, provide access to, and preserve Website materials for future Website collection activities.
      The MINERVA team is collaborating with the Internet Archive (Alexa) and new groups, SUNY and the University of Washington to expand the project. The latter are assisting in identifying content and in using tools of their design [metadata database] to assign metadata descriptions to the Websites collected. This metadata database will be used to search, retrieve and analyze the archived collection of Websites.

OTHER NEWS

BnF authority records on the Web

The Bibliothèque nationale de France offers a new service on its Web site: searching its authority records and RAMEAU subject headings. This tool will be useful to librarians for easier cataloguing, as well as researchers wanting to conduct their bibliographic researches most efficiently. This service is on free access in the “Informations pour les professionnels” section and on the RAMEAU site.
      This implementation allows direct access, without searching the catalogue, to all of the BnF authority records files: personal and corporate names, and uniform titles records (created when cataloguing printed documents that entered the library collections since 1970) and also records of the national RAMEAU subject authority list.
      Another interface, with specific functions, allows — through direct access to the RAMEAU site — searching either the whole RAMEAU subject authority list or, as search limits, some of its sub-sections, including subdivisions, LCSH equivalents and domains.
      Records can be displayed in public, UNIMARC or INTERMARC format.
      Records, searched through this implement, can be saved in local systems from the CD-ROM “Les notices d’autorité des imprimés de BN-OPALE PLUS.” A full description of authority records and their development is also available in the “Informations pour les professionnels” section and on the RAMEAU Web site.

BnF Web Site
http://www.bnf.fr

RAMEAU Web Site
http://rameau.bnf.fr

Informations pour les professionnels
http://www.bnf.fr/pages/zNavigat/frame/infopro.htm

For further information:
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Direction des services et des réseaux
Service de coordination bibliographique
Quai François Mauriac 75706 Paris Cedex 13
FRANCE

Or contact Fabrice Blondeau
Tel.: 33 (0)1 53 79 59 95
Fax: 33 (0)1 53 79 81 50
Mail: coordination-bibliographique@bnf.fr