CONSER Operations Representatives Meeting

Outcomes and Action Items from the CONSER Operations Representatives Meeting, held May 6-7, 2010, have now been posted on the CONSER website. Topics covered include:

• ISBD punctuation
• Implementation of new MARC coding
• Multiple character set guidelines
• Open Access Project Task Group report
• Lack of one-to-one correspondence between print and online versions due to changes in title change rules
• Linking field issues
• Changes to uniform titles
• RDA testing
• ISSN-L
• And more!
  

Notes from the ALA Mid-Winter CONSER-At-Large Meeting

Notes from the CONSER-At-Large Meeting held January 17, 2010, are now available. Topics covered include:

• Cooperative Open Access Journal Project
• Repeatable 260 Field
• Format changes from CD-ROM to DVD-ROM
• ISSN Report
  

"ISSN-L: A New Standard Means Better Links" by Oliver Pesch

Pesch's column, "Spotlight on Serials Standards," takes a look at the ISSN-L. He gives an overview of the history of the development of the new standard and explains its benefits.

See The Serials Librarian, vol. 57, issue 1 & 2 (2009), pages 40-47.

"Metadata in a Digital Age: New Models of Creation, Discovery, and Use" recorded by Paoshan W. Yue

This article is the report on a preconference held during the 2008 NASIG Annual Conference. It was co-sponsored by NISO (National Information Standards Organization). Yue's report covers presentations given by various speakers on metadata, providing both library and publisher/vendor perspectives.

Two sections in this article of particular interest to serials catalogers are: "ISSN: Linking Data and Metadata" presented by Regina Romano Reynolds of National Serials Data Program at the Library of Congress, and: "Changes in Cooperative Cataloging Standards: Implementation of the CONSER Standard Record" presented by Les Hawkins, who is the CONSER Coordinator at the Library of Congress. Reynolds provided general information about the ISSN program, as well as an update on the status of the new ISSN-L. Hawkins talked about the establishment of the CONSER Standard Record.

This article is available in The Serials Librarian, vol. 56, issue 1-4 (Jan. 2009), pages 7-24. It will also be available to NASIG members on the NASIG Web site.

CONSER 2009 ALA Midwinter At-Large Meeting Summary

The CONSER ALA Midwinter At-Large Meeting Summary from Jan. 25, 2009 is now available. It includes information on the RLG Shared Print Program, ISSN-L developments, the CSR MARC Task Group, the update of the SCCTP Holdings Workshop, and more.

ALCTS Continuing Resources Section Update Forum

Jennifer Young's report from the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section Update Forum held on June 30, 2008, has been posted to NASIG's Newsletter Blog. Topics covered include:

• Revision of SCCTP courses
• Library of Congress's reorganization of their Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate's serials work
• ISSN-L update
• RDA update
• Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control update
• FRBR for Serials
  

CONSER Operations Meeting Summary

The summary for the CONSER Operations meeting held May 1-2, 2008, is now available.

Contents include:

• OCLC Report
• Standing Committee Roles
• RDA Update
  
• Aggregator Neutral Records for Online Monographs
• Integrating Resources Training Manual Revision (expect a revision in fall 2008)
  
• CONSER Standard Record (CSR) Discussion
• ISSN Report
• FRBR for Serials
• Registry of Digital Masters (RDM)
  
• ... and more!
  

"Catalog/Cataloging Changes and Web 2.0 Functionality: New Directions for Serials" by Rebecca Kemp

Kemp discusses the organization and presentation of serials data in library catalogs with a particular interest in the relationships between serials. Included is a brief discussion of the application of FRBR concepts to serials and how these concepts along with the use of identifiers (some yet to be created) and superwork records (to fully outline the history of a serial title) could provide a useful framework for the organization of serials data. She also calls for the simplification of cataloging rules, looking to RDA for flexibility for future cataloging needs and citing the CONSER standard record as an improvement currently underway. Outsourcing is another means she cites to simplify the cataloging process. She argues that simpler records have the dual advantage of being more understandable for users and more efficient to create. Another aspect she considers in catalog design, specifically the implementation of web 2.0 functionality. She briefly addresses mash-ups, user-created metadata (a.k.a. tagging), user reviews, and personalization through recommender services as ways of bringing web 2.0 into library catalogs. She also touches on improvements in search technology such as relevance ranking, metasearching, natural language searching, faceted searching, and clustering. How can these advances help users searching for serials titles or articles? Kemp outlines five scenarios for locating known and unknown items, including mock-ups of catalog results screens. Overall, Kemp attempts to cover a lot of ground in this article and as a result does not provide comprehensive coverage on any of the topics included.

Kemp's article can be found in The Serials Librarian, vol. 53, no. 4 (2008), pages 91-112.

“Unique Identifiers in Libraries: ISSN Revision” by Regina Romano Reynolds

Reynolds, Head of the National Serials Data Program, looks at ISSN (International Standard Serials Number) and its changing role due to the proliferation of various formats for a given title. In 2003, an international working group was formed to revise the standard. In a world of electronic resources, the ISSN is a vital data element for periodical access management systems (PAMS), electronic resource management systems (ERMS), abstracting & indexing services, and OpenURL link resolvers, to name a few. After providing background information on new and old uses for ISSN, Reynolds provides an overview of the revision process and explains the changes resulting from it. As I’ve reported earlier, the result of this work is the ISSN-L or linking ISSN. The ISSN-L is a title level identifier, but each manifestation of that title will also continue to carry a unique ISSN. The first ISSN assigned (regardless of format) will also function as the ISSN-L. Planning for ISSN-L implementation, including data distribution, was underway at the time the article was written. This article will be of interest to folks following the ISSN revision process over the past few years, but will also get others up to speed who are just now finding out about the changes.

Reynolds’s article can be found in the Serials Librarian, vol. 53, no. 1/2 (2007), pages 125-137.

ISSN-L Getting Closer to Fruition

If you've been following the ISSN revision process that began back in January of 2004, then you've probably heard about the linking ISSN or ISSN-L. It is defined as follows:

the ISSN designated by the ISSN Network to enable collocation or linking among the different media versions of a continuing resource. (Source)

An update on the revision process was given at the CONSER At-Large meeting held during ALA on June 24, 2007. Regina Reynolds reported that publication and implementation of the standard is planned for 2008. You can read her update on the process in the meeting summary. ISSN-L will be an important step forward for better collocation in library catalogs. Let's hope ILS vendors will take advantage of it!