Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian for Library Services Library of Congress
Service units, divisions, and offices within the Library have submitted the information in this briefing document for the attention and use of Library of Congress staff who will attend the American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadephia, PA, January 11-16, 2008. The document covers initiatives undertaken at the Library of Congress since the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC in June 2008.
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Library of Congress Exhibit Booth
Visit the Library of Congress Exhibit Booth #1946 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia, PA. The exhibit booth coordinator is Jane Gilchrist. Exhibit hours are:
- Friday, January 11: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
- Saturday & Sunday, January 12 & 13: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
- Monday, January 14: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Of special note are the Webcasts planned for the booth theater. These include Webcasts of the following authors speaking at the National Book Festival on September 29: Gail Carson Levine, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cat Cora, Stephen Carter (all on Friday evening from 5:30 through 7:30); David Baldacci (Saturday, 9:00); and Holly Black (Sunday, 9:00). The presentation by the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control to Library of Congress staff on November 13, 2007, will be Webcast on Saturday, 4:00-5:00. On Sunday, 4:00-5:00, the booth theater will show a Webcast of the November 16, 2007 lecture by cookbook editor Judith Jones, which was sponsored by the Science, Technology, and Business Division at the Library of Congress. On Monday at 1:00, there will be a Webcast of the November 16, 2007, presentation by Richard Kurin, director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, about the history and curse of the Hope Diamond. This event was sponsored by the Center for the Book.
Library of Congress staff making presentations in the Booth theater will include: Diane Barber, Colleen Cahill, John Cole, Patricia Hayward, Jan Herd, Eugene Kinnaly, Margaret Kruesi, Guy Lamolinara, Everette Larson, Cheryl Lederle-Ensign, Katherine McCann, Matt Raymond, Teri Sierra, and Deb Thomas.
Matt Raymond, the Library’s Director of Communications, will present “News from Your National Library: New Visitors Experience, National Book Festival, Lifelong Literacy Campaign” at the booth. Times are 11:00 Saturday, 1:00 Sunday, and 12:00 Monday. Deanna Marcum will make two presentations, on Saturday at 2:00 and Sunday at 11:00, on plans for following up on the recommendations of the Library of Congress Working Group on Bibliographic Control.
A complete schedule of booth theater presentations, including perennial favorites, is found on the “The Library of Congress at ALA Midwinter” Web site at URL <http://www.loc.gov/ala/mw-2008-booth.html>.
Incentive give-away items at the booth include, from the Cataloging Distribution Service, Class Web keyboard brushes and copy holders; copies of What Is FRBR?, Understanding MARC Bibliographic, and Understanding MARC Authority Records; LC Classification Poster and Pocket Guide; the CDS Catalog of Bibliographic Products and Services; and assorted brochures from other Library of Congress units.
U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE
Future of Digital Libraries
On March 20, 2007, the Register of Copyrights testified before the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, House Committee on Appropriations at a hearing on the “Future of Digital Libraries.” The testimony set forth three important copyright activities that will affect libraries, in general, and the Library of Congress, in particular, with respect to the acquisition, preservation and dissemination of digital materials.
The first initiative of the Office is its seven-year reengineering effort, a key goal of which is to facilitate deposits of “born digital” works for the Library of Congress. A new electronic registration system, eCo, will accept copyright applications and copyright deposits through the Internet. The searching system will allow applicants to track the progress of their claims and to search the records of all works registered since 1978, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
One of the main purposes of online registration is to create a more robust, efficient and searchable record of copyright records. The Copyright Office’s interim rules identified the principal changes and upgrades to the registration system and announced the amendments to the regulations to accommodate online registration. These changes became effective with the commencement of the Beta test phase of the electronic, online registration system in July 2007. The test phase has been expanded to include all interested applicants and will soon transition into an open electronic registration system for the public. The Copyright Office is dedicated to improving the public record and will continue its work this year by amending its regulations and improving its electronic registration system in order to fulfill this goal.
The second initiative of the Office is digitizing the pre-1978 registration records (70 million such records exist), not only for the purpose of preserving them but in order to make them accessible online. These records reflect the copyright status and ownership of millions of works and are of vital importance, not only to the public, but also to the copyright industries that make up a significant part of the U.S. economy. Phase I of the initiative calls for digitizing the records; Phase II will add item-level indexing and enhanced searching and retrieval capability.
The third initiative of the Office is legislative. The Office called for an amendment to the Copyright Act that would allow the Library of Congress some flexibility to acquire the digital version of a work that best meets the Library’s future needs, even if that edition has not been made available to the public. The Office also testified that Section 108 of the law, which provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives, does not adequately address many of the issues unique to digital media. The Office will evaluate an amendment to Section 108 following release of a 2008 study by the Section 108 Study Group, which deliberated from 2005-2008 under the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), in cooperation with the Copyright Office.
Orphan Works Legislation
The Copyright Office facilitated the ongoing meetings with diverse members of the copyright community on “Orphan Works” for the purpose of advising the 110th Congress on possible legislative solutions. Orphan Works include photographs, writings, sound recordings and other materials that are protected by copyright law but for which a user cannot identify or locate a legitimate copyright owner. Potential users of Orphan Works include commercial publishers and producers who wish to salvage and transform the works into new, valuable formats at their own cost, as well as museums, libraries and archives that collect, and wish to publish or otherwise make available, thousands of culturally important materials in accordance with their noncommercial, educational missions. The Copyright Office concluded that orphan works are a real problem and that legislative relief is in the public interest.
The Office’s work this year follows the 2006 publication of its comprehensive study, “Report on Orphan Works,” which included recommended language for a new Section 514 in Title 17. The proposed section provided a statutory framework in which a good-faith user could proceed to use an orphan work after first searching for the copyright owner in a reasonably diligent manner, with the reasonableness of the search being judged on a case-by-case basis. A copyright owner who later emerged would be assured reasonable compensation from the user, except in limited circumstances where certain noncommercial users elected to expeditiously cease use of the relevant content.
In 2006, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees held hearings on the Report in March 2006 and April 2006, respectively. The Office’s testimony is available at: <http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat030806.html>. A slightly modified version of the Copyright Office’s proposal was introduced but not enacted. [See “Orphan Works Act of 2006” (H.R. 5439) and the “Copyright Modernization Act of 2006" (H.R. 6052)]. The proposed legislation had broad-based support from copyright owners and user groups alike and was the product of much deliberation.
In its work this year, the Copyright Office has continued to work with Congress and interested parties to resolve the concerns raised by some creators. Photographers and visual artists have claimed that the Copyright Office’s proposal would adversely affect them due in part to shortcomings in available search technologies. To further explore this premise, the Copyright Office has met with many technology companies that offer various ways to identify photographs and works of the visual arts. On December 7, 2007, the Copyright Office organized a showcase of visual search technologies that currently exist. Entitled “Technology and Orphan Works: The State of the Art,” the showcase featured a variety of technology companies and was well-attended by congressional staff members. The Copyright Office continues to believe that a legislative solution to the orphan work problem is necessary and will continue to assist Congress until a solution can be achieved.
Section 108 Study Group
The Section 108 Study Group, convened under the aegis of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) and co-sponsored by the U.S. Copyright Office, began work in the spring of 2005. The goal of the group, named after the section of the U.S. Copyright Act that provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives, is to prepare findings and make recommendations to the Librarian of Congress on possible revisions of the law that reflect reasonable uses of copyrighted works by libraries and archives in the digital age. This effort seeks to strike the appropriate balance between copyright holders and libraries and archives in a manner that best serves the public interest.
The creation of the study group was prompted, in part by the increasing use of digital media. Digital technologies are radically transforming how copyrighted works are created and disseminated, and also how libraries and archives preserve and make those works available. Cultural heritage institutions, in carrying forward their missions, have begun to acquire and incorporate large quantities of “born digital” works (those created in digital form) into their holdings to ensure the continuing availability of those works to future generations. Section 108 of the Copyright Act permits libraries and archives to make certain uses of copyrighted materials in order to serve the public and ensure the availability of works over time. Among other things, section 108 provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives to make copies in specified instances for preservation, replacement and patron access. These provisions were drafted with analog materials in mind, and, as has been observed, do not adequately address many of the issues unique to digital media, either from the perspective of rights owners or libraries and archives. The work of the Section 108 Study Group will be to review and document how section 108 should be revised in light of the changes wrought by digital technologies, while maintaining balance between the interests of rights holders and library and archive patrons.
The 19-member Study Group is made up of copyright experts from various fields, including law, publishing, libraries, archives, film, music, software and photography. It is co-chaired by Laura Gasaway, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at the University of North Carolina, and Richard Rudick, former vice president and general counsel of John Wiley and Sons.
The Section 108 Study Group is currently preparing final edits to its report which will be delivered to the Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copyrights in early 2008. The Copyright Office looks forward to reviewing the final report of the Group and will provide its legislative recommendations to Congress regarding the amendment of Section 108.
Kahle v. Mukasey and Golan v. Gonzales
Kahle v. Mukasey involves a petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the 1976 Copyright Act, the Berne Convention Implementation Act, the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Both the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed that Petitioners’ constitutional challenges were essentially the same as those rejected by the Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003).
The Petitioners’ principal argument is that numerous congressional amendments to the copyright system have changed copyright from an “opt-in” to an “opt-out” system. As such, they argue that Congress has altered the traditional contours of copyright protection in a manner that warrants First Amendment scrutiny. Relying on the Eldred decision, the Government has successfully argued that the free speech safeguards within the Copyright Act – the idea/expression dichotomy and the fair use doctrine – satisfy First Amendment concerns. The Government has opposed the petition for certiorari.
After the petition for certiorari was submitted to the Court, the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Golan v. Gonzales was published. The Tenth Circuit held that Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) alters “the traditional contours of copyright protection” within the meaning of Eldred, because it alters the traditional sequence of copyright by allowing works to be removed from the public domain. The Petitioners in Kahle have cited the Tenth Circuit’s Golan decision in their petition to the Supreme Court. The U.S. Government has requested an en banc rehearing of the Tenth Circuit decision. The outcome of these petitions for certiorari and rehearing may provide further insight into the scope of the phrase -- “the traditional contours of copyright protection.”
In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in the New York Times Co., Inc., et al. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001), the parties involved sought to resolve their dispute over the infringement of the electronic rights of freelance writers. In Tasini, the Court held that the inclusions of articles into electronic databases were not “revisions” within the meaning of Section 201(c) of the Copyright Act. Thus, in order to include these articles in electronic databases, permission was required from the copyright owners of the articles.
While the decision supported the position of the freelance authors, it soon became apparent that this success might be a Pyrrhic victory if the works of freelance authors were simply removed from the databases. Moreover, with thousands or articles potentially at issue, archivists became concerned that the breadth of electronic databases could contain significant holes.
For many years since the litigation, the original parties, as well as the trade associations of authors and publishers, have sought to settle their dispute. A class action settlement agreement was finally reached and submitted for court approval. But on November 29, 2007, in the case of In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit threw out the class action settlement agreement on the ground that it governed works which included unregistered as well as registered copyrights. The Second Circuit reasoned that under Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act, a federal court has no jurisdiction over works until an application for copyright registration is issued or rejected by the Copyright Office. Although all of the named parties in the litigation had registered their works, the settlement agreement affected authors whose works had never been registered. The 2-1 panel of the Second Circuit found the agreement’s inclusion of unregistered works to be a fatal jurisdictional error that was not addressed by the district court. The Copyright Office is monitoring the legal developments in this case.
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OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN
CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS OFFICE (CRO)
Oversight
Rep. Robert A. Brady (D-Pa) has served as Chairman of the Committee on House Administration since May 2007. He is also Chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing.
The Committee held two oversight hearings on the Library of Congress this year; the first, held June 27, reviewed issues related to the LC/U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) merger. Testifying were House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, USCP Chief Philip Morse, LC Chief Operating Officer Jo Ann Jenkins, and LC Fraternal Order of Police representative Michael Hutchins. Legislation to implement the merger was developed in close consultation with the Library and USCP, and H.R. 3690 was introduced by Chairman Brady on September 12. The bill retains the Librarian’s statutory authority over the Library and its collections. It passed the House and Senate in late December and is awaiting the President’s signature. Under the bill, the merger and transition period will be completed by September 30, 2009.
