LC Cataloging Newsline

Online Newsletter of the Cataloging Directorate Library of Congress

Volume 8, no. 8, ISSN 1066-8829, September 2000

Contents

Elizabeth Robinson Appointed Rare Book Team Leader
Death of Phillip De Sellem, Music and Sound Recordings II Team
Romance Languages Cataloger
LC Cataloging Conference Discussion Group
Moratorium Related to Pinyin Conversion Project
SACO and the Pinyin Moratorium
MLC Treatment for Indian Belles-Lettres
African American Subject Headings Funnel Begins
ECIP Expands to Include Clinical Medicine
Cataloging Directorate Staff at IFLA

Elizabeth Robinson Appointed Rare Book Team Leader

Elizabeth Robinson became the permanent team leader of the Rare Book Team, Special Materials Cataloging Division, on July 31, 2000. Robinson came to LC from the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., where she had been the principal rare book cataloger since 1996. Prior to that she held positions as coordinator of monographic cataloging for special collections, original/special collection cataloger, and original cataloger at the University of California, San Diego. Robinson began her professional library career as a University of Michigan Resident (1989-1991) in monographic cataloging. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Georgia State University, a master's degree in American Studies from Emory University, and an MS in Library Service from Clark Atlanta University. She holds membership in the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), and Beta Phi Mu. She is a member of the Bibliographic Standards Committee of ACRL's Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and of the Cataloging Advisory Committee of ARLIS/NA. She has presented papers at ARLIS/NA meetings on topics related to the challenges of cataloging special art collections.


Death of Phillip De Sellem, Music and Sound Recordings II Team

Phillip De Sellem, MSR II team leader, died on July 29, 2000. De Sellem became the team leader of the Music and Sound Recordings II Team, Special Materials Cataloging Division, in April 1999. The team is responsible for the cataloging of books on music, scores, and musical sound recordings.

De Sellem had been a music cataloger at LC for seven years and had served as a NACO liaison to music libraries. His tenure at LC began in 1975 as a braille music cataloger in the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. He also served as a supervisor in the former MARC Editorial Division Name Authority Data Preparation Unit and a senior cataloging editor in the former Catalog Management and Publication Division.

De Sellem also contributed his talents as a musician, actor, and director to many events both at the Library of Congress and in the Washington, D.C., area.


Romance Languages Cataloger

The Library of Congress seeks to hire a cataloger on the Romance Languages Team, Social Sciences Cataloging Division, Cataloging Directorate, to perform descriptive and subject cataloging of monographs and serials in an online mode in the fields of economics, political science, and sociology. The Library of Congress is an equal opportunity employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities who meet eligibility requirements are strongly encouraged to apply. For complete information, including minimum qualifications and selective factors, please see Vacancy Announcement No. 000168, available on the Library of Congress Web site, URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/hr/employment/000168.txt.

Please note: The vacancy has been extended until September 29, 2000, or later.


LC Cataloging Conference Discussion Group

The Library of Congress is hosting a 2 1/2-day invitational conference on "Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium: Confronting the Challenges of Networked Resources and the Web." The home page for the conference can be found at URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/. Speakers for the conference have begun to submit their papers to provide the foundation for conference deliberations and outcomes. A listing of speakers and their papers is given on the conference home page.

As an aid to foster discussion regarding these papers and the issues they address, an electronic discussion group (also known as "listserv") has been set up to provide interested parties with a means for sharing constructive feedback on the topics. This discussion group is intended to encourage interested colleagues throughout the world -- particularly those who could not be invited to attend -- to participate by commenting on conference issues. Presenters and commentators have been asked to monitor this discussion and to take into account important points raised when developing the final versions of their papers.

Discussions will continue until November 10, 2000. For those who will not be attending the conference, a delayed Web-cast will also be made available so they may see and hear the speakers.

To sign up for the discussion list, send a message to with the message being only the text:

subscribe bibcontrol [name]

For example, subscribe bibcontrol John Smith

Each subscriber will receive a response indicating acceptance to the list, after which subscribers may begin to participate in the discussions.


