Archive for October, 2009

AAT – Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Many people know what the Library of Congress Authority Record Database is and how it can help their library. But what do you know about the other large authority collections? Nate Cothran, Product Manager of MARS Automation Services and expert on the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) sheds a little light on it for us:

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a collection of 131,000 authority records about the visual arts and architecture maintained by the Getty Institute. Though the AAT is updated every month, the licensed version—which Backstage uses—is sent out once annually.

Within the authority record itself, the AAT entry lists the main heading in the 155 tag:

001 __ 300015529
155 __ $abird's-eye views$B(<views by vantage point or orientation>, views, 
<visual works by form: image form>, <visual works by form>, <visual works>, 
Visual Works, Visual and Verbal Communication, Objects 
Facet)$I1000015529$TDescriptor$GN/A$HCurrent$VUndetermined$L70052/American 
English$AN/A$ON/A$8300015529.1

The 155 $a is the part of the heading that will be reflected in your updated bib heading:

 655 __ $abird's-eye views

I can see what you’re thinking on this: How is it that the authority’s 155 above contains so much more information than the bib’s 655 field? Sometime in the last year, the AAT authority records began including an incredible amount of reference points & additional information encoded into capital-letter & numbered subfields. Unless your system is able to incorporate this extra data, the pertinent information you likely prefer to retain resides in the main (lower-cased) subfields.

In order to bring the authority records received from AAT back into a more manageable structure, Backstage can remove all of the capital-letter subfields as well as the numbered [0-9] subfields. This makes the loading into your system error-free in case your system balks at the extra subfields it has to somehow categorize on the fly.

So this revised authority heading:

001 __ 300015529
155 __ $abird's-eye views

Now matches cleanly and updates easily within your ILS system.

At least now you’ll know what to look AAT in your Art & Architecture Thesaurus authorities.

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/about.html

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Authority Control Interest Group (ACIG)

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Authority Control Interest Group (ACIG)

About twenty years ago I attended my first American Library Association Conference.  I was relatively new to the library world and really looking forward to the ALA experience.  I had heard so much about the great meeting being held about all topics known to “Library” Mankind.  It was a long time ago, and I don’t remember the details of any of the meetings I attended with the exception of one.  It is as clear today as it was some twenty years ago.  I stepped into a rather large conference room, standing room only, as I recall.  There was a panel of experts placed at the very front of the conference room on a stage with microphones for each and pitchers of water placed strategically on the table for all to share.  There was a standing microphone placed in the middle of the isle and as the panel completed their discussion, an anxious group of librarians lined up behind the microphone to say their piece.  Soon an angry tirade of heart felt opinions emerged.  I don’t remember the exact discussion, but I do remember it had something to do with the creation of an authority control record for “nuns”.* I was amazed at the passion and at times anger expressed in the varying opinions.  I remember thinking to myself, “What is wrong with these people!”

That, ladies and gentlemen, was my first introduction to what we know today as the ALA Annual Session of the Authority Control Interest Group.  Oh yes, there is great passion in authority control.

So, you may ask: what is the Authority Control Interest Group (ACIG), and why should I care?    We will start with the group’s history and mission.  The ACIG was established in 1984 by Barbara Tillett.  Its original name, “Authority Control in the Online Environment Interest Group” highlights the original purpose of the group, which was to bring about awareness to technical service librarians who were moving to the online environment. At that time most of the existing ILS systems had not configured authority control into their ILS systems.  In 2006 the name was shortened to, “Authority Control Interest Group”.   The goal of the group was to provide a forum for discussion of issues related to authority control for online cataloging.  The forum is used to raise the level of awareness on authority control issues and to encourage ideas for new approaches to authority control.  Each year officers are elected to coordinate overall activities of the interest group.  The group is co-sponsored by the LITA and ALCTS divisions of the American Library Association.  A program is presented at each ALA conference.  The programs typically address what is new in the world of controlled vocabulary.  A representative for the Library of Congress typically gives an update of what is going on with authority control within their organization.  OCLC usually sends a presenter to update the library world on OCLC involvement with authority control.   The rest of the panel usually consists of people who are either experts in an area the group is focusing on for that particular meeting, or people who have done research in the area that the group is focusing on for that meeting.  The sessions are usually well attended.  You can expect several hundred for the summer session.

