LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE

Online Newsletter of the Cataloging Directorate
Library of Congress

Volume 10, no. 3 ISSN 1066-8829 May 2002


CONTENTS
Retirement of David A. Smith
Retirement of Ichiko Morita
Committee on East Asian Libraries
Mississippi Libraries Join the PCC
Ralph Papakhian Appreciation

Retirement of David A. Smith

David A. Smith, chief of the Decimal Classification Division since 1987, will retire from the Library on May 3 after forty years of Federal government service. In recent years he has ensured the viability of the Decimal Classification Division at the Library of Congress, preserved the Library's role as the world's largest Dewey classifying agency, and promoted innovative uses of the classification worldwide. In addition to his service to Dewey, Smith made strong contributions to the production of the _National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints_, a major tool of librarianship. He has promoted the development of automated library tools and techniques and enjoys a distinguished reputation as a Library manager.

Smith became chief of the Decimal Classification Office, the forerunner of the Decimal Classification Division at LC, in 1987. He immediately set to work with OCLC Forest Press, the Dewey Editorial Policy Committee, and the editor and assistant editors of the classification to complete the 20th edition, which appeared in 1989. He also had the major leadership role for LC in completing the 21st edition, issued in 1996, and the 22nd edition, scheduled for publication next year. In addition, the twelfth and thirteenth editions of the _Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification_ were completed during his tenure as chief, with work continuing on the fourteenth. Most recently, Smith has supported the development of Dewey for Windows(TM) and WebDewey(TM), two OCLC Forest Press products that guarantee Dewey a place in libraries' digital future. At the same time as he carried out the administrative duties of an LC division chief, Smith also functioned as a Dewey classifier. He personally classified approximately 20,000 titles a year, about one fifth of the division's total production.

Smith first came to LC in 1963 after two years as an intern and cataloger at the National Library of Medicine. He began his LC service as a serials cataloger and in 1966 was named assistant head of the English Language Section of the Shared Cataloging Division. In 1967, he was promoted to associate catalog editor in the National Union Catalog (NUC) Publication Project, which produced the _National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints_. Smith became principal catalog editor in 1969, and was quickly promoted to assistant head and then head of the entire project. Under his leadership, the project doubled its production. The 685 volumes of the main A-Z sequence of the NUC brought together more than eleven million catalog records and represented the most complete extant documentation of the human printed record ever produced.

Smith next became the first chief of the Special Materials Cataloging Division, which was established in 1981. He led that division through the implementation of the _Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules_, second edition (AACR2) for cataloging of music, audiovisual materials, computer files, and microforms; the implementation of online music cataloging; and the start of online cataloging for NUCMC, the _National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections_, in RLIN. He also led the implementation of quality and productivity standards in the Cataloging Directorate. He served as acting Director for Cataloging in 1991, while the directorate prepared to reorganize along whole-resource cataloging lines.

Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Lawrence University and a master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Phi Mu, the American Library Association, and its divisions ALCTS (Association for Library Collections & Technical Services) and ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries).

Until the position of chief can be permanently filled through a national recruitment search, the Decimal Classification Division will be managed by acting assistant chiefs and acting team leaders, the latter to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Dewey team leader Virginia Schoepf in January 2002. Temporary appointments will be made to both positions on a rotating basis. Currently the acting assistant chief is Dennis McGovern, Education, Sports, and Recreation Team leader, Social Sciences Cataloging Division. The acting team leader is Dewey classifier Eve Dickey.


Retirement of Ichiko Morita

Ichiko Morita, chief of the Social Sciences Cataloging Division (SSCD) since April 2000, retired from the Library of Congress on April 26, 2002. Morita first came to LC in 1994 as head of the former Japan Documentation Center, which was abolished in March 2000. Prior to joining the Library of Congress, she served for more than seven years as head of the Cataloging Dept. at Ohio State University, where she supervised more than fifty staff in seven sections -- search, copy, monograph, serial, special collections cataloging, catalog maintenance, and authority control. She earned a bachelor's degree from Okayama University, Japan, and a master's in library science from the University of Chicago.

