With all the excitement surrounding RDA at ALA Annual (and we’ll have an update about that up soon), we realized we didn’t have a quick recap of events from my point of view in DC. I would like to fill you in on details from an operational point of view as concerns Backstage, letting Karen Anderson let you know about the RDA updates later.
On June 24, a few of us flew into Bethlehem, PA to visit our new offices out there. As some of you may know, we acquired the preservation services (Digitization, Microfilm) from OCLC back in August 2009. So it was an opportunity to get out and visit with our team, meeting Joan DaShiell and Joe Konrath, both of whom are widely respected in that business.
That next Friday we drove up to DC to take part in the sweltering outside heat and air-conditioned halls of the conference center. The traffic going into DC made the trip an all-day affair, though the upside was it gave us a chance to catch up on our emails and plan out our schedules.
On Saturday, we had a great turnout for the Authority Control users breakfast as Clyde’s. I mentioned a couple announcements (i.e., online stats to track your processing throughout the year, and our ability to process & return records in MARCXML now). But the real star of the show was with Karen’s updates regarding RDA. As Backstage is part of the ongoing testing effort with RDA, it was great to have Karen with us to field your questions. She has written up a detailed response and we will post that very soon.
Much of the remainder of my time was occupied with chances to meet up with existing and potential clients. It’s a great feeling to work with people all throughout the years and finally meet each one in person.
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Tags: ALA, Authority Control, RDA