MITx at MIT

MIT has a new digital service. If you know about the Open Courseware Consortium, then hopefully you’ll like this future service called MITx. Basically, MITx is a new online learning initiative offered by MIT through the MIT Open Courseware site. According to MIT news, MITx will offer several MIT courses in an interactive learning environment. If you don’t know about Open Courseware, typically the online courses that are offered are a series of videotaped lectures with its associated files such as syllabus, assignment list, and the like. According to MIT news, MITx will allow for student to student communication, online laboratories, assessment, self paced learning, etc.

MIT expects that this learning platform will enhance the educational experience of its on-campus students, offering them online tools that supplement and enrich their classroom and laboratory experiences. MIT also expects that MITx will eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world.

MIT news reports that MITx will be free just like MITs courses through Open Courseware. MITx should be released in the spring 2012. So be on the lookout for this new online learning experience…

Open Access In Trouble

If you haven’t already heard, there are several movements afoot that oppose open access. Here’s 2:

• Research Works Act Legislation: Introduced in the House of Representatives on Dec. 16, 2011 by Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D- N.Y.). The aim of this legislation is to prevent regulatory interference with private-sector research publishers in the production, peer review and publication of scientific, medical, technical, humanities, and basically all scholarly journal articles. The legislation has been praised by the Copyright Alliance as safeguarding authors’ copyright. What does it mean in the long run? Fighting against open access policies like the NIH Public Access Policy or allowing publicly funded research to be deposed in open access repositories.  There’s already a lot of information on this legislation. But take a look at Robin Peek’s answer, the Duke Scholarly Communications Blog or this article in PW.
• Stop Online Privacy Act (H.R. 3261): House Judiciary Committee Charman Lamar Smith (R -Texas) hopes to remove a provision in the Stop Online Privacy Act. That provision is to block access to certain websites that are believed to be dedicated to copyright infringement. If a website does infringe on copyright, then the DoJ would be allowed to ask web services like search engines, social networking sites and domain name services to black access to the site. Does this sound familiar? Already the Internet Archive is blacklisted in China. Here’s a response from the Library Copyright Alliance.
• Creative Commons opens up discussion process to result in a new version (4.0) of their Creative Commons license suite. The official news post came out on Dec. 9, 2011. Creative Commons licenses are very popular. But this new discussion process is not without controversy. One of those topics under discussion is how to use the Creative Commons licenses on an international scale.

Definitely, the discussion on the next version of Creative Commons licenses is to better accommodate international uses of the licenses, it still bears on how we as a community at large distribute and make available resources. With the looming Research Works Act legislation, it seems that there is a movement to stifle open access and sharing resources. Stay tuned…

Unified Resource Discover Comparison

For some time, there has been the hype surrounding discovery systems for libraries. Having an online presence is simply not enough. You need to add widgets, toolbars, web 2.0 goodies and many other bells and whistles. Some places have opted for open source options. Others seek out vendors. So how do you select a discovery service or OPAC for your institution? Andy Ekins from Christ Church University and Lukas Koster from the Library of the University of Amsterdam, NL have a website with a comparison of the major discovery and other OPAC choices out there at: https://sites.google.com/site/urd2comparison/home/comparison. The comparison chart is NOT full proof and there are some things to watch out for. For example, FAST is listed in the chart. Why would the Faceted Application of Subject Terminology be listed? Despite these quirks, Andy and Lukas have compiled a great deal of information on what systems are available and who uses what. It is definitely worth a look if you are new to discovery systems and newer catalog interfaces.

OCLC Diversity Fellowship

Happy New Year! While I’m working on some new posts for the new year, here’s some news from OCLC…..

OCLC is currently seeking candidates for a Diversity Fellowship Program (Metadata/Quality Control) position at our Corporate Headquarters in Dublin (Columbus), Ohio.

