Bibliographic Standards Committee ALA Midwinter Conference 2016 Boston, MA

Updates from the Chair

1. RDA and Rare Materials seminar took place on 6 November 2015 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The seminar was attended by 71 individuals from 13 countries. Below are the titles, names, and abstracts of the papers, followed by short biographies of the presenters. The presentations are available online at: http://www.slideshare.net/CIGScotland/

2. Audrey Pearson has worked on migrating Latin Place Names to http://rbms.info/lpn/. The next step is for BSC to review the site and each member of BSC will expected to complete this assignment when it is distributed after Midwinter. Once it’s ready, the RBMS Web Team will update the link.

3. There are two similar efforts to create new ways to display and explore rare materials data. One, proposed by Allison O’Dell, will be discussed at the Midwinter meeting (item 13). The other is from Jason Kovari at Cornell University. Jason’s project is independent of the BSC project, but if the proposal is accepted, he would like to work with BSC. The subgroup he mentions is the Task Force to Explore Data Elements for Rare Materials. From Jason:

Cornell University Library, as part of Linked Data for Production (LD4P), has proposed to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation work to build an ontology extension for rare materials; this work will be performed in strong collaboration with the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee as well as other LD4P partners, including Princeton and Columbia Universities; the rare materials ontology extension effort is one component of a significantly larger LD4P/LD4L proposal. Legacy environments and legacy standards have not always well supported rare materials descriptive practice. Linked data, with its emphasis on extensibility as well as reusability, offers a highly promising framework for addressing this long-standing need. An ontology extension for rare materials is particularly needed as data relevant to rare materials often pertain to the instance and item level; however, item level data are not well defined by current library linked data models. Indeed, the original BIBFRAME model lacked a true Item class altogether. This effort will build upon work underway by the BSC linked data subgroup to identify concepts important for the description of rare materials thru examination of DCRM and other standards. The ontology extension project proposes taking the conceptual work produced by BSC and creating an extension ontology based on existing namespaces with further development of the ontology as needed. Following the ontology extension development, we will engage catalogers at a variety of institutions to test the model and provide feedback. The proposal is still under consideration at the Mellon Foundation. If this work is funded, we will put out a call for participation to BSC members to join a working group for the ontology extension as well as test the resulting model. For questions, please contact Jason Kovari ([email protected]).

###

1 RDA and Rare Materials Papers:

RDA & Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials: Developing Policy Statements for Special Collections Resources – Francis Lapka (Yale Center for British Art) and Audrey Pearson (Yale University Beinecke Library)

This presentation will describe the ongoing work of an ACRL/RBMS task force charged to create an RDA‐compatible set of guidelines for the descriptive cataloging of rare materials. It will provide a brief background on the existing suite of manuals known as Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials and the planned evolution of those manuals into a set of policy statements for inclusion in the RDA Toolkit. The speakers will address some of the areas in which policy statements for rare materials are likely to prove most useful in the refinement and extension of RDA, and will conclude with a look at the timeline and future development of this project, touching upon the possibility for greater international collaboration.

Step Children of Printing: Toward an Integrated Standard for the Description of Single‐sheet Items – Flavia Bruni (Sapienza University of Rome)

Abstract: Early printed broadsheets are a specific subset in the large family of rare materials and special collections. Despite their relevance as historical sources and as printed objects as well, access to such resources is still undermined by several issues. In the first place, it is affected by the variety of places of conservation. Single‐sheet items can be found in libraries, archives and museums. Cataloguing standards for such institutions have different purposes and follow different rules accordingly. While a standard for a basic book description is shared between different institutions, not the same can be said for single sheets. As a result, the description of such documents in archival inventories or museum catalogues does not usually provide enough information from a bibliographic point of view; on the other hand, bibliographic records for broadsheets might omit what is crucial information to historians, as fundamental as, for instance, a note of content. Furthermore, extensive broadsheet collections are often preserved in historic libraries. A survey of online catalogues reveals bibliographic standards for broadsheet description to be still rather undefined or unattended, resulting in unconventional descriptions, not complying with any standard, even in library catalogues. On top of this, an international agreement on a descriptive standard for broadsheets seems still to come.

