Technicalities TM Information Forum for the Technical Services Professional Reality Check Dollars and Recalling the Library of Sense Congress’s Bicentennial ... Hernando’s 20 Years Later Hideaway By Carlen Ruschoff By Sheila S. Intner
wenty years ago, the Library of Congress (LC) celebrated Tits bicentennial anniversary. To commemorate this event, LC spon- sored the “Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the Carlen Ruschoff New Millennium: Confronting the Challenges of Networked Resources and the Web.”1 The challenge of was the foremost issue for libraries managing web and digital resources at the time. In the 1990s through the beginning of the 21st century, libraries Sheila S. Intner were acquiring digital content as November/December 2019 rapidly as possible. Web content was ack in the 1950s, Volume 39 No. 6 exploding and not at all controlled by “Hernando’s Hideaway” Naïve Questions and Tenuous libraries. Serials were increasingly Bwas the name of a popular Connections being made available in digital formats. song in the score of a Broadway See page 8 Making matters more complicated, musical titled The Pajama Game. many information resources were being On one of our first dates at that Continuities published outside of the traditional time, my husband-to-be took me to See page 12 commercial publishing framework. see it. The song described a dimly Library leaders and other stakeholders lit Spanish-language nightspot Interfaces were faced with the challenge of where couples could discover love See page 16 managing all that content, ensuring as they danced and drank the night that it was fully described, and made away. At this point, you might Book Reviews See page 19 discoverable. well ask, “What on earth has this The bicentennial conference was got to do with technical services?” held in November 2000. LC invited I promise you will soon see the News From the Field See page 22 experts from communities that were connection. (continued on page 4) (continued on page 6)
ISSN 0272–0884 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Information Forum for the Technical Services Professional Table of Contents Reality Check From the Editor’s Desk Recalling the Library of Congress’s Bicentennial ... 20 Years Later By Carlen Ruschoff...... 1 Library Politics By Peggy Johnson Dollars and Sense Hernando’s Hideaway hen you hear “office By Sheila S. Intner...... 1 politics,” what comes to Wmind? Many people say From the Editor’s Desk simply, “I try to avoid it.” Others Library Politics might say, “It’s the dark side,” and By Peggy Johnson...... 2 inevitably destructive. In a survey reported by Robert Half, 46 percent of respondents reported that the most Peggy Johnson Naïve Questions and common form of office or workplace Tenuous Connections politics is gossip; 28 percent said the shapes and sizes. Neither gender Sense-making of Contemporary most common form is gaining favor can claim greater prowess, or Academic Collections by flattering the boss.1 Both have ignorance of office politics. It gets By Kevin Merriman...... 8 negative connotations. Storm, Kelly, under everyone’s skin. You can’t and DeVries observe that, escape it. But you can (and should) Continuities learn to play the game.3 Cataloging, Character Sets and the Library workplace environ- Longue Durée ments have zones of tension and The point that James and many By Charles L. Riley...... 12 dynamics just like any corpora- others make is that appropriate tion, often leading to the formation office politics build effective rela- of political camps. These different tionships, which are essential in all Interfaces cliques influence productivity and organizations. Workplace politics, Memories of an Important work-related issues and, at worst, when managed effectively, can build Conference on Descriptive give meetings the feel of the Camp coalitions that foster compromise, Cataloguing David negotiations.2 cooperation, and (ideally) collabora- By Jean Weihs, C.M...... 16 tion. Ahearn and colleagues define A more positive approach is to political skill as “the ability to effec- Book Reviews...... 19 consider office politics as workplace tively understand others at work, and diplomacy and an essential part of to use such knowledge to influence News From the Field...... 22 managing organizational dynamics— others to act in ways that enhance that is, working with people to get one’s personal and/or organizational things done. People and organizations objects.”4 In the words of Eiring, Editor are naturally political. If one fails to “Politics is the art of negotiation, Peggy Johnson pay attention to what is happening compromise, and satisfaction.”5 Contributing Editor in the organization, he or she is at Carlen Ruschoff a disadvantage when trying to get On Being things done. According to James, Politically Astute Contributing Authors Several authorities give advice Sheila S. Intner Office politics crosses all cultures, on attributes common to politi- Kevin Merriman Charles L. Riley and respects no boundaries. It cally skilled individuals. Ferris and Jean Weihs, C.M. seeps into organizations of all colleagues identify four dimensions
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of political skill: social astuteness, Sincerity. Politically skilled forces with the dark side. Navigating interpersonal influence, networking individuals have high levels of office politics skillfully improves one’s ability, and sincerity.6 integrity, authenticity, sincerity, ability to succeed both in the orga- Social astuteness. Individuals and genuineness. They are honest, nization and personally. Developing possessing political skill are astute forthright, agreeable, positive, and and maintaining trust, and gaining observers of others. They are attentive often serve as role models. This and retaining respect should be goals. and empathetic. They understand social dimension of political skill is crucial Building effective alliances is at the interactions well and accurately inter- if attempts to influence outcomes heart of workplace politics. And a lot pret their behavior and the behavior are going to be successful because it of it comes back to being nice—treat of others. They are keenly attuned to focuses on the perceived intentions of others as you wish to be treated. diverse social settings, have high self- the behavior exhibited without ulterior awareness, and are sensitive to others. motives. Individuals high in sincerity Epilogue: In the Nov./Dec. 2018 Interpersonal influence. Politically inspire trust and confidence in and from issue, I wrote about the St. Paul Public skilled individuals have an unassuming those around them because their actions Library’s plan to eliminate library late and convincing personal style that are not interpreted as manipulative or fines and subsequently reported that St. exerts a powerful influence on others coercive. Paul City Council approved a budget around them. Interpersonal influence Robert Half offers guidelines for that increased the library’s budget to allows people to adapt and calibrate effective office politics.7 offset the loss of fine income.8 The their behavior to different situations to • Build a broad coalition of support results of this policy change suggest elicit the desired responses from others. and involve all colleagues at all that it has been extremely beneficial. They demonstrate flexibility, which levels. Data tells the story. involves adapting one’s behavior to • Avoid smear campaigns, More than 65,000 items have been different targets of influence in different gossiping, and mudslinging. Stay checked so far in 2019 by people with settings to achieve one’s goals. true to your values. cards that were previously blocked. Networking ability. Individuals with • Play by the rules and avoid sticky Circulation the second quarter of political skill are adept at identifying situations; in other words, know 2019 increased in all locations, espe- and developing diverse contacts and and be sensitive to your office cially in branch libraries that serve networks of people. People in these culture. lower income areas. For example, one networks tend to hold assets seen as • Avoid controversy and heated of these branches saw an increase of valuable and necessary for successful debates about non-work issues. 19.3 percent. organizational and personal gains. • Be sociable and get to know the New library card registration Because of their typically subtle style, people at all levels where you increased 8.2 percent, reversing a past politically skilled individuals easily work. steady downward trend.9 develop friendships and build strong, • Be honest and forthright—if you Other libraries are doing likewise. beneficial alliances and coalitions. make a mistake, admit it imme- On September 30, the Chicago Public Individuals with advanced networking diately and apologize. To do so Library, the largest municipality in the ability ensure they are well positioned enhances credibility. United States, announced it would stop to both create and take advantage of fining people for overdue books and opportunities. People with this attribute Conclusion wipe away patrons’ outstanding debt.10 are often highly skilled negotiators Office politics are a reality, even in I find these changes extremely exciting. and deal makers, and adept at conflict libraries. Engaging in office politics management. should not be perceived as joining (continued on page 4)
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From the Editor’s Desk Reality Check Recalling the (continued from page 3) www.kare11.com/article/news/local/ References and Notes after-dropping-late-fees-st-paul- Library of 1. Robert Half, International, “Rumor libraries-see-a-boost/89-f279c9d5- Congress’s Has It . . . Office Politics Exist,” 86f6-4d6d-97fe-588426db2867 June 29, 2016, http://rh-us. (accessed Oct. 22, 2019). Bicentennial ... mediaroom.com/2016-06-29- 10. Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Rumor-Has-It-Office-Politics-Exist John Byrne, “Chicago to Become 20 Years Later (accessed Sept. 28, 2019). Largest U.S. Public Library System 2. Paula Storm, Robert Kelly, and to Go Fine-Free for Overdue (continued from page 1) Susann deVries, “Office Politics: A Materials That Get Returned,” involved in the creation, cataloging, Guide for the Politically Challenged Chicago Tribune (Sept. 30, 2019), and discovery of digital resources to Librarian,” Library Journal 133, no. www.chicagotribune.com/news/ explore obstacles in managing the 18 (Nov. 1, 2008): 34-36. breaking/ct-chicago-library- digital environment. The primary 3. Franke James, Dear Office-Politics: fines-eliminated-20190930-liidg- ambitions of the conference were: The Game Everyone Plays [U.S.: xi62nb4tnnmfmnlphykja-story. “1) to develop an overall strategy to Book Surge, 2009), 2. html#targetText=Overdue%20 address the challenges of improved 4. Kathleen K. Ahearn et al., “Leader fines%20for%20books%20 access to Web resources through Political Skill and Team Perform- in,they%20were%20%242%20 library catalogs and applications of ance,” Journal of Management 30, per%20day (accessed Oct. 22, metadata . . . and 2) to identify attain- no. 3 (June 2004): 311. 