Developing catalogues for customers not cataloguers

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Developing catalogues for customers (not
cataloguers)

• Gordon Dunsire
• Presented at Branch/Group Day, CILIP in Scotland
  5th Annual Conference, 13th June 2007, Peebles,
  Scotland

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Overview

• Recent international developments will lead to
  significant improvements for the users of
  catalogue services
• This presentation describes two specific
  initiatives FRBR and RDA
• And discusses some of the benefits they will
  bring to library customers

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FRBR

• Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records
• Eff-are-bee-are
• Fur-burr
• Verb fur-burr-eyes (FRBRise) to make a
  catalogue compliant with FRBR
• Developed for IFLA from 1992 to 1997
• Common understanding of the aims and purpose of
  bibliographic metadata
• User-centric

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User tasks

• Find an information resource
• Matching the users search criteria
• Identify a resource
• Confirming it meets the users criteria
• Distinguishing similar resources
• Select a resource
• Meeting the users needs
• Obtain a resource
• Accessing the information in the resource

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What metadata supports these tasks?

• Find
• Title, author, subject, etc.
• Identify
• Title, edition, date, abstract, notes, etc.
• Select
• Language, format, etc.
• Obtain
• Electronic location, access conditions, etc.

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Organising the metadata (1)

• Metadata for a single resource fall(s) into 4
  logical groups
• Item
• Metadata about a specific copy of the information
  resource e.g. location, access
• Manifestation
• Metadata about a specific format of the resource
  e.g. physical characteristics, edition

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Organising the metadata (2)

• Expression
• Metadata about a specific presentation of the
  resource e.g. form of content, title, language
• Work
• Metadata about the intellectual or artistic
  concept of the resource e.g. subject, title,
  audience

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Metadata relationships
Work
Symphony no.1
Is realised through
Expression 1
Expression 2
LSO recording
Is embodied in
Manifestation 1.1
Manifestation 2.1
Manifestation 2.2
DVD-A
Is exemplified by
Item 1.1.1
Item 2.1.1
Item 2.2.1
Item 2.2.2
Copy on shelf
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Improving the user experience (1)

• The hierarchical structure allows the catalogue
  user to more easily navigate metadata
• Especially when there are a lot of expressions,
  such as translations and audio-books, and
  manifestations, such as multiple editions,
  recorded in the catalogue
• Because the higher up the tree, the fewer the
  records to display
• Ideally, just one Work to begin with
• Then a few Expressions of the Work
• Then a few more Manifestations (for each
  Expression)
• Then all the Items (copies)

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Improving the user experience (2)

• Interfaces can give the user the choice to expand
  or contract the catalogue display to different
  levels
• Just Works
• Works and their Expressions
• Works, Expressions, and their Manifestations
• Everything in the collection, including multiple
  Items
• The display of duplicate information is reduced
• Only one title is displayed no matter how many
  Expressions or Manifestations use it

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Example OCLC FictionFinder

• OCLC research project
• Metadata for fiction resources taken from
  WorldCat ...

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OCLC FictionFinder

• ... Results of initial search are Work titles
• Full record for Work identifies all languages
  (Expressions) and editions and formats
  (Manifestations) and copies held in member
  libraries (Items)

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From here to there

• Existing MARC records can be displayed in
  FRBRised catalogues
• Hierarchical displays can be automatically
  created from rich metadata
• Varying degrees of success, but almost always an
  improvement
• Other metadata formats (e.g. Dublin Core)
  probably not detailed enough
• Further development required
• And, as always, Garbage in Garbage out

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RDA

• Resource Description and Access
• A new standard for creating bibliographic
  metadata
• Based on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules
• In development since 1841 (Panizzis rules for
  the British Museum)
• And FRBR and other more modern stuff

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User-centred features of RDA (1)

• Improves the FRBRizability of catalogues
• Covers all types of user
• Those who need to find, identify, select, obtain,
  use, manage and organize information
• Covers all media
• Print-based, digital textual, visual, etc.
• Equal, even treatment gives more control to the
  user in finding and choosing the most appropriate
  resources

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User-centred features of RDA (2)

• Clearly distinguishes content from carrier
• E.g. Moving pictures on DVD text on CD-ROM
• Helpful for users with special needs
• E.g. restrict search to non-visual resources
• Multinational
• Anglo-centricity (and cataloguer-eccentricity)
  removed
• Abbreviations and acronyms avoided
• Latinisms removed
• Farewell s.n., s.l., et al.
• Still arguing about square brackets!

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User-centred features of RDA (3)

• Independent of technical metadata formats
• Can be used with MARC, DC (Dublin Core)
• And a whole bunch of other acronyms
• Gives user familiar metadata regardless of what
  system is used
• Designed for the digital environment
• RDA will be published as an online product
• So could be incorporated in user help facilities

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Good/Bad news

• Library catalogues may (just) become
  user-friendly
• A (true) complement to Google
• RDA wont be published until early 2009
• And it will take some time to implement
• RDA re-professionalises cataloguing
• And is easier to use by para-cataloguers
• Many cataloguers like RDA
• but by no means all
• No deaths have been reported, so far

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Thank you

• FRBR
• http//www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm
• RDA, via CILIP-BL Committee on AACR
• http//www.slainte.org.uk/aacr/index.htm
• More stuff in SLAINTE digital library
• http//slic1.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/ipac20/ipac.jsp?/pr
  ofileslainte
• OCLC FictionFinder
• http//fictionfinder.oclc.org/
• Me
• g.dunsire_at_strath.ac.uk