Moratorium Related to Pinyin Conversion Project

LC is collaborating with OCLC and RLG in a project to convert systematically romanized Chinese-language data in authority and bibliographic records from the Wade-Giles romanization to the pinyin romanization. This conversion entails a series of interrelated steps among the three agencies and will last through Sept. 30, 2000.

OCLC will convert existing candidate character strings in authority records to pinyin and RLG will convert existing candidate character strings in bibliographic records. The converted authority records will be transmitted to LC for replacement in its database and for distribution to the three copy-holding participants in NACO (British Library, OCLC, and Research Libraries Group (RLG)) so that their copies of the national authority file remain in synchronization with the master copy at LC. Likewise, the converted bibliographic records will be transmitted to LC for replacement in its database. The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) will make LC's converted bibliographic and authority records available to its customers through its regular distribution of products and services.

During the conversion, it is very important that there be a moratorium by LC staff and NACO participants on the following activities:

  1. any new input of systematically romanized Chinese data in authority records (1XX; 4XX; 5XX);
  2. any update to existing systematically romanized Chinese data in authority records (1XX; 4XX; 5XX);
  3. deleting existing authority records containing any systematically romanized Chinese data (1XX; 4XX; 5XX).

Oct. 1 is the mutually agreed upon start date for the implementation of pinyin. LC and PCC participants will refrain from using pinyin for the formulation of systematically romanized access points in bibliographic and authority records until that date.

A full description of the Pinyin Conversion Project, including background documents, timeline, and FAQ is available on the Pinyin home page at URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/pinyin.html.


SACO and the Pinyin Moratorium

The conversion of romanized Chinese records from the Wade- Giles to the pinyin system will also affect _Library of Congress Subject Headings_ and the SACO program.

On July 5, 2000, Library of Congress staff began revising into the pinyin system of romanization existing subject headings that included romanized Chinese elements. To facilitate this current project, subject catalogers have been asked to refrain from proposing revisions to this group of subject headings until Oct. 1.

In the case of proposals for new subject headings that contain romanized Chinese data, a moratorium is in place on the input and approval of such headings. After Oct. 1, 2000, along with the submission and revision of subject headings romanized according to pinyin, pinyin romanized subject headings may be used on bibliographic records.


MLC Treatment for Indian Belles-Lettres

In April 2000, the Library began to provide minimal-level cataloging for Indian vernacular works of belles-lettres. In the MARC 21 050 field for such records, the Library will record its MLC shelf number in the first subfield $a. In the second subfield $a, an LC classification number will be provided for the use of its cooperative acquisition partners and others who wish to add the material to a classified collection. Additionally, the New Delhi overseas center will continue to provide literary author numbers for the individual authors and these will appear in the authors' name authority records. The change in workflow will save the Library the expense of shelflisting these materials.


African American Subject Headings Funnel Begins

A funnel project to develop new subject access for African American resources has officially started under chair Dorothy Washington of Purdue University. The project will serve as a channel for librarians to submit proposals to the _Library of Congress Subject Headings_ for the enhancement of bibliographic records and authority files.

At the recent ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, Library of Congress Cooperative Cataloging Team members Gracie Gilliam, Cornelia Goode, and John Mitchell provided the new group with an overview of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging along with its subject authority cooperative program, SACO.

The Library of Congress has already received several proposals, including the revision proposal that triggered the Cataloging Directorate's announcement of a change from Afro- Americans to African Americans in _Library of Congress Subject Headings_.


ECIP Expands to Include Clinical Medicine

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has begun cataloging in the Electronic Cataloging in Publication Program (ECIP). NLM catalogers received ECIP training at LC on August 17 and August 29, and NLM implemented ECIP cataloging immediately thereafter. LC and NLM personnel agreed on a workflow that ensures that the security of a publisher's galley is not compromised. Albert Kohlmeier (technical assistant to the chief, CIP Division) will handle all prepublication changes needed to NLM's ECIP records, upon notification by NLM staff.

