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OBS & TS Program Descriptions

Subject Authority Cooperative Project (SACO) (Workshop W-3)
Coordinator: Christina Tarr
Date & Time: Saturday, July 14, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM

The Subject Authority Cooperative Project (SACO) is a component of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). A policy specialist from the Library of Congress Cataloging and Policy Support Office (CPSO) will present the concepts and practical aspects of creating and changing subject authority headings for Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The basic session, held in the morning, will focus on the fundamentals of constructing and submitting subject proposals on any topic. A more advanced session, held in the afternoon, will focus on law subject headings specifically and on proposing new class numbers and changes to the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. Attending the SACO workshop gives new participants a glimpse into the essential role they may play in cooperative cataloging activities.

Everything Old Is New Again: Second- (or Third-) Generation Automated System Challenges (Program C-1)
Coordinator/moderator/speaker: Richard Jost
Date & Time: Sunday, July 15, 2:45-4:00 pm

An overview of system-related issues will be explored based on the difference between the "old" days, when libraries first moved toward an automated library environment, to the present, when many libraries need to migrate to new systems to handle the increasing complexity of library operations. The challenges remain the same: the successful library manager must research the marketplace, establish procedures for data migration, and develop a management structure for staff training. Using recent library experiences, the speakers will discuss the principles to consider when embarking on a system review process from three perspectives: selecting the appropriate bibliographic utility (based on a comparison of the OCLC and RLIN systems), migrating data from one local system to another, and adding a second library to an existing system. The discussion will detail the basic issues to consider when evaluating automated systems for specific library environments.

New Roles for Catalogers: Subject Access to the Web (Program D-4)
Coordinator: Patricia Sayre-McCoy
Date & Time: Sunday, July 15, 4:15-5:15 pm

Internet subject searches too often result in an unmanageable number of hits. In many cases, this is due to the fact that the metadata headers of Internet resources are either missing entirely or contain uncontrolled, imprecise, and/or inappropriate descriptor terms. This program will focus on these challenges: assigning subject headings to Web sites in order to improve Internet subject searches, improving the metadata header area of HTML/XML documents, on providing access to Web sites that are evolving and changing, and explaining how controlled vocabularies can help or hinder subject searches on the Web. Speakers will discuss the use of subject-rich metadata in the headers of digital resources and the use of traditional Library of Congress subject headings in MARC records.

Put a CORC in IT: The Cooperative Online Resource Catalog's Attempt to Control the WWW Information Flow (Program E-6)
Coordinator/moderator: Pam Deemer
Date/Time: Monday, July 16, 10:15-11:45 am

The OCLC Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) is a Web-based cooperative system for building bibliographic records and pathfinders for electronic resources. An OCLC representative will discuss the CORC program's utility in terms of the bibliographic records and pathfinders created, the role the Dublin Core and MARC formats play, and the cost. Examples of CORC records and the tools used to construct them will be demonstrated. Two technical services librarians and a public services librarian will each discuss their decision to join the initial CORC pilot project, the impact it has had on their workflow and service to patrons, and the advantages and disadvantages of using Dublin Core or MARC records for Internet resources. Find out how effective CORC can be, and learn about its related side benefit—making the addition of meaningful metadata to local Web sites easier.

Cataloger's Dilemma: When and How to Use Law Uniform Titles (Program F-2)
Coordinator: Michael Brown
Date & Time: Monday, July 16, 4:15-5:15 pm

Uniform titles are assigned to some legal materials to both collocate and distinguish different items in the catalog. To properly organize and search online catalogs, catalogers and reference librarians need to know how AACR2 25.15 and 25.16 apply to works containing laws and treaties, respectively. Using specific examples, this program will emphasize a practical approach to helping catalogers determine when legal uniform titles are appropriate and how to apply them. Speakers will also discuss how these uniform titles display in the online catalogs and collocate various law and treaty materials.

New Roles? Retooling Yourself for Work in the 21st Century (Program F-3)
Coordinator/moderator: Mary Jane Kelsey
Date & Time: Monday, July 16, 4:15-5:15 pm

Have you ever wished that you could see the bottom of your "in" box or wished for a longer day? This program on retooling for the new millennium will examine current theory and methodology for effectively managing the challenges in our rapidly changing workplace. The speaker will discuss her experience as a facilitator for Stephen Covey's First Things First program and the decision of the Yale University Library Human Resources Department to implement the Professional Mentor program.

Implementing the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data: The New Frontier in Technical Services (Program G-6)
Coordinator/moderator: Chris Long
Date & Time: Tuesday, July 17, 9:00-10:30 am

Having successfully installed the serials module of their integrated library systems, many libraries are ready to take the further steps of implementing the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data. The Holdings Format, however, is radically different from MARC 21 formats that librarians are already familiar with. This program will explain the various Holdings Format fields, offering specific examples that illustrate how to handle publications received by law libraries, such as pocket parts and revision volumes. The program will also demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of using the Holdings Format, investigate staff training issues and show how to incorporate the creation of MARC holdings records into workflow, as well as examine OPAC display considerations.

Revising Rules to Reflect the New Reality: Changing the Definition of Serials in AACR2 (Program H-1)
Coordinator: Joan Liu
Date & Time: Tuesday, July 17, 10:45-12:15

Web sites and databases now parallel the familiar cataloging challenges of legal loose-leaf publications. As a result, "serials" cataloging has become more complex and not only for law catalogers. How should these "unconventional," but proliferating, materials be defined and described? In 1997, three models for the redefinition of "serial" were proposed with the objective of revising AACR2 Chapter 12. Since then, the library community has discussed these proposals at length at professional conferences and produced several responses. Technical services law librarians play a vital part in this interaction with the cataloging rule-making bodies in these new notions of serials. These proposals and the progress on this dialogue since 1997 will be examined, particularly as they apply to law libraries. The speakers will also address the actions by the bibliographic utilities and local systems vendors in response to the current status of the proposed revisions.

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Essential Technical Services Knowledge for Public Services Librarians (Program K-2)
Coordinator: Carmen Brigandi
Date & Time: Wednesday, July 18, 10:30-11:45 AM

Modern online catalogs integrate information from a variety of sources—cataloging, serials, acquisitions, and circulation records. Public services librarians and library users now have access to this wealth of information on their desktops. As technical services records go public, the technical services librarian's expertise in creating user-friendly records is sometimes lost to public services librarians. In this session, participants will learn more about the variety of records in the catalog and how to best use and interpret them. As public services librarians learn to mine the catalog for more information, they will also develop confidence in working with their technical services colleagues to improve and enhance access to the collection. In this program, current and former technical services librarians will define "essential" technical services knowledge and illustrate ways in which the complementary skills of public and technical services librarians can be harnessed to improve access to the collection.

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