2019). able actions for achieving the overall 5. H. Larry Eiring, “Dynamic Office strategy.”2 The intent of this working Politics: Powering up for Program meeting was to generate ideas and Success!” Information Management recommendations that would inspire Journal 33, no. 1 (Jan. 1999): 17-25. innovative strategies to improve 6. Gerald R. Ferris et al., “Develop- bibliographic control of the digital ment and Validation of the Editor’s note about resources. Political Skill Inventory,” Journal new contributor: In their discussions, the conference of Management 31, no. 1 (Jan. I am delighted to welcome a new participants acknowledged that there 2005): 126-152. Note that Ferris and contributor to Technicalities—Kevin was more information to be cataloged colleagues use the phrase “apparent Merriman, Director for Collection for discovery than traditional library sincerity” instead of “sincerity,” Management, Access Services, Tech- technical services could manage. explaining that the people with this nical Services, and Technology, Center There was also a recognition that new skill are or appear to be sincere. for Science and Social Science Informa- communities with their own interest My preference is for actual sincerity tion, Yale University Library. He will in managing digital resources had rather than the semblance of it. be writing about collection manage- emerged. In addition, there was new 7. Robert Half, International, “Rumor ment and development issues under the technology that could and should be Has It . . .” provocative column title, “Naïve Ques- leveraged to capture and distribute 8. Peggy Johnson, “The Value (or Not) tions and Tenuous Connections.” metadata. The consensus was that of Library Late Fines,” Technical- libraries and other stakeholders ities 38, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2018): should work together to reposition the 2-3; Peggy Johnson, “Four Trends bibliographic control and discovery in Collection Development and field to connect with interrelated Management,” Technicalities 39, communities and to harness avail- no. 2 (Mar./April 2019): 2-3. able technologies to maximize user 9. Danny Spewak, “After Dropping access to these information resources. Late Fees, St. Paul Libraries See a Collaboration and partnerships across Boost,” KARE11 (Oct. 15, 2019), communities was a major theme that
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emerged from the meeting. following the bicentennial confer- research communities should direct The outcome of the confer- ence. Some of these had near-term their efforts.5 ence discussions was a document results, others were long-term, and The bicentennial conference was called Bibliographic Control of Web many evolved and became imbedded a great success. The outcome of the Resources: A Library of Congress in the ongoing work of stakeholders. meeting articulated the issues libraries Action Plan.3 The plan contained six Near term efforts included building and other metadata communities were items for the purpose of reconsidering an education program to foster cata- facing in managing digital resources. bibliographic control for a digital loging skills for digital resources. Even better, the Library of Congress world. These action items were: Curricula in training library profes- Action Plan provided a solid outline 1) increased availability of standard sionals and library school students for creating a new environment better records for Web resources; were developed and implemented. prepared to meet user discovery 2) enhanced record display and Collaboration between LC, OCLC, and needs. The training efforts, standards access across multiple systems; the Deutsche Bibliothek to expand the development, and the research that 3) collaboration among metadata name authority file was pursued. This followed the conference positioned standards communities for better bibli- project led to the development of the library professionals to carry forward ographic control of Web resources; Virtual International Authority File in developing new models and methods 4) development of automated tools project (VIAF). Publishers, vendors, to support a sustainable ecosystem for for harvesting and maintaining meta- and library service providers collabo- managing digital resources. The frame- data; rating with libraries began to explore work was just what we needed to guide 5) provision of appropriate training and develop mechanisms for distrib- the amplification of our strategic plans for the Web environment; and uting metadata that could be used to and standards development—and it was 6) support of research and develop- reuse and repurpose metadata. These effective! ment to enhance bibliographic control efforts led to the refinement of record of Web resources. distribution services for digital content References and Notes The goals were very broadly stated and improved standards for linking 1. See Bicentennial Conference on and designed to spur thinking on how resolvers to support discovery between Bibliographic Control for the New current models and new methods systems. Millennium: Confronting the Chal- could be designed to create a more Just as important as these near-term lenges of Networked Resources effective and sustainable ecosystem. initiatives were the research undertak- and the Web, www.loc.gov/catdir/ And, each action item acknowledges ings that provided guidance for moving bibcontrol (accessed Sept. 12, 2019) the importance of partnerships and forward in new and creative directions. for a description of the conference. a diffuse range of other communi- For example, ways to provide more 2. Ibid. ties, including: metadata producers; granular subject access to resources 3. Library of Congress Cataloging standards developers; systems and through tools such as front-end thesauri Directorate, Bibliographic Control software vendors; computing and were investigated. Exploration of of Web Resources: A Library of technology suppliers; scholarly and library principles for data content and Congress Action Plan (last updated academic enclaves; publishers; dot. structure were created for the metadata Feb. 23, 2005), www.loc.gov/catdir/ com creators; bibliographic utilities; community to be used as guidance in bibcontrol/actionplan.pdf (accessed registration agencies; other information building new metadata schema. Karen Sept. 12, 2019). providers; government agencies; other Calhoun’s ground-breaking paper, The 4. Library of Congress Cataloging libraries, including national libraries; Changing Nature of the Catalog and Directorate, Bicentennial Confer- and other stewards of cultural and its Integration with Other Discovery ence on Bibliographic Control for historical knowledge, e.g., museums Tools, examined the role of the the New Millennium: Confronting and archives.4 library catalog in a world of growing the Challenges of Networked discovery tools, described the changing Resources and the Web, “Biblio- What Happened Next? ecosystem in the research discovery graphic Control of Web Resources: Many initiatives were launched area, and framed a picture of where the (continued on page 6)
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Reality Check Dollars and Sense Recalling the Hernando’s Hideaway
Library of (continued from page 1) pension. [Colón’s] own tools were . . Congress’s In the late 1970s and 1980s, my . hardly humble: lists of authors and primary specialization as a doctoral works, book indexes, a hieroglyphic Bicentennial ... student was cataloging. My dissertation code used in an early version of the and first book, based on it, had to do card catalog, keywords and content 20 Years Later with access to things other than books summaries that would allow readers that we now call “resources.”1 As you to find the volume they needed. (continued from page 5) might suspect, many of my master’s and In short, ‘Hernando had created a A Library of Congress Action doctoral degree papers had to do with search engine.’4 Plan,” Dec. 20, 2001, www.loc. catalogs and cataloging, and sometimes gov/catdir/bibcontrol/actionplan. began with a review of its history. I How many catalogers think of their html (accessed Sept. 23, 2019). described catalogers and bibliographers work as building a search engine? And, 5. Karen Calhoun, The Changing from other centuries and foreign coun- although it is now no longer uncommon Nature of the Catalog and its tries, but, until now, I did not know of for catalog records to include content Integration with Other Discovery (and, thus, never mentioned) one of the summaries, how many actually do? Tools, Final Report (Mar. 17, early and, as it may turn out, best of And, how many of us long-time cata- 2006), www.loc.gov/catdir/ them all: Hernando Colón, Christopher loging specialists knew about Colón’s calhoun-report-final.pdf (accessed Columbus’s second son. Not until a “search-engine-style-catalog” before Sept. 22, 2019). short time ago, when I read the review this, though we certainly knew of a of a book titled The Catalogue of Ship- variety of early catalogs? wrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, To find out more about the Colón His Son, and the Quest to Build the catalog, I went to Wikipedia, which World’s Greatest Library, by Edward offered the following information: Wilson-Lee, did I ever encounter Colón.2 According to the review, Colón Fernando personally noted each and gathered “fine volumes and ephemera, every book that he or his associ- pamphlets and song sheets . . . books ates acquired by listing the date of in languages he couldn’t read . . . [and] purchase, the location and how much printed images. In order to manage his was paid. Fernando had his associ- vast library, Hernando imported multi- ates prepare summaries of each book lingual scholars from the Low Countries in his collection and devised a hiero- to serve as its librarians and developed glyphic blueprint of his library. In an elaborate cataloging system to index 2013, history professor Guy Lazure the books’ contents.”3 While my interest serendipitously stumbled upon the was piqued by this information because massive catalog, known as the Libro I am an ex-media cataloger, it was de los Epítomes, long thought lost the kind of catalog Colón created that and consisting of 973 leaves of prompted me to write this column. paper, while conducting unrelated research.5 Hernando’s Catalog Carlen M. Ruschoff is Director Ms. Dumitrescu writes, Alison Flood offers more details Emerita, University of Maryland about the catalog. She writes: “The Libraries, and can be reached at In an age of abundant and unreliable Libro de los Epítomes manuscript, [email protected]. information, the person who can which is more than a foot thick, impose order can shape history—or contains more than 2,000 pages and This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. at least command a comfortable summaries from the library of Hernando