The second hearing, held on October 24, was on the Library’s collections, specifically on inventory control and on the status of the Law collections. Dr. Billington, Deanna Marcum, and Rubens Medina testified on behalf of the Library, and IG Karl Schornagel represented his office on a second panel, along with Emily Sheketoff from the ALA Washington Office and others. While the Library’s focus was on the Baseline Inventory Program (BIP), Dr. Marcum addressed several issues raised in testimony submitted by ALA. Under the BIP, as of June 2007, the Library has inventoried 2.9 million books and journals, nearly 2 million volumes moved to Fort Meade, and 6.2 million audiovisual collections moved to the Packard Campus in Culpeper. Additionally, the Library has inventoried many special collections. Dr. Marcum outlined plans to continue the initial, sequential inventory, but supplement it with use-driven inventory controls for materials in special format collections and materials moved to new locations, highlighting how no other major library in the world has attempted to inventory its collections to this extent. She also testified that, while ALA’s hearing statement alluded to a reduction in Library of Congress cooperation and leadership in cataloging, the Library in fact: works with 624 other libraries in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, which we staff and support; participates in literally dozens of committees and organizations that collaboratively set cataloging policies; and formed a Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control. All these issues were further highlighted in the Library’s responses to questions submitted by Committee members for the record.
In November, the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and D.C. held a hearing on Senior Executive level diversity within Legislative Branch Agencies. The Library testified about diversity and recruitment/retention efforts. While the Library’s level of staff diversity is higher than that of most legislative branch as well as executive branch agencies, Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) indicated he expects agencies to work harder to achieve SES diversity within the next year, and the benchmark should not be how the agency compares to the executive branch, but how the agency’s senior level diversity compares with the overall agency diversity. The Committee is also interested in diversity trends at the GS-15 and below “feeder” level.
Appropriations
On December 21, the President signed the fiscal 2008 consolidated appropriations bill, H.R. 2764. The conference mark provided a total of $615 million for fiscal 2008, a net increase of just over $6 million or 1.1% over fiscal 2007. All funding levels will be reduced by a .25% across-the-board rescission, representing a reduction of $1.538 million to Library appropriations and associated programs. For LC S&E, the bill provides $395.784 million, increase of $8.187 million or 2.1%. It funds the fiscal 2008 mandatory and price level increases at $15.679 million; $1.482 million for the National Digital Information and Infrastructure Preservation Program; $2.0 million for the major collections materials purchase fund, GENPAC (offset by reductions to the Library Services base budget); $1.2 million for the Global Library Information Network, GLIN; $1.2 million for Teaching with Primary Sources; $1.0 million for the Copyright Records Preservation Project; $67.091 million for NLS/BPH, an increase of $13.477 million or 25.1% (including $12.5 million for Digital Talking Book program, of the $19 million requested), and an earmark of $650,000 for the NewsLine program.
Other Legislation
Honoring Dr. Billington’s 20th Anniversary: On September 27, S. Res. 336 was introduced and passed in the Senate honoring Dr. Billington’s 20-year tenure as head of the agency. The resolution was introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and co-sponsored by Sens. Feinstein, Specter, Leahy, Lugar, Webb, Reid, Conrad, Dodd, Allard, Durbin, Ben Nelson, Alexander, Dorgan, Stevens, Lott, Kennedy, Roberts, Bennett, Cochran, Coleman, and Bunning. The resolution noted, among Dr. Billington’s achievements, the significant growth of the Library’s collections, modernization through digitization of significant portions of the collections, creation of the Madison Council, preservation and educational outreach initiatives, the National Book Festival, and the gifts of the Packard Campus and Kluge Center for Scholars.
THOMAS: Sunlight Report/Open House discussions: In May, the “Open House Project,” funded by the Sunlight Foundation, released a report, “Congressional Information and the Internet,” recommending that Congress take a number of steps to make Congress more transparent to the public by enhancing public access to legislation, committee and member information. A number of the Open House recommendations relate to or could impact the Library:
- Make publicly available a congressional information database in a nonproprietary structured data format, such as XML.
- Stable links to documents on THOMAS
- Long-term preservation of congressional information; create all digital content with preservation in mind
- Committees should make verbatim records of their proceedings available, linking to relevant resources on THOMAS
- CRS reports should be available to the public over the internet
- Make live and archived access to floor/committee videos available to the public via the Internet.
The Library has also received member requests to make certain LIS features available to the general public via THOMAS, an issue that arose in the Senate in the 109th Congress.
CRO briefed the oversight staff on the many enhancements to THOMAS and LIS currently in the works. These include the Beta testing of the new K2 search engine, allowing searches across databases and drilling down within search results; establishing advanced business requirements for the upgrade of THOMAS to 3.0 to include many of the more robust features of LIS (implementation will depend on resources available to add features to the 12-year-old architecture); broadening the browse terms; working on receiving data in XML; and allowing other search engines to crawl and index THOMAS. Staff supporting THOMAS and LIS meet to ensure that enhancements for one system will benefit the other.
In its fiscal year 2008 report, the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch directed the Chief Administrative Officer work with the Clerk of the House and the Library of Congress to study how, within the public House of Representatives Website and the THOMAS Website, a joint system might be developed to allow roll call searches by specific word. The CAO has submitted a report on the technical challenges and resource requirements of implementation.
Film/Sound Recording Preservation: The Library will seek reauthorization for the National Sound Recording Preservation Program during the 110th Congress; current authorization expires in 2008. The Library will include language reauthorizing the Film Preservation program, which expires in 2009.
Civil Rights Histories: HR. 998, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), was introduced on February 12, directing the Librarian of Congress and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to carry out a joint project at the Library and the National Museum of African American History to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of participants in the Civil Rights movement.
CRS Reports: Two items have been introduced to make Congressional Research Service reports available to the public over the Internet: H.R. 2545, sponsored by Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) requiring the Director of CRS to make available through a centralized, searchable, electronic database, for purposes of access and retrieval by the public, selected information (issue briefs, reports, appropriations information, etc.) available through the Congressional Research Service Website; and a Senate companion, S. Res. 401, recently introduced by Sen. Lieberman (I-CT).
National Veterans History Week: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced S. Res. 374 on November 8 recognizing National Veterans Awareness Week, and expressing support for designation of a National Veterans History Project Week; the resolution passed on that date by unanimous consent. A companion resolution, H. Res. 770 introduced by Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV), passed the House on November 5.
Tax policy – artist’s contribution: Under current law, art and manuscript collectors who donate works receive a tax deduction based on the works’ fair market value, but artists and writers who create works do not. Because of a 1969 tax law revision, an artist may deduct only the material cost of a donated work, which is, in most cases, a nominal amount. Several bills have been introduced, including H.R. 1524, by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), S. 374, by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), and S. 548, by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), to amend the tax code to again allow an income tax deduction equal to fair market value for charitable contributions of literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions created by the donor.
Nondiscrimination - Sexual orientation: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R. 3685, prohibiting employers, including federal agencies, from failing or refusing to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to the compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of the individual, because of such individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation. The bill, which expressly applies to the Library, passed the House on November 7.
Key Committee Members
In November, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) was appointed ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, replacing Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO), who remains on the committee. The following is the current membership on key committees with jurisdiction over the Library of Congress:
Joint Committee on the Library of Congress:
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chairman
- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
- Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
- Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
- Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Vice Chairman
- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
- Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA)
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chairman
- Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)
- Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
- Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
- Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
- Sen. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE)
- Sen. Harry Reid (D–NV)
- Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)
- Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), ranking member
- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)
- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Committee on House Administration
- Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Chairman
- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
- Rep. Charles Gonzales (D-TX)
- Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA)
- Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)
- Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)
- Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) - ranking member
- Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA)
- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Subcommittee on Legislative Branch (Senate)
- Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Chairwoman
- Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
- Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), ranking member
- Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Subcommittee on Legislative Branch (House)
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Chairwoman
- Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
- Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM)
- Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA)
- Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)
- Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-MD)
- Rep. David Obey (D-WI), ex officio
OFFICE OF SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (OSEP)
The Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness (OSEP) continued developing the Library’s security program, focusing especially on building the emergency preparedness program and expanding staff security awareness. OSEP’s Emergency Preparedness Office is now fully staffed and has conducted emergency evacuation drills at all eight of the Library’s facilities, both on Capitol Hill and at its annexes. In the drills on Capitol Hill, the Library’s new Emergency Public Address System (EPAS) was used for the first time.
OSEP and the Collections Security Oversight Committee continued strengthening the Library’s collections security program through the Strategic Plan for Safeguarding the Collections. A year-long Library-wide staff collections-security-awareness campaign was launched in April. The campaign, “Safeguarding the Collections: We are the Key,” continues with distribution of posters, articles, and a new staff collections-security-awareness Website, <http://www.loc.gov/staff/thekey>.
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LIBRARY SERVICES
Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control
The Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control submitted its draft report to Associate Librarian of Congress for Library Services Deanna Marcum on November 30. The report was made available for public comment until December 15 on the Library of Congress public Website. The comments will be considered as the working group prepares its final report, which it intends to submit to the Library of Congress on January 9, 2008.
The working group makes five general recommendations: (1) Increase the efficiency of bibliographic production for all libraries through cooperation and sharing (2) Transfer effort into high-value activity. Examples include providing access to hidden, unique materials held by libraries. (3) Position technology … recognizing that the World Wide Web is libraries’ technology platform as well as the appropriate platform for standards. (4) Position the library community for the future by adding evaluative, qualitative and quantitative analyses of resources; work to realize the potential provided by the FRBR framework. (5) Strengthen the library and information science profession through education and through the development of metrics that will inform decision-making now and in the future.
Dr. Marcum convened the working group in November 2006 to examine how bibliographic control and other descriptive practices can effectively support management of and access to library materials in the evolving information and technology environment; recommend ways in which the library community can collectively move toward achieving this vision; and advise the Library of Congress on its role and priorities. Olivia Madison, dean of the library at Iowa State University, and Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, dean of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, co-chaired the working group. Other members included leading managers of libraries and representatives of various library organizations in the United States: the American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Coalition for Networked Information, Medical Library Association, National Federation of Abstracting & Indexing Services, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, and the Special Libraries Association. OCLC, Inc., Google, Inc., and Microsoft, Inc., were also represented on the working group.
The working group’s report was informed by comments made at its three invitational regional meetings during 2007, held at Google headquarters in March, ALA headquarters in May, and at the Library of Congress in July. Each regional meeting had a different topical focus: Uses and Users of Bibliographic Data (March); Structures and Standards for Bibliographic Data (May); and Economics and Organization of Bibliographic Data (July). Members of the Working Group presented its recommendations to Library of Congress staff at a special meeting on November 13.
More information on the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control is available at a special public Website, <http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future> [December 2007]. A Webcast of the presentation to Library of Congress staff is available at URL <http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4180> [December 2007]. The Webcast will also be shown at the LC exhibit booth in Philadelphia on Saturday from 4:00 to 5:00. Dr. Marcum will present follow-up plans at the booth on Saturday, 2:00-2:30 pm, and Sunday, 11:00-11:30 am.
Library Services Strategic Plan
This summer Library Services completed its planning process, initiated by the Associate Librarian for Library Services in February 2006, to produce a strategic plan to guide the service unit from 2008 through 2013. The initial plan, issued in June 2006, identified five strategic goals for the service unit in the coming years: (1) Collect and preserve the record of America’s creativity and the world’s knowledge. (2) Provide the most effective methods for connecting the Library user to our collections. (3) Deepen the general understanding of American cultural, intellectual, and social life and of other peoples and nations. (4) Provide leadership for the library community. (5) Manage for results.
Over the course of the following year, a total of 41 working groups consisting of more than 150 staff volunteers developed performance goals under each of the strategic goals and objectives. The working groups’ reports were used to develop a work plan that was accepted by the Associate and Deputy Associate Librarians and Library Services directors on December 4, 2007. Library Services will use the work plan to set measurable, transparent performance targets that are based on the principles of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.
ACQUISITIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS DIRECTORATE (ABA)
Staff Changes
Donald Panzera retired as chief of the European and Latin American Acquisitions Division (ELAD) on December 31. Linda Stubbs is ELAD’s assistant chief.
Senior cataloging policy specialist Lynn El-Hoshy and Anglo-American Literature Team leader Daiva Barzdukas also retired at the New Year.
Judith Mansfield is acting chief of the Anglo-American Acquisitions Division, as well as permanent chief of the Arts and Sciences Cataloging Division.
