LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE

Online Newsletter of the Cataloging Directorate
Library of Congress

Volume 10, no. 7    ISSN 1066-8829   July 2002



CONTENTS

Electronic Resources Update
Music Subject Cataloging Working Group
Compact Disc (CD) Workflow 2000
Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) Project
78 RPM Albums Cataloging Project
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
Rare Book Team


This issue is devoted to various projects, initiatives, and other activities involving the Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD).


Electronic Resources Update

1) LC Web Archiving Project : MINERVA (Mapping the Internet: Electronic Resources Virtual Archive) (see URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/minerva/minerva.html) [July 2002]) known as the Web Preservation Project, is an experimental pilot developed to identify, select, collect, and preserve open-access materials from the World Wide Web. The effort includes consensus building within the Library, joint planning with external bodies, the study of technical, copyright and policy issues, the development of a long- term plan, and the coordination of working models. The aim is to identify what can be done immediately and then move rapidly through the models into production in these areas.

The Library is collaborating with the Internet Archive (Alexa) and two new groups, The State University of New York and the University of Washington, to expand the project. The latter groups are assisting with identifying content and are using tools of their own design to develop a metadata database and assign metadata descriptions to the Web sites collected. This metadata database will be used to search, retrieve, and analyze the archived collection of Web sites. The contractors have been assisting with the collecting and archiving of Web sites all focused on themes concerning:

Election 2000: over 1,000 related sites (URL http://web.archive.org/collections/e2k.html) [July 2002].

September 11th: over 2,000 related sites identified (URL http://september11.archive.org/) [July 2002].

Winter Olympics 2002 - approximately sixty-five related sites not yet available.

Election 2002 - over 2,500 related sites tentatively targeted.

The Computer Files and Microforms Team (CF&M), Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD), has processed catalog records for all the sites submitted.

The project team originally consisted of William Arms (Cornell University), and Rodger Atkins, Allene Hayes, Diane Kresh, Jane Mandelbaum, and Barbara Tillett, all from the Library of Congress. The team presented a report to the LC Digital Futures Group in December 2000 and to the LC staff in February 2001 and submitted the "Web Preservation Project Final Report" to Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb in October 2001. The team's article about the experience was published in the April 2001 issue of RLG DigiNews (URL http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/) [July 2002].

In addition, Yahoo Internet Life (January 2002, v. 8, issue 1), a monthly periodical, declared the September 11th collection its site of the year. To read more about it, go to (URL http://www.yil.com/features/feature.asp?Frame=false&Volume=08&Is sue=01&Keyword=topofnet&Page=01) [July 2002].

2) Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS): CF&M has been working with the Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO) to have contractors create bibliographic records using a new XML schema called MODS. In development in NDMSO, MODS "is a schema for a bibliographic element set that may be used for a variety of purposes, and particularly for library applications. As an XML schema it is intended to be able to carry selected data from existing MARC 21 records as well as to enable the creation of original resource description records." For information about MODS see (URL //www.loc.gov/standards/mods/) [July 2002].

3) Digital Resources Traffic Manager: CF&M has been working with Information Technology Services (ITS) to develop an online workflow system to assist with the processing of digital resources. This digital resources traffic manager's design is based on the Electronic Cataloging in Publication (ECIP) Traffic Manager System. CF&M coordinated a group of potential users of the digital resources traffic manager from various divisions across directorates to assist with the development. The group has reviewed the first phase of development and has submitted comments to the programmers for further development.

4) Training for Cataloging Digital Resources: In continuing the expansion of training catalogers throughout the Cataloging Directorate to process electronic/digital resources, SMCD called for a second round of volunteers for a detail to CF&M for training. Norma Hendrickson, retired, former Team Leader of CF&M, has been contracted to serve as the primary trainer for the detailees; however, other members of the team assist with the training and review.

5) Processing Internet Resources:CF&M has been processing Internet resources for the BeOnline+ Project since 1996. The Team started processing the National Digital Library's American Memory sites (URL //memory.loc.gov/) [July 2002]) and subscription databases. CF&M started processing archived sites in 1999 and in May 2002 began to work with the "Portals to the World" sites developed by LC's Area Studies staff in May 2002.