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Colón . . . who made it his life’s work by Thomas Jefferson that was the fore- Son Found One in Books,” The to create the biggest library the world runner of today’s Library of Congress New York Times Book Review had ever known in the early part of the catalog. We can only imagine what (June 2, 2019): 40, www.nytimes. 16th century.”6 While we may quibble Jefferson might think about the changes com/2019/05/31/books/review/ about whether to count leaves or pages, made not just to his classification, catalogue-of-shipwrecked-books- it is clear Colón’s catalog was exten- which was superseded many decades edward-wilson-lee-columbus.html sive, and the photograph of a leaf of the ago, but to current ideas about what we (accessed June 12, 2019); Edward manuscript itself in the Flood article should see in a catalog record. Wilson-Lee, The Catalogue of illustrates exactly how extensive the Shipwrecked Books: Christopher content summaries can be. In addition Conclusion Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to that, Colón included acquisition I am happy to learn about the Colón to Build the World’s Greatest information in these records, which catalog, if for no other reason than to Library (New York: Scribner, 2019). was not done in modern libraries until be better informed about the history 3. Ibid. the advent of computerized cataloging. of my specialty. It tells us we modern 4. Ibid. Separate files containing acquisi- catalogers are not the first to record 5. Wikipedia, s.v. “Ferdinand tions information was typical before more summaries and longer ones Columbus,” last edited April 21, computerization, but rarely, if ever, than might fit on a 3 x 5 inch card 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ displayed in public catalogs. On the for a few resources in the records we Ferdinand_Columbus (accessed June other hand, that information is essential prepare, offering those who view them 12, 2019). Note that Wikipedia uses to a collector, for whom the process of more information than mere citations the more commonly used Medieval acquiring something is as important to augmented by author, title, and subject Spanish version of Hernando’s revisit as the thing itself. headings. Another reason it pleases name, just as most of us think of me is that Colón’s collection included his father as Christopher Columbus Does It Matter? things like images and pamphlets rather than Cristóbal Colón. Hernando Colón was far from as well as manuscripts and printed 6. Alison Flood, “‘Extraordinary’ the first collector to create a catalog. books, and he cataloged all the things 500-year-old Library Catalogue Library history tells us about much he gathered in multiple languages and Reveals Books Lost to Time,” The earlier ones—more than 2,600 years scripts. And last but not least, I am glad Guardian (April 10, 2019), www. ago, a catalog of the Royal Library of knowing that his efforts have survived theguardian.com/books/2019/ Ashurbanipal at Nineveh was recorded for 500 years in their original form. apr/10/extraordinary-500-year-old- on numerous clay tablets and 300 years Since they have, perhaps we can all library-catalogue-reveals-books- later, Callimachus prepared a catalog get to see and admire his catalog if and lost-to-time-libro-de-los-epitomes of the Alexandrian Library. The desire when it is digitized. In the meantime, (accessed June 12, 2019). to collect all knowledge continued for those who want to know more 7. Mark P. McDonald, Ferdinand to challenge some members of the about it, a scholarly monograph about Columbus: Renaissance Collector educated population and the need to Hernando and his work by Mark P. (1488-1539) (London, British record what was in those collections McDonald is available via WorldCat Museum Press, 2005). followed more or less naturally. and other online listings.7 Throughout the years, we know about catalogs of the holdings of References and Notes monasteries, universities, and other 1. Sheila S. Intner, Access to Media: Sheila S. Intner is Professor institutions, some of which are well A Guide to Integrating and Emerita, Simmons College GSLIS at known today, such as the Bodleian Computerizing Catalogs (New Mount Holyoke College; she can be Library. As for those of the United York: Neal-Schuman, 1984). reached at [email protected]. States, perhaps the most notable of 2. Irina Dumitrescu, “Columbus This work is licensed under a Creative Commons these early catalogs is the one devised Dreamed of a New World. His Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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Naïve Questions and Tenuous Connections Sense-making of Contemporary Academic Collections By Kevin Merriman
Across Time and Space and over time stripping paperbacks Some children are innately drawn became, in many ways, enjoyable. And, to the land of words and ideas and despite this industrial culling, the then Kevin Merriman the talismans of the mind. Many of unknown-to-me maxim of “every book us never leave. My tenure as a news- his reader” still resonated as customers intersection of mission and profit as paper delivery boy initiated over rooted through the mark-down bins for motivators to search because, despite three decades in information delivery 99-cent treasures. all I have learned through my career, services, and overlapped the very With no disrespect to Ranganathan, I find technologies are exponen- familiar career foreshadowing of time-honed systems in libraries and tially complicating the work needed working as a page in my high school bookstores acknowledge that not to support humanity’s truth-seekers library and public library. After every bound literary vessel is equally and fragmenting the associated skill college, I worked nearly a decade in esteemed. For many books, its reader sets. This series of articles under the bookstores. All realms of the written is a null set. Ultimately, each merely title “Naïve Questions and Tenuous word are connected but time spent manifests glimpses into the intangible Connections” is an admission of “backstage” in the overtly vulgar and infinite of all human experience. The ongoing ignorance and an invocation of commercial regions of the land of technologies of writing, printing, and collaborative sense-making. words and ideas changed my perspec- related audio-visual technologies tive about the iconification of the to send human knowledge and Where to Begin objects thereof. Rites of passage such information across time and space Without legal details or deep as being instructed to tear the covers is transcendent but nonetheless a economic analysis, this article explores off of paperback books to get credit means to an end. That the objects of my fear that the copyright privileges for unsold stock was unthinkable and transmission have inherent value is libraries are losing with the move from abhorrent to me. My earlier experience a common misunderstanding that I purchasing print to licensing electronic of seeing library books being put on held in my youth, but a library is not products is disrupting the role of the book trucks for readers to take for free necessarily a museum or an archive. library in the value chain and that some seemed far more enlightened. Is it not My move from retail to academia vendors may be building a long game better to give away a book than destroy was an effort to work where I believed to edge out the library and its leverage it? Once an object with inherent value connections would be motivated by of copyright for academic endeavors. exists, to remove it from reality seemed mission and not profit. I wanted to be The profit margins of academic evil and, yet, the universe operates closer to people are searching for truth publishers demonstrate the strength of in balance: despite finite resources, and meaning and I hoped that I could their position in advancing their goals, relocation was part of a natural order. help facilitate their work because I was whatever they are, and I am not sure we To destroy a book was an unnatural far too intimidated to consider “truth” as customers fully understand them. If act, a nearly-mythical literary trope of myself. Now, nearly two decades later, libraries suggest they can only afford humanity having lost its way. But, what I am compelled to search for a better to purchase what professors request, at first was shocking became routine understanding of truth. I reflect on the vendors understandably market to the
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professors directly instead of librarians. however, that the exaggeration sets the owner of yore or a clipping like a rare Many licenses aim to maximize stage for a thought experiment. violet from another library, it ingests revenue, not maximize exposure. Consider the mindset behind maxi- nutrients to grow, it generates waste, Further, the market value of some data mizing the marketable utilization of and, while growing, it sheds duplicate desired by academic researchers is an intellectual asset such as a book, content and unneeded appendages determined in a different market than article, movie, or dataset. Consider while inadvertently clinging to traditional academic resources. the approach libraries take regarding vestigial organs. Collections that are Rather than familiar campus-wide access to information as a service and large and old do not move quickly, but access to information content as a information itself as a marketable many try to remain current and follow raw resource to reinterpret creatively, product—are our approaches different trends with differing levels of success some vendors are limiting the type of or similar to a vendor’s model? Are and grace. research done on a licensed product libraries akin to the local books store Considering competitive advan- and segmenting the user population chain in a world of Amazon? Content tage of an institution of education of the institution. They hope for an providers build an asset base with and learning, the library collection addendum with a supplementary charge the intention of recouping the cost of historically has been seen as an asset. attached. As a cost-saving measure, content acquisition, overhead, and an Public and privately-owned informa- a library might accept a license to often shockingly impressive margin tion collectively is a full-continuum provide low-level campus-wide access of profit. Libraries also continue to of recorded human knowledge but with supplemental direct enhancement build collections and develop access is still a discretely-packaged subset charges for specific research groups. to collections for the allure of poten- of all human knowledge across time Supplemental charges may be paid tial researchers, not for financial and space. Despite physical media by the library or by the researcher’s recompense for the investment, but including text, images, and raw data, budget. Researchers also contract to fulfill the mission of ensuring each library collections still do not encom- directly with vendors when the content reader is able to get to the yet-to-be pass intangible knowledge such does not merit campus-wide exposure. known content. And, despite Pareto’s as dance, song, speech, and other These models of tiered brokerage and Principle and limited resources, we knowledge that lives or has lived in fragmented licensing compromise do this partially because we believe individuals who were unwilling or advancement of research because of the content is scarce and access to unable to externalize their experi- increasing segmentation of access the content is somehow finite and ence in tangible form. The physical to resources even at a single institu- limited so we snatch it up before other containers are the basis for collections tion, but they are growing because of libraries deplete the supply or the as well as for copyright, licensing, and researcher demand. vendor takes it off the market, which statistics while human knowledge itself one might call, perceived (or real) is unbroken, uncontainable, and ever- Containerizing Access “artificial scarcity.” growing. I now invoke the adage that to the Infinite “The Collection,” a repository knowledge is not wisdom. I have long joked that library- of some pieces of recorded human Contemporarily, there is acknowl- content-providing vendors will not knowledge, is but a vehicle viewed edgement that beyond the owned and be happy until our computer cameras as a monolith. It is mutable. I like to licensed collections, a library-provided follow our eyes and track a micro- think of a library collection as a living value-added feature is the relationships payment for each letter or word read entity with a life cycle much longer that are built to extend collections and from content they own or re-license. than my own and then I like to imagine expedite services, i.e., the concepts This is broad, rude, incorrect, and it in a time lapse video. Often starting of collaborative collection building, possibly not even funny. Consider, from a seed donated by a wealthy land (continued on page 10)
