1. Cataloguing policy and practice – 2007 and beyond: a view from the British Library Caroline Brazier Head of Collection Acquisition and Description British Library Cataloguing 2007 Reykjavik, Iceland, 1–2 February 2007

2. 2 Outline of my talk today 1. The changing environment in which we catalogue 2. Cataloguing in the British Library Introduction Recent developments Current challenges 3. Key issues for future cataloguing policy and practice 4. What does the future hold for cataloguers?

3. 3 Outline of my talk today 1. The changing environment in which we catalogue 2. Cataloguing in the British Library Introduction Recent developments Current challenges 3. Key issues for future cataloguing policy and practice 4. What does the future hold for cataloguers?

4. 4 What’s the problem with cataloguing? Library catalogues are seen as increasingly irrelevant Cost and usefulness of cataloguing is questioned Decline in formal skills teaching in UK library schools Cataloguing undervalued by “the best students”

5. 5 What’s the problem with cataloguing? The good news... There is still a growing demand for the skills, knowledge and understanding that comes as a result of creating and working with bibliographic data and databases.  But we will not be able to satisfy this demand unless we adapt and develop in line with a rapidly changing world.

6. 6 The cataloguing environment in the age of Google – growth and diversity in collections Growth in publishing output Both physical and digital formats Digital publishing (duplicating print / born digital) Formal digital publishing – ejournals etc Informal e-publishing – web sites, blogs, wikis etc Libraries collecting in new formats – web archiving Growing numbers of mass digitisation projects  We need new models of organising and giving access to content

7. 7 The cataloguing environment in the age of Google – resource discovery Rise of Google – the search engine model Ability to link directly to much more digital content Web 2.0 changes user expectations Transactional data to track user behaviour Social and community tagging Communities can work together to share and create information in new ways without intermediaries  We need to tap into the potential of the IT developments

8. 8 The cataloguing environment in the age of Google – what do library users want? Key issues Traditional catalogues still valued by researchers, BUT… Want integration of multiple discovery services Prefer to use large-scale integrated service Want better join-up between discovery and delivery services Want improvements in quality and consistency of data Want improvements in “look and feel” Want something “more like Google”  We need to understand users and adapt quickly to stay relevant

9. 9 Some current debates on cataloguing and library catalogues Cataloguing is too expensive and unsustainable We must find efficiencies Cataloguing is unnecessary for digital content and does not offer users effective access We must review our standards and policies to enrich digital access Our catalogues offer a poor user experience We must develop improved search and navigation tools to expose our collections We must enrich the content and introduce Web 2.0 functionality We must integrate into large-scale services rather than a plethora of local catalogues We must integrate delivery services with discovery

10. 10 Outline of my talk today 1. The changing environment in which we catalogue 2. Cataloguing in the British Library Introduction Recent developments Current challenges 3. Key issues for future cataloguing policy and practice 4. What does the future hold for cataloguers?

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13. 13 Cataloguing organisation in the British Library Statistics 350 000 records per year 90 full-time staff 80 part-time staff 200 support staff

14. 14 Departments related to cataloguing Current awareness – journal table-of-contents indexing (23 000 titles) Health Care Indexing Services (Alternative Medicine Database) Data production for the British National Bibliography and other bibliographic journals Data export to union catalogues (COPAC, SUNCAT, OCLC) and commercial services Data import services XML mark-up services for UKPubMedCentral Bibliographic systems development

15. 15 Recent developments in cataloguing at the British Library 2004 New integrated library system (Aleph) Replaced 23 separate catalogues and databases Massive data migration and enrichment projects 2005 – 2006 Acquisitions and Cataloguing process re-engineering Reduction of 10% in staff costs Expansion of our deriving strategy Introduction and development of quality measures Further database integration and retrospective catalogue conversion (e.g. ESTC)

16. 16 Current and future issues in cataloguing at the BL 2007 – Ongoing process re-engineering and efficiencies review Further development of deriving and data sourcing initiatives Further development of quality initiatives Definitions of metadata structures and standards Planning for RDA implementation Future funding of retrospective conversion projects Explore potential for new data services Review of resource discovery strategy and database integration in light of new technology options

17. 17 Outline of my talk today 1. The changing environment in which we catalogue 2. Cataloguing in the British Library Introduction Recent developments Current challenges 3. Key issues for future cataloguing policy and practice 4. What does the future hold for cataloguers?