 

The Fellow will work for 6 months with the contract cataloging-related services and then 6 months with quality control.  This joint cooperative opportunity will provide well-rounded exposure to cataloging rules, practices, standards, processes, and challenges from both libraries’ and OCLC’s perspectives.  The Fellow will be provided with overviews of OCLC services and processes, learning opportunities to develop technical skills, and will be asked to meet objectives contributing to the success of each unit.

 

Responsibilities:

 

Metadata Contract Services:  The Fellow will gain experience in cataloging and collection development of diverse sets of materials that can be used in future professional growth by learning about the varying needs of libraries and material-supplier partners.  The Fellow will be working along with the production cataloging staff as well as individually performing tasks such as:

 

• Understanding the cataloging process from beginning to end
  • Performing order entry of inbound library and vendor materials
  • Cataloging multiple material types for client libraries including some non-English materials; this experience will include creating and contributing new records to WorldCat and enhancing existing records per client specifications and within specified timeframes
  • Performing local edits to records prepared for delivery to libraries per libraries’ specifications and requirements for their automated systems and local cataloging conventions
  • Perform shelf-ready physical processing tasks in accordance with library collection specifications
• Receive training on OCLC services to complete assigned tasks and become familiar with related tools including Cataloger’s Desktop, Library of Congress ClassWeb, OCLC WebDewey, Connexion Client, and other OCLC services as applicable
• Learn about RDA (Resource Description and Access) from staff who have completed training and participated in the test phase of this new code

 

Quality Control: The Fellow will learn to process and correct identified sets of problem/error master records in the WorldCat database including reporting problems with Library of Congress (LC) records directly to LC.  A wide variety of problems incorporating all aspects of the cataloging record will be included in this work.  The Fellow will also learn the basics of NACO processing of name and series authority records and gain familiarity with the PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging).  The Fellow will have training in processing and merging duplicate records in various formats including books, serials, scores, sound recordings, maps, and computer files.  The Fellow will have the opportunity to gain a broad overview of database maintenance for the largest bibliographic database in the world.  The Quality Control Section is part of OCLC’s WorldCat Quality Management Division.

 

Qualifications

 

• ALA-accredited MLS/MLIS degree (granted by July 2012)
• Have less than three years post graduate work experience

·       Some familiarity with MARC, AACR2 and/or RDA, Dewey Decimal Classification or Library of Congress Classification, Library of Congress subject headings (course work would be acceptable)

·       Desire to specialize in cataloging/technical services

·       Fluent reading skills in a language other than English (preferred)

·       Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity in issues of diversity and inclusion:  strong awareness of other cultures and viewpoints, appreciation for the benefits of diversity in the workplace and library community, behavior which demonstrates the ability to work with people at all levels and from different backgrounds

·       Strong organizational skills which include the ability to organize work plans and processes toward a targeted outcome

·       Exceptional communication skills – written, oral, small group presentation

·       Selected individual must represent historically underrepresented groups (i.e., defined in a manner consistent with the 2007 EEO-1 race/ethnicity reporting classifications)

·       Note:  The Fellow will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement as some of the vendor processes to which he/she will be exposed are proprietary

 

Salary and Benefits

 

·       Salary will be very competitive and commensurate with experience and applicable market compensation

·       The Fellow will be eligible for health & welfare benefits such as is provided to other similarly situated term-limited employees

·       Relocation Assistance will be offered in the form of a lump sum distributed in two installments (50% at signing of offer and 50% after 90 days of start date).  The amount of the lump sum will be determined by the distance required for relocation during the term of the fellowship

 

Application Procedures

 

The OCLC Diversity Fellowship Program 2012 Program Guidelines document can be found at:

http://www.oclc.org/us/en/community/careerdevelopment/minorityfellows/default.htm

 

For complete application procedures look for the “program guidelines” document found on a link on the right side of the web page noted above and also look at the link for the specific position.  The application initiation and all required submissions (original essay and two letters of recommendation) MUST be completed and received by Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 5:00pm ET.  Materials received after Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 5:00pm ET will not be considered.