9 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Naïve Questions and Tenuous Connections Sense-making of Contemporary Academic Collections
(continued from page 9) content that operates in a different systems by suggestively encouraging shared collections, and consortia. dimension from library shelves and users to “tell your institutional library Prospective students and others hungry article databases. that they need to purchase this for for knowledge may respond to that you.” I want to believe it is helpful message because the numbers are When a Library when users clearly express what they staggering even to the most devoted Is Not a Library want and need to a library collection hoarder of books: 2.8 billion hold- Content-providing vendors amass manager, but this marketing technique ings in OCLC’s WorldCat, with an content, develop research services, and reminds me of breakfast cereal compa- overwhelming percentage available to even hire degreed librarians to perform nies advertising to children and drug anyone connected to a library offering core functions related to librarianship, companies telling consumers to “ask interlibrary loan. such as descriptive cataloging. And your doctor.” We in library-land have Amazingly enough, even if we were although they closely resemble (virtual) to respond to “ask your librarian if to pretend that was close to all the libraries, they are not libraries, they are this data product is right for you.” The information in all the world, there is partners—the refineries of content from advertising asserts that the product can a contrasting collection of significant which libraries source their products. solve problems that have been plaguing size: privately-owned (and corporate- They are friends and colleagues doing researchers and problems they never owned) recordings of human data and the work that can be centralized outside knew they had. And, after the freebies, knowledge. The library is akin to the of an institution so that individual either the researcher or their institution largest buffet—more than you could libraries are free to focus on services will have to pay. ever use, more than you will ever unique to their constituency and to And, in fairness, we do pay. need, with a staggering array of exotic customize offering from the larger Negotiating access to content we do options. But, does it have what you supply chain of content and not own and paying for it is still a want? Does it have what you need? products. core function of academic libraries. Possibly, but possibly not. It exists as a However, I am inclined to consider Purchases and license agreements are gestalt, however, of “if you cannot find some content-providing vendors hybrid markedly different than a reciprocal it here, (maybe) you do not need it.” libraries, such as those with a model borrowing privileges agreement we But even collectively, all collections of offering some services gratis and might enter with like-minded library are not everything. charging for others. After all, even seeking mutual enhancement of access Gone are the days of telling users some cash-strapped libraries will pass to complementary collections. When “if it does not appear in our records, on the cost of interlibrary loan to the the library acquiesces to a researcher- it does not exist.” The world is our researcher. Vendor-provided library initiated purchase, a library vendor search-engine, our abstracts, and services are sometimes presented as may write into the library license that our indices. One never knows where a freemium model, such as searching it cannot share the content with fellow a partial citation may originate. their content and only receiving the libraries, a pre-emptive strike from a We librarians have never worked metadata without actual content unless hostile ally. But the benefits of working in a completely closed system, but a charge is paid. Some vendors will with academic vendors developing the connections and referents have give you the first article free. The academic products with academic grown in the electronic age and the system offers the researchers affiliated licenses are blessedly straight-forward contemporary system of citation with a non-subscribing library and compared to licensing a business sources is everything and everybody. completely independent researchers product for businesses as an academic Interlibrary loan is still a special kind the opportunity for manufacturer-direct resource for researchers studying of magic, but it has its limitations access to information products. Is this business and students learning about and, despite the awesome power of not the democratic utopia we imagined business. Forbidding electronic inter- reciprocal agreements for owned the internet to provide? library loan is undesirable to a library copies of content and pre-negotiated Vendor-libraries market directly but the terminology and concepts are shipping rates, users continue to need to users and leverage the existing mutually understood between library
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vendors and libraries; trying to explain I do not think I am saying Collection” will refer to all recorded to a business data provider that students anything new but I hope I can present human knowledge and data. are not employees so the institution opportunities in a new way. Library cannot assume liability for their actions practitioners are presented with Conclusion is generally outside their frame of stresses and challenges that are often Work backwards from the proposi- reference. framed for failure—such as being tion that libraries cease to exist until asked for something that does not you get to where we are now and Revisiting “Just in Case” exist, being asked for deliverables with take comfort in knowing that there Just in Time unreasonable target dates, being asked are solutions sprouting all around us. For conventional library resources, to provide new solutions with old tools, We can continue to budget for patron there is no just-in-time production, and being asked to perform new skills requests and build out procedures to only the question of which entity without adequate training and practice. quickly meet those needs. We can prepared the content just-in-case. Libraries continue to move forward pre-negotiate terms and add content to The researcher-author, publisher, and because they are collectively and master agreements that also add speed distributor are all working just-in-case; metaphorically large and battle-worn, and efficiency. We can ensure that the purchasing their wares on demand is and their mission is ancient and deep. connections and consortia we build merely sourcing just-in-time. Even in However, there is often inconsistency remain intact and continue to expand. the realm of structured data, there is an of representation between the portrayal We also need to be mindful of licensing element of preparation. In all cases, the of libraries and their librarians. contracts. In the virtual world, the underlying element for all the players is Some librarians may identify with motivation “to promote the progress risk management across a portfolio, and the metaphor that the library that is of science and useful arts” is not built cost-per-use is different than a return slow to respond but, more likely, they in to all agreements and the creator of on investment. New budgeting models themselves are dancing through the content is not compensated throughout and reinterpretation of library mission library halls hoping the good days the life cycle of the content.1 Advocacy statements are improving this blending outweigh the bad days. and support for the evolving value- of risk and access on our side. added library is essential and one set Many libraries have budget lines Imagine a World of tools that are in front of us are the to purchase one-off copies and throw- with No Libraries licenses. The question now is how to away services, which often run through Currently the market value of intel- get the children interested in words and interlibrary loan offices that purchase lectual content varies but the content ideas to get interested in law. esoteric articles outside their reciprocal containers inflate the market value agreements. The idea is expanding. of intellectual content on a trajectory Reference Academic libraries are getting more that was long ago deemed unsustain- 1. U.S. Const.. art. I, § 8, cl. 8. flexible in pursuing purchase requests able for libraries. Imagine our system and are budgeting to adjust the port- collapses and although all content folio of just-in-time versus just-in-case. out of copyright has been digitized We are growing nimble and responsive and is essentially free for the price of . . . unless the license review takes four advertising scrolling across the search Kevin Merriman is Director for months to negotiate and what started as interface but all researchers purchase Collection Management, Access just-in-time for one user becomes just- contemporary research articles and raw Services, Technical Services, and in-case for the next. There are always data directly from the two remaining Technology, Center for Science and new challenges. Leveraging access to information vendors. All informa- Social Science Information, Yale content portfolios as the library seeks tion purchased is available only to the University Library, and can be reached to balance efficiencies of discovery and purchaser and their research group at at [email protected]. access while angling for good pricing is whatever cost the market will bear. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons a never-ending game. There will come a time where “The Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
11 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Continuities Cataloging, Character Sets and the Longue Durée By Charles L. Riley
Note from Ben Abrahamse, “Continuities” author and editor: Charles L. Riley is the Catalog Librarian for African Languages at Yale University, and a tireless advocate for the inclusion of non-Roman metadata in our catalogs and discovery portals. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Athinkra LLC, an outfit that serves emerging markets in Africa and Southeast Asia through the develop- ment of fonts for non-Roman scripts that meet Unicode and ISO/IED 10646:2017. The latter, now in its 5th version, specifies the Universal Coded Character Set (UCS). I am pleased to be able to bring his unique voice into our conversation on “Continuities.” Riley’s vision of a truly inclusive catalog in which all languages Charles L. Riley and all scripts are represented and made accessible to users around the world—is nothing short of universal in scope. Some might find it utopian; I prefer to think of it as profoundly eutopian: thinking deeply about what is best for all the citizens of the bibliome and the technological means by which that might be achieved.
