Cataloger’s Learning Workshop Materials

The Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress, has posted to its web site an announcement that on October 1, 2008, CDS will discontinue selling PDF training products. Instead, the PDF training materials posted to the Cataloger’s Learning Workshop will be available for downloading at no cost on or about 1 October 2008.  The materials available will be for the following courses:  Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP) which includes Basic Serials Cataloging, Advanced Serials Cataloging, Integrating Resources Cataloging, Electronic Serials Cataloging, and Serials Holdings, Cooperative Cataloging Training (CCT) which includes Basic Subject Cataloging using LCSH, Basic Creation of Name and Title Authorities, Fundamentals of Series Authorities, and Fundamentals of Library of Congress Classification, and Cataloging for the 21st Century (Cat21) which includes Rules and Tools for Cataloging Internet Resources, Metadata Standards and Applications, Metadata and Digital Library Development, Digital Project Planning and Management Basics, Principles of Controlled Vocabulary and Thesaurus Design. 

The Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division expect to have the newly renovated web site accessible online on or around Oct. 1, 2008. The web site will include links to the free training materials.

Non-Latin Script Data in Name Authority Records

“The major authority record exchange partners (British Library, Library and Archives Canada, Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and OCLC) have developed a plan to allow the addition of non-Latin script data (also known as nonroman script data) to name authority records distributed as part of the NACO program… .  The addition of non-Latin script data is scheduled to begin no earlier than June 1, 2008.”

**See this page of FAQs from the Library of Congress**                     

Sites of Interest

• Author Name Pronunciation Guide – “A collection of brief recordings of authors & illustrators saying their names” – also includes background behind their names.  Example: Judy Blume 
• Historical Baseball Resources Site - Press Release for Historic Baseball Resources from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/topics/baseball/

“On the Record” but Off the Track

Click here to read “On the Record” but Off the Track: A Review of the Report of The Library of Congress Working Group on The Future of Bibliographic Control, With a Further Examination of Library of Congress Cataloging Tendencies by Thomas Mann.

Library of Congress and Flickr

The Library of Congress has added over 3,000 photos from two of its collections to Flickr, the photo-sharing site.  These are ”images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist” (Library of Congress Blog).  One collection is from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information and includes color photographs from the 1930s and 1940s.  The other collection is the Bain News Service Collection and includes photographs from the 1910s.

                                

Follow these links to find out more about this great partnership:

Library of Congress Blog

Flickr Commons

View the Photographs on Flickr

Don’t forget to visit the American Memory pages and the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog at the Library of Congress to find more views of the past!

Final Report of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control

This week, the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control released its final report entitled “On the Record: Report of The Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control.”  

The report is available as a PDF here.

Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control releases draft report

The Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control has released its draft final report.  It is now available for comment until December 15, 2007.  Comments can be submitted through the  website at http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/contact/. 

The report highlights five general recommendations (from the Press Release from the Library of Congress Public Affairs Office):

• Increase the efficiency of bibliographic production for all libraries through cooperation and sharing of bibliographic records and through use of data produced in the overall supply chain.
• Transfer effort into high-value activity. In particular, provide greater value for knowledge creation by leveraging access for unique materials held by libraries that are currently hidden and underused.
• Position technology by recognizing that the World Wide Web is libraries’ technology platform as well as the appropriate platform for standards. Recognize that users are not only people but also applications that interact with library data.
• Position the library community for the future by adding evaluative, qualitative and quantitative analyses of resources. Work to realize the potential of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) framework.
• Strengthen the library and information science profession through education and through development of metrics that will inform decision-making now and in the future.

Digitized Children’s Books

The Rare Book & Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress has digitized a number of rare 19th and early 20th century children’s books from their collections.  Fifty of them are available from their website.

Cathy Wolford, DALNET’s Systems Librarian, is in the process of adding MARC records for this collection to the DALNET eLibrary project.   Once member libraries are part of the DALNET single database, they may choose to have these records also appear in their catalog. 

View the collection in the eLibrary here.