Category Archives: Cataloging

MarcEdit 5.1 Update

Posted on 2 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Terry Reese has released an updated version of MarcEdit 5.1, and there are a few interesting additions: Improved support for Enterprise users (large organizations). Multiple Z39.50 querying capabilities. Tutorials hosted on YouTube. Improved UTF-8 loading (as in Faster). ‡biblios.net proof … Continue reading →

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LibraryThing and Authors

Posted on 7 February 2009 by Rick Mason

LibraryThing has implemented the start of a solution for the problem of distinguishing authors with the same names. This has been a challenge for libraries since the beginning of cataloging.  The accepted solution thus far has been Authority Records.  I … Continue reading →

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OCLC Announces Review Board Members

Posted on 7 February 2009 by Rick Mason

OCLC announced the members of the Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship yesterday, save for a member yet to be announced from the European National Library: Christopher Cole (FEDLINK): Associate Director for Technical Services, National Agricultural Library Poul … Continue reading →

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Using Our Time Wisely

Posted on 16 January 2009 by Rick Mason

Karen Coyle wrote an excellent post about OCLC’s delayed implementation of the records licensing policy.  An exerpt: Those of us who promote open access must use this time wisely. First, we need to get some solid legal advice. It’s clear … Continue reading →

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Why Libraries Must Reject the OCLC Policy

Posted on 11 January 2009 by Rick Mason

We are now one month away from the implementation of OCLC’s new records policy.  Tim Spaulding at Thingology has compiled seven arguments why libraries should resist the license. Even if you don’t feel that OCLC intends to take a hard … Continue reading →

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OCLC License Policy – A Recommendation

Posted on 10 December 2008 by Rick Mason

I wrote a recommendation, on request, about the impact to my workplace of the OCLC license policy changes that are scheduled to start in February.  I am posting an exerpt here, not because I feel it brings anything new to … Continue reading →

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OCLC Policy and Federal Libraries

Posted on 10 December 2008 by Rick Mason

Another installment in the exploration of the effects of OCLC’s licensing policy changes, this one an examination of various Federal Library records by Thingology’s Tim Spaulding.

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A Useful Amplification

Posted on 19 November 2008 by Rick Mason

A Useful Amplification of Records That Are Unavoidably Needed Anyway is an essay by Brett Bonfield which, dare I phrase it this way, usefully amplifies several of the major web-based entities which are intertwined with libraries.  These include (but aren’t … Continue reading →

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Cataloging Flash Mob

Posted on 18 November 2008 by Rick Mason

In Beverly, Massachusetts a mob of 20 LibraryThing enthusiasts cataloged the entire collection of St. John’s church library, as well as the rector’s book collection, consisting of over 2,000 books (averaging 100 books per person). Akin to an Amish barn-raising, … Continue reading →

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Rational and Well Thought-Out OCLC Response

Posted on 17 November 2008 by Rick Mason

Over the past few days, I have been gathering my thoughts together in order to post an essay-style overview of the issues surrounding the OCLC records policy changes.  As of now, I am going to put those thoughts aside, as … Continue reading →

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More OCLC Comments

Posted on 14 November 2008 by Rick Mason

The debate about OCLC’s revision of their Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records is heating up.  The core issue appears to be the licensing of WorldCat records and the limitations imposed, namely that “data extracted from a WorldCat … Continue reading →

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OCLC Proposed Policy Text

Posted on 3 November 2008 by Rick Mason

As an accompaniment to this and this, I am including the text of OCLC’s proposed policy which was posted briefly yesterday before being removed and replaced with “We are reconsidering some aspects of the policy. More information will be available … Continue reading →

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OCLC WorldCat is the Tiger, not the Lady?

Posted on 3 November 2008 by Rick Mason

OCLC released their updated Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records yesterday, with implementation scheduled for mid-February.  If you see the phrase We are reconsidering some aspects of the policy. More information will be available in the near future. … Continue reading →

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OCLC Cloud on the Horizon???

Posted on 28 October 2008 by Rick Mason

It is all rumor at this point, but apparently OCLC will be making an announcement on November 2nd regarding its record use policy, and that using any OCLC records services (including WorldCat?) will imply acceptance of said policy. Some people … Continue reading →

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Lakes and Rivers

Posted on 1 September 2008 by Rick Mason

Lorcan Demsey has a post on metadata that does a great job of illustrating two types of data collections by describing them as lakes and rivers.  The idea did not originate with him; rather he encountered it via OCLC’s Eric … Continue reading →

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Classify

Posted on 9 July 2008 by Rick Mason

Classify is a new service from OCLC which returns class numbers (Dewey, LC, and National Library of Medicine) assigned to books in WorldCat. This could be a good way to use the “wisdom of the crowd” when you are not … Continue reading →

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XML in Libraries

Posted on 19 May 2008 by Rick Mason

Eric Leese Morgan has updated his workshop notes for XML in Libraries : A Workshop.  This is as good an overview of XML for library staff as I have seen anywhere. found via Catalogablog

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MARC Tags and WorldCat Stats

Posted on 12 March 2008 by Rick Mason

Here are some interesting statistics regarding MARC tag usage in WorldCat records, according to Karen Smith-Yoshimura at OCLC’s RLG Programs: Only 27 tags are used in more than 10% of WorldCat records. 52 tags are are used in 1% to … Continue reading →

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Open Bibliographic Data : The State of Play

Posted on 7 March 2008 by Rick Mason

Open Bibliographic Data : The State of Play is a post by Rufus Pollock at the Open Knowledge Foundation which examines a variety of sources for cataloging and database information.  He makes the observation, which I think is on target, … Continue reading →

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Bibliographic Formats and Standards

Posted on 21 February 2008 by Rick Mason

Bibliographic Formats and Standards is an OCLC resource that provides information about Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) records.  It is geared towards WorldCat records, but should be a great reference for anyone with MARC questions. from Kristen on the SERIALST list

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