Type of Library: Public
LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library
Project Coordinators:
Cay Hohmeister, Library Director
Christopher Gorsuch, Library Services Manager for Collection Management
Paul Clark, Application Systems Analyst II

Address: LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library, 200 W. Park Avenue, Tallahassee, FL  32301-7716

Telephone Number: 850-606-2665

E-Mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Problems To Be Solved:

1. Make the Enterprise SirsiDynix Symphony catalog more unified and easier for patrons to search
2. Provide an easy way for parents to find suitable materials for reading incentive programs
3. Implement RDA conversion

MARCIVE Solutions:

1. Authorities processing with RDA Conversion
2. Reading Notes Enhancement with Lexile, and Accelerated Reader data

The Story

In 2013 the coming of RDA (Resource Description and Access) to the general library community forced our library to address how we were dealing with name and subject authorities, as well as how we would render a display of our bibliographic records. There was little incentive to deal with a long, labor-intensive project involving the conversion of AACR2 to RDA standards, especially since some of our records represented missing or withdrawn materials.

Needs identified, and MARCIVE selected

In the time leading up to our conversion, we conducted a selection of a vendor to perform the conversion of name and subject headings, as well as the conversion of bibliographic records to RDA standards.   MARCIVE was eventually selected through the usual competitive bid process for outside contractual services for Leon County, Florida. As a result, MARCIVE was awarded the contract for the following reasons:

1. MARCIVE could do what we needed them to do, according to the RFP (Request for Proposal)
2. MARCIVE was the most cost-effective
3. MARCIVE had many years of experience performing similar projects with similar-sized systems
4. MARCIVE could also provide additional AR/Lexile rankings in our bibliographic records

The last point regarding reading rankings was not originally part of the charge. However, when it was realized that such a long-desired enhancement could be effected without major alteration to the original mission (and without any additional cost), it became one more reason to select MARCIVE.

Funding obtained

The funds for this project were acquired through our county Management of Information Services process for FY 14/15. The funds were included in the capital projects for FY 14/15.In March 2014, a detailed request for $17,500 was submitted to update the catalog database, establish authority control, adopt RDA cataloging standards and provide AR/Lexile rankings. The initial run was estimated to be 350,000 bibliographic records. The funds were included in the capital projects.

Funding was approved by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners for FY 14/15. Capital funds may be carried forward in case the project extended into the following fiscal year.

The Process

All of this required some planning for our downtime, both internally and externally. This meant dealing with the bibliographic records for which items had been missing an extraordinary amount of time or items which had been lost, and otherwise paid for or reconciled. Throughout this process, MARCIVE was available to help walk us through the process and were able to schedule the actual freezing of the catalog and the ultimate flip to adding the new bibliographic and authority records at a time convenient to the library and our patrons.

Leading up to the project itself was the preparation work necessary for both our catalog and our staff. This meant implementation of the latter:

1. Establish realistic missing and searching protocols for library materials. In some cases, items had been “missing” or “lost-assumed” for ten or more years. The time now is 18 months, and then it is deleted from the system.
2. A one-time deletion of titles and items which had been in such status for over 18 months (this was after circulation information had been transferred to a separate file). This resulted in the elimination of almost 60,000 titles and almost 150,000 items.
3. This resulted in not only a more accurate catalog with which we provided MARCIVE but a reduced, per bibliographic charge for the whole initial project.
4. From the initial deletion onward, the staff has been diligent in searching for and/or resolving items in the various lost categories. The lists from which they operate are now of realistic size, and they can be processed in the time allowed.

Feedback from reference desk, Technical Services staff, and Patrons

After the actual changeover to our new records on 27 August 2015, we were anxious to hear any feedback on how the searching and retrieval of the records from the staff and the public users. In our case, “No news is good news.”  After about two weeks, after hearing nothing one way or the other, I asked managers and branch heads if they had any feedback at all after the first day of usage. The unanimous response was that no one had said anything, including the staff, which had made the transition from display of GMDs to display of 33X tags without any anticipated problems.

To a great extent, MARCIVE provided the support that resulted in a seamless, virtually invisible transition. Also, the addition of AR and Lexile scores and points has become relied on heavily by parents and schoolchildren in Leon County, thus creating a bonus win for our system. A special page was created for this purpose.

One of the factors in the success of this project was keeping the staff apprised of the progress of the project, and getting their buy-in for its success. There was some concern over losing the display of the GMDs from the index screens, but because we were offering equivalent displays using 33x tags, this concern was met. A day or so before we went live with the new bibliographic and authority records, the Director and the Head of Collection Management met with every branch manager and the department head in the main library, as well as with staff members, to show exactly what the new records would like, where their information had (or had not) moved, and to answer any questions regarding this. This proved to be effective, especially having it so shortly before going live.