 

Timeline and Key Dates

 

2012 Program Applications Accepted : until February 28, 2012

2012 Application Deadline: February 28, 2012

2012 Fellow Selection Process: April 2012

2012 Notification of Decision: April/May 2012

2012 Fellowship Program Starts: July 2012

2012 Fellowship Program Ends: 12 months after start date

 

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.  OCLC maintains an ongoing commitment to equal opportunity and seeks to sustain a diverse workplace.

 

 

Cynthia M. Whitacre

Manager, WorldCat Quality & Partner Content Dept.

OCLC

800-848-5878, ext. 6183

whitacrc@oclc.org

Name and Subject Headings

Glenn Patton recently released a statement on several listservs about the publication called “Online Catalogs: What End Users and Librarians Want“. Granted this research might be a little dated, the publication is from 2009, but Glenn Patton makes one very interesting remark in his statement. Namely, he states that “library staff who use WorldCat ranked the need for increased accuracy in name and subject headings as a highly desired improvement.” This is a trend that I’ve noticed here at my own library. What is even more striking is that I’ve heard this request not just in relation to our online catalog but also to our digital collections. In fact, we have one librarian who is extremely vocal when it comes to our online collections. I believe that this trend for greater name and subject heading accuracy in digital collections is becoming more of a trend and an issue to examine. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, there is a new registry called ORCID or Open Researcher and Contributer ID where users (librarians or other people) create profiles that all have unique identifiers. ORCID has entered Phase I of its development. Phase I is the first code release and the mock API Web Application, which is already to download and run. A number of institutions like Cornell or Harvard that have been dealing with name and subject heading accuracy in digital collections are active members of the ORCID project. Harvard also released Profiles Research Networking Software. This open source software allows users to create profiles for themselves and their works in addition to networking to colleagues. Besides these large projects, you see an increasingly large number of universities whose cataloging and metadata departments are stressing metadata services including authority control and data maintenance. In the end, I think that name and subject heading accuracy is not just a desired improvement of library staff but also our users who benefit from more accurate searches and name disambiguation in all of our catalogs whether it is our online catalog or our digital collections.

Here’s the blurb from Glenn Patton:

In the research that led to the publication of Online Catalogs: What End Users and Librarians Want (http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm) library staff who use WorldCat ranked the need for increased accuracy in name and subject headings as a highly desired improvement.  The report on WorldCat quality issued in September 2011 (http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/worldcatquality/default.htm) identified a project to control more headings in WorldCat as a priority during OCLC’s fiscal year 2012.  The following describes this new controlling effort which will provide benefit to all users of WorldCat, regardless of which interface they use.

 

Current controlling functionality in Connexion. The controlling functionality currently available in the Connexion applications enables users to link authority records to headings in master WorldCat bibliographic records. Cataloger-initiated controlling functions facilitate automatic updating of headings in bibliographic records.

• Connexion users initiate matching headings in bibliographic records to established authority records.
• The system normalizes the headings in bibliographic records, matches them with authority records, and inserts the linked heading in the bibliographic record.

 

New stand-alone controlling software. OCLC is extending the Control All functionality by developing a stand-alone batch service that runs independently.  The software evaluates all bibliographic records in WorldCat and controls headings as detailed below.

 

Records evaluated for processing. The software will evaluate the following bibliographic records in WorldCat for processing according to different time schedules:

• Master bibliographic records newly added to WorldCat contributed either through online applications or through batchload will be evaluated daily.
• Master bibliographic records changed and replaced in WorldCat will be evaluated on a pre-determined schedule.
• Existing master bibliographic records in WorldCat will be evaluated on a to-be-determined schedule and as capacity allows.

 

OCLC has begun processing records selected from among new and replaced records and will gradually increase the number of records processed each day over the next few weeks. We will announce when we begin processing existing records and will report periodically on progress.

 

Criteria for record selection. The software will select candidate bibliographic records for processing that contain the following:

• An 040 field with no ‡b present and at least one of the following controllable fields:
• An 040 field with ‡b present containing the value eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:
• An 040 field with ‡b present but containing a value not equal to eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:
• A partially or fully controlled heading.