ersistence can be a good thing, exception of the Chinese, Japanese, VIAF. Another would be for members and has the potential to yield and Korean unified ideographs. It also of the Program for Cooperative Cata- Pdividends. As it is with stan- covered Armenian, Bengali, Coptic, loging (PCC) to work toward greater dards, so may it be with advocacy. Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, use of the Unicode character repertoire However, the persistence of the widely Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, than is currently found in authority used, oft-maligned MARC standards Thai, and Tibetan. Tibetan was taken records. A third option would have carries with it a legacy worthy of out in version 1.1, re-added in 2.0, and been to keep expanding the MARC-8 particular attention: the MARC-8 its original codepoints were reassigned repertoire itself, but this has been character set, to which many libraries to Burmese (or Myanmar) in version essentially frozen since at least 2007.3 are still accustomed. MARC-8 was 3.0. A stability policy has been in place In a 2009 report, the PCC consid- designed in 1968 to cover the need for since Unicode 2.0 to avoid the recur- ered other options, such as Universal Latin script, and expanded between rence of this kind of error. Bibliographic Control and Coopera- 1979 and 1983 to include a repertoire There is a multitude of literature tive Identities Hubs.4 Much work has of non-Roman scripts—Japanese, to be explored through metadata that been underway since then on the Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, is now starting to be expressed in the Social Networks and Archival Context Hebrew, Yiddish (JACKPHY)— original scripts, yet libraries typically Cooperative (SNAC; https://portal. followed later by Cyrillic and Greek.1 produce metadata in scripts beyond snaccooperative.org), as well as the Meanwhile, a new character JACKPHY, Cyrillic, and Greek in International Standard Name Identifier encoding standard, Unicode, was devel- bibliographic fields but not authority (ISNI; www.isni.org) and Wikidata oping that would come to supersede files. Although the Virtual International (www.wikidata.org), which are both most legacy character sets. Joe Becker Authority File (VIAF) does provide contributing sources to VIAF.5 wrote a 1984 article that outlined the the capacity to handle these additional problem that Unicode was developed scripts, the sources for them are not An Expanded to solve.2 The first version of the always national libraries. Range Of Scripts Unicode standard was released in 1991 One way forward, then, would With the use of an expanded range and covered the above scripts with the be for more national libraries to join of scripts, we could then provide users
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with authorized name headings to Challenges in the programming and working better in a appear in catalogs for names. Figure 1 Conversion from MARC-8 linked data environment, there are the presents examples. to UTF-8 Encoding dual notions of being open to serving Rather than the forms that would In order to see wider implementa- users of all backgrounds, regardless derive from the script under Amer- tion of the proposal that the authority of their mother tongue, and helping ican Library Association-Library of file accommodate more Unicode to preserve linguistic diversity, func- Congress (LC) romanization rules, characters, we must first consider the tions which libraries are, perhaps, in a I have largely followed the angli- conversion of a given library’s catalog uniquely well-positioned place to offer. cized usage as found in the LC name from MARC-8 to UTF-8 encoding.6 A second point is a bug that inter- authority file for these examples. A OCLC Office of Research issued a feres in the input from a Windows central dilemma in the cataloging of helpful guide that walks one through language setting into the Voyager ILS. materials in non-Latin scripts is the fact the process of such a conversion.7 It takes input in, for example, Bengali, that authorized name headings are often Terry Reese and Jonathan Rochkind Cherokee, Tibetan, or Vai script and at variance with how those names are have both written cogent technical automatically turns the output into spelled or pronounced in their vernac- justifications for taking this step of question marks. It is a longstanding ular scripts, and how they appear in encoding conversion in separate posts.8 bug, one for which the vendor proposes romanized forms. This has the potential Beyond the purely technical arguments, no codebase fix, but for which they to create user frustration in retrieval. which in part look to facilitate better (continued on page 14)
Figure 1. Examples of Authorized Name Headings.
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Continuities Cataloging, Character Sets, and the Longue Durée
(continued from page 13) does not have or cannot find a font. Conclusion recommend a workaround in tweaking Tofu gets its name from the fact that As much as technical systems are a certain configuration file for special the rectangular symbols “□” look like improving, budgetary investments characters. Such files are not exactly squares of tofu. Tofu should still carry to support them at scale are under trivial to develop conceptually, but with it character information, even tight constraints. While wider use of they can be built with reference to though the relevant glyphs are not linked data and the introduction of keyboard layouts available from the being displayed. As the script coverage BIBFRAME is one way forward that Common Locale Data Repository of many available system fonts has leverages the decentralized nature of (CLDR). A related issue is valida- been improving across systems, this is information production, the network it tion; there is another configuration file becoming less prevalent, but it is still relies on arguably requires within its in Voyager that also can be tweaked likely to happen in the case of recently framework a unifying logic, and layers to handle an expanded range of the encoded scripts, such as Medefaidrin of proof and trust at a high level.10 Unicode character repertoire. Modi- or Adlam. Providing optimal technical access fications of these configuration files Lossy results are more trouble- to the full spectrum of the literary have been informally proposed to LC some. “Mojibake” is a Japanese word heritage of humankind may seem for their consideration and review. meaning “character transformation,” to be a lofty goal, but the means of and may look like, for example, achieving it are closer at hand than it Variation in the Capacity “âÉÂÌÉÏÔÅËÁ”—a nonsense string may sometimes appear. It will require of Operating Systems of characters that do not make sense more attention to better understanding and Browsers together. While mojibake is usually of the structures that we use, how they There are certain pitfalls which may the result of mismatched encoding have evolved, and how they may still be encountered in Unicode processing. on conversion, a special case of it is even impede our view. Lisbet Rausing, Recognizing them early is the key to found with the use of non-standard co-founder of the Arcadia Fund, understanding how to fix them. Some or legacy fonts that may be mapped argues for imagining a new Library of yield lossy results, which can even to a range such as Latin-1. It is not Alexandria, one that allows universal be by design, and others are lossless.9 necessarily purely lossy: the example researching of the “bibliome.”11 If The specific types of errors seen can above is a corruption of the word anything like this is to be developed be noted as numerical character refer- “Библиотека”” (“biblioteka” or for our users, we must think strategi- Библиотека ences appearing in contexts where “library”), as transformed from the cally about what that will mean for
they should not, “tofu”, “mojibake”, “K018”. encoding. But in many cases future investments in opportunities and undefined or “fill” characters. The of� mojibake, it can be unwieldy to for hiring and training staff, and in first two are lossless and leave some recover the original character informa- bringing about a fuller awareness of room for hope, the third one can be tion once it has been misencoded. A the implications of servicing the very difficult to work with, and the special case that falls between tofu linguistic aspects of diversity and fourth is impossible to recover from (in its root cause and solution), and inclusion. without reference to the original source mojibake (in its outward appearance) data. Numerical character references is the emergence of data stored using References and Notes are machine-readable and may occur non-standard fonts, where the font may 1. Susan Morris, “Finding JACKPHY: when UTF-8 data from outside the be missing locally from the system Online Cataloging to Include MARC-8 repertoire is brought into a used to access the data. Undefined or Arabic, Hebrew, Other Scripts,” MARC-8 environment. They take the “fill” characters are used in the lossy [Library of Congress] Information “ ” form of, for example, “L”, technique ofБиблиотека converting between Bulletin (Dec. 2007), www.loc. which represents the individual Latin UTF-8 and MARC-8 and may look gov/loc/lcib/0712/cataloging.html character “L”. “Tofu” typically occurs like this: ““9””. . These are used to indi- (accessed Sept. 19, 2019). � in display when the system encoun- cate that character information has 2. Joseph D. Becker, “Multilingual ters characters in a script for which it been lost. Word Processing,” Scientific
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American, vol. 251, no. 1 (July archives/1897 (accessed Sept. 19, of it?”, July 23, 2012, https://stack- 1984): 96-107. 2019); Jonathan Rochkind, “A overflow.com/questions/11601856/ 3. See Library of Congress, MARC Note on MARC8 to UTF Trans- what-is-unifying-logic-within-the- Standards, “MARC 21 Speci- coding: Character References,” semantic-stack-model-and-who-is- fications for Record Structure, Bibliographic Wilderness (blog), supposed-to-ta (accessed Sept. 19, Character Sets, and Exchange Nov. 5, 2013, https://bibwild. 2019). Media: Character Sets and wordpress.com/2013/11/05/a-note- 11. Lisbet Rausing, “Toward a New Encoding Options: Part 2, MARC-8 on-marc8-to-utf8-transcoding-char- Alexandria.” New Republic (Mar. Encoding Environment,” Dec. 2007, acter-references (accessed Sept. 19, 12, 2010), https://newrepublic.com/ www.loc.gov/marc/specifications/ 2019). article/73666/toward-new-alexan- speccharmarc8.html (accessed Sept. 9. “Lossy” and “lossless” refer to dria (accessed Sept. 19, 2019). 19, 2019). different ways of converting or 4. PCC [Program for Cooperative compressing data. A “lossy” Note: Thanks are due to Erin Freas- Cataloging] Task Group on the conversion technique is one that Smith (Library of Congress), Tyler Internationalization of the Authority will inherently result in loss of some Lanigan (Yale University Library), Files, “Report of the PCC Task of the original data. It may be useful and Daniel Lovins (Yale University Group on the Internationalization in contexts where there is no critical Library), for their helpful feedback on of the Authority Files,” Aug. 15, data loss to be expected, such as in early drafts of this article. 2009, www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/scs/ conversion of records containing documents/IAFReport.pdf (accessed only the Latin alphabet. But for Sept. 19, 2019). cases where content in more diverse 5. Anila Angjeli, Andrew Mac Ewan, languages is being converted, and Vincent Boulet, “ISNI and richer data is required to preserve VIAF: Transforming Ways of its original semantics. A “lossless” Trustfully Consolidating Iden- technique allows for recovery of tities,” paper presented at the source data encoded in UTF-8, from IFLA [International Federation of hexadecimal numerical character Library Associations and Institu- representations, and thus should tions] World Library Information be recommended. On this tech- Congress, Aug. 16-22, 2012, nique, see Unicode MARC Forum Lyon, France, http://library.ifla. and MARC Advisory Committee, org/985/1/086-angjeli-en.pdf “Lossless Technique for Conver- (accessed Sept. 19, 2019). sion of Unicode to MARC” 6. UTF-8 is a variable width character (MARC Proposal no. 2006-09), encoding capable of all 1,112,064 May 31, 2006, www.loc.gov/marc/ valid code points in Unicode using marbi/2006/2006-04.htm (accessed one to four 8-bit bytes. Sept. 18, 2019). 7. OCLC Research, “Mapping 10. See, for example, the “layer cake” MARC-8 to Unicode,” undated, visualization provided by the W3C, http://staff.oclc.org/~levan/docs/ www.w3.org/2007/03/layerCake. Unicode/Marc8ToUnicode.html svg (accessed Sept. 19, 2019). A Charles L. Riley is the Catalog (accessed Sept. 19, 2019). useful discussion of this model Librarian for African Languages, Yale 8. Terry Reese, “Thinking about appears on Stack Overflow; see Ian University, and can be reached at Charactersets and MARC,” Dickinson, “What is Unifying Logic [email protected]. Terry’s Worklog (blog), Feb. within the Semantic Stack Model This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 14, 2006, https://blog.reeset.net/ and who is supposed to take care Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
15 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Interfaces Memories of an Important Conference on Descriptive Cataloguing By Jean Weihs, C.M.