Upon completion of the presentations, the ACIG group gathers to have a business meeting.  All who are interested are invited to attend.  In this meeting officers are elected and the next conference presentation is discussed.  Over the next six months, the Vice-Chair works with the library community and the ACIG committee to put together a presentation for next conference.

I have been involved with the Authority Control Interest Group for the last four years.  I found it a very good vehicle for keeping a pulse on the authority control world.  The group is always looking for volunteers and welcomes new members.  For more information on the ACIG please visit their wiki site at http://wikis.ala.org/lita/index.php/Authority_Control_IG

*Out of curiosity, I looked to see if there was a heading for nuns and there is.  It is listed below.  For the life of me, I don’t remember what the debate was about!

LDR                   00385cz   2200145n  4500
001                     sh 85093287
003                     DLC
005                     19961001105801.6
008                     860211i| anannbab|          |a ana |||
010                     $ash 85093287
040                     $aDLC$cDLC$dDLC
150         0         $aNuns
450         0         $aSisters (in religious orders, congregations, etc.)
550         0         $wg$aChristians
550         0         $aMonasticism and religious orders for women
Record Info
Ctrl No: sh 85093287
Record Date: 10/1/1996 10:58:01 AM
Last Updated/Loaded: 3/4/2009 1:56:25 AM
Usages: Subject
Rec Status:

**Post by John Reese, Chief Operating Officer of the Utah dept. of Backstage Library Works

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Your New Automation Services Department

Friday, October 9th, 2009

John Reese, the former Product Manager for Authority Control, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer within our company. John is still available to all of us and we welcome his input whenever we get a chance to hear it (jreese@bslw.com).

Nate Cothran has been promoted to Vice President of Automation Services and continues to look for innovative ways to serve you better. Nate has chosen Jeremy Myntti (jmyntti@bslw.com) as the new Project Manager for Authority Control services, which also includes Judy Archer (jarcher@bslw.com).  All of us look forward to working with you on your future projects and welcome any questions, concerns or suggestions.

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What is Marcadia?

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Patricia Stelter, our Vice President of Bibliographic Services put together a really informative primer on what Marcadia is, and how it helps libraries. I thought I’d share what she had to say here.

Trying to get your materials cataloged with less staff? I’ve been in your shoes and I know the solution! Marcadia is exactly what you need in these lean times.

We partner with OCLC to provide Marcadia and it is one of the unique divisions that make up Automation Services here at Backstage Library Works. One of the many advantages of Marcadia is that you don’t need an OCLC membership to get select WorldCat records. Also, it doesn’t matter what type of library you work in –if you complete acquisitions and cataloging –we can help you!

Marcadia is an extraordinary automated cataloging service that matches brief records to WorldCat MARC records according to your specifications. Even if you have newly published materials we can take as little as one or two fields of information and return premium WorldCat records to you for a very affordable $1.75 per result.

I’ve been a Library Director and I know firsthand that patrons can sometimes be demanding and how I struggled to get items cataloged and available to them. If I had known about Backstage Library Works it would have made my life much easier and I would have been able to concentrate more on grant writing, starting my Friends of the Library group and providing needed outreach to my community!

In retrospect, these are experiences that I look back on, but for you that are struggling with today’s budget shortfalls and cutbacks Marcadia can even be more beneficial. You’ve lost cataloging staff? We can do the work for you and make your life easier!

We all know that catalogers have varying opinions on what constitutes a perfect record. With Marcadia you get the perfect record every time. You tell us exactly what you want, including your preferences for certain cataloging levels or records from regarded universities, and we deliver with great efficiency the same records that trained cataloging staff would choose.

Discover how Marcadia can make your life a little more idyllic. Define your perfect record and schedule your free test run today.

Patricia Stelter

VP Bibliographic Services

Backstage Library Works

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