In order to provide NLM catalogers with enough ECIP galleys to justify the two national libraries' investment in training and staff resources, LC is attempting to attract as many biomedical publishers as possible to be ECIP participants, and NLM will publicize the ECIP program among its various constituencies and publisher contacts. NLM and LC have updated and expanded the subject heading list on the online ECIP application that is used for distributing ECIP galleys through the ECIP traffic manager software. In addition, LC is now routing electronic galleys in a fairly broad range of biomedical subjects to NLM, although NLM will receive CIP copies of the published books only in clinical medicine, with LC continuing to receive CIP copies in other biomedical subject areas.

NLM also intends to implement the Validator record validation and error-checking software developed by Gary Strawn (Northwestern University Library) and adapted for use at LC by cataloging automation specialist David Williamson. Staff at LC will assist NLM in configuring Validator for NLM's use.


Cataloging Directorate Staff at IFLA

Several Cataloging Directorate staff attended the conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which met in August in Jerusalem.

John Byrum (chief, Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division) gave two papers. At the Division of Bibliographic Control Open Forum he delivered "Section on Bibliography--Review of Activities 1999-2000." At the Section on Cataloguing's program meeting he presented "The Birth and Re-birth of the ISBDs: Process and Procedures for Creating and Revising the International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions." He also chaired two meetings of the ISBD Review Group.

Barbara Tillett (director, Integrated Library System Program Office and interim director for electronic resources) chairs the Standing Committee (SC) and Section on Cataloguing. She conducted two business meetings of the SC, provided a presentation on the section's activities at the Division of Bibliographic Control Open Forum, organized and introduced the section's program, and introduced the section's Workshop on Metadata. She attended several meetings of the section's eight working groups, serving as recorder for the Working Group on Form and Structure of Corporate Headings and co-leader of the Working Group on Guidelines for Authority and Reference Entries. This working group has nearly completed the second edition of its manual, to be retitled "Guidelines for Authority Records and References." Tillett also provided a presentation on the conceptual model for authority records that she had prepared as a member of the Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC Core Programme Working Group on Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records.

Jolande Goldberg (law classification specialist, Cataloging Policy and Support Office) gave presentations at a session of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL), which met just prior to IFLA, as well as at an IFLA session. At IFLA she spoke on "Research at the Intersection of Terminology and Classification: Crossroads for Retrieval of Religious Legal Data at the Library of Congress," a presentation based on her recent work developing the religious law classification schedules for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Julianne Beall (Decimal Classification Division), demonstrated WebDewey in CORC and Dewey for Windows in the OCLC booth. With Joan Mitchell, editor in chief, Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Beall met with Magda Heiner-Freiling (Deutsche Bibliothek), Friedrich Geisselmann (Universitatsbibliothek Regensburg), and Patrice Landry (Schweizerische Landesbibliothek) to discuss technical plans for the proposed German translation of the _Dewey Decimal Classification_. Mitchell and Beall also met to discuss the Norwegian translation of the DDC with Unni Knutsen (National Library of Norway) and Jon Anjer (Faculty of Journalism, Library and Information Science, Oslo College). Translation into Norwegian of the schedules 400 Language, 800 Literature, and 900 History and Geography and related tables is nearly complete. The group also discussed licensing of the Norwegian translation for use on the World Wide Web. Mitchell, Beall, and Goldberg held a special meeting on the treatment of law in DDC that was attended by representatives of the French, German, and Swiss national libraries; by representatives of the Norwegian and Russian translations of the schedule; by principals of the DDC, Universal Decimal Classification, LCC, and Bliss law schedules; and a participant from Sri Lanka.


LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE (ISSN 1066-8829) is published irregularly by the Cataloging Directorate, Library Services, Library of Congress, and contains news of cataloging activities throughout the Library of Congress. Editorial Office: Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4305. Editor, Robert M. Hiatt; Editorial Advisory Group: Victoria Behrens, John Byrum, Roselyne Chang, Jurij Dobczansky, Anthony Franks, Les Hawkins, Albert Kohlmeier, Susan Morris, Geraldine Ostrove, David Smith, David Williamson, and Roman Worobec. Address editorial inquiries to the editor at the above address or mailto:[email protected] (email), (202) 707-5831 (voice), or (202) 707-6629 (fax). Listowner: David Williamson. Address subscription inquiries to the listowner at [email protected].

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