CATALOGING NON- TRADITIONAL (MOSTLY ONLINE) MATERIALS The Whys and Hows

Part I: Why We Should Do It Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials 2 (c) 2009 Tom Kaun

Goals for Session I (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 3  Investigate reasons for adding electronic materials to the catalog  Investigate some of the issues involved in adding catalog records for such resources  Investigate possible solutions to the issues which might arise

Why Should We Catalog Electronic Materials? (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 4  “Ideally, ALL the individual e-books and e-journals available to our patrons should be in the catalog.”  In the Bessie Chin Library:  7,000+ full text titles in the EBSCO databases  miscellaneous e-journals  e-books from Adelaide University  e-books from various vendors including Gale Virtual Reference Library and Oxford Reference Online And many more...

Why Should We Catalog Electronic Materials? (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 5  “The library owns print copies of 735+ CQ Researcher reports. We just figured out they’re all available online. Why aren’t there web links in all the MARC records?”  “50 or more new Congressional Research Service reports are released online every month. Shouldn’t they all be in the catalog too?”  “One of our schools just subscribed to a new periodical database! Should we consider downloading the records for all the periodicals in the database?”

Why Should We Catalog Electronic Materials? (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 6  “We want all the electronic resources that can be considered ‘reference sources’ to have a reference collection location code in the catalog. And we want to be able to print out an inventory of them, in Dewey call number order.”

It is understood that … (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 7  MARC/AACR cataloging can be an expensive proposition  The staff resources available for cataloging will not keep up with the demand for metadata  We must make record creation more cost effective  Traditional method of cost reduction (minimal level cataloging) doesn't make sense for Internet resources

Goals for Access Level (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 8 1. Functionality  Emphasize data elements that allow catalog users to search for (and find) records based on known user tasks  De-emphasize some traditional descriptive elements that do not support resource discovery

Goals for Access Level (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 9 2. Conformity with standards  Records can be integrated into a MARC/AACR-based catalog and distributed with other cataloging products  Uses current data and structure standards to the extent possible

Cataloging Guidelines (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 10  Designed to address problematic aspects frequently encountered and speed the cataloging process, such as:  "In case of doubt" decisions (don't agonize)  Restricting the sources within the resource that are consulted for certain data elements

Full vs. Access– Time spent (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 11 Cataloger Time spent in hours (mean) FullAccessDifference Cataloger 1 2:16:55 - 1:21 Cataloger 2 2:131:12 - 1:01 Cataloger 3 1:35:41 - :54 Cataloger 4 1:16:31 - :45 Cataloger 5 1:11:35 - :36 Totals1:42:46 - :56

Feedback from Catalogers (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 12  What do you attribute the savings to?  Not having to search for or supply the place, publisher, and date of publication  Elimination of redundancies (e.g., statement of responsibility, justifying added entries)  Restricting the selection of descriptive elements to prominent sources  "In case of doubt" rules in guidelines provided the freedom to make a decision and move on  Do you feel the record limitations prevented you from supplying important information?  Subtitles, in certain instances, would have been helpful to 'prop up' a brief or misleading title

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Sample Records (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 13  A CQ Researcher Report  “Gays in the Military” (2009)  A single-subject dictionary from Oxford Reference Online  A Dictionary of Psychology (2006)  An out-of-copyright book from Adelaide  The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine  A stand-alone website  Healthfinder: Your Guide to Reliable Health Information

“Gays in the military’ an article from CQ Researcher Examples from the OPAC 14 (c) 2009 Tom Kaun

A government website Examples from the OPAC 15 (c) 2009 Tom Kaun

An e-book from the University of Adelaide Library Examples from the OPAC 16 (c) 2009 Tom Kaun An E-Book in the OPAC

A periodical (Bowling Digest) from MAS Ultra. Examples from the OPAC 17 (c) 2009 Tom Kaun

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Increasing Efficiency (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 18 Existing cataloging systems often have built-in ways to make the computer perform repetitive tasks for you Macro software can allow even more sophisticated automation of repetitive tasks  Perfect Keyboard Lite  MacroExpress

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Focusing Descriptive Efforts (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 19  Access-level records concept  Somewhat simplified MARC record  Emphasizes “subject/content oriented fields” – titles, authors, subject headings  De-emphasizes technical codes that have little significance for the user

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Focusing Descriptive Efforts (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 20 Concentrate on what’s important for providing patron access BUT... Find out what IS important. Don’t assume to know what patrons need – consult other stakeholders.

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Following Up (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 21  E-journal aggregators have unstable publication lists.  What was available online one day, might not be available the next.  You can’t just catalog a title and forget about it forever.  Use prefixes to help finding titles from a specific database more easily.  If possible have a way for catalog users to report broken links

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Following Up (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 22  Compare the holdings in the catalog to the database vendor’s title list on a regular basis  Take advantage of vendors that offer accurate, timely content updates

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Following Up (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 23  The more detail you have in catalog records for e- resources, the more likely you are to have to change them in the future  Accept the need to change your past work, even delete or suppress catalog records—no matter how much time you originally spent on them

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Being Flexible (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 24 Old mindset: “We have to have a SINGLE written policy for cataloging ALL e-books.”

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Being Flexible (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 25  New reality:  Vendor- and institutional-supplied records are available for some e-books, but not for others  Sometimes it makes sense to just add a web link to the record for the print version  Sometimes it makes more sense to have separate records

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Being Flexible (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 26 Catalogers’ professionalism is no longer defined by following lots of complex and rigid rules, but...  By being able to find the most efficient, effective ways to provide access on a case-by-case basis, and...  By balancing the various components of the “big picture” – cataloging new items, checking accuracy of old records, etc.

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Enlisting Outside Help (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 27 Vendor-supplied records are a “must-have” for large title sets.  Free records available from publisher/aggregator  Commercially purchased records  And if the cataloging isn’t 100% perfect – it’s probably much better than nothing!

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Enlisting Outside Help (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 28 A good paraprofessional can perform many basic tasks.  Creating “quick and dirty” short form catalog records for e-resources (e.g., a MARC record for an e-journal consisting of just the title, ISSN, and web link)  Checking publisher/aggregator title lists for added and dropped titles  Checking links

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Enlisting Outside Help (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 29 Divide and conquer.  Records can be changed centrally if there is a union catalog or different people can check different databases.  “If you want me to change the wording on these 1,100 links, I will... But please take a few days to discuss it with your colleagues and figure out what the best new wording is.”

Cataloging Non-Traditional Materials Establishing Priorities (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 30  Having policy statements can help  E.g. “Paid-for materials get cataloged before free web resources”  But don’t fall into the trap of trying to apply policies that are only suited for physical materials  E.g. “No old catalog records can be revised until after all new materials are processed”

Dynamic Cataloging Means: Establishing Priorities (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 31  Focus on the projects that will do the most good for the most patrons  It might help to have a high-ranking individual ready to make unilateral decisions if groups of stakeholders are unable to reach consensus

Resources (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 32  Hsieh-Yee, Ingrid. Organizing Audiovisual and Electronic Resources for Access. 2d ed. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited, Print.  Library of Congress. LC implementation plans for access level MARC/AACR records Web. 16 Oct

References (c) 2009 Tom Kaun 33  Preston, Carrie. Dynamic Cataloging: Adjusting to New Resources and New Expectations for Catalogers. Athens: Ohio University Libraries, Web. 17 Oct

Thanks!  Hope you’ll stay for the next session on how to catalog electronic resources