In the African/Asian Acquisitions and Overseas Operations Division (AFAOVOP), Zbigniew Kantorosinski has been reassigned to the position of Senior Overseas Operations Officer. Kantorosinski serves as the cataloging coordinator for the six overseas offices. Fawzi Tawdros of the African and Middle Eastern Division served as acting field director for the office in Cairo, Egypt, from July through November. Michael Neubert of the Digital Conversion Team, Collections and Services Directorate, will serve as interim field director in Cairo beginning February 12. Fehl Cannon, Senior Overseas Operations Officer, has been selected as deputy field director of the overseas office in New Delhi, India. Debra McKern, formerly inventory management coordinator in the Collections and Services Directorate, has been appointed field director of the overseas office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she has served in an acting capacity since June 2007. Cannon and McKern will assume their duties in New Delhi and Rio de Janeiro in February.
Dennis McGovern, former chief of the Decimal Classification Division (DEWEY), has returned to a decimal classifier position in DEWEY after ably serving as acting chief of the Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD) for the first half of 2007. Jeffrey Heynen is acting chief of DEWEY collaterally with his permanent position as chief of the History and Literature Cataloging Division (HLCD). Joseph Bartl, leader of the Music and Sound Recordings Team I, began a detail as acting chief of SMCD on August 6.
Barbara Tillett continues as acting chief of the Cataloging Distribution Service and permanent chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO), with the assistance of Tom Yee, assistant chief of CPSO, who also assists with CDS responsibilities. Bruce Johnson and Loche McLean rotate as acting assistant chiefs of CDS.
Philip Melzer continues to coordinate the activities of the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) Management Team.
Russell Marr, senior acquisitions specialist in ELAD, was detailed as acting Acquisitions Fiscal Officer beginning Sept. 17. David Williamson, ABA cataloging automation specialist, began a detail as leader of the Hispanic Team, HLCD, on October 9. He continues many of his cataloging automation duties while on detail.
African/Asian Acquisitions and Overseas Operations Division
The Library’s six overseas offices in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cairo, Egypt; New Delhi, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Islamabad, Pakistan, acquired, cataloged, and preserved materials from parts of the world where the book and information industries are not well developed. There was continued emphasis on acquiring collection materials that were confidential, issued in remote or unstable areas, or otherwise difficult to obtain. The overseas offices also distributed 454,751 items, on a cost-recovery basis, to other U.S. libraries through the Cooperative Acquisitions Program.
The six offices continued their expansion of cataloging on the LC ILS. The Rio Office decreased its cataloging backlog of 4,395 items to 2,431 items in fiscal 2007, a reduction of nearly 45 percent. The New Delhi Office’s cataloging chief and senior serials cataloger conducted a two-day workshop on serials cataloging for twelve staff from institutions in India and Nepal participating in the University of Chicago’s South Asian Union Catalog (SAUC) project.
The year 2007 was the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Library of Congress offices in Brazil and Kenya. Continuing the work done in 2006 to implement the Sabre Foundation/Library of Congress/East Africa Book Trust Donation program, the Nairobi Office distributed the final sets of the World Book Encyclopedia to the Kenya National Library Service.
African/Asian Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Pilot
The ABA Directorate has reassigned African/Asian Acquisitions (AFA) staff to the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD), effective November 26, 2007. The reassignment to RCCD covers all staff in the African and Middle Eastern Acquisitions (AMEAS); Chinese Acquisitions (CAS); and Japanese, Korean, South and Southeast Asian Acquisitions (JKSSA) Sections. This pilot project will continue at least until October 2008, the expected date of the proposed larger ABA reorganization. The AFA staff will remain in their current work locations. There will be no changes in addresses for shipping materials or contacting the staff. Their telephone numbers will remain the same.
Bibliographic Enrichment Activities Team (BEAT)
The Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team (BEAT) initiates research and development projects to increase the value of cataloging products to library users. The team’s best-known project is the creation of digital tables of contents data (D-TOC), either as part of bibliographic records or as separate files linked to them. During the Library of Congress fiscal year 2007 (October 1, 2006-September 30, 2007), software developed by BEAT enabled the inclusion of tables of contents directly in 18,023 records for ECIP galleys and the creation of 20,389 additional D-TOC for published books. The D-TOC can be accessed via the LC Online Catalog or through major search engines. The cumulative number of “hits” on the D-TOC server since 1995 surpassed twenty million over the weekend of November 23-25, 2007.
Other BEAT projects this fiscal year linked the Library’s online catalog to more than 5,200 sample texts, brief biographies of 58,862 authors, 1,239 book reviews, and publishers’ descriptions of 63,821 new publications. New projects began linking English-language summaries to catalog records for legal materials in Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Russian and for general titles in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.
Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS)
Beginning January 1, 2008, the Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress will reduce prices on all MARC Distribution Services (MDS) and for new subscriptions or renewals to Cataloger's Desktop and Classification Web ordered after January 1, 2008. Prices remain the same for all other products for 2008. After its annual review of product prices, CDS was able to reduce product prices because of operational cost savings. These cost savings were realized in part because of lower staffing levels during the previous year.
For MDS prices, visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/mds.html>. For Cataloger's Desktop prices, visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/prices.html>. For Classification Web, visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/classweb/#Prices>. For all other CDS products, start your search from the CDS home page, <http://www.loc.gov/cds>.
Cataloger’s Desktop. Cataloger’s Desktop now includes Spanish- and French-language interfaces that allow users to navigate the product in their native language. Desktop also incorporates 40 Spanish- and 40 French-language cataloging resources, as well as a recently introduced enhanced clipboard feature. Over 200 resources are now available through the product. For a free 30-day trial subscription visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/OrderForm.html>. A product brochure with newly revised prices is available at the LC exhibit booth.
Classification Web. This is CDS’s best selling Web-based product. This year Class Web is enhanced with much quicker class schedule navigation capabilities. For a free 30-day trial subscription visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/classweb/application.html>. A product brochure with revised prices is available at the LC exhibit booth.
Cataloger Training Products (Cataloger’s Learning Workshop). Two new courses will be available in January: Fundamentals of Library of Congress Classification and Fundamentals of Series Authorities. A brochure available at the booth describes the courses in some detail. Visit <http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop> for workshop schedules and general information and <http://www.loc.gov/cds/training.html> to purchase course materials directly.
Library of Congress Classification Schedules. Since the last ALA conference, the following new class schedules have been issued: KDZ, KG-KH: Law of the Americas, Latin America, and the West Indies (2008 ed.), G: Geography. Maps. Anthropology. Recreation (2007 ed.), D-DR: History (General) and History of Europe (2007 ed.), KZ: Law of Nations (2007 ed.), Q: Science (2007 ed.), and E-F: History (2007 ed.).
In Spring 2008, CDS will publish: KF: Law of the United States (2008 ed.), L: Education (2008 ed.), and PR-PS, PZ: English and American Literature (2008 ed.). Visit <http://www.loc.gov/cds/classif.html> for the latest LC Classification information.
Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials. Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Serials), 2008 edition, is projected to be published in early summer 2008. The publication is a collaboration between LC and the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries, an ALA division) Rare Books and Manuscripts Section. Other related publications are also planned.
Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRI). There will be no Update No. 4 to the 2007 LCRI subscription. Compilation of changes will continue to be published in the 2008 subscription year, as needed.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The 30th edition of LCSH containing headings established or revised through December 2006 was published in summer 2007. The latest version is available in Class Web with weekly updates.
MARC 21 Documentation. The new edition of MARC Concise Formats (2006 ed.) was published in November 2007. MARC Code List for Languages (2007 ed.) was just published.
SACO Participants’ Manual. CDS will no longer produce the paper version of the SACO Participants’ Manual. The current version is available at no cost, online, at www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/saco/SACOManual2007.pdf.
Subject Cataloging Manuals. In development now, but with no projected publishing date yet, is a combined Subject Cataloging Manual: Shelflisting and Subject Cataloging Manual: Classification. The Cataloging Policy and Support Office is preparing this new publication.
Exhibit Booth Theater Presentations. Presentations of Cataloger’s Desktop and Classification Web will be held daily in the exhibit booth theater at ALA Midwinter. In addition, ad hoc, one-on-one CDS Web product demonstrations at a computer will be available to walk-in booth visitors.
Cataloging in Publication (CIP)
The number of libraries participating in the ECIP Cataloging Partnership Program has expanded by three since the ALA Annual Conference last June. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford University, and Texas A&M University now catalog the ECIPs (electronic Cataloging in Publication galleys) submitted to the CIP Program by their respective university presses.
Wisconsin’s ECIPs have $a WU/DLC $c DLC in the 040. Stanford’s ECIPs will have $a CSt/DLC $c DLC in the 040; the 040 on Texas A&M’s ECIPs will have $a TXA/DLC $c DLC. These partners follow the “Cornell model”: they will create a PCC core level record with all needed authority work, LC subject headings, and LC classification number; LC staff complete the 050, provide a Dewey number at the galley stage, and return the CIP data to the publisher.
The five ECIP cataloging partners in fiscal 2007–the National Agricultural Library, National Library of Medicine, Cornell University Libraries, Northwestern University Library, and Wisconsin--collectively cataloged 3,326 titles during the year, an increase of 800 titles (31.7 %) over their production of 2,526 titles the previous year.
Cataloging Policy
Non-Latin scripts. The Library of Congress is working on many fronts to bring more non-Latin script data into cataloging products. Authority records: With the major authority record exchange partners (British Library, Library and Archives Canada, National Library of Medicine, and OCLC), LC is working to add non-Latin script support to authority records that form the LC/NACO Authority File. The partners have agreed to a basic outline that will allow for the addition of non-Latin script characters in references and notes on name authority records, no earlier than April 2008. Rather than using 880 fields that parallel 'regular' MARC fields as has been the practice for bibliographic records, non-Latin script references in authorities will be added following MARC 21's "Model B" for multi-script records. Model B provides for unlinked non-Latin script field with the same MARC tags used for romanized data, such as authority record 4XX fields. Bibliographic records: In addition to efforts for authority records, LC is exploring a number of avenues that may result in additional non-Latin script data added to bibliographic records. One exploration is with regard to minimal or incidental occurrences of non-Latin scripts in otherwise Latin script records (e.g., a single word or phrase in non-Latin script)--current policy has been to fully romanize this incidental data, but we are re-examining that approach. LC is also looking to expand the languages and scripts provided--we currently provide non-Latin script data in book and serial bibliographic records in Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hebrew, Yiddish, but are exploring expanding to the rest of the MARC-8 Repertoire (i.e., Cyrillic and Greek; note that LC already distributes serial records with Cyrillic and Greek script added by CONSER participants in OCLC). LC is also exploring the feasibility of providing non-Latin scripts beyond book and serial records-- several non-book cataloging divisions at LC are interested in pursuing this avenue, and non-book records with non-Latin script characters will begin to be distributed early in 2008. Finally, LC is studying the issues related to expanding the provision of non-Latin scripts to languages and scripts beyond the MARC-8 repertoire. This involves the exploration of complex technical issues related to fonts, input method editors, cataloging client software, etc., the availability of staff resources with language/script expertise, and the impact on distribution products.
RSS Feeds for LCC and LCSH Weekly Lists. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that allows organizations to deliver news to a desktop computer or other Internet device. By subscribing to RSS feeds, users can stay up-to-date with areas of interest. The Library of Congress now offers several RSS feeds, including Library of Congress Classification Weekly Lists for new and revised LCC numbers and captions, and Library of Congress Subject Headings Weekly Lists for new and revised subject headings. For those who prefer to receive news by email, an email newsletter service is also available. Information about subscribing to RSS or email may be found at <http://www.loc.gov/rss/>.
LCSH: Pre- vs. Post-coordination. In response to a request from the Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access for a review of the pros and cons of pre- versus post-coordination of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), CPSO prepared a report, “Library of Congress Subject Headings: Pre- vs. Post-Coordination and Related Issues.” In addition to a review of the issue of pre- versus post-coordination, CPSO made recommendations to reduce the costs for and further automate the process of subject cataloging while retaining the benefits of the pre-coordinated strings of LCSH. The report was approved by ABA Management on June 13, 2007, with annotations on CPSO recommendations added in October and December 2007.