Music Subject Cataloging Working Group

The Music Subject Cataloging Working Group (MUSUB) was founded in August 2001 to facilitate efficient music subject cataloging operations and procedures throughout LC. Its principal missions are to provide guidance, professional development, and training for music catalogers and to work closely with the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) to achieve shared goals. It also provides a structured means of addressing extensive and complex music subject and classification problems. The group is comprised of three music catalogers from the Music and Sound Recordings Teams (MSR), the music policy specialist from CPSO, a representative from the Recorded Sound Section of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS), and the team leaders of both MSR I and II.

Some of the activities in which the group's members are engaged are:

1) Serving as SACO reviewer for music subject heading proposals and questions.

2) Reviewing subject/classification proposals before they are submitted for inclusion on LC's weekly lists.

3) Acting as a communication funnel for catalogers, technicians, and CPSO on relevant issues.

4) Attending other pertinent meetings related to subject cataloging held by the Subject Heading Editorial Team, CPSO, the Music Cataloging Advisory Group, etc.

5) Defining areas for ongoing evaluation, study, and change and when needed, creating and leading ad hoc groups in these areas.

6) Discussing new and problematic topics for which headings need to be established and making recommendations.

7) Providing workflow design for SMCD management regarding subject/classification work.

8) Contributing to music subject/classification documentation, evaluation, and revision.

During its first six months, MUSUB addressed a number of complex subject heading proposals such as Remixes and Turntablism. Representative issues the group has discussed include the addition of parenthetical qualifiers to music terms, classification of materials about music performance ensembles, and classification of musical works in variation forms such as passacaglias and chaconnes. However, one of the group's major achievements was the creation of an in-house listserv. This listserv insures that interested SMCD, MBRS, CPSO, Music Division, and American Folklife Center staff and administrators can take part in relevant discussions. It is a centralized e-mail distribution point for subject and classification information, changes, and instruction. Finally, the list archives all discussions, distributed information, and MUSUB meeting minutes.


Compact Disc (CD) Workflow 2000

Compact Disc (CD) Workflow 2000 began life as one of a number of projects proposed by the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS) in its November 1999 report, Recorded Sound Processing Projects, 2000-2005. In collaboration with SMCD, the following project goals were devised: to catalog all MBRS current CD receipts (approximately 30,000 items annually); to initiate a workflow adaptable for the processing of other sound recording arrearage materials; and to have this new workflow in place and functioning smoothly by the end of FY 2000.

Discussions between SMCD, MBRS, and CPSO led to the adoption of a project design employing both LC staff and contract services from OCLC. The design centered on integration into the LC database of these bibliographic records. A preliminary workflow was developed by March 2000. In brief, the workflow consists of the following steps:

1) Support staff create IBC (Initial Bibliographic Control) records using a non-MARC interface developed in-house to import data from a commercial database entitled MUZE. The records are transformed into MARC upon import into the LC database.

2) New IBCs are periodically batched and sent to OCLC for matching against WorldCat (RetroCon Batch service), processing, and authority control of matched copies utilizing OCLC's MARS service.

3) Matched, processed files are returned to the Library for batch loading into the LC database, replacing the original IBCs. Reports on needed authority work are generated and used by LC catalogers to identify records needing authority work.

Initial creation of IBCs began in April 2000. The successful resolution of issues raised by two test files together with the final packaging of the system profiles, processing specifications, and report definitions allowed SMCD to submit its initial production load to OCLC in November 2001. By this time SMCD had created more than 28,000 IBCs. Initially, files of 200 IBCs a week were submitted to OCLC.

Based on an initial one hundred percent review of IBCs submitted, the Library is confident that OCLC's automated identification of copy, authority control reporting, and implementation of processing specifications are satisfactory (meaning error rates are non-existent, small enough to absorb, or easily addressed through minor changes to the specifications). To date, the Library has submitted almost 36,000 IBCs to OCLC. The current match rate is fifty-two percent. SMCD is currently completing an analysis of the results and hopes to move on to the completion of the cataloging including contributions to authority control during the summer of 2002.


Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) Project

SMCD is working closely with the Recorded Sound Section of MBRS to catalog the Armed Forced Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) disc collection. AFRTS, the broadcasting service of the Department of Defense, has been providing radio broadcasts to military personnel since the 1940s. Until the mid-1990s, commercial and AFRTS-produced shows were provided to member stations in disc format on a weekly basis. They ranged from informational shows to religious programming to popular shows. As archival materials, many of these recordings are unique, and few other copies are likely to exist. The project's goal is to catalog over 100,000 discs that are not yet represented in the LC database.