This paper proposes to provide an overview of descriptive practices for single‐sheet items focusing on inconsistencies between libraries and archives and between different countries. This will highlight the need for a new integrated international standard for broadsheet description based on the principles of data sharing and interoperability to promote a wider access to resources.

2 Alignment between Special Material and RDA in German speaking Countries – Christian Aliverti (Swiss ) and Renate Behrens (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek)

Abstract: Austria, and German‐speaking Switzerland are about to implement RDA for data cataloguing. The transition has been prepared in an extensive cooperative project in the three countries over the past three years. The experts have already started to consider the cataloguing of special materials such as rare books and have joined together to create new working groups. These already extend beyond the circle of libraries; representatives of other cultural institutions are also taking part. Existing cataloguing codes and standards in the archive and museum fields will be aligned with RDA for the first time. Currently, RDA contains no or not enough rules for the cataloguing of special materials such as rare books and manuscripts, however these are being introduced in the international review process.

Representatives from literary archives and libraries have joined forces to form a working group. The aim of the working group is to align the "Regeln zur Erschließung von Nachlässen und Autographen" (RNA, Cataloguing rules for literary estates and autographs) used in the German‐ speaking world with RDA.

The presentation shows how the RDA project is organised in the German speaking countries. It reports on the working groups concerned with the cataloguing of special materials. It also provides an insight into how the cooperation with galleries, archives and museums is organised with respect to RDA.

Transcription in Rare Materials Cataloguing – Deborah J. Leslie (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Abstract: This paper will explore transcription in rare materials cataloguing: what principles and user needs it can be expected to fulfill, and what it cannot nor should not be expected to fulfill; circumstances requiring cataloger interpretation and intervention; comparison of DCRM's and RDA's approaches to transcription; finishing with a few suggestions for moving forward.

Metadata is Catnip to Digital Scholars – Jennifer Schaffner

Abstract: Metadata – especially about provenance, context, and other copy‐specific information – may come from a variety of sources besides catalogue records, including scholar‐created projects, archival and visual materials descriptions, digitized materials, and other one‐offs. In this paper I will demonstrate ways in which metadata describing rare, unique, and distinctive collections can be used as the raw material of new forms of digital scholarship. Synthesizing trends from an international spectrum of such research projects, I will select examples to represent research that uses different types of library metadata and different methods of digital scholarship.

RDA & Rare Books Cataloguing at Edinburgh University Library – Alasdair Macdonald and Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence, (University of Edinburgh)

Abstract: RDA was adopted as the house standard for modern materials in October 2014, following a 6 month implementation project, with all cataloguing staff trained in the new standard. As part of the build up to RDA implementation, the opportunity was taken to revise local practices for rare books cataloguing. This included establishing clear guidelines for when

3 each standard should be applied; the adoption of RDA Authorised Access Point syntax and MARC structure for authority controlled fields in DCRM(B) records; and careful consideration as to the use of relationship designators for each standard. This paper looks at the impact of adopting RDA as the institutional cataloguing standard for modern materials on rare books cataloguing at Edinburgh University Library.

Something Old, Something New: Rare Books and RDA – Josie Caplehorne and Rachel Dickinson, (University of Kent)

Abstract: Special Collections and Archives at the University of Kent is made up of a unique selection of locally, nationally and internationally significant collections. However, rare and special book cataloguing standards have historically been inconsistent. In order to improve the profile of these collections, we felt we needed to review and improve our procedures. This decision coincided with the University of Kent collaborating on a unique and exciting cataloguing project with Rochester Cathedral. This presentation will explore how we arrived at a solution to catalogue these rare books to an enhanced RDA/DCRM(b) hybrid, having already implemented RDA for our modern lending collections.