Validation Records. Over the summer, CPSO began creating subject authority records for valid subject strings (6xx) appearing in existing Library of Congress bibliographic records. Subject authority records do not exist for every assigned LC subject heading string because untold numbers of subject strings can be created by combining free-floating subdivisions with established main headings according to rules in the Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings. The goal of the project is to represent commonly occurring valid subject strings by authority records for validation purposes within the LC ILS and for use by other libraries that have a validation component in their integrated library systems. Some of the records are being created manually while others are being generated by machine, but all of them will be reviewed before distribution by CDS. The validation records can be identified by the presence of a 667 field that reads: “Record generated for validation purposes.” The validation records are included in LCSH in Classification Web but will not appear in the printed annual edition of LCSH.
Genre/Form Authority Records. In September 2007, the first batch of authority records for genre/ form headings (MARC 21 tag 155) in LCSH was issued. The experiment is currently limited to moving image genre/form headings, i.e., films, videos, and television programs. The records are available for searching and display in Classification Web. The search screen for these records is accessible by clicking the new “Genre/Form Headings” link on the Class Web Main Menu screen. Searches that are initiated from the “LC Subject Headings” link on the Main Menu will not retrieve genre/form headings, and searches that are initiated from the “Genre/Form Headings” link will not retrieve topical headings tagged 150. In support of the creation and application of the moving image genre/form authority records, the draft of Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings instruction sheet H 1913 was finalized and published in the 2007 Update 2 of the manual that was issued in October 2007, and included in Cataloger’s Desktop Update 4 in November. More information on genre/form authority records may be found at <http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genre.html>. A pilot team to explore adding such 155 records for genre/forms will report to LC management during January 2008.
Lynn El-Hoshy retires. After an illustrious 33-year career at LC, Lynn El-Hoshy retired on January 3, 2008. Ms. El-Hoshy became a subject cataloging policy specialist in 1981 and has been LC’s spokesperson for LCSH, LC’s representative at SAC, and subject cataloging trainer par excellence within LC, nationally, and internationally.
ISSN Standard. The revised ISSN standard (ISO 3297:2007) became available in August. The revised standard introduces the linking ISSN (ISSN-L), a mechanism to collocate the various medium versions of a continuing resource. The National Serials Data Program in the Serial Record Division expects to implement the linking ISSN, with the ISSN International Centre, in 2008, consulting with stakeholders such as OCLC, the National Information Standards Organization, profit-sector vendors, and Library of Congress units like the Electronic Resources Management System staff and the Copyright/Office of Strategic Initiatives e-Deposit for e-Journals Working Group. ISSN are increasingly used to populate OpenURL resolvers and Electronic Resource Management knowledge bases.
Cooperative Cataloging Programs – see Program for Cooperative Cataloging
Dewey Decimal Classification Program
The Decimal Classification Division has completed an initiative begun in fiscal 2006 to develop software that provides automatic DDC assignment for specific subsets of incoming material. Developed by Gary Strawn of Northwestern University and ABA cataloging automation specialist David Williamson using a set of algorithms written by DDC assistant editor Julianne Beall, the “AutoDewey” program derives DDC numbers from data in existing MARC 21 records. In March, the History and Literature Cataloging Division’s Anglo-American Literature Team implemented the first iteration of AutoDewey. In early July, AutoDewey was expanded to include the automatic assignment of DDC numbers to works of poetry and drama by single authors. During 2007, 2,385 DDC numbers were assigned using the AutoDewey program and are included in the total of 72,518 numbers assigned in original cataloging that fiscal year. AutoDewey increases efficiency and frees fulltime Dewey classifiers’ time to analyze and classify the more complex material.
In its mission to support the development of the DDC, the division hosted Dewey Editorial Policy Committee Meeting 128 at the Library of Congress, November 13-15, 2007.
The Library of Congress has concluded an agreement with the German State Library in Berlin, along with several other institutions in Germany and the United States, to conduct a one-year pilot project that will test the feasibility of using a LOCKSS private network to sustain access to German government electronic journals. LOCKSS (“Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe”) is a network software solution developed by Stanford University Library to preserve electronic journals. The project will begin collecting publications of the German Federal Statistics Office located in Wiesbaden, Germany. The Institute for Library and Information Science at Humboldt University in Berlin is also participating in the pilot project.
Electronic Resources Management System (ERMS) – see also Integrated Library System Program Office under Technology Policy Directorate.
The Electronic Resources Management System (ERMS) Pilot Team was launched on March 5, 2007, to explore the use of the Library’s ERMS and how it could be optimally integrated into the Library’s infrastructure related to technical services. Team members were trained on the ERMS software, purchased from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., and have been updating and maintaining the license, bibliographic, and holdings maintenance functions. The Pilot Team was composed of seven volunteer staff detailed from various divisions of ABA.
During the early months of the Pilot, team members focused on acquiring new skills: learning the ERMS software applications and becoming familiar with the process of building the knowledge base of electronic resource metadata. In order to practice and reinforce acquired skills, the team members worked on basic, easy-to-complete projects, reserving more complex projects until these skills had been mastered.
In populating the ERMS with bibliographic records for electronic resources licensed to the Library, as well as freely available electronic resources, team members loaded nearly 26,000 bibliographic records and more than 100,000 holdings/coverage records via the Integrated Library System Policy Office (ILSPO) from March through November 2007. The work of building the knowledge base of electronic resources metadata will continue in 2008. The Pilot has been extended until the end of this fiscal year and expects to add more staff on detail.
JACKPHY Cataloging – see RLIN Transition to ILS, OCLC; and
ILS Program Office, Migration of non-Roman cataloging activities to the LC ILS under Technology Policy Directorate
Music Cataloging
The Special Materials Cataloging Division (SMCD) used several innovations and simplifications that together added 22,535 new bibliographic records to the LC Online Catalog in fiscal 2007. The “brief score cataloging” workflow cleared more than 5,000 choral octavos, popular song sheets, and instrumental scores on 2,956 brief records. In this workflow catalogers complete the call numbers and perform end-stage processing for the records. The Music and Sound Recording Teams began use in January of metadata leased from the All Music Guide (AMG) services of All Media Guide, LLC, for the production of brief records for popular music compact disks (CDs). Using software developed within SMCD and the Music, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS), technicians located and imported AMG metadata and output the result into a MARC 21 record with encoding level 3. The data were then adjusted to meet ILS input standards and needs. This process nearly eliminated the need for original keying of a massive quantity of data, including contents notes. At the end of September, 1,959 records had been created.
The Music and Sound Recordings 3 Team (MSR 3) was transferred from SMCD to MBRS in August, moving the cataloging of sound recordings from the overseas offices and of all popular music and spoken word sound recordings to the new National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. Team members who elected not to move to Culpeper were reassigned to various units, mostly within ABA. In addition, ABA began planning to reassign the MSR 1 and MSR 2 teams to the Music Division in 2008, in keeping with the principle of minimizing the number of times an item must be handled as it is processed.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections – see RLIN Transition to ILS, OCLC
Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)
The PCC continues its program of guest speakers on topics of interest at its Participants’ Discussion Group meetings at ALA. Andrew Pace, who moved from North Carolina State University to OCLC, Inc., in November, will speak about his institutional experience with Endeca. The meeting is on Sunday, 13 January 2008, 4:00-6:00 pm, in the Philadelphia Convention Center, Room 105B.
The PCC has completed work on tactical objectives and action items deriving from the visioning exercise “PCC2010.” This work also produced a complete revision of the PCC Governance document. A PCC Task Group is considering long-term benefits, costs, and simplifications of series authority control.
Over the past few years, the PCC has discussed “personal membership” in its programs, in order to retain the contributions of trained catalogers who move to a non-member institution. At this time, the CONSER Coordinator is overseeing a pilot project in which a CONSER-trained cataloger is continuing to work in CONSER although not at a CONSER member institution.
In the fiscal year 2007, PCC membership reached 624. PCC institutions increased NACO production to 188,183 new name authority records and to 10,464 new series authority records. SACO-participant institutions contributed 3,047 new subject headings to LCSH as well as 2,214 new class numbers. CONSER-member institutions contributed 22,317 new records, while BIBCO members contributed 65,939 new bibliographic records.
CONSER. In 2007, CONSER gained two new associate level members, the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University. In June of 2007, CONSER and BIBCO members began to authenticate records for integrating resources on OCLC. The CDS MARC Distribution Service (MDS) will distribute these records in a single "continuing resources" file to subscribers.
CONSER operations representatives agreed to implement the CONSER Standard Record (CSR) on June 1, 2007. The new standard focuses on supplying essential elements for a serial catalog record and has the potential to streamline training and cataloging practices for serials. Representatives will monitor the implementation of the standard throughout the year and make changes or adjustments as needed.
Training materials for the CSR implementation were developed by CONSER cataloger Melissa Beck, University of California Los Angeles. The materials are available free as part of the Serials Cooperative Cataloging Training Program (SCCTP) and have been delivered in live-online format as well as in face-to-face training sessions. A classroom training session for the CSR is being held in Philadelphia Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, University of Pennsylvania Libraries (registration required). Further information about the CONSER standard record and the training material are available from the CONSER Website: <http://www.loc.gov/acq/conser/>.
The CONSER At-Large meeting will be held Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 204C. The agenda is available from: <http://www.loc.gov/acq/conser/agenda-at-lg-2008-MW.html>.
The CONSER Publication Patterns Task Force will meet at ALA. Attendees will discuss the role of holdings information in the control of electronic serials. The meeting will be held Sunday January 13th 1:00-2:00 OCLC Blue Suite, Philadelphia Marriott.
BIBCO and NACO. The recently formed CJK NACO Funnel for contribution of name authorities for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cataloging has grown to include 26 institutions. Eight NACO reviewers are assigned to help funnel members.
Of particular note is the completion of a range of training workshops developed by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, ALA—ALCTS, and the Library of Congress. These courses are available through the Cataloger’s Learning Workshop Website, <http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/cct/>:
- Basic Creation of Name and Title Authorities
- Basic Subject Cataloging Using LCSH
- Fundamentals of Series Authorities
- Fundamentals of Library of Congress Classification
This Website contains courses developed by CONSER for the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program and courses in the Cataloging in the 21st Century program developed by LC in conjunction with ALCTS pursuant to the Library of Congress Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium.
SACO. The SACO Participants' Manual, 2nd edition, is now available through the PCC Website in PDF. Workflow for proposals to Library of Congress classification is now considerably automated. Members contribute new LC Classification proposals directly into the classification proposal database using Class Web. The Weekly Tentative Classification Lists are now posted on the PCC Website.
International Participation. Membership and active participation in PCC programs remained steady through the year. These institutions, on all continents and working in a variety of languages, bring to the PCC and to the authority files a highly valued expansion of coverage. The PCC has formed a new task group to further international participation and delivery of training. Members outside the United States contributed 28 per cent of all new name authority records; 11 per cent of all new series authority records; 18 percent of all new subject headings; and 12 per cent of new CONSER records during FISCAL 2007.
Rare Book Cataloging
From October 2006 through November 2007, the Rare Book Team, SMCD, completely processed the following collections:
For the Rare Book and Special Collections Division: Kislak rare books and most of the reference books (2080 titles total on pre- and post-Colombian America, collected by businessman Jay I. Kislak; cartographic and manuscript materials were cataloged by other Library units); Kislak serials (pre- and post- 1800 titles on Latin America); the original American Almanacs collection (3896 volumes covering the 17th through 19th centuries; some additional titles continue to be added on transfer from the general collection); Third Reich and other German posters (finding aids and collection-level records created for 1525 items covering World War I, World War II, and post-WWII to 1947); Kipling (Rare Book) monographs (393 titles of early Rudyard Kipling editions); the Hogan gift (86 children’s titles donated by attorney Frank J. Hogan); the Peace Pamphlets (44 titles; cataloged as part of the general rare collections); 19th-century anti-war pamphlets; Toner unclassified monographs (full and incomplete or “fragment” publications relating to the history of American medicine and of American history, collected by physician Joseph Meredith Toner).
For the Law Library of Congress: American and English trials (1868 titles on trial proceedings and publications about trials, chiefly 18th and 19th centuries represented); the original William Blackstone collection (296 titles on English law; current purchases are being added to this collection).
In preparation for the shutdown of the RLIN bibliographic utility at the end of August, ABA considered the question of the new locus of cataloging for the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) and of materials in the JACKPHY scripts, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Management accepted the NUCMC team leader’s recommendation that NUCMC cataloging be moved to OCLC WorldCat, using the Connexion 2.0 client. NUCMC input/update in RLIN ceased on July 26, when OCLC input/update began. By the end of September, all NUCMC records had been successfully migrated to WorldCat, and the NUCMC Website had been edited to reflect the move to OCLC. With the migration of RLIN records to WorldCat, nearly 1.5 million records for archival collections and individual manuscripts are now available through the NUCMC/OCLC gateway. Despite this disruption, the NUCMC Team completed 3,299 records for 76 repositories across the U.S. during 2007, attaining more than eighty-five percent of the previous year’s production.