Additional orientations were provided the Library Management team, as well as the Library Advisory board. The process and results of this project became the basis for a presentation “RDA Bibliographic and Authority Records: Preparing the Way!” given at the May 2016 COSUGI (Customers Of SirsiDynix Users Group, Inc.) by Chris Gorsuch and Paul Clark.

Continuity—Keeping the catalog up to date

Since the establishment of RDA bibliographic and authority records, the work continues. Routines have been refined around the new cataloging records sent for processing through Overnight Authorities Service and the monthly Notification Service files. If authorities have not been resolved during the cataloging process, they are caught each month and forwarded to the head of Collection Management for disposition or resolution. This results in fewer conflicts being noted because the authority records are already established in our local system. Also, blind references are removed when the last item is discarded/withdrawn from the catalog. This results in less patron frustration, and a more accurate picture of what is available through our system. We are very pleased to offer an up-to-date, accurate and attractive online catalog for library users.

Type of Library:  Academic Law

Project Coordinator: Suzanne R. Graham, Cataloging Services Librarian

Address: 225 Herty Drive, Athens, GA 30602-6018

Telephone: 706-542-5082

E-Mail: [email protected]

Problem(s) To Be Solved:

1. No on-going authority control for our records in place
2. Large load of poorly-described vendor records added
3. Wanted to offer fuller access to GPO and federal depository documents

MARCIVE Solutions:

1. Authorities Processing History File Creation
2. Backfile Processing (ECCO file of 136,000 records)
3. Authorities Notification Service, Overnight Authorities Service, NewMatch
4. Documents Without Shelves (Law Library Subset)
5. FDLP Pilot Project and then Cataloging Record Distribution Project

The Story:

As the oldest and largest public law library in the state, the Alexander Campbell King Law Library at the University of Georgia has a rich, established collection of over 600,000 volumes. We are dedicated to providing anytime/anywhere access to information and we utilize new technologies to deliver that information.

Our catalog is heavily used, both in-house and remotely; however, consistency of the data was a problem.  We hadn’t been reviewing our headings. The staff worked to verify the headings at the time of export, but we didn’t have a follow-up process to track or automate changes to headings.

In 2007, we investigated three vendors and had two deciding factors: we wanted to process updates to existing records monthly, not quarterly, and we wanted to consolidate several services under one vendor when possible.  Other vendors would run the file monthly, but they levied an additional cost each time making it cost prohibitive. MARCIVE runs updates to the existing file as part of ongoing authority processing. Also, our library already wanted to purchase Documents without Shelves; it made sense to forge a relationship with one vendor for both. My interactions with the staff at MARCIVE also validated why all the libraries I’ve worked for use MARCIVE.

Initially, all our current records went to MARCIVE to create a backfile and get us up-to-date authority records and name/subject headings. Now, each month we send MARCIVE all of our newly added records for review.

The monthly processing report really gives me a great deal of confidence in the quality of records that we are adding and the effectiveness of our cataloging staff.  I skim the headings that couldn’t be matched for locally-important headings. We recently asked MARCIVE to add a 4XX for all old/replaced 1XX headings to take advantage of automated matching in Innovative Millennium. The combination really reduces the weight of major changes, like when one of our prolific international scholars, Alan Watson, recently had a birth year added to his record.

The library staff is happy to take for granted that all the headings are correct and properly disambiguated.  Our favorite analogy is that cataloging is the offensive line of our team and the authority control is the cleats on our feet. Nothing glamorous but everyone would feel the pain if our footing wasn’t so solid.

Regarding the addition of US federal electronic documents to our catalog, it’s great to have so many high-quality Documents without Shelves records to help users find GPO resources easily.

The Federal Depository Library Program Pilot Project really has opened up our microfiche collection in particular. These titles were neglected, but in short order we have more than 300 titles fully cataloged and added to our catalog relatively effortlessly.

Type of Library: Public

Address:  5 Washington Street, Newark NJ  07101-0630

Project Coordinator: Chad Leinaweaver, Special Collections

Telephone: 973-733-7745

E-Mail: [email protected]

Problem To Be Solved:

Providing access to many collections within our Special Collections Division, for which there is limited or no access currently, especially via the Library’s online catalog or website

MARCIVE Solution:

Shelflist Retrospective Conversion

The Story:

The Newark Public Library is a fairly large, urban library with 10 branches throughout the city that provide computer access, a variety of electronic, audio, and print books to its patrons and runs various family, literacy and education programs.  In its 120+ year history, the Library has also been a resource for special collections items such as fine prints, manuscripts, rare books, ephemera, and various visual materials.  Many of these items were originally the responsibility of the former Art and Music Department but were housed in a Special Collections Division created in the early 1990s.

