VIVA Task Force on Cataloging and Intellectual Access
Meeting Minutes (July 23, 1999)
Carrier Library, James Madison University

Present: Althea Aschmann (VPI), Elaine Day (JMU), Nadine Ellero Ferki (UVa), Billie Hackney (ODU), Trish Kearns (W&M), Charles Lewis (JSRCC), Elizabeth McClenney (VSU), Allison M. Sleeman (UVa) Guests: Judy Anderson (JMU), Charles McFadden (W&M), Sheila Newman (BRCC), Ed Summers (ODU)

1. MARC records for the Chadwyck-Healey full text databases

Authority work for the four Chadwyck-Healey databases has been completed thanks to the efforts of William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia, and Piedmont Virginia Community College. Over 2000 authority records were searched, and downloaded from OCLC so that VIVA libraries may obtain them as a batch. Ed has updated the C-H records with the new headings using a Perl script. It was agreed that it would be a good idea to have JMU test load the records for the African  American Poetry Database, since they initially identified the extent of the headings problem. Ed is willing to work on customizing the MARC records for VIVA institutions so that they can be batch loaded into their local catalogs. A small set of records will soon be available for test loading from an FTP site at Old Dominion University, after which institutions will be able to tell how they would like to have the MARC records adapted for their particular environment.

2. Review of the Guidelines for Cataloging VIVA Electronic Collections Karen Cary (VCU) and Elaine have expressed an interest in continuing to work with the Guidelines. Althea agreed to join them in updating the Guidelines in light of some recent developments including Jean Hiron's paper "Revising AACR2 to Accommodate Seriality" <http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/jsc/ser-rep0.html> and the ISBD(ER)  <http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/pubs/isbd.htm>. The Guidelines are currently housed on a UVa server with a forwarding page from the original location in Jackie Shieh's personal directory. Elaine has spoken to Kathy Perry about the possibility of moving these documents (including the workshop documents) up to the VIVA server. Kathy was very receptive to this idea, especially because of the national and international exposure that the Guidelines have received. However, it will not be possible to easily edit these documents on the VIVA server, so Elaine, Althea and Karen will discuss where a working copy should be maintained. The working copy can then be uploaded to the VIVA server as needed. Allison will consult with systems staff at UVa to look into the best way to move this collection of documents to the VIVA server.

3. Report on training evaluations from the May 7th VIVACat Workshop

Althea gave a summary of the program evaluations for the Cataloging Electronic Resources workshop that was held at Piedmont Virginia Community College on May 7th. A summary of comments from the participants (evaluation.txt) and tabulation of ratings (evalution.xls) are attached. In general the workshop received very good reviews, and several respondents suggested that a follow up workshop would be desirable. The experience level of the workshop attendees was highly varied: some already had significant experience cataloging electronic resources, while the majority did not -- and some attendees were new to the Passport for Windows software. A few evaluations mentioned that the workshop could have been extended to cover two days--which was the original time frame. Althea also noted the good turnout from community colleges--which indicated the level of interest that there is around the state. Some discussion ensued around the possibility of doing more workshops. Althea mentioned that at Virginia Tech, she spends a great deal of time putting together instructional materials, and imagines that it is the same way in other places. It was generally agreed that VIVACat should concentrate on cooperative cataloging and bibliographic access initiatives rather than hands on training or online tutorials. The group will promote quality cataloging tutorials created by individuals and libraries. Elaine mentioned that perhaps it would be more appropriate for the Virginia Library Association to pick up on more of these instructional opportunities.

During the discussion of this agenda item, Charles Lewis mentioned that there will be a Peer Group Meeting of Community Colleges in September of  this year. He suggested that this could be an excellent forum for making administrators aware of the wealth of resources available to community colleges through VIVA. The workshop did a very good job of bringing catalogers into the picture; however it always helps to have support on the administrative level for projects such as cataloging electronic resources. Elaine indicated that she can contact Kathy Perry to see if VIVA should be represented.

4. VIVACAT-L Listserv

Allison reported on the status of the VIVACAT-L listserv. It is still unmoderated, and there are currently 56 subscribers. Ed suggested that perhaps the listserv can be promoted as an alternate medium for instructing catalogers around the state in the application of the Guidelines. It is always difficult to ask questions on a listserv, since it is in the public eye...however the list could be used to encourage more of a friendly question/answer type of format.

5. Periodicals databases

After lunch, the subject of periodicals databases was discussed. Several VIVA institutions are using the listings of full-text titles available from Dow Jones Interactive and the suite of IAC databases to create their own searchable databases of full-text periodical titles. These databases can be used to determine whether a full-text title may be available from a full-text e-journal aggregator. For examples of these databases see: Radford University (http://www.runet.edu/~libr-web/searchform.html), Virginia Commonwealth University (http://www.library.vcu.edu/ejournals/), and Old Dominion University (http://www.lib.odu.edu/forms/periodicalsearch.shtml).

Allison reported that UVa has cataloged selected portions of Infotrac, indicating when a particular title is available online. Elaine suggested that VIVACat should disseminate  information on how to use publisher supplied full-text listings to create an web-accessible databases.

6. MARC record conversion

The taskforce also discussed the possibilities for MARC record conversion. VCU is experimenting with creating MARC records from the listings of full-text that are cited above in section 5 (and several others). You can view this experiment project at (http://www.library.vcu.edu/cfapps/jbc/instruct/barbara.cfm). The web form allows for the creation of interpreted MARC records from an access database. These interpreted MARC records could then be run through a program such as the Library of Congress' MARCMakr program (http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/marcsoft.html) to create transmission format MARC records for loading into an online catalog. VCU is experimenting with the idea of creating brief records for titles available from "full-text aggregators", which could then be loaded into their online catalog. Given the volatility of title holdings in most full-text aggregators, VCU hopes that they would be able to easily regenerate a batch of MARC records from the publishers lists, and then refresh the data in their catalog.

Chas and Ed have also been working on creating a set of Perl utilities for performing transformations on MARC records. One such transformation is between the MARC transmission format and a MARC interpreted format.

The interpreted format is an 'easy reading' format, which takes the bibliographic data out of the long string which is the transmission format MARC record. The interpreted MARC record is much easier to edit manually and programmatically with a programming language like Perl. When finished the interpreted format can then be converted back into a true MARC record for loading into an online catalog. This two way conversion is currently available via a web-form (http://libdev.lib.odu.edu/cgi-bin/marc.cgi).

Another type of translation which Chas and Elaine have been working on is between MARC and HTML. Nadine mentioned that UVa is working on a similar project to create HTML pages out of MARC records. There is an experimental form available at (http://www.vims.edu/cgi-bin/library/test.pl) which uses Perl on-the-fly to convert a submitted MARC record into HTML format. The group agreed that it may be worthwhile for VIVACat to pursue documenting and developing these tools further so that others around the state can take advantage of them.

7. Next meeting

The next meeting will be held September 17th, at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, directions to be announced on VIVACAT-L.

The meeting adjourned at 1:30PM.

Submitted by Ed Summers.