As chief of the largest division in the Cataloging Directorate, Morita was responsible for the day-to-day operations of eight teams: Business and Economics; Central and Eastern European Languages (CEEL); Education, Sports, and Recreation; Germanic and Scandinavian Languages (GSL); Law; Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology (PSSA); Religion, Philosophy, and Psychology; and Romance Languages. Her two years in the division were notable for the range and extent of changes that took place during that time. These included workflow changes, including those occasioned by the transition to cataloging in the Library's first integrated library system (calendar year 2000), the new Library- wide security plan, and changes in the working environment, including a refurbishment of carpeting and furniture throughout the division and ergonomic upgrades of most staff members' work cubicles. Morita also appointed new team leaders in the CEEL and PSSA teams. She was noted for generosity and flexibility in assigning scarce staff resources where they were most needed, for example allowing an SSCD cataloger to spend a year in the American Folklife Center and using SSCD staff to process receipts for other divisions.

Until the position of division chief can be filled, SSCD will be managed by team leaders who will rotate into the position of acting assistant chief on 120-day temporary promotions. Currently the acting assistant chief is Thomas Imhoof, Ph. D., GSL team leader.


Committee on East Asian Libraries

LC-CEAL Cataloging Workshop

The Library of Congress, jointly with the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL), held an East Asian Art Cataloging Workshop, and sessions covering Chinese and Japanese Rare Book Cataloging, and a session on Korean romanization on April 1 and 2, 2002, in conjunction with the 2002 Association of Asian Studies and CEAL annual meetings held in Washington, D.C. The workshop was attended by 135 librarians from across the United States, Australia, China, and Canada. As many as forty-three LC staff from various divisions were also among the participants.

In the morning of April 1, John Byrum (chief, Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD)), whose staff bore a major responsibility for preparation, welcomed the participants and made opening remarks. He noted the workshop was jointly prepared and executed by the LC staff and the CEAL members and thanked all involved for their hard work. He also summarized the objectives of the respective parts of the workshop, which included: learning how to catalog Chinese and Japanese rare books; sharing the Korean romanization issues; learning about applying AACR2 and the LCRIs to East Asian art materials; sharing East Asian art cataloging experiences and expertise, learning about new subject cataloging rules and new subject heading subdivision practices pertaining to East Asian art cataloging, and learning specific issues of "N" classification schedules that pertain to the arts of East Asia. Abraham Yu (University of California, Irvine, co-chair and CEAL Coordinator of the Workshop Planning Committee and, chair of the CEAL Committee on Technical Processing), gave welcoming remarks and thanked the LC staff for organizing and preparing the program.

Following the opening session, the cataloging workshop began with three CJK breakout sessions: rare book cataloging for Chinese and Japanese materials and romanization issues for Korean materials. The Chinese rare book cataloging session was conducted by Dr. Soren Edgren (distinguished Sinologist and Chinese bibliographer, Princeton University). He presented a step-by-step approach to analyzing and cataloging Chinese rare books and manuscripts with special reference to the publication _Cataloging Guidelines for Creating Chinese Rare Book Records in Machine- Readable Form_, compiled by the Chinese Rare Books Project. He also introduced several non-conforming editions, including forgeries to make catalogers familiar with them.

The Japanese rare book cataloging session was conducted by Manae Fujishiro (senior cataloger of Japanese Cataloging II Team, RCCD), who had cataloged over 2,500 titles of pre-Meiji publications in LC holdings. Based upon her experience, she answered over fifty pre-submitted questions, which were compiled by Toshie Marra (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)).

At the Korean romanization session, the LC procedure for handling proposed changes to romanization guidelines was presented by Robert M. Hiatt (senior cataloging policy specialist, Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO)); the changes of the Korean romanization guidelines between version one and two were presented by Philip Melzer (acting assistant chief, Asian Division, Library of Congress); and problematic guideline items were presented by Young Ki Lee (Korean/Chinese Team, RCCD), and by Mikyung Kang (UCLA); followed by a discussion, moderated by Sook Hee Weidman (acting team leader, Korean/Chinese Team, RCCD).

In the afternoon, Barbara Tillett (chief, CPSO), made a special presentation entitled "Authority Control, Future Direction for Including Non-Roman Scripts." She shared her vision on a universal, multilingual authority file and showed how an LC authority record for Confucius might look like with CJK and other non-roman scripts applied.

The East Asian Art Cataloging Workshop, which was divided into two parts, descriptive cataloging and subject cataloging, began with a descriptive cataloging presentation by Robert B. Ewald (senior cataloging policy specialist, CPSO). Using over sixty examples of CJK bibliographic records, he discussed applying AACR2 and the LCRIs to CJK art materials with the special emphasis on cataloging art exhibition catalogs. Next, Hiatt discussed "Named Individual Works of Art" with emphasis on LCRI 25.3A, 25.4A, and 25.5B.

