Report of the VIVA Task Force on Cataloging and Intellectual Access

June 5, 2000

During the academic year 1999-2000, the VIVA Task Force on Cataloging and Intellectual Access adopted a formal charge, published a web home page, and archived task force documents on VIVA servers. We co-sponsored the January 7 Forum on Access to Electronic Journals from Aggregator Sources with the Steering Committee and Virginia Commonwealth University, completed original name authority work for analytics in the Chadwyck-Healey poetry databases, and assisted VIVA institutions in customizing Chadwyck-Healey bibliographic records for local catalogs. The Task Force also adopted a plan for technical and substantive updates to Guidelines for Cataloging VIVA Electronic Collections. (We are awaiting the outcome of proposed AACR rule changes before undertaking a substantive update of the Guidelines.) VIVACAT-L, hosted by the University of Virginia continues to be our primary means of communication with VIVA catalogers.

In addition to approved projects, Task Force members discussed information access issues referred to us by the VIVA Director and members of the Steering Committee. These include catalog access to backfiles of Highwire Press, evaluating the format and reliability of journal aggregator web lists, researching ISSN's not supplied by aggregators, and finding a source of bibliographic records for the (then) proposed UVa/NetLibrary project. Our meetings have also served as a forum for discussion of metadata solutions, including the OCLC CORC Project.

Cataloging and Intellectual Access members request continuation of the Task Force through June 2001, in support of the following objectives:

1. Complete Chadwyck-Healey bibliographic updates; package the bibliographic records, name authority records, and scripts needed for local customization; distribute these files to VIVA libraries from a password protected area on the VIVA server at VCU. (The files have been archived by John Duke, but will require a cover page and final update of bibliographic records for original authority work.)

2. Update the Guidelines for Cataloging VIVA Electronic Collections with new examples from VIVA catalogs. Update content of the VIVA Guidelines to reflect AACR rule changes and related guidelines (CONSER, OCLC) as those changes are approved and published. Althea Aschmann, Principal Cataloger at Virginia Tech, has agreed to serve editor for this revision.

3. Using techniques applied in the Chadwyck-Healey project, develop a toolkit, and train personnel to update other MARC bibliographic record sets to current MARC standards and customize them for import to VIVA catalogs.

N.B. Objective #3 and tentative projects listed below require programming skills and additional technical support not currently available from the task force membership. In some instances, technical support needed is "high level" (e.g., Perl scripting); other objectives require low level support, such as looking up ISSN's. Our various cataloging units are currently too short staffed to supply volunteers for task force activities. Support from our heads of cataloging or technical services and from library administration is essential for successful completion of VIVACat projects.

Potential objectives include:

* Coordinate information on vendor web lists for periodicals aggregated in VIVA databases; evaluate the quality and reliability of these lists and report problems to the VIVA Director and Resources for Users Committee.

* Supply ISSN's for aggregated periodical titles where this information is not provided by vendors (i.e., Dow Jones).

* Consider Yale University's "jake" project as an interface to full text resources and/or common ground for collaboration on aggregator issues.

* Explore options for access to High Wire Press backfiles through local catalogs.

* Apply techniques used for Chadwyck-Healey poetry analytics to other record sets, such as the Making of America project, digitized by Cornell and the University of Michigan, and represented by MARC records supplied in Notis format by the University of Michigan.

* Employ the task force web page, news announcements, and VIVACAT-L as informal or formal means of gathering information on the effectiveness of task force activities and electronic resource cataloging methods.

Should the Steering Committee encourage the Task Force to pursue these or other objectives, we will make an appeal for new members, and will explore solutions for technical support such as (1) wage employment through VIVA administration, and (2) LIS internships with Catholic, Greensboro, or Chapel-Hill.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Day, Chair

(eday@averett.edu)

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References:

Task Force Charge:

"VIVACat" enhances intellectual access to VIVA electronic resources, maintains guidelines for MARC cataloging, shares bibliographic records, explores emerging bibliographic and metadata standards, and promotes new technologies for digital resource organization.

Task Force home page: http://new.vivalib.org/tech/cat/

Forum on Access to Electronic Journals from Aggregator Sources: http://new.vivalib.org/tech/cat/journal_access/

Guidelines for Cataloging VIVA Electronic Collections: http://viva.lib.virginia.edu/vivacat/guidelines.html