Book Bindings and Paper Sheets fit for RDA: Current Practice in the Netherlands – Marja Smolenaars (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Netherlands)

Abstract: The paper explores cataloguing non‐book materials, such as bookbindings, bookbinding tools, paper sheets and other book‐related objects. What is the best practice in documenting this material? What are the problems and how can RDA help or hinder cataloguing this material?

The Language of Binding Thesaurus‐‐ Nicholas Pickwoad and Athanasios Velios, (University of the Arts, London)

Abstract: The Ligatus research centre of the University of the Arts London has recently published a thesaurus of bookbinding terms: the Language of Bindings Thesaurus (LoB). LoB is structured following the SKOS recommendations and can be used to describe materials and techniques evident on bookbinding structures from the 9th to the 19th century. This paper will describe the overall structure of the thesaurus and it will present examples of its use within a documentation system. It will also attempt to propose possible links with RDA as well as some conceptual differences.

Speakers:

Christian Aliverti is a librarian, a member of the Management Board of the , the Head of the Section of Bibliographic Access which includes the subdivisions Cataloguing, Subject Indexing and the Bibliography on Swiss History. He is in charge of the cataloguing principles of the Swiss National Library. Aliverti is also a member of the Committee for Library Standards and EURIG representation for the Swiss National Library, as well as Lecturer at the University of Zurich and at the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur.

4 Renate Behrens is a librarian at the German National Library. Since 2008 she has worked in the Office for Library Standards. Behrens is Head of the RDA‐Project in Austria, Germany and German‐speaking Switzerland, acts as EURIG representation for the German National Library, and is a member of the IFLA Cataloguing Section.

Flavia Bruni is a Post‐Doctoral Fellow at the University of Rome La Sapienza and a Honorary Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews. She has a Master in History of the Reformation from the Sapienza University of Rome, a Master in Early Printed Books from the University of Siena, a PhD from Bologna and the diploma from the School. She has worked for the bibliography of sixteenth‐century Italian books Edit16, the Italian collective catalogue SBN, the project on broadsheets of the Inquisition of the Biblioteca Casanatense of Rome and the RICI on sixteenth‐century booklists of Italian religious houses. She is responsible for the survey of seventeenth‐century Italian editions and for the broadsheet data for Italy for the Universal Short Title Catalogue and currently working on her second monograph on censorship in Counter‐Reformation Italy (forthcoming Brill, 2017).

Josie Caplehorne is Rochester Cathedral project cataloguer at the University of Kent.

Rachel Dickinson is Metadata Assistant and a member of the Special Collections & Archives team at the University of Kent.

Francis Lapka is Catalog Librarian at the Yale Center for British Art, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts. He is chair of the ACRL/RBMS Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials Task Force.

Deborah J. Leslie is Senior Cataloger at the Folger Shakespeare Library, before which she held rare book cataloguing positions at Yale University and the Library Company of Philadelphia. She teaches Rare Book Cataloging at the Rare Book School of the University of Virginia, and was principal editor of DCRM(B).

Alasdair MacDonald is Metadata Co‐ordinator, Collections Development and Access, at Edinburgh University Library. Along with managing the Metadata Team of 19 cataloguing and classification staff his role involves overseeing the cataloguing of modern print and electronic acquisitions and donations, including the implementation and ongoing policy development for RDA as the standard for cataloguing modern materials. The work of the Metadata Team also includes retro‐cataloguing projects; authority control and catalogue maintenance work; and cataloguing/classification work relating to the relocation of collections within and between the various university library sites. He has previously worked at the Bodleian Library and the National Library of Scotland.

As Assistant Rare Book Librarian at the Centre for Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library, Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence assists the Head of the Centre for Research Collections (CRC) in developing and promoting the printed special collections of Edinburgh University Library. Along with researching and cataloguing complex books and early printing, her role covers the application of DCRM(B) and developing local documentation and best practice guidelines for rare books. She is responsible for overseeing the cataloguing and management of the rare books collections, including new purchases/donations and the development and support of projects to add uncatalogued collections to the catalogue. She also promotes the collections to a wide academic and non‐academic audience through developing the CRC website, exhibitions, social media and direct engagement with readers. Elizabeth is currently working on a project to catalogue the rare book collections held in the library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

5 Audrey Pearson is Catalog/Metadata Librarian at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. She is a member and “keeper of the text” of the ACRL/RBMS Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials Task Force.