Many of the materials in the Special Collections Division have limited access.  Many have been cataloged, but were cataloged decades ago and onto catalog cards, rather than into the Library’s online catalog or via finding guides on the web.  Most patrons have no idea the wealth of materials contained in this collection.  Fine prints from artists such as Picasso, Lichtenstein, and Warhol and rare books, such as copies of the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle or the Diderot multi-volume Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers published from 1751-1772, are just unknown beyond a handful of staff and enthusiasts.

The Special Collections staff made requests of several companies and liked the detail-oriented approach that MARCIVE provided.  Of all of the companies surveyed, MARCIVE asked the most questions about the data and what the project would entail and was the most engaged with our staff about the workload and outcome.  Also, the Library had worked with MARCIVE in other capacities in other departments, but not for any retrospective conversion projects.

With a grant, the plan was to create more access by converting catalog cards for the Richard C. Jenkinson Collection (a collection documenting the history of fine printing and containing about 3600 books and a host of ephemeral items and broadsides) into MARC format for the Library’s catalog.  The Jenkinson Collection contained a large number of early (ca. 1450-1800) publications along with many uncommon 20^th century publications, not to mention items such a print specimens, announcements, and broadsides.  Portions of the collection were unlikely to be cataloged by any repository.  We requested that original records be created from the catalog cards for material not found to be cataloged and that all holdings and local information be retained for every item.  Thus, we could have the cataloging information (such as acquisitions information and local subject headings) from the original cards, but also benefit from any cataloging work from other repositories in MARCIVE’s own bibliographic database.

We were able to upload the complete collection of catalog cards to our online library catalog early in 2010.  This is the first time that this collection (which began with donations in 1924 and 1930) had ever been available in an online environment to that point.  Though we are still uploading holdings to OCLC (and will continue to do so for some time for collections items), there is more access created to this collection than ever before.

Type of Library: Academic

Address: 10 Portugal Street, London, UK  WC2A  2HD

Project Coordinator: Glyn Price, Technical Services Manager

E-Mail: [email protected]

Problem To Be Solved:

1. Poor support for authority control in earlier systems
2. Imports of records from a variety of sources
3. A method of performing a regular check of the catalogue

MARCIVE Solutions:

1. Backfile Authorities Processing
2. Authorities Notification Service, Overnight Authorities Service, NewMatch

The Story:

The Library of the London School of Economics houses over 4 million printed items, (including 32,000 past and present journal titles), 30,000 e-journals and a growing number of e-books.   It responds to around 5000 visits from staff and students each day, and as a specialist national and international research collection also serves over 12,000 registered external users every year.

The Library of Congress (LC) subject authority file is mounted as part of the library management system.  The name authority file has no equivalent third party authority reference file loaded, and has been maintained locally, by remote reference to LC.  Name and subject headings are routinely checked and authorized for newly created bibliographic records.  Due to a legacy of poor support for authority control in earlier systems, however, and imports of records from a variety of sources over the years there were approximately 3.7 million headings in the system flagged as unauthorized.

The project was put out to tender and responses from three companies assessed by a small working group before being awarded to MARCIVE.

The library catalogue comprises around 1 million bibliographic entries in MARC 21 format and is mounted as an implementation of the Voyager library system.  The requirement was for a full one off automated check of all Name, Title and Subject headings in the catalogue against standard LC headings, and to correct any unauthorized headings.  We asked for details of the proposed working method, strategy for checking headings, predicted success and error rates, treatment of headings not appearing in the authority file, likely duration of project and a quote for a regular check of the catalogue once the initial project had been completed, as well as a proposed method for doing so.

We estimated that it would take 21,000 hours to complete an authority control project in-house, so MARCIVE’s automated solution allowed us to carry out the work in a more time-efficient way.  Our catalogue is now more consistent and has fewer errors, making retrieval more straightforward for users.

Our catalogue gets a consistently high satisfaction rating in our annual user surveys, based on a ranking of “important to me” and “satisfied” or “very satisfied”, thus proving it to be one of the most well-respected services that we provide. The quality of data in the catalogue is crucial to achieving these high satisfaction ratings.

The profile of authority control has been raised within the Bibliographic Services team, which combined with our ongoing services from MARCIVE means we are in a strong position to keep the catalogue in good condition as we move forwards.

As well as a project manager our authority control work required the support of colleagues in the Bib Services team who took part in testing data, and staff in our IT team to deal with technical issues.  The project was time consuming but very worthwhile.