Sent on behalf of Amber Seely, ALCTS CaMMS Catalog Management IG co-chair
Please join the ALCTS CaMMS Catalog Management Interest Group in New Orleans on Saturday, June 23rd from 1-2pm in MCC Room 271-273 for the following presentations:
Better Customer Service through Cataloging
Cecilia Williams, Harris County Public Library
Between 2015 and 2017, the Technical Services staff at Harris County Public Library went through an ILS migration, two administrative building moves, a system-wide weeding project,
and a re-organization – and then came Hurricane Harvey. But when is it ever an easy time to clean up the catalog? With a backlog of almost two years without any data clean up, Technical Services staff, including Acquisitions and Cataloging, found new ways
to coordinate their efforts to clean up the catalog and better ways to communicate what they do with front line staff. Using simple tools like shared spreadsheets to keep communication open, we made our data cleanup efforts a visible priority and aligned
our goal of clean data with the goal of excellent customer service. By making daily and weekly data cleaning a regular part of the workflow for multiple staff members, we widened the pool of knowledgeable data experts at HCPL and fostered relationships with
branch staff. In less than 9 months, we have eliminated our backlog and created a system that operates smoothly week to week. In this presentation, we will share tools that Technical Services staff found helpful, best practices and reports that kept us moving
and made it easier for us to see our progress, and customer service outcomes so far and where we plan to go next.
Where is the 043?: Retrospective assignment of MARC geographic area codes in batch
Lucas Mak, Michigan State University Libraries
MARC 043 geographic area codes (GACs) are supposed to be added to bibliographic records under certain conditions per Library of Congress Subject Heading Manual Appendix E. However, its application has never been consistent due to various
reasons, including oversight by catalogers, MARC 043 not marked as required when accepting copy records, non-existence of codes at the time of cataloging, etc. Although most integrated library systems do not make use of MARC 043 for patron experience, the
lack of it causes problems for assessing geographic coverage of a collection by internal users. Subject librarians will have to use multiple search criteria (e.g. class number ranges in combination with geographic headings) to get a list of titles covering
a certain area. To mitigate this, Michigan State University Libraries used a XSLT process to go through its entire catalog and successfully inserted GACs to 1.4 million bibliographic records. The XSLT process would scan LCSHs in 6XX$z, 651$a, 610, and 611
and assign appropriate GACs according to a conversion table created from the GAC dataset available on LC Linked Data Service website. Though the process does not address all conditions specified in SHM Appendix E, it has significantly reduced the complexity
and improved accuracy of the coverage assessment. This presentation will discuss the processing logic, special handlings required due to the structure of GACs and geographic headings, compromise made, and limitations of the process.
Vesselina Stoytcheva, ALCTS CaMMS Catalog Management IG vice co-chair
Librarian (Cataloger)
Office of Management – Library Services
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Smart Phone: (202) 731-5383
Phone: (202) 649-7120
Fax: (703) 857-9994