• 100, 110, 111, 130
• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
• 700, 710, 711, 730
• 800, 810, 811, 830

• 100, 110, 111, 130
• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
• 700, 710, 711, 730
• 800, 810, 811, 830

• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft

 

How the software works.

The software will not:

• Attempt to control unqualified personal names (personal name only that does not include ‡b, ‡c, ‡d, and/or ‡q).
• Control a heading to an undifferentiated authority record.
• Cause automated tag flips of any type.

The software will:

• Automatically expand dates for candidate personal name headings.
• Partially control series fields and automatically append ‡v.
• Control linked non-Latin script headings for candidate personal name headings.

The software will also make the following adjustments as needed:

• Apply any appropriate punctuation changes.
• Attempt to control partially controlled headings.
• Uncontrol descriptive heading fields (1XX, 7XX and 8XX) if the value in field 040 in the bibliographic record is not equal to eng.
• Delete a geographic subdivision from a subject heading if the heading can be completely controlled and no element of the heading can be subdivided geographically.

 

The symbol “OCLCO” will be appended in ‡d of the 040 field in bibliographic records that are modified by the software.

 

If a bibliographic record is locked, the software will skip it and reevaluate it when the lock has been removed.

 

The new software supplements individual cataloging activity. As with the “Control All” headings function in Connexion, some circumstances prevent the software from controlling all headings in WorldCat records. The software cannot do the manual “Single Control” headings functions that catalogers can do in Connexion. The software cannot control non-qualified personal names, headings that have no exact match or that match only partially, headings that are mis-tagged, headings that contain typographical errors or other errors that require correction.

 

OCLC encourages catalogers working in WorldCat to continue using the control headings functions in Connexion when adding or upgrading records as you continue to share your cataloging expertise with the cooperative.

“RDA Toolkit Essentials” webinar

As you know, RDA is still in the works. The RDA Toolkit has undergone revisions. This January 18, 2012 at 9:30am (CST), there will begin a series of webinars on the essentials of the Toolkit. In fact, every other month or third Wednesday will be a webinar on the Toolkit.

Here’s the blurb, which includes a link to register for the 1/18/2012 webinar:

The webinar RDA Toolkit Essentials serves as an introduction and guide to using RDA Toolkit. Unlike past webinars, it is not a one-off event. Instead, it will return every other month (typically on the third Wednesday), and each occurrence of RDA Toolkit Essentials will focus on exactly that–the essentials of using RDA Toolkit. We’ll review subscription options, logging in, navigating, creating Workflows, and setting bookmarks. We’ll cover the variety of content available and offer tips for getting more from your account. And above all, we will answer your questions.

In the past RDA Toolkit has recorded all webinars and kept them in our training archive. The thought was that anyone who wanted to learn about RDA Toolkit could always access a past webinar. This remains a good idea, and we will continue to provide that service, including recordings of RDA Toolkit Essentials. But we strongly believe that a regular webinar dedicated to the needs of new users will facilitate more efficient and effective use of our product.

Every session of RDA Toolkit Essentials will be free and open to everyone. We hope the webinars become “must” for anyone who is new to cataloging or new to RDA: Resource Description and Access, or anyone needing a little refresher on one or two of RDA Toolkit’s many features. With RDA Toolkit Essentials, attendees will receive a tour of the latest and greatest version of RDA Toolkit and will be assured that their questions or comments will be addressed.

Next Meeting of RDA Toolkit Essentials:

January 18, 2012, at 9:30 am (CST; GMT -6) – REGISTER

RDA Toolkit Essentials Archive

November 16, 2011: Slides | Video

What is the Future of Libraries?

About a month ago, there was a Ted Conversion on the topic, “What is the Future of Libraries?”. If you are unfamiliar with Ted Conversations, it comes from the folks who do the Ted Talks. The conversations are touted as a new way to share information. What is interesting about Ted Conversations is that it draws a number of online participants from all over the world leading to diverse perspectives and ideas.