In order to determine the best locus of JACKPHY monograph cataloging, RCCD, AFAOVOP, and CPSO worked with the ILS Program Office and IDTD to undertake a comparison test of the non-roman script capabilities of OCLC Connexion and the Voyager cataloging module. The test results led ABA to conclude that cataloging JACKPHY monographs on Voyager was the better option; JACKPHY serials would continue to be cataloged on OCLC, which holds the CONSER database. Workflow considerations were a major factor in the decision regarding monographs, since working in Voyager makes it possible to process an item fully on a single day, in a single system, and to perform automated changes to JACKPHY catalog records locally. RCCD staff helped the ILS Program Office develop and evaluate “Transliterator,” an ILS tool to facilitate the inputting, coding, and pairing with romanized counterparts of non-roman fields in MARC 21 records. The ILS Program Office coordinated the transfer of hundreds of thousands of non-roman records from RLIN to the LC database. Library staff began creating JACKPHY script monograph records directly in Voyager on August 20. Production in RCCD actually increased by 564 items from July to August, and by 1,507 items in September.
Shelf-Ready Projects
Shelf-ready vendor services to LC provide physical processing of new collection materials and complete cataloging data, so that the new materials arrive ready for shelving in the Capitol Hill stacks or in the offsite storage facility at Fort Meade, Md. The projects develop bibliographic services relationships that can compensate for the likely retirements of many ABA staff in the near future. The Casalini Shelf-Ready Project, in its third year, provided core level records for 3,091 Italian books, about half of the Italian monographs acquired by the Library in 2007. The ABA Directorate’s Casalini Shelf Ready Pilot Steering Committee negotiated with the Italian vendor, Casalini Libri, to reduce the price of core level records by twenty percent from the previous year, based on demand from Casalini’s other North American customers for such records. Casalini became independent for all cataloging it produces for the Library with the exception of subject and classification proposals, enabling ABA to reduce its review of Casalini’s records to a three percent sample. The project expanded to include the application of call number labels to books that receive core level cataloging. Upon receipt, the books are sent directly to the Collections Access, Loan and Management Division for storage at Fort Meade.
The Central and Eastern European Acquisitions Section, European and Latin American Acquisitions Division, and the Art and Architecture Team, Arts and Sciences Cataloging Division, implemented a successful project to import, at the time of receipt of Latvian materials, complete bibliographic records directly from the union catalog at the National Library of Latvia. An ASCD cataloger performs necessary authority work and adds a call number from the LC Classification and Library of Congress Subject Headings, derived from those in the Latvian record. This project marks the first time that the Library of Congress has formally made use of cataloging from libraries in countries where English is not the primary language.
Shelf-ready cataloging service with Kinokuniya for Japanese language materials has been successfully implemented, and ABA plans to continue this service in 2008. A similar project with Japan Publications Trading Company is under review. A cooperative agreement for bibliographic services was signed in October 2006 with the Korean vendor, Eulyoo, to purchase initial bibliographic control records, but implementation has been slowed by the closure of the RLIN bibliographic utility.
ABA Bibliographic Access Production
| Bibliographic Records Completed | Fiscal 2007 | Fiscal 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| Full/Core Original | 212,552 | 199,223 |
| Collection-Level Cataloging | 3,433 | 4,130 |
| Copy Cataloging | 71,317 | 71,436 |
| Minimal Level Cataloging | 48,853 | 54,381 |
| Total Records Completed | 340,955 | 329,170 |
| Total Volumes Cataloged | 336,155 | 346,182 |
| Authority Work | Fiscal 2007 | Fiscal 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| New Name Authority Records | 100,133 | 97,392 |
| New Library of Congress Subject Headings | 9,206 | 6,692 |
| New LC Classification Numbers | 2,129 | 1,535 |
| Total Authority Records Created | 111,468 | 105,619 |
COLLECTIONS AND SERVICES DIRECTORATE
American Folklife Center (AFC)
The American Folklife Center’s major projects and public events for 2007 included a symposium on “LaborLore Conversations” on August 16, featuring discussions on the occupations of watermen, coal miners, and other workers; and hosted “Rediscover Northern Ireland,” a month-long concert and lecture series featuring Irish musicians and scholars in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Arts, and Leisure of Northern Ireland. AFC continued its ongoing work with StoryCorps, the nationwide oral history initiative. StoryCorps recorded more than 6,000 interviews in 2007 alone, which brings the total to more than 15,000 interviews recorded since 2003. StoryCorps published its first book, Listening Is an Act of Love, launched free weekly podcasts and began broadcasting StoryCorps stories on National Public Radio's News & Notes in addition to weekly excerpts played every Friday on NPR’s Morning Edition. All StoryCorps interviews are archived at the American Folklife Center.
Notable AFC acquisitions in 2007 include oral history interviews conducted by the National Visionary Leadership Project with African American leaders and artists including Dorothy I. Height, John Hope Franklin, Dick Gregory, Ray Charles, Gordon Parks, and M. Jocelyn Elders, among many more. Other achievements in 2007 include the digitization of the American Folklife Center Card Catalog, which provides access to field recordings made during the 1930s to 1950s. The historic recordings held by the American Folklife Center are now heard on a new series hosted by Bob Edwards on XM Satellite radio. AFC’s director, Peggy Bulger is a U.S. representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), contributing to international negotiations concerning intellectual property, folklore, and traditional knowledge. AFC staff participate in the Library of Congress’s Summer Teacher Institutes, and host hundreds of visitors and researchers in the American Folklife Center Reading Room. For more information and Webcasts see the AFC Website, www.loc.gov/folklife or call 202 707 5510.
Veterans History Project (VHP). This unique, congressionally mandated public outreach/collection development project continued to thrive in 2007, its seventh year. More than 12,000 collections were donated. Over 50 new organizations nationwide, including many public libraries, joined VHP to help gather oral histories for the Library’s collection. The Project’s affiliation with the Public Broadcasting System and filmmaker Ken Burns’ 2007 PBS TV series The War sparked tremendous interest from the public, local public TV stations, and, notably, high schools across the country. The project expects a large influx of The War-inspired collections in spring 2008. A companion Website for The War was launched in September 2007 to coincide with the airing of the television series. The Website featured the stories of over 100 veterans and civilians who served during World War II, grouped into sections that coordinate with each episode of The War. The Project also released a new segment of its site China-Burma-India, WWII’s Forgotten Theater.
Currently, the VHP collections number 55,000 individual veterans’ personal narratives. Descriptions of all collections can be searched at the VHP Website, <http://www.loc.gov/vets>. Almost 5,000 selected narratives are fully digitized and viewable at the Website, along with a series of themed presentations entitled “Experiencing War.” All collections are served in LC’s American Folklife Center Reading Room. The oral histories are enriched by the inclusion of veterans’ wartime photographs, letters, diaries, and memoirs.
VHP continues to rely on a nationwide network of volunteers and organizations to collect veterans’ interviews. Libraries continue to be a valued resource for this effort by distributing information, sponsoring VHP events, and making their facilities available to local VHP volunteers. For additional information, see the project Website, <http://www.loc.gov/vets>, or call 202-707-4916.
Collections Access, Loan and Management Division (CALM)
The Digital Reference Team in CALM handled 19,975 email inquiries and 1,221 chat sessions (total of 21,196) in fiscal 2007, a slight increase over fiscal 2006. In order to highlight the Library's digital collections, the team presented 47 video conferences to 779 participants, and 10 Webconferences that served 238 participants. On-site presentations, many for the Visitor Services Office, and workshops totaled 38 sessions given to more than 666 participants.
Web conference workshops and presentations offered through Online Programming for All Libraries at <http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm> included such topics as African American authors translated into Chinese; recipes and cookbooks; Mary Ringo; the Internet; and George Washington and the Spy Map.
A new Digital Reference Team offering is a Web conference, "Introducing loc.gov: Orientation and Research Strategies," regularly scheduled for the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Pre-registration is required by the participants, as noted at <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/orientation.html>.
The Digital Reference Team has created new Web guides for the following subjects: Charles Simic: Online Resources, Civil Rights Guide, U.S. Poet's Laureate, and Walt Whitman, and guides to the War of 1812, Spanish-American War, and the Mexican War.
Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)/National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC)
National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress received the largest private gift in its 207-year history on July 26, 2007, when the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI), headed by David Woodley Packard, officially transferred the new audio-visual conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia, to the American people. Major construction on the facility was completed in May 2007.
PHI provided $155 million for the design and construction costs of the new Packard Campus, which is the cornerstone of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) authorized by Congress in 1997. The other part of the NAVCC is the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound (MBRS) Division reading rooms on Capitol Hill, which will be linked directly to the Packard Campus and remain the public face of the NAVCC for researchers and patrons.
Accepting on behalf of the American people at the July 26 ceremony in the Members Room of the Thomas Jefferson Building were Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the congressional Joint Committee on the Library. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Stephen Ayers, acting Architect of the Capitol, who is responsible for Library buildings and grounds, accepted the gift on behalf of the Library. Prior to the ceremony, Mr. Packard and members of his family, along with his architects, construction engineers and members of PHI’s board of directors, toured the Packard Campus to view the facility and gain a hands-on understanding of its vast capabilities.
The official transfer of the Packard Campus to the Library generated a great deal of national press coverage in both print and broadcast media. In the months following the transfer, MBRS provided numerous tours of the campus for congressional staff, media representatives, local dignitaries, and professional colleagues from the library and archival communities. A new Library Website dedicated to audio-visual conservation and the Packard Campus – www.loc.gov/avconservation – was created with assistance from the Office of Strategic Initiatives and went live in conjunction with the July 26 conveyance ceremony.
NAVCC Systems Development. MBRS continued to develop the new workflow, production and archiving systems that will be implemented throughout the NAVCC, both at the Packard Campus and in the reading rooms on Capitol Hill. The center will be a completely integrated and automated facility designed to optimize preservation production and patron access; it represents the Library's first implementation of a Web 2.0 approach to automating division-wide workflows and streamlining business processes. New high-throughput audiovisual systems, developed specifically for Culpeper, will enable dramatic increases in the amount of collection materials that can be preserved. Some will allow for the digitization of multiple content streams at the same time, while others will run on robotic systems that will be able to run 24 hours a day with minimal operator intervention. New software has been developed that will integrate the center’s systems (production, financial, scheduling) and collections databases. This system will also provide researchers in the reading rooms with a robust search engine that can call up digitized content for immediate access on demand.
The Library’s preservation systems integration contractor, Communications Engineering Inc. (CEI), has begun installing all the facility’s “front-end” preservation production and data capture systems, as well as all audiovisual viewing and projection equipment. On a parallel track, the Library’s ITS department conducted extensive testing on the “back-end” digital storage archive, with thousands of different test data packets sent successfully to the system. This petabyte-level archive, built by the integration firm GMRI, will store the digital preservation files produced at NAVCC in a secured environment with a mirrored off-site back up. The servers and robotic datatape storage unit that make up the digital archive were relocated from Capitol Hill to Culpeper during the summer of 2007.
The first of several SAMMA robotic systems for digital videotape preservation was received by MBRS and installed at the Packard Campus following successful testing of its interface with the digital storage archive. The mathematically “lossless” compression standard – MJPEG2000 – chosen for the SAMMA, and for the digital preservation of all videotape formats at Culpeper, was fully tested and met the highest expectations for image quality and resolution.
Collections Relocation and Processing. MBRS holds approximately 6.2 million collection items, comprised of 3 million sound recordings, 1.2 million moving image items and 2 million related documents (scripts, copyright records, photos, posters, manuscripts, etc.). Of these, 5.7 million are destined for final storage at Culpeper, a relocation effort that began in January 2006. By the end of fiscal 2007, nearly 5.2 million of these had been relocated to the 140,000 square foot Collections Building from existing storage facilities in Capitol Hill; Boyers, Pennsylvania; Elkwood, Virginia; and the Landover, Maryland, annex. The collections moved include all 3 million sound recordings, 800,000 moving image items, and 1.4 million related documents. The 500,000 items still to be moved are primarily nitrate film in Dayton, Ohio, and additional moving image items still stored in Boyers and Landover. An additional 500,000 collection items will remain in the Capitol Hill reading rooms for ongoing access there.