Project coordinator Sharon McKinley (SMCD) is working with a team of catalogers and processors from SMCD and MBRS to deal with this unwieldy set of materials. Creative methods are being used to catalog these discs which were created strictly for use by broadcasters. Individual shows were often pressed in parts on more than one disc to facilitate handling by disk jockeys and more than one show might be present on a single disc making the physical processing of these items complicated. Two kinds of bibliographic records are being created: modified collection level records are being used for some shows and individual bibliographic records are being created for each iteration of other shows. The cataloging phase of the project began in May 2002 with over 4,000 discs processed to date.


78 RPM Albums Cataloging Project

SMCD, in cooperation with MBRS designed, as part of the LC cataloging arrearage reduction program, a project to catalog every 78 rpm album set held by the Library (approximately 5,600 titles). This project has comprised the major sound recordings cataloging activity for two of the Music & Sound Recordings Teams (MSR I and II) since August 2000.

Employing core-level cataloging as the standard, these records include matrix numbers appearing on popular music discs. As the cataloging of these has progressed, a number of workflow issues was addressed: 1) the input of multiple 028 fields and the creation of multiple holding and item records were accomplished through the use of macros; 2) the creation of records for manually and automatically sequenced issues of the same material was accomplished through the use of annotated holding records for individual copies; 3) the huge processing tasks involved in preparing the discs for cataloging and eventual storage (selecting best copies, cleaning, re-sleeving, assignment of shelf numbers, and completion of a cataloger information sheet for each title) were handled by knowledgeable MBRS staff; 4) spoken-word discs, too numerous for specialized catalogers in MSR III, were cataloged by music catalogers on MSR I-II.

Other workflow issues addressed during this project included the use of incomplete "old catalog" records, the physical transportation of the discs, the absence of containers for some discs, accounting for missing discs (incomplete sets), and the need to keep disc numbering in a particular order for efficient shelving, transportation, and storage. As of the end of March 2002, SMCD has cataloged approximately 4,100 of these 78 rpm album titles. Because each title consists of multiple discs and multiple copies, the net reduction of the disc arrearage has been 27,024 discs. SMCD will complete this project by December 2002.


National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)

The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) is a free-of-charge cooperative cataloging program at the Library of Congress. NUCMC produces cataloging which describes archival and manuscript collections in repositories throughout the United States and its territories.

The NUCMC Team is currently working on two special cooperative projects, the Montana Union List Project (MULP) and the Cooperative HBCU Archival Survey Project (CHASP). These projects supply cataloging data which the NUCMC Team uses to create cataloging in the Archival and Mixed Collections (AMC) file of the Research Libraries Group (RLG) union catalog and associated authority work in the Library of Congress authority files. The cataloging produced by the NUCMC Team may be accessed free-of-charge by researchers in the U.S. and around the world through the NUCMC/RLG Union Catalog AMC File Z39.50 gateway which is accessible through the NUCMC Web site (URL: www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc) [July 2002]).

Montana Union List Project (MULP)

The Montana Union List Project (MULP) is a statewide cooperative cataloging project first proposed by the Montana Historical Records Advisory Board in 1998. Its ultimate goal is to provide cataloging that describes collections and manuscripts in all Montana archival and manuscript repositories.

Repositories represented by cataloging at this time include the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, Cascade County Historical Society Archives (Great Falls), Catholic Diocese of Great Falls- Billings, Montana Historical Society, Montana State University-- Bozeman, Museum of Women's History (Billings), Musselshell Valley Historical Museum (Roundup), Tobacco Valley Board of History (Eureka), and the University of Montana Missoula.

As of the beginning of May 2002, 2,558 full records and 802 preliminary records have been created by the NUCMC Team. Cooperative HBCU Archival Survey Project (CHASP)

While conducting research for a presentation on the history of the education of African Americans, Robert Smith, an instructional technologist, found access to materials difficult or unavailable. Inspired to rectify the situation, Smith formed the African American Education Archives Initiative (AAEA) in 1987. Originally a cooperative venture between the National Alliance of Black School Educators and Wayne State University, its purpose was to educate the public on the history of the education of African Americans. Smith turned to the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) as a main source of materials. These are institutions that were founded for the education of African Americans prior to the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision. AAEA's first project was a survey of the HBCU archives which became the Cooperative HBCU Archival Survey Project (CHASP).