suspect that many people who Attendance at are reading this column are not the Conference I aware or only vaguely aware of an Attendance was by invitation only. important conference that took place in Sixty-four delegates arrived; more Toronto over 22 years ago and which were expected but four people were eventually led to changes in the rules unable to attend because of last minute Jean Weihs for descriptive cataloguing. The goal difficulties. Of course, the largest of this conference, convened by number of delegates represented the the Joint Steering Committee for four countries (Australia, Canada, Romania. One man, who was an the Revision of AACR (JSC) was United Kingdom, and United States) Iranian citizen but had studied for his to discuss the principles and future that were members of AACR2’s Joint library science credentials in Australia, development of the Anglo-American Advisory Committee and were respon- was chosen by Australia to be one cataloguing rules.1 This column is not sible at that time for the content of the of its representatives. He delivered a about the intellectual content of the rules for descriptive cataloguing then major presentation about catalogue conference; those interested in that in force in those countries.3 In addition, production technology. aspect can easily read the proceedings six countries, which were interested of the conference or Michael Gorman’s in the development of an international Conference Results article in American Libraries in which set of rules, such as an expansion (and Many of the delegates came to the he gives a condensed overview.2 the renaming) of the Anglo-American conference with essentially two quite Of all the important meetings I have Cataloguing Rules, sent a representa- different points of view: (1) throw attended in my many years of librarian- tive. Denmark, Germany, South Africa, away AACR2 and develop rules that ship this was the one that and Sweden each sent one delegate; fit the current physical possibilities of had the greatest eventual impact on Russia sent three. the emerging automation universe or the rules for descriptive cataloguing. The papers developed for presenta- (2) revise the text of AACR2 to make Some or many people who are tion at the conference were mounted it more hospitable to the emerging reading this column may dispute this on the conference website and sent technologies and rename it. Most statement because the advances in to 32 professional journals, five elec- conference delegates found the “throw the technical aspects of the tronic discussion lists, and four library it all out” stance unacceptable and computerization of descriptive associations. All papers were circu- voted for a careful and thoughtful cataloguing data have changed the lated to potential conference attendees revision of the then in force descrip- content and look of the catalogue and others who had indicated a vital tive cataloguing rules as the way to record and these people may be interest in an international descriptive proceed. At the end of the conference unaware of this vital meeting. cataloguing code, but were unable to I was mandated to prepare the impor- The Toronto conference led to the attend the conference. In addition to tant content of the presentations and development of changes in the the countries listed above, comments committee meetings for publication. catalogue record: the way each on these conference papers were Of course, all delegates whose part of the record would be recorded received from Costa Rica, Greece, presentations were to appear in the and made searchable. Israel, Italy, Jordan, Norway, and conference’s publication wanted to
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perfect their written work to reflect English librarian through this round- and recognized on its title page that changes occasioned by questions about about route (Iran – England – Canada the Library Association in Britain had their topic that arose from the audience / Canada – England – Iran) and even- contributed to the project.4 and possibly in discussions in other tually I received the final copy of Despite the claim to be “Anglo- parts of the conference. Exchanges his presentation to be included in the American,” the first edition of between me as the publication’s editor conference’s published papers. Anglo-American cataloguing rules and the various authors took several was published in 1967 in somewhat months before the authors and I agreed A Little Taste of distinct North American and British that the actual wording and meaning Descriptive Cataloguing texts.5 The second edition (1978) in the published text would be clearly History unified the two sets of rules including understood by those who would be I have been rummaging around the adoption of British spelling, for likely to read it. in my basement, which is full of example spelling “cataloguing” with a All these exchanges went very documents that I once used or acquired “u.”6 The JSC had six members. Only smoothly except for the contribu- and that I obviously thought might two of these represented the United tion from the Iranian participant. The be useful at some future date. This States (the American Library Associa- Iranian government appeared to be particular trip to my underworld has led tion and the Library of Congress) and very suspicious about these messages to the texts discussed in the following could be outvoted by those representing between Canada and Iran. I received paragraphs. Some people reading this countries with the longstanding British none of his mailed materials and he column will already know the history spelling of words. none of mine. Then our e-mail connec- of the development of descriptive Language problems also appeared tion failed. Did the Iranian officials cataloguing, but for those of you when rules for nonbook materials think that the topic of catalogue who do not know or remember only were under discussion. This did not production technology was a kind of a little bit, the following combines involve differences in spelling, but code for something subversive? Did the documents I found there with my rather the establishment of general they think that sending information associated memories. material designations. For example, to Canada was just a way of getting In the 1930s there were preliminary American and Canadian cataloguers this possibly dangerous information moves to produce a set of cataloguing believed that a unit containing various into the United States? There are very rules that would be used in the coun- types of materials relating to one many reasons that could have devel- tries where English was the principal subject should be designated as a kit; oped in the suspicious minds in Iran. language. There were committees in the the British disagreed, stating that a kit Fortunately, the Iranian professor had United States and in Britain working on was a parcel containing various items a friend in England who was also a this idea and the possibility of a joint that would be carried on someone’s librarian (but who had not been invited conference was proposed to take place back while walking or cycling.7 to participate in the conference and, in 1939. Events in 1939 leading up to There were other similar word prob- therefore, was unlikely to be on any the Second World War cancelled this lems with a difference in meaning of list of “suspects”), so we were able to idea. Therefore, in 1941 the American terms on either side of the Atlantic correspond by sending all messages Library Association published its own Ocean, so AACR2 provided two lists of both on paper and by e-mail to the “preliminary American second edition” (continued on page 18)
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Interfaces Memories of an Important Conference on Descriptive Cataloguing
(continued from page 17) 4. A.L.A. Catalog Rules: Author general material designations. and Title Entries, prepared by the As the years have passed, Catalog Code Revision Committee computers have become more sophis- of the American Library Asso- ticated and so have catalogue records. ciation with the collaboration of a Coding of these records has solved Committee of the (British) Library many of the problems created by the Association, Preliminary American meaning of words in different coun- Second Edition (Chicago: American tries and languages. Has descriptive Library Association, 1941). cataloguing become an international 5. Anglo-American Cataloging language? Rules. Prepared by the American Library Association, the Library References and Notes of Congress, the Library Asso- 1. At the time of the conference, ciation, and the Canadian Library librarians were using the 1988 Association. North American text. revision of the cataloging rules— (Chicago: ALA, 1967) and Anglo- Michael Gorman and Paul W. American Cataloguing Rules, Winkler, eds. Anglo-American prepared by the American Library Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed., 1988 Association, The Library Asso- rev. (Chicago: ALA, 1988)—known ciation, and the Canadian Library as AACR2. Association. British Text (London: 2. Jean Weihs, ed., The Principles Library Association, 1967). and Future of AACR: Proceedings 6. Michael Gorman and Paul W. of the International Conference on Winkler, eds. Anglo-American the Principles and Future Develop- Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. ment of AACR, Toronto, Ontario, (Chicago: ALA, 1978)—known as Canada, October 23-25, 1997 AACR2. (Ottawa: Canadian Library Associa- 7. I do not remember the Australian tion; London: Library Association position on this disagreement. As Publishing; Chicago: American it was a member of the British Library Association, 1998); Michael Commonwealth, it is likely the Gorman, “International Confer- British terminology was used in ence on the Principles and Future Australia. Development of AACR2 (1997: Jean Weihs, C.M., is a retired Toronto),” American Libraries 28, library science professor and author of no. 11 (Dec. 1997): 24. (The title numerous books. She represented the of the published proceedings was Canadian Committee on Cataloguing the official title of the conference. on the Joint Steering Committee for When Gorman wrote his report, he Revision of AACR for nine years, five of used the informal name.) these as JSC Chair. She can be reached 3. The person who represented at [email protected]. Australia also represented New Zealand on the Joint Advisory This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Committee. Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
18 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Book Reviews