Among the most challenging aspects of the move were the relocation of 316,000 16-inch lacquer discs (extremely heavy and fragile, many made of glass), the sorting and interfiling of over 50,000 LP recordings that had been acquired in the previous five years but not accessioned into the collections due to a lack of shelf space, and the sorting and boxing of over 75,000 surplus items for exchange with the University of North Texas School of Music.
Preservation Boards. Working with the Librarian of Congress, MBRS continues to administer the activities of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) and the National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB). Twenty-five new sound recordings were selected for the Recording Registry in March 2007, and 25 new titles for the National Film Registry on December 27, 2007. A key public relations boost for the National Recording Registry was received with a five-part series of broadcasts on National Public Radio entitled “The Sounds of American Culture: Five Historical Recordings from the National Recording Registry.” The programs can be found online at <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6392808>. Additional programs on NPR are planned for the upcoming year. The sound registry also received significant network television attention when CBS Evening News and PBS’ News Hour both aired segments about the registry.
Serial and Government Publications Division (SER)
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) continues to progress in developing a freely available national resource that enhances public access to historic American newspapers. This program, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives, and Library Services, and following on the success of the United States Newspaper Program, began in 2005 with 6 institutions awarded a total of $1.9 million from NEH to each digitally convert 100,000 selected historic newspaper pages to technical specifications established by the LC. These digital assets are aggregated at LC in a sustainable digital resource and made freely available to the public.
In March 2007, the Library released to the public the Website Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers <http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/>. The site now provides access to almost 500,000 digitized newspaper pages from 56 titles selected by state awardees (California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah, and Virginia) representing the historic period 1900-1910. The Library of Congress has provided newspapers published in the District of Columbia and New York. In addition to digitized newspaper content, Chronicling America also provides a Newspaper Directory of bibliographic and holdings information (approximately 138,000 titles and 900,000 holdings) collected during the United States Newspaper Program (USNP) and representing American newspapers published 1690-present.
Over time the Chronicling America Website will continue to grow in number of titles and pages available as well as both geographic and chronological coverage as NEH makes additional awards. Newly digitized content is added on a quarterly basis. The 2007 NEH awards will include content published from 1880-1910 and represent the following states: California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia. The LC will continue to contribute materials from it's own collections representing the District of Columbia, as well as other content digitized to NDNP specifications and digitally acquired.
Veterans History Project – see American Folklife Center under Collections and Services Directorate
PARTNERSHIPS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS DIRECTORATE
Center for the Book
On January 3, John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book, announced that Librarian of Congress James H. Billington had appointed children’s book author Jon Scieszka as the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Author of The Stinky Cheese Man, which won a Caldecott Honor medal, and founder of Guys Read (www.guysread.com), a nonprofit literacy organization, Scieszka will serve for two years, for which he will receive a $50,000 stipend. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation are the administrators of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature initiative. Financial support for the National Ambassador program is provided by Cheerios (leading sponsor), Penguin Young Readers Group, Scholastic Inc., HarperCollins Children’s Books, Random House Children’s Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, Macmillan Publishers, Harcourt Children’s Books, Holiday House, Charlesbridge, and National Geographic.
The center’s Website at <http:www.loc.gov/cfbook/> provides information about its projects, forthcoming events at the Library of Congress, including the National Book Festival; state center affiliates and their programs; organizational partners in the U.S. and overseas; community “One Book” reading and discussion programs; and other literary events taking place across the United States. Specifics also are included about projects such as Letters About Literature, River of Words, and Read More About It. The Center continues to work closely with other Library offices in the Library’s Lifelong Literacy initiative.
The Center for the Book is the reading, literacy and library promotion arm of the Library of Congress; it also encourages the scholarly study of books and print culture. The center frequently hosts public programs at the Library of Congress and has stimulated the creation of two national reading promotion networks: affiliated centers in 50 states and the District of Columbia, and a coalition of more than 80 non-profit organizations. It plays a major role in the annual National Book Festival, and works with libraries and academic and research organizations around the world. The center’s program, publications, and projects must be supported by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations, or by funds transferred from other government agencies. The Library of Congress supports its four staff positions.
Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC)/FEDLINK
Anna Bohlin retired from FEDLINK this year. Marlena Jones has joined FLICC/FEDLINK as the new Visual Communications Specialist.
FLICC Awards. The FLICC Awards Working Group announced the following awards in June 2007: 2006 Federal Library/Information Center of the Year in the Large Library/Information Center Category (with a staff of 11 or more employees): Camp S. D. Butler Library System, Marine Corps Community Services, U.S. Marine Corps, Okinawa, Japan; in the Small Library/Information Center Category (with a staff of 10 or fewer employees): George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Library Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; 2006 Federal Librarian of the Year: Carla Pomager, systems/acquisition librarian for the Army General Library Program within Community Recreation, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, U.S. Army, Alexandria, Virginia; and 2006 Federal Library Technician of the Year: Sabrina D. Honda, library technician, Hurlburt Field Library, Hurlburt, Florida. The recipients received their awards at the Annual FLICC Forum on Federal Information Policies held at the Library on October 12, 2007.
FLICC Working Groups. The FLICC working groups completed an ambitious agenda in fiscal 2007. Notably, the Competitive Sourcing Working Group completed an analysis of the history and current practices of federal competitive sourcing of federal libraries; the Education Working Group presented a variety of seminars and workshops, including a week-long program for federal library technicians, and a variety of other workshops, seminars and institutes on cataloging, pay banding, creating Wikis for federal libraries, competencies, digital futures and other information science policy issues; and the Content Management Working Group sponsored a content management update on digital preservation and workshops on Web standards, information architecture, taxonomy and librarians as members of the agency management team.
During the summer of 2007, FLICC established a new working group, the FLICC Consortia and InterAgency Cooperative Activities (CIC), as a steering committee to help identify opportunities for establishing more consortia under the FEDLINK program. In addition, the newly reformed FLICC Policy and Advocacy Working Group established an advisory group to provide recommendations for the planning and modernization of the Environmental Protection Agency library (by request from EPA) and formed a marketing subgroup. The subgroup planned a template/guidelines for federal libraries to communicate with their customers and for marketing purposes and produced a Marketing and Advocacy Resource Bibliography manual.
At the end of calendar year 2007, FLICC announced its new contract with Internet Archive to offer major digitization services for the federal library community. Internet Archive provides high-volume digitization through its proprietary Scribe scanning workstations. In partnership with member institutions of the Open Content Alliance, Internet Archive engages in mass digitization of monographic materials. Materials are scanned and made available for full text searching and retrieval, free of charge, through Internet Archive Web pages. FEDLINK members will soon be able to procure these services through individual task orders.
FEDLINK. FLICC's cooperative network, FEDLINK, continued to enhance its fiscal operations while providing its members with $68.8 million in Transfer Pay services, $8.1 million in Direct Pay services, and an estimated $42.6 million in the Direct Express services, saving federal agencies more than $15.4 million in vendor volume discounts and approximately $17.4 million more in cost avoidance.
In fiscal 2007, FEDLINK continued to give federal agencies cost-effective access to an array of automated information retrieval services for online research, cataloging, and resource sharing. FEDLINK members also procured print serials, electronic journals, books and other publications, document delivery and preservation services via Library of Congress/FEDLINK contracts with more than 130 major vendors.
As of January 1, FEDLINK will accept federal purchase card transactions for both interagency agreements (IAGs) and FLICC/FEDLINK training, up to a ceiling of $92,000. FEDLINK planned to issue an information announcement in early January with the details libraries need to use federal purchase cards to complete all manner of FEDLINK transactions.
The FLICC Budget and Finance Working Group developed the Fiscal Year 2008 FEDLINK budget and fee structure in the spring quarter. The final budget for 2008 kept membership fees for transfer pay customers at fiscal year 2007 levels: 7.75 percent on accounts up to $300,000 and 7 percent on amounts exceeding $300,000. Direct pay fees also remained at fiscal year 2007 levels, as did Direct Express fees of 0.75 percent for all participating commercial online information services vendors. Library officials approved the budget in August 2007.
Congress has directed the Library of Congress to apply a significant portion of FEDLINK fiscal 2008 surplus reserves to offset other costs within the legislative branch. This budgetary change resulted from parliamentary rules governing authorizing legislation unrelated to the FEDLINK program. FLICC/FEDLINK did not anticipate the change, but will work with congressional and LC staff to ensure that FEDLINK remains on track with business plans to reduce transactional fees, streamline business processes, and offer enhanced and expanded services.
Interpretive Programs Office
The Exploring the Early Americas exhibit, which features items from the Jay I. Kislak Collection and Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 World Map, opened on December 13, 2007, after two years of planning and space configuration.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress celebrated its tenth anniversary before finally closing to the public on August 18, 2007. More than 2.5 million people viewed the exhibition since 1997. The Interpretive Programs Office has rotated approximately 2,720 objects into the exhibition during its entire run. In addition, American Treasures was the site of seven special presentations, which included an additional 500 items from the Library’s collections. Among these presentations, two were on view during fiscal 2007. Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by HERBLOCK, featuring original work by the Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Herb Block from the generous gift donated to the Library of Congress by the Herb Block Foundation, remained on view until January 20, 2007. From February 22 until August 18, 2007, the Library celebrated the centennial of the MacDowell Colony—the first artists’ residency program in America and the model for hundreds of others— with an exhibition entitled A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony 1907–2007.
West Side Story: Birth of a Classic celebrated this musical’s fiftieth anniversary. The exhibition of fifty-three objects, drawn mostly from the Library’s Leonard Bernstein Collection, opened in the foyer of the Performing Arts Reading Room in the Madison Building on September 26, 2007, where it will remain on view through March 29, 2008. It will then travel to the Library of Congress/Ira Gershwin Gallery at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles for six months. Accompanying the exhibition was a special concert of music from West Side Story on October 15, 2007, organized by the Music Division and the Signature Theater in Arlington, Virginia.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) is taking major steps toward implementing the digital talking-book system for a new era of service.
Digital system approved for production. NLS approved the designs for the digital talking-book machine, cartridge, and cartridge container during a critical review at Batelle, the digital system designer, in Columbus, Ohio. The approval enabled NLS to move forward with production plans for the system. Requests for proposals to produce the cartridge container and player have been issued and an award for the cartridge is pending.
Digital audiobook download project. In October 2006, NLS launched its very popular Web-based digital audiobook download pilot, making 1,223 book titles and 35 issues of 10 magazines available to 100 eligible users. By January 2007, with available titles increasing to 2,061, participants had downloaded 1,606 books and 295 magazine issues. In July, NLS announced the expansion of the digital audiobook download pilot at the annual conferences of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), opening participation to interested patrons who have compatible third-party players. The project now has 5,000 digital audio titles available.
End of rigid discs. NLS authorized its national network of libraries to begin removing recorded disc (RD) books from their collections in April. These 8-1/3 rpm records, released in 1973, were a continuation of the original recorded medium for talking books first used in 1934. Their discontinuation signifies another milestone in NLS’s conversion to digital books. Network libraries were instructed to follow established guidelines for removing RDs. Copies of RDs are still available from NLS.
General Review of Workforce committee. NLS established a committee to assess the impact of the digital transition on its workforce by reviewing current and anticipated functions. The committee is coordinating its efforts with the LC Human Resources office and with leaders from both unions, AFSCME 2477 and 2910.
102 Talking-Book Club. NLS established the 102 Club in 2005 to recognize patrons who are 100 years of age or older. Currently the free program serves 3,672 patrons who are between 100 and 115 years of age. In 2007, eleven libraries inducted 136 members into the 102 Club.
Quick response to patron demand. In August, NLS broke its production record when responding to patron demand. It acquired, produced, and distributed to its 131 cooperating libraries the audio version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (RC 64495) within thirty days of acquisition, a process that normally takes at least ninety days. The braille version, BR 17210, was made available on the Web-Braille site within one week of the print publication.