CHASP, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is an on-site survey of the HBCU archives. These materials are generally unknown to researchers because they are not listed in existing reference tools and databases. CHASP is surveying ninety-seven HBCU and is more than half completed. When CHASP surveys an archive, the team writes a description of each collection including title, inclusive dates, size, and contents. These descriptions are then sent to the NUCMC program for cataloging. In addition, the CHASP descriptions will eventually be published in a printed guide to HBCU archival and manuscript collections.

To date the NUCMC Team has cataloged 102 collections from sixteen repositories: Allen University, Arkansas Baptist College, Barber-Scotia College, Benedict College, Bennett College, Bowie State University, Claflin College Archives, Clinton Junior College, Delaware State University, Fayetteville State University, Harris- Stowe State College, Lewis College of Business, Lincoln University, Morgan State University, Paul Quinn College, and University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.


Rare Book Team

The Rare Book Team processed several important collections during the calendar year 2001. Those completed include: Clarence Darrow, Drake Boston, Lester Douglas, Victor Hammer, A. Edward Newton, Wagner-Camp, Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers, 18th-century Russian law decrees, Shapiro Bruce Rogers, Stone and Kimball, and most pre- and post-1800 continental titles.

The Clarence Darrow collection is twenty-five volumes, chiefly representing legal cases and debates of the controversial 19th/20th-century American lawyer and social reformer. The Drake Boston collection is one of many pamphlet collections in the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It consists of over 800 volumes and is processed, excepting some serial issues. The former owner of the collection, Samuel Gardner Drake, was a 19th-century American antiquarian and historian. The collection consists of source materials on Boston's local history.

The Lester Douglas collection consists of 98 printed items designed and donated to the Library by the 20th-century American book and graphic designer. The Rare Book Team processed the final two-thirds of the collection in 2001. The Victor Hammer collection is largely manuscripts and ephemera. The team, however, processed 20 books in the collection that represents the papers of this 20th- century American artist and printer. The Rare Book Team also assisted in the organization of the manuscript and ephemera material. The A. Edward Newton collection consists of 94 volumes, over two-thirds of which were processed in 2001. Newton was a 20th- century American writer and book collector; the collection consists of works both by and about him. The Wagner-Camp collection, consisting of 451 titles, is a collection of Western Americana selected from Henry Wagner's bibliography, The Plains and the Rockies. The team processed the final third of this collection during the year.

The cataloging of monographs in the Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers collection chosen for analytic treatment was also completed. The total collection consists of books, serials, manuscripts, and ephemera -- over 34,000 items. The Shapiro Bruce Rogers collection (ca. 3,500 items) was fully processed, including books and ephemera. Bruce Rogers was a 19th/20th-century American book designer, largely associated with the Riverside Press of Cambridge, Mass. The collectors Carl Howard Pforzheimer and S.R. Shapiro both donated their collections to the Library during the mid- or late-20th century. The Pforzheimer collection includes the working library of the artist, purchased in 1957 by Pforzheimer after Rogers' death, as well as the collector's ephemera. Another "book art" collection, the Stone and Kimball collection, consists of 182 titles published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by this Chicago fine press.

Before 2001, processing of the American Imprint collection had been the major work of the team. The collection has been processed in several waves in the past and consists of 16,990 titles published in the United States between 1640 and 1800. The processing of this collection is complete, excepting serial and bound-with volumes (about 250 volumes together). The next major collection addressed by the team was the pre- and post-1800 continental titles collection. The processing for this 4,449-item collection is now largely complete.

All the collections noted reside within the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division. For the Law Library, a 284- item collection of 18th-century Russian decrees was also completed, using a series of collection-level records.

The ongoing work of the team includes processing the following diverse collections: Bible, copyright paperbacks (popular genres), Holmes (the Oliver Wendell Holmes family book collection), incunables, rare titles in the Law Library (including Rota Romana materials), Luther and Reformation, Pennell (graphic art and culinary titles), rare monographs in the Prints and Photographs Division, two Roosevelt collections (Theodore and Franklin D.), Russian Imperial, Third Reich, and Toner.


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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