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Report of Task Force on the Future of Bibliographic
Contro
I wanted to share this announcement from the Library of Congress
with the CNI-announce readership. Comments on the report over the next
two weeks would be very welcome, and can be submitted via the web page
at the Library of Congress. Disclosure: I serve as a member of this
Task Force.
Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI
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NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540
Phone: (202) 707-2905
Fax: (202) 707-9199
Email: pao@loc.gov
November 30, 2007
Press contact: John Sayers (202) 707-9216; jsay@loc.gov
Public contact: Beth Davis-Brown (202) 707-3301, bbro@loc.gov
WORKING GROUP ON THE FUTURE OF
BIBLIOGRAPHIC CONTROL RELEASES DRAFT REPORT
The Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control has
released its draft report on the future of bibliographic description
in light of advances in search engine technology, the popularity of
the Internet and the influx of electronic information resources.
In November 2006, Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for Library
Services at the Library of Congress, convened a group made up of
representatives of several organizations-American Association of Law
Libraries, American Library Association (ALA), Association of Research
Libraries (ARL), Coalition for Networked Information, Medical Library
Association, National Federation of Abstracting & Indexing
Services, Program for Cooperative Cataloging and Special Libraries
Association-and vendors (Google, OCLC and Microsoft)- to examine
the role of bibliographic control and other descriptive practices in
the evolving information and technology environment, and to make
recommendations to the Library and to the larger library
community.
The group's recommendations, available at its Web site at www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/ , emphasized the role of the
Library of Congress not as a sole supplier, but rather as an important
leader in the cataloging world. "We recognize that you do not
have the resources to do everything," said Olivia Madison,
representing ARL. "These recommendations are not for the Library
of Congress alone but are intended for the entire library and library
vendor communities."
The report highlights five general recommendations:
- Increase the efficiency of bibliographic production for all
libraries through cooperation and sharing of bibliographic records and
through use of data produced in the overall supply chain.
- Transfer effort into high-value activity. In particular, provide
greater value for knowledge creation by leveraging access for unique
materials held by libraries that are currently hidden and underused.
- Position technology by recognizing that the World Wide Web is
libraries' technology platform as well as the appropriate platform
for standards. Recognize that users are not only people but also
applications that interact with library data.
- Position the library community for the future by adding
evaluative, qualitative and quantitative analyses of resources. Work
to realize the potential of the Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records (FRBR) framework.
- Strengthen the library and information science profession through
education and through development of metrics that will inform
decision-making now and in the future.
"I am very pleased with the approach taken by the working
group," Marcum said. "Instead of focusing solely on the
Library of Congress, the members of the group looked at the
bibliographic ecosystem and thought deeply about the contributions
that can and should be made by all of its parts. We are already doing
in an experimental way many of the things suggested by the Working
Group in its presentation. Once the final report is received, our
challenge will be to analyze the recommendations, decide on which ones
should be implemented and move beyond pilot projects and tests."
The report is available for public comment through Dec. 15. The
final report will be released by Jan. 9, 2008, in time for the
midwinter meeting of the American Library Association.
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