Banerjee, Kyle. The Data Wrangler’s on your computer and that a rudimen- encounter. These include viewing large Handbook: Simple Tools for Powerful tary knowledge of a few basic but files, locating files that contain partic- Results. Chicago: ALA Neal- powerful concepts and tools can solve ular data, finding files with specific Schuman, 2019. xx, 164 pp. ISBN the vast majority of the data challenges characteristics, working in internal 978-0-8389-1909-5 (softcover) $67.00, you’ll ever face” (xv). The chapters metadata, working with APIs (Appli- ALA members: $61.19. that introduce concepts and tools are: cation programming interfaces), and combining data from different sources. Most people who work in library 1. Getting Stated with the Chapter 10 is titled, “Conclusions.” technical services need to work with Command Line First Banerjee iterates a few of his data. Extracting, manipulating, and key points, such as “Most formats that analyzing data and metadata have 2. Command Line Concepts librarians work with are ultimately become increasingly important as text” and “You don’t need a technical librarians deal with data files created 3. Understanding Formats background to use the command line” within and external to the librarians. In (by David Forero) (133). Most of this final chapter lists some cases, existing tools are available, specific commands and functions that for example, MarcEdit, software that is 4. Simplify Complicated Problems will be especially useful in libraries. used widely to create and manipulate These are organized into eight MARC records. In many other situa- 5. Delimited Text categories: tions, librarians need to figure out on their own out how to create, extract, 6. XML • Locating, viewing, and performing manipulate, and analyze data files. The basic file operations Data Wrangler’s Handbook is intended 7. JSON (JavaScript Object to help with these tasks. Notation) • Find files with specific Kyle Banerjee, the author of this characteristics book, is well equipped to take on 8. Scripting data “wrangling” for the novice. He • Retrieving and sending informa- is Digital Collections and Metadata 9. Solving Common Problems tion over a network Librarian at Oregon Health & Science University, and the author of several Chapter 4 is encouraging because • Sorting, counting, deduplication, articles and books. Most recently, Banerjee assures the reader that even and file comparison Banerjee and Bonnie Parks edited “complicated problems can be solved Migrating Library Data: A Prac- by breaking them into a series of steps” • Useful scripting operations tical Manual and, with Terry Reese, (35) and that the most highly skilled he published the second edition of individuals often break problems into • Transforming text Building Digital Libraries: A How-to- simple steps to be able to figure out Do-It Manual for Librarians.1 David where things have gone wrong. Earlier • Working with delimited files Forero, who contributed one chapter, is in the book he compares the steps to Technology Director at Oregon Health wrangling data to the steps in a recipe • Working with JSON and XML & Science University. and the need to do things in a logical The first nine chapters of the book sequence. He stresses using simple For example, in the section devoted address basic concepts and tools in an tools to isolate specific data elements to transforming text, Banerjee give the approachable and easy-to-understand and convert data into formats that are command line to convert a file of dates manner. Banerjee explains, “You’ll easier to work with. to YYYY-MM-DD format. In addi- see how easy it is to do things that I found Chapter 9 particularly infor- tion to providing the command line, he previously sounded difficult or even mative because it addresses specific follows the command with a box that impossible using tools that are already problems librarians are likely to (continued on page 20)
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Book Reviews
(continued from page 19) Myntti, Jeremy, ed. Sudden Position chapter. And, although a good glossary explains exactly what each element Guide to Cataloging and Metadata. of acronyms appears in an appendix in the command actually does. Some (ALCTS Sudden Position Series, at the end of the text, all the acronyms may not care how a command operates, no. 1; Susan Elaine Thomas, series used in the book are not included in it. but others will appreciate seeing the editor). Chicago: Association for Again, this is too bad. Despite the fact components that make the command Library Collections & Technical that I am familiar with the subjects, I work. Services. xii, 167 pp. ISBN 978-0- had to look up more than one acronym The Data Wrangler’s Handbook 8389-4857-6 (softcover) $30.50; ALA that did not appear in the glossary is enriched by a glossary, a list of member $27.75. ISBN: 8100-8576 and, then, had to go back to find symbols that perform important tasks, (PDF e-book) | $15.00. Bibliographic them, which was annoying. The last a list of the most used commands and references appear within and at the omission, from the brief biographical their primary purpose, a “cheat sheet” end of chapters. sketches in the “About the Editors…” of regular expressions, and a compre- section, is any mention of series editor hensive index. In addition, the first nine This new series from ALCTS is Thomas. chapters are supplemented by several a terrific idea and I would really like The book’s contents are as follows: figures; Chapters 2, 5, and 6 also have to give it a pure, unadulterated rave, useful tables. especially since its price is so modest. • Foreword, by Susan Thomas, I highly recommend The Data However, omissions from and errors ALCTS Monographs Editor Wrangler’s Handbook for anyone who in the text make this impossible. (See now manipulates data or may need below.) Nevertheless, the mostly good • Introduction to do so in the future. In Banerjee’s information it contains warrant a posi- words, “If these tasks [that require data tive number on this reviewer’s personal • Chapter 1: So Suddenly You’re a wrangling] sound intimidating, this rating scale as well as a plea for better Cataloger book is for you. You will understand editing than this book—the first in the everything in this book even if you series—received. • Chapter 2: Theoretical Principles have no special technical knowledge The book is the product of seven of Resource Description or programming experience” (xv). At knowledgeable authors named on the $67.00 (ALA members: $61.19), it is a title page recto in alphabetical order: • Chapter 3: Learning the Standards: bargain. Ben Abrahamse (familiar to readers as Cataloging a Technicalities columnist), Whitney Reference Buccicone, Stephen Buss, Autumn • Chapter 4: Learning the Standards: 1. Kyle Banerjee and Bonnie Parks, Faulkner, Matthew Gallagher, Jeremy Metadata eds., Migrating Library Data: A Myntti (also the editor), and Nicole Practical Manual (Chicago: ALA Smeltekop. Although readers will • Chapter 5: Things You Might Neal-Schuman, 2019); and Kyle find differences in language and style Encounter Banerjee and Terry Reese, Building among its seven chapters, informa- Digital Libraries: A How-to-Do- tion is lacking about who wrote which • Chapter 6: Tools of the Trade It Manual for Librarians, 2nd ed. chapter or whether some chapters (Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, involved collaborative effort. This is • Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Future 2019). too bad, in my opinion. The lack of of Cataloging an index is a second, and far more Peggy Johnson, Technicalities unfortunate, omission. An index • Appendix: Common Acronyms editor. would have been helpful given that Used by Cataloging and Metadata members of the book’s intended audi- Librarians ence are unfamiliar with the terms and concepts the book covers and some of • About the Editors and these are discussed in more than one Contributors
20 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
Typographical errors include book describes the kinds of decisions misplaced hyphens (pp. 4 and 5); that are required for its performance and missing words (the word “types” should management. The focus is on practical appear at the start of the last line on p. issues readers are likely to encounter if 6); misspelling (“licences” on p. 84, they are asked to do any library cata- “Standards” instead of “Standard” on loging, but they will have to explore far p. 128, and “BNG” instead of “BGN” beyond this book in order to become on p. 132); and a missing apostrophe (a genuine CMLs (that is, Cataloging/ sentence including the words “humans Metadata Librarians). involvement” on p. 117 should either I can recommend buying this book drop the “s” from or add an apostrophe without a problem, so long as its readers to the word “humans”). More prob- recognize that it is not a substitute for lematic to me is an example on p. 7 additional (and, preferably, formal) demonstrating the need for authority training in library cataloging and meta- records for author names appearing in data. It is a way to begin and it will not slightly different forms on different make a big hole in anyone’s budget. But resources. The text reads “John Smith the cost of acquiring the tools needed vs. Jonathan Smith, for example.” Not to prepare new library catalog and/or only is “John Smith” an example of metadata records able to lead searchers a name belonging to many different to the resources they want is high authors (many more than 100 listed enough that learning more than this in the Library of Congress’s name book teaches is a necessity, not merely authority file along with their dates), an option. but I would assume that John Smith and Jonathan Smith are two different Sheila S. Intner, Professor Emerita, people, not one person whose name Simmons GSLIS at Mount Holyoke varies. Even if the author took this College. example from an actual instance, it is confusing. To make better sense, it should be “Jon Smith vs. Jonathan Smith.” It is unusual for the name Jona- than to be shortened to John, with the “h” in it. (And, in addition to decades of cataloging experience, I say this as the mother of a son named “Jonathan”!) On the bright side, the book offers its readers a straightforward introduction to library cataloging and current library metadata schemas as well as going beyond them, to the beckoning world of non-library metadata. Just be aware that readers are going to be introduced—not educated—to these complex subjects. Many examples and lists of tools are intended to lead the reader to the more specific details that actual cataloging and metadata preparation entail, and the
21 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
