Cataloging in digital age
Li Sun
Asian Languages Cataloger
Metadata Librarian
Cataloging and Metadata Services
Rutgers University Libraries
CEAL Annual Conference, March 25, 2009, Chicago
Digital initiatives are everywhere
• Changes in library users’ behavior
– Increasing reliance on digital resources (e.g., article databases, ejournals, etc.)
– Decreasing usage of library physical collection (e.g., library visitor
and circulation numbers)
– Preference on virtual reference through live-chat, email, etc.
– Utilizing digital libraries and repositories
• Changes in library services
– Purpose (1): to respond to users’ needs
– Purpose (2): to lead changes
– Coverage: in almost everywhere in library services, for example, in
cataloging, collection development, reference, etc.
– Consequences: more on digital
Digital initiatives in libraries
Digitization projects
99%
Institutional repositories
36%
Web content management
28%
Datasets
23%
Subject-based repositories
18%
(Jin Ma, Metadata in ARL Libraries, ALA Midwinter Presentation 2009, Denver)
Other popular digital initiatives
Metadata registries
Digital media resources
EAD finding aids
E-books and e-journals
Electronic theses and dissertations
Other
Major types of digital resources
80
70
67
Number of Responses (N)
64
59
60
50
45
42
40
34
30
25
20
10
3
0
Image
Text
Collections
Audio
Map
Video
Datasets
Types of Digital Resources
(Jin Ma, Metadata in ARL Libraries, ALA Midwinter Presentation 2009, Denver)
Other
Libraries’ responses to digital trends
• Increasing involvement in cataloging metadata by catalogers
– 66% librarians believed that catalogers created both MARC and
non-MARC metadata
– 79% librarians believed that creating non-MARC metadata has
been part of their routine job
Ayers, Leighann, et al., What We’ve Learned from the RLG Partners Metadata Creation Workflows Survey,
OCLC Research Report (January 2009)
• Resulting in the change of job titles
– Position titles
– Department names
– Changed responsibilities
Challenges in digital shifts in cataloging
• Organizational Structure
– Library infrastructure
– Traditional vs. non-traditional work
• Personal attitude
– Old generations of catalogers
• Knowledge, skills, and training
• Team work
– Collaborations with other library teams
– Collaborations with external organizations
• Applications
– Lack of universal platforms (like OCLC for traditional cataloging)
Introduction to OpenWMS (Workflow Management System)
• We need a good application that can handle digital cataloging
• Current existing applications are mostly locally developed
• This Rutgers product is unique for its extended functionality
for digital cataloging with
– metadata creation and management tool
– a complete metadata creation system for analog and digital
materials
– Unicode compliant
– full METS support
– exporting digital object in METS/XML Wrapper
More on OpenWMS (Workflow Management System)
– Web accessibility
– Platform independent
– Can be either standalone application or integrated with
other systems or repositories
– Mapping and batch-loading metadata and digital files from
standard and in-house formats
– Ability to customize and add vocabularies to data elements
– Grant based project
– Open source for free download and easy customization
https://lefty64.scc-net.rutgers.edu/openwms/test/dwms_aa/aa/index.php?client_portal=
The look of OpenWMS
Rutgers Repository Workflow
repository
OpenWMS Function: administration
OpenWMS Function: utility configuration
OpenWMS Function: set up templates
OpenWMS Function: metadata creation and file handling
OpenWMS Function: Vocabularies control
OpenWMS Function: mapping and batch-loading
OpenWMS Function: Structure map
OpenWMS Function: ingest metadata/digital files to
repository or edit metadata in repository
A final product of image
Demonstration of a digital East Asian Collection
http://lefty64.scc-net.rutgers.edu/rucore/search/index.php?PProfile=DLR
Thank you
Here is more information about OpenWMS
http://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/open/projects/openwms/index.php