Professor Nicholas Pickwoad has a doctorate from Oxford University in English Literature. He trained in bookbinding and book conservation with Roger Powell, and ran his own workshop from 1977 to 1989. He has been Adviser on book conservation to the National Trust of Great Britain since 1978, and was editor of the Paper Conservator. He taught book conservation at Columbia University Library School in New York from 1989 to 1992 and was Chief Conservator in the Harvard University Library from 1992 to 1995. He is now project leader of the St Catherine’s Monastery Library Project based at the University of the Arts, London and is director of the Ligatus Research Centre, which is dedicated to the history of bookbinding. He gave the 2008 Panizzi Lectures at the , was awarded the 2009 Plowden medal for Conservation and is a Fellow of the IIC and of the Society of Antiquaries and a Council Member of the Bibliographical Society of Great Britain. He also teaches courses in the UK, Europe and America on the history of European bookbinding in the era of the hand printing press, and has published widely on the subject.

Jennifer Schaffner has approached her career within the rare books, manuscripts, and archives communities largely from the standpoint of reference and public services. She has worked at a private university library (Stanford), a public library (New York Public Library), a “special library” (Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton), a community library‐archives‐museum (California Historical Society), a public university (University of Alberta), and an independent library of rare books within an academic department at a public university (the Clark Library at UCLA). Jennifer’s most recent position was in OCLC Research, the “think tank” of a non‐profit cooperative and vendor, working with international alliances of librarians.

Marja Smolenaars is a specialist cataloguer of rare materials at the National Library of the Netherlands. She is a book historian with wide experience in researching and cataloguing rare books up to 1800, both for library catalogues and for the Short‐Title Catalogue, Netherlands.

Athanasios Velios graduated from the Technological Educational Institute of Athens with a degree in Archaeological Conservation in 1998. He then moved to London to complete his PhD at the Royal College of Arts and the Imperial College. His PhD work focussed on Computer Applications to Conservation and more specifically Conservation Documentation. In 2004 he joined UAL as a Research Assistant working for the St. Catherine's Project. He later became a Research Fellow and recently Reader and co‐director of Ligatus. He has been a Principle Investigator and Co/Investigator in two large AHRC‐ funded projects and has contributed to a number of smaller successful research projects. He is a member of the AHRC peer‐review college, the webmaster for the International Institute for Conservation and the Conservation Graduates Association in Greece and he chairs the Research Degree Sub‐ committee for Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon college (CCW) in UAL. He has supervised and examined PhD research and contributed to departmental assessments in the field of Conservation.

6 Organizing committee

Francis Lapka (RBMS RDA‐DCRM TF chair) Nina Schneider (RBMS BSC chair) Anne Welsh (CIG member and Lecturer, Department of Information Studies, UCL (London)) Iris O’Brien (RBSCG BSC chair and The British Library) Claudia Fabian (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and IFLA) Alan Danskin (EURIG Chair, British Library) Graeme Forbes (CIGS Chair and Head of Ingest, National Library of Scotland) Paul Cunnea (CIGS Secretary and Digital Assets Manager, NLS) Gordon Dunsire (CIGS and JSC Chair)

Association of College & Research Libraries’ Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) http://rbms.info

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Rare Books and Special Collections Group (RBSCG) http://www.cilip.org.uk/about/special‐interest‐groups/rare‐books‐and‐special‐collections‐group

CILIP Cataloguing & Indexing Group (CIG) http://www.cilip.org.uk/about/special‐interest‐groups/cataloguing‐and‐indexing‐group

European RDA Interest Group (EURIG) http://www.slainte.org.uk/eurig/

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) http://www.ifla.org/

Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC) http://www.rda-jsc.org/

#RDArare

7