News From the Field People in the Open: Community Require- common good. The HBCU Library ments and Principles (https://sites.lib. Alliance and CLIR Partnership seeks n Coalition for Networked Informa- jmu.edu/OA-forum) was an Institute to develop collaborative solutions to tion (CNI) associate executive director of Museum and Library Services- build community; cultivate leadership; Joan K. Lippincott plans to retire supported project that convened and preserve, make accessible, and on January 1, 2020, after 30 years of a series of national forums where advocate for the rich cultural heritage service to CNI. community members will contribute (original bound volumes, documents, their needs, values, and priorities to the photographs, and audiovisual materials) n CNI named Diane Goldenberg- discussion of Open Access collection held within HBCUs. Specific goals Hart assistant director designate, development, elucidating the areas of include (1) assessing the research value effective September 1, 2019. Gold- opportunity and friction and leading to of and risks to these collections, (2) enberg-Hart will assume operational a common vocabulary and framework improving scholarly and public access responsibilities as CNI’s assistant exec- to discuss collective funding of public through digitization, and (3) estab- utive director on January 1, 2020. She goods content. lishing a leadership training program has served as CNI’s communications for HBCU library staff. coordinator since 2004. n Educopia Institute announced a $2,200,000 award from Arcadia—a n A group of prominent University of n Springer Nature Group announced charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing California (UC) faculty say they will that Frank Vrancken Peeters, previ- and Peter Baldwin—in support of step away from the editorial boards of ously Chief Commercial Officer, is to the “Next Generation Library scientific journals published by Else- become the group’s Chief Executive Publishing” project. Through this vier until the publishing giant agrees Officer (CEO). Daniel Ropers left the project, Educopia and its partner to restart negotiations, which stalled in company, as per his agreement with institutions—California Digital Library February and left the 10-campus system the Board, having ensured a smooth (CDL), Confederation of Open Access without subscriptions to some of the transition with his Springer Nature Repositories (COAR), Longleaf world’s top scholarly journals. A letter colleague. Services, LYRASIS, and Strategies for circulating throughout the UC system Open Science (Stratos)—will provide warns Elsevier that the signatories Of Professional Interest new publishing pathways for authors, will suspend their services on editorial editors, and readers by advancing and boards of the 28 Cell Press journals, n OA in the Open: Community integrating open source publishing which are among the premier journals Needs and Perspectives (https:// infrastructure to provide robust support in the field of biology and Elsevier’s doi.org/10.31229/osf.io/g972d), by for library publishing. flagship publications. About one-third Rebecca Kennison and colleagues, is a of all UC Berkeley scientists who serve new white paper from the “Supporting n The Council on Library and on editorial boards for Cell Press have OA Collections in the Open” project. Information Resources (CLIR) and signed the letter. The white paper documents a series the Historically Black Colleges and of conversations with librarians who Universities (HBCU) Library Alliance n MPDL Services, on behalf of have expertise in collections, acquisi- have entered into a long-term partner- Project DEAL, and Springer Nature tions, scholarly communication, and ship that aims to position HBCUs as signed a Memorandum of Under- administration, from diverse institu- centers of scholarly distinction with standing with a final contract to be tions, regarding their experiences and unparalleled special collections that concluded by the end of the year. The attitudes towards financially supporting illuminate clearly the value, signifi- agreement will be open to all member open access (OA) content. The project cance, and contributions of HBCUs. institutions of Project DEAL (more was led by librarians at James Madison This partnership will foster aware- than 700 publically and privately University (JMU), in partnership with ness and access to diverse historical funded academic and research orga- the Association of Research Libraries records that shaped American history, nizations in Germany). Through the (ARL). Supporting OA Collections thus informing dialog to promote the agreement, more than 13,000 articles
22 Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019
by German scholars and scientists 2014, the program granted more than io/preprints/lissa/g972d/download), are expected to be published open $27.4 million to academic, cultural by Rebecca Kennison and colleagues, access (OA) per year, making them heritage, and other collecting institu- explores the idea of collective action freely and immediately available to tions to catalog “hidden” collections supporting open access collection the world and increasing visibility and of high scholarly value. The program development funding. Funded by usage of German research published brought more than 4,000 collections an Institute of Museum and Library by Springer Nature. The agreement is to light in more than 160 institutions Services grant, the white paper summa- expected to see well over 13,000 arti- in the United States and Canada. The rizes key findings from a national cles a year from German researchers report describes the methods and forum and focus groups, and recom- published OA, meaning they will be findings of the analysis. According mends potential next steps for building freely and universally available for to the study, nearly 98 percent of an OA collection development system the world’s students, scholars and respondents reported an increase in and culture that motivates the commu- scientists to read, share, use and reuse the use of materials cataloged or nity toward collective action. from the moment of publication. The processed as part of a Hidden Collec- two-year, two-part agreement will tions project. Nearly 65 percent n OCLC and Europeana, the digital encompass a fully OA element and reported an increase in users or visi- platform for European cultural heritage, a Publish and Read (PAR) element. tors to the collections, and 92 percent are working together to add records of This will enable eligible authors to reported an increase in reference millions of digitized items to WorldCat. publish OA in both Springer Nature’s queries. Some 44 percent reported The addition of Europeana Collec- fully OA journals, the largest OA that, because of these grants, cataloged tions will add dramatically to the open portfolio in the world with over 600 materials were used in publications and content resources that are accessible titles, and Springer Nature’s collec- other projects. through WorldCat. Europeana works tion of 1,900 hybrid journals, which with thousands of European archives, collectively already publish one in n Wellcome and UK Research and libraries, and museums to share cultural four of all OA articles. In addition, Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with heritage and provide free access to the model provides the academic the Association of Learned & Profes- more than 50 million records of books, community of the participating institu- sional Society Publishers (ALPSPS) recordings, artwork, and more. More tions with permanent reading access have released a commissioned report than 24 million of these are openly to content in Springer, Palgrave, and toolkit to help learned society licensed and freely available for work, Addis, and Macmillan academic jour- publishers accelerate their transition research and learning. nals published during the term of the to Open Access. Society Publishers contract. Accelerating Open Access and Plan n The Eastern Academic Scholars’ S (SPA OPS): Final Project Report, Trust (EAST) announced that six of n A new report from Council on by Alicia Wise and Lorraine Estelle, the Florida State University System Library and Information Resources is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/ libraries, plus their shared reposi- (CLIR) analyzes the impact of the m9.figshare.9805007. The Model tory collection, are joining the EAST cataloging hidden special collections Transformative Agreement Toolkit shared print program. The libraries and archives program. The Founda- is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/ will join Florida State University, tions of Discovery: A Report on the m9.figshare.9805043. Plan S, an which has been an EAST member Assessment of the Cataloging Hidden initiative of international funders and since 2016. They are: Florida Atlantic Collections Program, 2008-2019, charitable foundations called cOAlition University, Florida Gulf Coast Univer- by Joy M. Banks (www.clir.org/ S, seeks to move to a world where all sity, Florida International University, wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/09/ research findings are made immedi- University of Florida, University of pub177.pdf) presents the results of a ately available to all. North Florida, University of West comprehensive analysis of final reports Florida, The Florida Academic from all 128 projects funded through n OA in the Open: Community Repository (FLARE). These libraries the program. Running from 2008 to Needs and Perspective (https://osf. (continued on page 24)
23 TM Technicalities Technicalities A Publication of Media Periodicals Division The Kansas City Gardener, Inc. Editor: Peggy Johnson P.O. Box 8725 Publisher: Media Periodicals Division Prairie Village, KS 66208 The Kansas City Gardener, Inc. © 2019 Media Periodicals unless otherwise indicated.
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News From the Field
(continued from page 23) Publishers and Vendors will use the GreenGlass decision support software from OCLC to n Michigan Publishing, a division of analyze their collective collections the University of Michigan Library, and and develop a model to retain unique, LYRASIS announced the creation of scarcely held, and frequently used a new partnership to advance the work scholarly monographs. of the American Council of Learned The addition of these seven Societies Humanities E-Book collection libraries brings the total number of (ACLS HEB). ACLS will continue to EAST members to 65, 60 of whom oversee the selection of content, but are retention partners committed to will transfer responsibilities for the retaining print monographs and/or operation of the collection to Michigan serials and journals for an initial period Publishing, which has provided of 15 years (from the original June, technical hosting for ACLS HEB since 2016 retention date). To date, EAST’s 2002. LYRASIS will support Michigan current retention partners have made and keep overheads low for libraries commitments to retain over 9 million and consortia by providing a single monographs and some 19,000 serial sales, licensing, and customer service and journal titles. channel.
∞ Printed on acid-free paper Technicalities • Volume 39 No. 6 • November/December 2019