Awards. NLS received two 2007 APEX Awards for Excellence. The Development of the Digital Talking Book, a series of press releases about the transition of the talking-book program to a digital audio format, won in the Media Kit and News Release Writing category. The 102 Talking-Book Club, which recognizes NLS patrons one hundred years of age and older, won in the Special Purpose Campaigns, Programs and Plans category. The APEX Awards—sponsored by Communications Concepts, Inc., Springfield, Virginia—acknowledge distinction in the work of publications professionals. In addition, NLS received the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) Blue Pencil Award for Introduction to Braille Music, second edition. This two-volume hardcover manual was first published in 1974 and compiled by Mary Turner DeGarmo, a pioneer in music braille transcription. NAGC recognizes superior government communications products and their producers.
Office of Scholarly Programs/Poetry and Literature Center
Charles Simic was named the new Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress on August 2. He opened the 2007-2008 literary season with a reading of his work on October 18.
M.S. Merwin, poet from Hawaii, received the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry on October 31.
PRESERVATION DIRECTORATE
The Preservation Directorate (PD) ensures long-term access to collections in original or reformatted version, through its divisions for Binding and Collections Care (BCCD), Conservation (CD), Preservation Reformatting (PRD), Preservation Research and Testing (PRTD), and its program for Mass Deacidification. Fiscal 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the centralization of preservation activities at the Library (see <http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0705/directorate.html>.
Staff News
In July 2007, Myron B. Chace was appointed Chief, Preservation Reformatting Division, moving from the LC Photoduplication Service.
In September 2007, Eric Hansen was appointed Chief, Preservation Research and Testing Division.
In August 2007, Werner Haun resigned as Section Head for Collections Care in the Binding and Collections Care Division. A replacement has been selected and should be in place in January. In December 2007, Pat Simms retired as head of the Library Binding Section, Binding and Collections Care Division. The position is approved for posting, hopefully early in 2008.
Statistical Summary
In fiscal 2007, the Preservation Directorate completed over 20 million assessments, treatments, rehousing and reformatting activities for books, paper, photographs, audio-visual and other items. Through the coordinated efforts of the Directorate’s divisions and programs, over 9 million pages and other items were repaired, mass deacidified, microfilmed or otherwise reformatted (see <http://www.loc.gov/preserv/> for full PD annual reports).
Preservation of Treasures Program
The Directorate advanced several major projects to improve environments for treasured collections. Staff worked with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to create the largest permanent, oxygen-free, encasement ever constructed, for the 1507 Waldseemüller Map that depicts the name “America” for the first time. This project was supported in part by the Alcoa Foundation (contributed over $100,000), the Alcoa Corporation (donated materials), and Solutia (donated glass). Storage for the other Top Treasures of the Library was also upgraded. PRTD and CD staff developed a new gasketed safe design to protect the collection while the Architect of the Capitol hardened and remodeled the cold storage treasure vault. For the Atlantic Neptune Collection, staff in CD and BCCD housed and/or treated over 1,800 nautical charts and maps from the first systematic mapping of the Atlantic coasts of North America, produced for the British Admiralty between 1774-1781.
Collaborations
A generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation enabled the CD to host a workshop on surveying photograph collections, attended by leading conservators from academe, museums, and government. Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities led to the completion, installation and fidelity testing for a system to image sound recordings for production reformatting. The prototype turntable scanner developed by the Dept. of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) was delivered to PRTD, in compliance with the “Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.” (IRENE) project to image lateral (side-to-side) grooved disc media using high-resolution digital microphotography in two dimensions (2-D) to provide quality mass reproduction of at-risk audio collections. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded $500,000 to develop a scanner to image vertically cut cylinders and poorly defined groove geometry, such as that found in dictation belts, etc., in three dimensions (3-D), using confocal microphotography. The Kress Foundation awarded PRTD $10,000 toward a summit of scientists to be held in 2008.
Outreach
The Library was officially accepted as a member of the Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP) and as such is now included in annual preservation strategy sessions and will soon be linked to RAP's Website (<http://www.rap-arcc.org/>). In addition, new Library Websites describe projects of visiting scientists and interns, and disaster assistance information such as “Fire Recovery for Collections,” developed to address the 2007 California fires <http://www.loc.gov/preserv/emergprep/fire.html>, and “Preparing, Protecting, Preserving Family Treasures,” with information on risk management and insurance valuation <http://www.loc.gov/preserv/familytreasures/index.html>.
On national and local levels, the CD held a total of 6 salvage workshops (1 internal and 5 external) and trained a total of 94 professionals: 11 from the Library of Congress, 6 from other federal agencies, and 77 from public libraries and other institutions. Working with FLICC and other initiatives, the Directorate provided outreach, on-site workshops, information and supplies for organizations in Louisiana and Puerto Rico. In addition, preservation staff helped the University of Hawaii develop flood recovery procedures, consulted on preservation of memorabilia following the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech University, and responded to the DC Public Library, Georgetown Branch after it suffered a fire, providing information on recovery contractors. The Directorate also offered assistance in response to the fire in the Old Executive Office Building in December.
During 2007, the Directorate's Fellows and Interns Training (FIT) program hosted 16 fellows and interns who undertook projects in conservation and research.
Binding and Collections Care Division (BCCD)
The Binding and Collections Care Division (BCCD) makes general and reference collections accessible through two sections, focused on commercial bindery preparation with delivery and review, and care of collections through boxing and repair. In fiscal 2007 over 261,000 volumes were commercially bound, and over 3,100 books were treated. BCCD continued to provide general preservation assistance through the Question Point process, coordinating answers to over 704 inquiries.
BCCD hosted its first 6-week summer intern from the University of Texas, who conducted a pilot project to determine the advisability of treating materials rejected from the deacidification workflow because of structural damage, so that after repair, volumes could be sent for deacidification. Another pilot project developed a "facsimile/leaf" treatment option to stabilize and complete 312 volumes by inserting scanned pages where they were otherwise missing. A third addressed processing of “split volumes” when overlarge single cataloged volumes have to be split into two physical volumes. A final pilot developed a program with a second bindery to comply with the Library's Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) needs in event of disaster. New housing designs were developed, using BCCD's automatic and enhanced box-making machine: a self-closing wrapper is now used for volumes being sent to Fort Meade. Other new designs include a videotape box, drop-front long-side two-piece box, and a panorama box. A newly purchased Peachy board slotter now makes possible nearly invisible repairs to leather or cloth bound books with detached boards.
Conservation Division (CD)
The Conservation Division (CD) makes special collections accessible, through two sections focused on treatment of rare materials and on preventive conservation. In 2007, staff accessed or surveyed over 13 million rare and fragile special collections items so they could be stabilized by treatment or re-housings for access, digitization, exhibition, and relocation to off-site storage. Staff treated a total of 15,505 books, documents, photographs, and other format materials. A special conservation team of 15 preservation professionals surveyed 13,122,552 items, treated 1,968 items, housed 421,058 items, and labeled 26,289 items--over 13.5 million items in total including books, drawings, maps, manuscripts, photographs, and three-dimensional objects.
New initiatives included significantly improving the environment, fire suppression, and security of the cold Secured Storage Facility (SSF) holding the Library’s Top Treasures, and identifying improved fire detection and alarm systems for the cases that hold the Gutenberg Bible and the Great Bible of Mainz.
Conservators developed a unified approach to the treatment of pervasive and corrosive iron-gall ink. Staff treated many American Colonial-era iron-gall ink documents from the Simms-Wallach Collection for the upcoming exhibition, Creating the United States, including Thomas Jefferson’s copy of “The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” Staff also created treatment proposals for rare Ethiopian volumes.
To improve environmental analysis and management, staff continued their ongoing investigative partnership with the Image Permanence Institute (IPI), Herzog Wheeler (HW), the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), and Facilities Services (FS) to analyze the performance of Library air handling units. Staff analyzed a low relative humidity collections storage area in the Adams Building. The resulting environmental adjustments improved both the storage climate and life expectancy of over 12 million general collections items. Staff also monitored and analyzed the New Visitors Experience galleries, the Landover Center Annex, and the RBSC stacks to improve their environments so as to maximize collections’ life expectancy.
Mass Deacidification Program
The goal of the Directorate’s 30-year (one-generation) initiative in mass deacidification is to extend the life and utility of over 8.5 million general collection books and at least 30,000,000 pages of manuscripts through large-scale treatments. Mass deacidification is an economic approach to stabilizing books and manuscripts to help ensure their continued access. In FISCAL 2007, the Directorate mass deacidified 293,648 books at a Bookkeeper, Inc., mass deacidification facility in Pennsylvania and 1,086,000 manuscript sheets with equipment installed in the Madison Building and operated by contractors.
Preservation Reformatting Division (PRD)
The Preservation Reformatting Division (PRD) provides access to at-risk Library materials by converting items to new preservation formats such as microfilm, preservation facsimile copies or digital reproductions. This is done through programs for microphotography, analog and digital photography, and facsimiles.
In 2007, PRD directed reformatting of 7,127,580 pages/feet of Library material (or 4,090,725 volumes, exposures or works). Material from the Library included print pages, photographs, posters, and microforms, while reformatting activities comprised a combination of preservation microfilming, preservation facsimile, digitization, and other preservation photographic reproductions. Reformatting work was in response to service requests from the Congress, ten LC Collections and Services divisions, the Law Library of Congress, and the public. Preservation microfilming continued as the primary reformatting option because most of the material supplied was oversized, non-U.S. serial publications on newsprint.
In the Photographic Reformatting Program, a contract with TransImage, Inc., Dayton, Ohio converted nitrate negatives to a digital format (1,116 digital files total in 2007) based on Photoduplication Service customer requests and by Prints & Photographs Division curatorial staff members in support of Library exhibits and publication projects. With the relocation of nitrate negatives to the Library’s new Culpeper facility, work ended with Dayton-based TransImage. The Chicago Albumen Works, Housatonic, Massachusetts, cleaned and stabilized 94 deteriorating acetate negatives in P & P’s collections. Production of high-resolution digital images of historical prints and poster originals through Datatrac Information Services, Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, generated 1,520 digital files.
Initiatives with the interlibrary loan and brittle book programs included a music album metadata project (Project Opus) that investigated the interoperability of MPEG-21 and bibliographic metadata standards.
Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD)
The Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) ensures the long-term stability of collections through its programs focused on materials research, analytical services, and quality assurance. These programs allow PRTD to perform three functions vital to accessibility of collections: 1) conduct original scientific research to enhance and further the preservation of the collections in all physical formats through experimentation and investigation in the area of materials science; 2) use advanced analytical instrumentation and techniques to identify materials in the collection and their state of deterioration, evaluate the effects of conservation treatments, and support scholarly investigations; and 3) advise on the most appropriate environmental conditions for storage of the collection and means of monitoring the environment, along with testing products that are used in cataloguing and housing of collections through a program of quality assurance and control.
In fiscal 2007, PRTD carried out 15,952 activities and tracked more than 70 research projects. PRTD's research program in traditional materials found, among other things, that the rate of light-fading of colorants slowed in argon encasements, such as the one built for the 1507 Waldseemüller Map. The audio-visual research program worked to determine, duplicate and counter mechanisms for the formation of sticky shed in magnetic tapes found in audio and videotapes, discovering contaminants in polyester film tape produced through outsourcing. The digital research program published its CD-ROM longevity and durability natural and accelerated aging studies, finding that 1) naturally aged CD-ROMs deteriorate over time; 2) CD-ROMs subjected to rapid warming from cold temperatures (such as rapid warming after cold storage or after cold shipment) undergo delamination or flaking of the aluminum reflector surface; 3) adhesive security labels negatively impact CD longevity; 4) laser-engraved security labels do not negatively impact CD-ROM longevity; and 5) there is a wide distribution of service life depending on initial disc quality. Laboratory upgrades continued, facilitating other research.
TECHNOLOGY POLICY DIRECTORATE
Integrated Library System Program Office (ILS PO)
Increasing Access. In November 2007, the Library installed new hardware with greater capacity in order to support the continued increase in demand by users of the LC ILS. At the beginning of calendar year 2008, LC raised the limits on simultaneous external sessions for the LC Online Catalog and LC Authorities. The Library plans to continue to increase external access for users after collecting more data and monitoring system performance.
Software Upgrade. The Library is currently planning to upgrade to Voyager 6.5 in the next three to five months. Testing is currently underway at LC. During the production upgrade there will be brief outages, which the Library will announce ahead of time.
The following new features will be available to public users after the upgrade:
1) keyword indexing of the 15 million holdings records in the LC Database.
2) the ability to use wildcards for left and internal truncation in keyword searches.
3) the ability to search older 10-digit ISBNs using the number structure for 13-digit ISBNs.
4) keyword indexing of access points on authority records.