The topic of the future of the libraries was just one of these Ted Conversations that really could boast of a host of views. What was interesting was there was no real consensus. The ideas ranged from the extremes from the disappearance of libraries to libraries’ eventual growth and change.

Here are some of the highlights from the conversation:

• Libraries have not joined the electronic age. Either they will become like “churches” or “museums” of the future or they will disappear because they can’t get on board with the digital revolution.
• The word “Library” is no longer relevant because it evokes an emotional attachment to the print world. Perhaps the word for what we call libraries should evolve into something like “Learning Center” or the “Information Station”.
• People want libraries but don’t know what types of services libraries offer. Libraries need to better promote themselves and explain why they’re important.
• Libraries have to evolve or they will disappear.
• Libraries need more smaller branches that offer more atmosphere and less of an “institution” feeling.

There were many more points. To see the whole thread, check out Ted Conversations on the Future of Libraries. But one thing is for sure. We need to re brand and re-emphasize that libraries are not storage facilities. Librarians know that libraries are much more than just print books. But some of our patrons don’t and continue to associate libraries with the image of a warehouse for books. In this sense, I really liked the idea of associated libraries with a new name like “Learning Center” since there was less focus on the storage of print materials and more on community services and events.

For more on the subject, have a look at these articles:

Many Schools Adding iPads to Education

New Game at the New York Public Library

What’s your future for libraries?

Kuali

Are you tired with your ILS? Perhaps you’ve heard of Koha or Evergreen. I just learned of another open source ILS called Kuali OLE. Kuali is a open source extensible service driven library management system geared towards academic and research libraries.

From the website:

Overview

Built, owned, governed by the academic and research library community

Supports the wide range of resources and formats of scholarly information

Interoperates & integrates with other enterprise and network-based systems

Supports federation across projects, partners, consortia, and institutions

Provides workflow design & management capabilities

Provides information management capabilities to non-library efforts

Partners include among others Duke University, University of Chicago, University of Florida, Indiana University, University of Pennsylvania. Kuali is still in development. Version 0.3 has been released. What looks to be the final version or 1.0 ready for implementation will be released around December 2012. Be sure to check out the presentations page, where you can find a webcast with a demo of Kuali (CNI Spring Membership Meeting from 2011).

Here are some snapshots from the website of features and releases:

ALCTS E-Forum on ETDs: Resources

Recently there was another ALCTS e-forum on the etds. Unlike the typical summaries from the discussions, a list of resources was sent out to the participants of the e-forum. There is an ETD listserv  For more information, there is also the  ETD Mentoring Network, sponsored by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertation.

 

Resources:

ETD Submission and Workflow Systems and Repository Software:

BePress Digital Commons http://digitalcommons.bepress.com/

DSpace http://dspace.org

Etd-db http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ETD-db/index.shtml

Fedora http://fedora-commons.org/

Islandora http://islandora.ca

ProQuest UMI ETD Administrator www.etdadmin.com

OpenETD <http://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/open/projects/openetd/>

Vireo http://sourceforge.net/projects/vireo/  islandora

ContentDM http://www.contentdm.org/

(a few) Digital Preservation Options:

LOCKSS http://www.lockss.org/lockss/Home

Private LOCKSS Networks http://www.lockss.org/lockss/Private_LOCKSS_Networks

MetaArchive http://www.metaarchive.org/projects

Texas Digital Library PresNet http://wikis.tdl.org/tdl/Preservation_Network

ETD Organizations:

California Electronic Theses and Dissertations (CAETD) Interest Group https://sites.google.com/site/caetds/

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertatons (NDLTD) http://www.ndltd.org/

Ohio Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association (OETDA) http://www.oetda.org/

Texas ETD Association (TxETDA) http://txetda.wordpress.com/

United States Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association (USETDA) http://www.usetda.org/

Steven J. Miller’s Metadata Resources

Pr. Miller has been giving courses on metadata for some time. Recently I found his updated website on metadata resources. It is a great page to go to if you need information on metadata quickly and easily. Definitely check it out!