Message-Id: <mailto:199507161809.NAA10900@library.wustl.edu> Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 11:10:57 -0700 From: Stuart Glogoff <mailto:sglogoff@LIBRARY.ARIZONA.EDU> Subject: Robert MacKimmie's message about cataloging image projects To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
Many thanks to Robert MacKimmie for raising the issue of cataloging digital images/image projects. I'll comment on the questions he's raised in light of the digital imaging projects that are underway here and the organizational changes that preclude, in most cases, having a "cataloger" whose responsibilities are to limited to cataloging digital images.>There are talented image catalogers who have slogged
>through the mire, helping to pioneer full MARC cataloging
>of every type of visual collection material, from collection
>level to item level. ...
>To date, there have been few job postings
>which involve the cataloging of digitization efforts.
>-Is the austerity of NEWTonian budget cutting cancelling
>any progress in this arena?
Well, yes and no. Like many libraries we've survived continued rounds of "downsizing." We've spent the past 3-4 years cutting our human and material resources budgets. However, we have also been doing it, at least as much as possible, by refocusing our activities on our users.
We're getting more and more into outsourcing traditional cataloging and reallocating the human resources elsewhere. IMO, this is not intended to diminish the role of cataloging. It makes fiscal sense. Cataloging remains an important activity in getting acurate information assigned at the item level and in a standard format.
We do support cataloging digital collections/items. For example we are just beginning a congressional archives project. An archivist in Special Collections thinks he needs 2-3 temp staff to work on digitizing the project. Since we don't presently have funds to hire more staff for it, why not use librarians currently in cataloging. They can be trained to work with the congressional archives collections, do some ofthe digitizing, interact more with the users and people associated with the collections, and create the cataloging records. This way, professional catalogers continue to apply skills they've developed over the years, learn new skills, and contribute to a digital project.
>-Has the flourishing of Web access put a harpoon in more
>serious imaging efforts?
I think Robert is asking, "where are the serious image collections?" meaning where are the big projects? This is certainly a legitimate question. We're aware of some "serious" projects, such as the project to digitized Senator Heinz papers and the Linus Pauling Papers project. Hopefully, others will post messages adding to this list. The barrier as I see it for libraries, is that we need to get grants to fund such projects or to reallocate our internal resources. Both are difficult and i think account for the delays in gearing up.
I think WWW enables us to do serious projects as well as fun stuff. For instance, manuscripts collections rely on creating finding aids, right? I think the direction to go is this. Go with a Web browser as the front-end interface to the library's OPAC. Use the 856 field in the MARC record to link to items on your WWW server. It seems to me that we can integrate the images into the local library systems fairly easily in the near future. Consider this scenario.
Create a MARC record for your local library system (OPAC) for the finding aid to a collection in your Special Collections. Link the 856 field to the "digital" version (you've already created this finding aid in word processing). Mark it up in HTML and put it on your Web server. When someone searches and retrieves the MARC record, she/he can click on the link from the Web browser interface, and display the finding aid. Then, you've digitized other documents, photos, video, audio from the collection that will be highlighted and linked to from the displayed finding aid. So I think that WWW is giving us valuable new opportunities.
At the American Library Association's conference last month in Chicago, many vendors were demonstrating their efforts to putting GUI's and Web browsers together that will serve as front-ends to our systems. I've been looking forward to the point when we'll be able to offer ONE user interface and it looks like that time is drawing nearer. Besides the vendors to local systems like Innovative Interfaces, VTLS, Ameritech (Dynix and NOTIS), OCLC has a new product called Web Z that does this. Also noteworthy is that the vendors are bundling in the Z39.50 search and retrieval protocol.
In terms of cataloging, I had a good look at Ameritech's NetPublisher. What I especially like is that you can create a USMARC record for images and upload them into your local library system. It doesn't have to be an Ameritech system-- you just need to be have a loader for USMARC.
What do others out there think?
Stuart
*************************************************************************** Stuart Glogoff | Asst Dean, Library Information Sys | A302 Main Library | mailto:sglogoff@bird.library.arizona.edu University of Arizona | (520) 621-6433 Tucson, AZ 85720-0055 | FAX: (520) 621-9733 *************************************************************************** The cosmic bakers took us out of the oven a little too soon. Jimmy Buffett ***************************************************************************