Prepared for the PCC Participants Meeting San Antonio TXJanuary 2006

Karen Calhoun

On Competition for Catalogers

January 2006 2

JOHN KERRY TESTIFYING BEFORE THE SENATEFOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE, APRIL 22, 1971

January 2006 3

The Way We WorkedBooksJournalsNewspapersGov docsMapsScoresAVDissertations

Special collectionsManuscriptsPapersUniv records

Journal articlesConference proceedingsEtc.

Library catalogs

Archives

Abstracting &Indexing services

January 2006 4

Being a 21st Century Librarian

• Starting points:– Technology-driven research, teaching and learning– Disintermediation (decrease in guided access to

content)– Global “infosphere”– Accelerating shift in information seekers’ preferences

for Web-based information and multimedia formats

Librarianship: “There are few professions whichcontribute so much to the saving of time and tothe progress of science.” –Library Journal, 1890

January 2006 5

From Dempsey, Lorcan et al. 2005. “Metadata switch.” In E-Scholarship: A LITA Guide (Chicago: LITA). Used by permission.

January 2006 6

A New Kind of Library• Build a vision of a new

kind of library• Examine assumptions• Be more involved with

research and learning materials and systems

• Move to next generation systems and services

• Make library collections and librarians more visible

An online social network

January 2006 7

How Much Stress is Too Much?

January 2006 8

January 2006 9

A New Way to Work

“Instead of being a hoarder of containers, thelibrary must become the facilitator of retrievaland dissemination.”—William Wulf, 2003

Blakeley, Daniel H.

Cornell Center for Materials Research Facility Staff page

January 2006 10

Making Library Collections and Services Visible

• Library must be where the users’ eyes are– Interconnections, interoperability, and information

delivery • Offsite storage and the challenge to browsing• Partnerships, partnerships, partnerships• Much more robust and interconnected discovery

and content delivery systems

“2 ½ cheers for Google.”--Paul Duguid, May 5 2003, Cornell University

January 2006 11

Library Catalogs, Cataloging, and Catalogers

• MARC, AACR, and LC• Cooperative cataloging• Affordability and

scalability• More than descriptive

metadata • Metadata is a strategic

issue for libraries

“Save the time of the reader.”--S.R. Ranganathan, 1931

January 2006 12

Affordability and Scalability

Expense of catalogingRapid growth of Web resources and digital assetsNeed more than descriptive metadataInteroperability issues

Competition for Resources to Develop New Library Services

Shrinking tech services departmentsStreamlining tech services workflowsIncreasing use of external sources of data; automated cataloging methods

Changes in Information-Seeking Behavior

Preference for online informationReliance on simple keyword searchDecline of subject searchingExpectation of seamless linking

Table 1: Challenges Facing Traditional Cataloging

January 2006 13

Availability of Catalog Librarians

LIS schools not teaching catalogingLIS grads not choosing catalogingGraying of the library profession (demographics)

Significance of the Catalog

Catalog is one part of a much larger infosphereMany new types of scholarly information objects not covered by catalog

Future of Individual Library Catalogs

Less emphasis on one catalog per libraryShift toward multiple catalogs appearing as one catalog; shared catalogs; catalogs interwoven into the Web (Open WorldCat, RedLightGreen)

Table 1, Continued: Challenges Facing Traditional Cataloging

January 2006 14

Increasing investment in access systems

Help build new kinds of systems for IR and delivery; many new kinds of metadata; emphasis on re-use, interconnections, interoperability

Active participation in the university knowledge community

Blurring of lines between what has been public services and technical services; project and team-based workplaces; involvement in campus projects and digital asset management; consulting work; decreasing involvement in traditional cataloging duties

Technology-driven research, teaching and learning

Need for “IT fluency, esp. metadata specialists; increasing involvement in large-scale digital library research, development, and production projects

Table 2 : Forecasts and Implications for Metadata Specialists

January 2006 15

Disintermediation and user self-sufficiency

Catalog librarians have always served those who want to work autonomously; metadata specialists will also enhance ease of use through expertise in indexing, data organization and management, access vocabularies, taxonomies, ontologies, etc. Rising need for understanding of visualization and other techniques to support browsing Increasing use of metadata for linking of wide array of information objects

Global infosphere, Web-based information, and multimedia

Metadata specialists will develop/lobby for standards and best practices, but proliferation of systems and object types will continue; continued need for integrating frameworks and interoperability tools

Table 2 Continued: Forecasts and Implicationsfor Metadata Specialists

January 2006 16

Thank You!

• Being a Librarian: Metadata and Metadata Specialists in the Twenty-first Century

• Forthcoming in Metadata and Digital Collections: a Festschrift in Honor of Thomas P. Turner. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006.

• Preprint 17 December 2004

• http://dspace.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2231

• ksc10@cornell.edu