18. 18 Ongoing efficiency reviews Constant review of cataloguing practice Develop better functionality in core cataloguing systems Explore potential for automating parts of the process Review operational workflows (streamline, centralise, derive) Focus on professional skills

19. 19 Deriving and data engineering Review and expand data sources From libraries, library cooperatives, library aggregators Shared cataloguing, COPAC, OCLC From publishers and supply chain aggregators Cataloguing in Publication contract Acquisitions supply contracts Use other standards, e.g. ONIX Review and revise record levels Fast tracking of fiction Batch upgrade

20. 20 Data quality initiatives Quality and consistency An issue in integrated / large-scale services Current data quality projects – BL examples De-duplication and enhancement of migrated legacy data Serials records enrichment (UK SUNCAT) Increased use of analysis tools (MARC Report and FRBR quality measure) To award data supply contracts To assess quality of the database by sampling In performance management of teams and individual cataloguers Annual quality survey Measuring the usefulness of the catalogue to the user

21. 21 Development of metadata standards and structures Long-term management of digital objects Core descriptive metadata Metadata for preservation, access and rights management Work towards common or interoperable standards Efficiencies through deriving and reuse of data (ONIX) Enriching information value and content (social bookmarking and tagging) Seamless searching and linking (OAI-PMH, z39.50, RSS, Open URL) Development of standards to promote and enhance usage (expression of rights, licensing terms, COUNTER and SUSHI, author and library identifiers)

22. 22 Resource Description and Access (RDA) implementation Development of application profiles Review the potential for improvements in workflows Review any impact on products and services Consider benefits from any retrospective change to data Recalibration of our internal quality model Revision of documentation and training courses Collaboration – British Library / Library of Congress / Library and Archives Canada

23. 23 Retrospective catalogue conversion Key objectives Make items available via online data Enhance and enrich data where possible Problems of funding Need to free up resource from other cataloguing activities Explore funding sources Why not just digitise? Cost Future priorities for mass digitisation are not yet known No effective metadata to support digitisation projects An option for the future

24. 24 Authority control in a digital world Rights – a new impetus Work with Authors’ Licensing and Copyright Society to update and retrospectively align data for top UK authors Explore proposals for a UK naming agency to manage data on authors or creators in digital scholarly research as well as traditional publishing Authority standards developments to achieve better join-up Between different communities (libraries, archives, publishers, authors rights organisations, etc.) Between bibliographic and authority record content Supporting IFLA in FRANAR development through ICABS Monitoring ISPI and ISTC developments

25. 25 Resource discovery strategy Five interrelated strands Develop existing OPAC services and improve core descriptive data Identify and introduce appropriate Web 2.0 services Explore and apply new search technologies Develop discovery services for large-scale digital content streams Integrate end-to-end discovery and delivery solutions for all types of materials

26. 26 Outline of my talk today 1. The changing environment in which we catalogue 2. Cataloguing in the British Library Introduction Recent developments Current challenges 3. Key issues for future cataloguing policy and practice 4. What does the future hold for cataloguers?

27. 27 Training and development Ensure consistency through development of core skills Multi-skilling of paraprofessional staff Training to support new system functionality Training to support workflow efficiencies Holistic understanding of the core data structures Succession planning Digital cataloguing Database management Better IT skills Challenges Building confidence Overcoming fear and complacency

28. 28 Continuing professional development External and internal Practical training, but also broadening horizons Current topics (BL examples) Resource discovery strategy (e.g. new portals) Collection development reviews (e.g. increasing shift from print to e-content) Standards development (e.g. RDA implementation, Dewey) Core cataloguing systems and OPAC functionality Data quality

29. 29 Future roles for cataloguers? Metadata creation/manipulation/management Develop, manage and quality-assure automatic metadata generation processes Auxiliary data services and data enrichment Management of data mark-up services Authority control to support rights management Content mapping, interpretation and groupings of digital content, taxonomy development Database and data management Standards development, training, user education Building and managing relationships with authors, publishers, data aggregators

30. 30 Conclusions Can we do without cataloguing? For physical materials? Not until there are cost-effective (and legal) ways of digitally scanning and discovering them through scanned content For digital content? Not until there is adequate accompanying metadata Not until full-text searching on huge quantities of digital content provides users with high-quality discovery solutions Does cataloguing need to change?

31. 31 A White Paper on the Future of Cataloging at Indiana University, 2006 “The need for cataloging expertise … will not be diminished in the coming years. Rather, catalogers of the future will work in the evolving environment of publishing, scholarly communication, and information technology in new expanded roles. Catalogers will need to be key players in addressing the many challenges facing libraries and the overall management and organization of information.”

32. 32 Thank you for listening Any questions?