On the second morning, a panel discussion by expert art catalogers was held focusing on sharing their descriptive cataloging experience and expertise. The discussion was moderated by Melzer. The panelists were Jane Cheng (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art); Lydia Hsieh (senior cataloger, Korean/Chinese Team, RCCD); Shu Yong Jiang (Art Institute of Chicago); Yunah Sung (Cleveland Museum of Art); and Reiko Yoshimura (Freer Gallery of Art). Panelists shared with participants a wide range of topics including the process of analyzing art materials, local practices, difficulties and efficiency of cataloging, and suggestions for changing descriptive cataloging rules and interpretations.

The subject cataloging part of the workshop began with a presentation on subject headings by Milicent Wewerka (senior cataloging policy specialist, CPSO). She covered the types of headings and subdivisions that are used in the cataloging of materials in the fine arts and decorative arts, some of which pertain specifically to the arts of East Asia, including an overview of the construction of subject headings, the use of free- floating subdivisions, and the assignment of subject headings to bibliographic records.

The last part of the workshop was on the classification of art materials--an analysis of the LC art classification schedules and their application to East Asian art cataloging. Three RCCD senior catalogers covered the respective areas of the N schedules pertaining specifically to the arts of East Asia. John Topping (Korean/Chinese Team), discussed N (Visual arts), NA (Architecture), NB (Sculpture), and ND (Painting). Hiroshi Suzuki (Japanese I Team) discussed NC (Drawing) and NE (Prints). Judy Choe (Korean/Chinese Team), discussed NK (Decorative arts) and NX (Arts in general).

Participants raised questions, made suggestions, and shared their views at each segment of the program throughout the workshop.

Committee on Technical Processing

On April 4, the CEAL Committee on Technical Processing held its annual meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Yu (chair of the committee) made opening remarks and introduced the speakers. Tillet presented "A Virtual International Authority File" detailing the use of non-roman script characters in the reference structure of an authority record. Hiatt talked about "How to Establish Chinese Geographic Headings Using Data Found in the GeoNet," the database of the Foreign Names Committee, United States Board on Geographic Names. He noted that as the result of changes in the geographic structure of China, most previously established headings for jurisdictions in China will need to be revised as needed in current cataloging. Melzer updated the attendees on the status of the clean-up issues relating to the change to pinyin romanization for the Chinese-language. James Lin (Harvard-Yenching Library) and Iping Wei (Princeton University) followed up with reports on the clean-up issues at their respective institutions.


Mississippi Libraries Join the PCC

Three Mississippi libraries have joined the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and have received NACO training: University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Delta State University, and Mississippi Valley State University.

The NACO training was a culmination of an initiative that began over a year ago when USM first became a member of the African American Subject Funnel Project. Ann Branton (head of Bibliographic Services, USM) worked to coordinate the NACO training at her institution by recruiting other institutions and providing housing accommodations for visiting participants. These efforts by USM and the other institutions will help enrich the nation's databases by providing broader access to civil rights materials in Mississippi.


Ralph Papakhian Appreciation

The Steering Committee of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) recently decided to honor outstanding funnel coordinators for the work they do in managing NACO funnel projects. Funnel projects serve two needs: they enable smaller libraries to pool their resources and so enable participation in the PCC and they allow catalogers with specialties to interact with colleagues who share similar interests and needs.

The NACO Music Funnel was the first NACO funnel project, beginning in 1988. Ralph Papakhian (Indiana University, Bloomington) has served as the coordinator since the beginning, demonstrating the remarkable skills and dedication such a job requires: recruitment, training, review, and coordination being but a few of these. PCC statistics show that the NACO Music Funnel brings contributions from about fifty member institutions with a cumulative total contribution of over 94,000 records.

It was therefore thought fitting that Papakhian be the first funnel coordinator to be so recognized by the PCC. A certificate of appreciation was awarded to Papakhian on behalf of the PCC at the Music Library Association convention in February 2002 as a sign of gratitude to the members of the NACO Music Funnel for their significant contributions as well as to their coordinator.


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: Julianne Beall, John Byrum, Roselyne Chang, Jurij Dobczansky, Les Hawkins, Albert Kohlmeier, Susan Morris, Geraldine Ostrove, William Starck, Valerie Weinberg, David Williamson, and Roman Worobec. Address editorial inquiries to the editor at the above address or [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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Comments : [email protected] 05/13/02