In 2007 the U.S. Copyright Office migrated to Voyager. The Copyright Voyager database will be upgraded at the same time as the rest of the LC ILS in 2008.
Migration of non-Latin cataloging activities to the LC ILS. In September 2007, LC completed the migration of its non-Latin script cataloging activities from RLIN to the LC ILS. LC developed software to be used with the Voyager cataloging module that provides automatic transliteration for some scripts and automatically pairs romanized fields with their non-Roman script counterparts. LC continues to catalog non-Roman script serials in OCLC as part of the CONSER program.
Earlier in 2007, the Library changed its policy for transcribing spaces in Chinese and Japanese data. The revised policy unifies LC practice for spacing in records for monographs and serials. LC had approximately 400,000 Chinese and Japanese monograph records with the former spacing practice, which could not easily be searched together with records for serials and integrating resources. For this reason LC reloaded the 400,000 bibliographic records for Chinese and Japanese monographs without the spaces and redistributed the records via the Cataloging Distribution Service.
Electronic Resources Management System (ERMS) – see also Electronic Resources under Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate.
ILSPO staff continued development of the Library’s ERMS, a software application procured from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., to improve the availability of access to resources, bibliographic and holdings data, and licensing information. A new WebOPAC version, WebPAC Pro, was installed in fiscal 2007. Staff in the ABA ERMS Pilot project and the ILS Program Office have been working with Network Development and MARC Standards Office staff and colleagues in Collection and Services to modify the OPAC design to optimize its function.
Currently, LC has loaded usage statistics into the ERMS from an e-resource content provider, Ebsco, that are based on the SUSHI Protocol. The ILS Program Office is contracting with Scholarly Statistics to expand coverage of usage reporting to material from other content providers. The combination of usage statistics and cost data in the ERMS will provide the basis for cost-per-use analysis that can be monitored as the collection is further developed and expanded. The Library is currently extracting acquisitions related data related to cost from our Voyager ILS that will be added to our matching ERMS records. Testing of the acquisitions data load into the ERMS will take place in early 2008 with a view to full operation in production during the spring of 2008.
Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO)
METS (<http://www.loc.gov/mets>) and Digital Library Standards Prototyping. NDMSO continued support for the digital performing arts site LC Presents Music, Theater, and Dance and the American Folklife Center, especially the Veterans History Project (VHP). The work involved use and development of standards such as METS, the Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard (www.loc.gov/mets), MODS, the Metadata Object Description Schema, and TEI, the Text Encoding Initiative.
LC Presents (<http://www.loc.gov/lcp>) had new releases including The March King: John Phillip Sousa, several digitized music manuscript treasures, and updating of the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. The latter two required METS profile development. To handle increased participation in VHP, NDMSO developed an online registration form and redeveloped the databases used in the project.
At the request of its creators, NDMSO assumed responsibility for the future maintenance of textMD, an XML schema for a set of technical data elements required to manage bodies of text, comparable to the MIX schema for image material. Originally created at New York University, textMD is used extensively in digital projects at LC and in the library community, especially in conjunction with METS.
MARC 21 (<http://www.loc.gov/marc>) and MARCXML (<http://www.loc.gov/marcxml>). The changes to the MARC formats requested by the German and Austrian communities to support their adoption of MARC 21 were approved by MARBI and are incorporated in the new update to the format. In January 2008 a Proposal for changes to the Classification format (and a few for the Bibliographic and Authority formats) to enable the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) editorial system to be redeveloped with a MARC 21 basis is a major agenda item along with a Discussion Paper on the MARC changes that may be needed with the forthcoming new cataloging code, Resource Description and Access. The MARC 21 Website <http://www.loc.gov/marc> was updated with these and other Discussion Papers and Proposals for the midwinter 2008 ALA MARBI meetings.
The major code lists used with MARC, MODS, and other formats (e.g., language, country, etc.) were converted to XML, updated, and made available for download in XML for system use. The next step will be their release in semantic Web syntaxes such as RDF/SKOS (Resource Description Framework/Simple Knowledge Organization System).
NDMSO continued to maintain MARCXML, an XML version of the traditional MARC 21 record, with the goal of maintaining stability and upward compatibility in the record interchange environment while providing a tool to enable the community to move forward to new technologies. XSLT transformations are provided on the MARC Website for download and use to convert data from MARC 21 to MARCXML, MODS, MADS (Metadata Authority Description Schema), and Dublin Core.
With more development of the needed XSLT-FO tools completed, NDMSO produced the MARC 21 Update No. 8 from a new XML file, completing it by the end of 2007. In the next few months the PDF pages for the update will again be made available from CDS, as will the print. An HTML version of the full format documentation will be put online as a companion to the much-used Concise version.
The revised character set section of the MARC 21 Specifications was published online to provide guidance for the use of all of Unicode in the MARC environment, an important milestone for Unicode implementations.
Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) <http://www.loc.gov/mods>. MODS Version 3.3, which includes better support for holdings and for collection description, was released after community-wide review via the open membership MODS listserv in 2007. MODS holdings are coordinated with a new ISO draft standard for XML Holdings, which NDMSO will also maintain in the future. Initial work on semantic Web manifestations of MODS was begun.
PREMIS <http://www.loc.gov/premis>. The new PREMIS Editorial Committee completed review of the revisions of the Data Dictionary and schemas based on almost two years of actual use of PREMIS. The revision is expected to be available in early 2008. A working group was formed to develop a manual of common practices for using PREMIS in METS.
Information Retrieval with SRU and Z39.50. SRU (Search and Retrieve via URL) is an XML protocol that complements Z39.50. The SRU evolves Z39.50 to a Web platform protocol attractive to information providers, vendors, and users. SRU is not intended to replace Z39.50 as currently defined and deployed, but to parlay experience to Web-based end-user activities. A number of vendors and organization now offer a range of open-source and commercial products and services related to SRU and the Common Query Language (CQL), including the Indexdata proxy server which runs as a front-end to any Z39.50 server to provide SRU services, OCLC's open source SRU server that interfaces to DSpace's Lucene implementation, and the VTLS SRU open source interface to FEDORA (open-source) digital repositories.
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) formed a new Technical Committee for Search Web Services, which began work in June on its mandate to use SRU version 1.2 and Amazon’s OpenSearch as input to produce SRU version 2.0.
The Z39.50 Maintenance Agency in NDMSO continues to maintain the Z39.50 Website, which is essential to implementors. Several new implementors have been added to the extensive implementor list, and new Z39.50 software, both free and commercial, is listed on the software page, as well as hosts available for testing, and profiles.
URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). NDMSO staff continued the work on incorporating identifiers within the URI framework, implementing authorities for codelists and XML namespaces, working closely with other LC units as well as outside organizations. The “info” URI Scheme namespace “lc” was registered in October by NDMSO. Thus “info:lc” will be used for various identifiers assigned by the Library of Congress. For example “info:lc/vocabulary” is a namespace registered for controlled vocabularies such as codelists.
Staff also continued to maintain the URI Resource Pages Web site <http://www.loc.gov/standards/uri>, which provides basic definitions and concepts for URIs and their schemes, detailed description of the “info” URI scheme, and news about URI development.
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
During 2007, the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) continued to advance the Library of Congress’s transition to a 21st century institution. In December, the service unit issued its Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 outlining how OSI will meet the ever-increasing demands of a general public that wants access to information at the touch of a mouse. The Strategic Plan is online at <http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/library/reports.html>.
OSI’s longtime experience in the creation and dissemination of digital content, combined with its national program to preserve digital materials, support the Library’s continued ability to meet the needs of the U.S. Congress, students, teachers, scholars, researchers and lifelong learners. This experience is rooted in oversight of the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, which provides access to millions of digitized materials from the Library of Congress’s collections and those of its partners. The NDL Program began in 1994 (before the establishment of OSI in 2000) and led to the creation of one of the most extensive educational Websites on the Internet: <http://memory.loc.gov>.
In December 2000 Congress asked the Library to lead a national program to collect and preserve important digital content – the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program – and the Librarian of Congress created the Office of Strategic Initiatives.
NATIONAL DIGITAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND PRESERVATION PROGRAM (NDIIPP)
In November 2007, Martha Anderson was named director of program management for the NDIIPP. She joined the Library of Congress in 1996 and has been acting in her new position since April 2007. She has been a key player in the Library’s digital programs, including the American Memory Website, which now offers more than 11 million digital items from the collections of the Library and its partners.
NDIIPP currently has over 90 institutional partners and will grow to well over 100 partners with the soon-to-be-announced awards to the states to preserve their state-government records (see below).
The Preserving Creative America awards were a major NDIIPP achievement in 2007. These awards, announced in August 2007, draw the private-sector entertainment community into the program with funding to preserve such digital content as films, sound recordings, pictorial art, video games and virtual worlds. The awards went to eight lead institutions and their partners.
The program’s Website is at <http://www.digitalpreservation.gov>. During 2007, the site was completely revamped with an emphasis on reaching the general public while still serving the needs of information professionals.
Digital Preservation Partnerships
Since 2000 the Library of Congress has made significant advances in demonstrating the feasibility – and importance – of a national network of partners to collect, preserve and make available a “universal” collection of born-digital materials. NDIIPP continues to build a national network of collaborative institutions committed to sharing the best practices for digital preservation. These partners are building large collections of at-risk content and developing advanced research into tools, services, repositories and overall infrastructure for digital preservation. Individually, the partners have made significant strides over the past year in making the challenges of digital preservation more achievable.
NDIIPP States Initiative
The Library has continued to build on the positive results of the 2005 States Consultation Workshops that helped identify pressing digital preservation issues facing state and local governments. In 2006, the Library released Preservation of State Government Digital Information: Issues and Opportunities, a report of the Library’s convening workshops with the states. The findings of the report confirmed that the Library has a role to play, and in May 2006, the Library released a Request for Expressions of Interest for Multi-State Demonstration Projects for Preservation of State Government Digital Information. Successful projects funded under this initiative will build on the initial set of NDIIPP investments in establishing a network of preservation partners exploring the viability of highly collaborative, decentralized digital preservation approaches.
The Library intends to support multistate demonstration projects that reveal methods for preserving state government digital information by means of developing partnerships, distributing responsibilities and sharing technical expertise and infrastructure components. The intent is to demonstrate practical solutions at the state level useful for potential widespread adoption, as well as to learn how multistate consortial arrangements might be part of a network of preservation partners. These awards will be announced early in 2008.
Partnership with Stanford University-CLOCKSS
The Library of Congress entered into a three-year cooperative agreement in June 2006 with Stanford University to provide approximately $700,000 in support of Stanford’s CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) digital archive pilot and related technical projects. Stanford is matching the award dollar-for-dollar.
Since 1999, Stanford has been developing preservation software as part of its LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program. The LOCKSS program, initiated by Stanford University Libraries, is open-source software that provides libraries with an easy and inexpensive way to collect, store, preserve and provide access to their own, local copy of authorized content. The CLOCKSS program (www.lockss.org/clockss) is a collaborative, community initiative to build a trusted, large-scale, dark archive (an archive that is accessible only in case of emergency, such as a loss of data at another site). CLOCKSS is intended to provide a decentralized and secure solution to long-term archiving, based on the LOCKSS technical infrastructure. Its governance and administration structure are distributed to ensure that no single organization controls the archive or has the power to compromise the content’s long-term safety or integrity.
Partnership with SCOLA
In June 2006, the Library of Congress entered into a cooperative agreement that will ensure that high-interest foreign news broadcasts such as those from Al-Jazeera, a news and current affairs television channel based in Doha, Qatar, and from Pakistan, Russia and the Philippines are archived and available for future research. These broadcasts are of special interest to Congress.
The agreement is with SCOLA, a nonprofit educational corporation that receives and retransmits television programming of long-term research value from around the world in native languages. Under this cooperative agreement, a minimum of 3,750 hours of programming in digital form will be archived by SCOLA over a six-month period and made available to the Library of Congress and its researchers.
NDIIPP is providing $250,000 in funding support. SCOLA is matching the $250,000 provided by the Library. The agreement, subject to continuing matching contributions from SCOLA, is renewable up to four years.
SCOLA (<http://www.scola.org>) has agreements with approximately 90 countries to obtain and disseminate copies of foreign television programs. While in the past SCOLA has retained broadcast material for only a brief period, it is developing a capability to archive the programs it now transmits digitally.
Partnership with the San Diego Supercomputer Center
The NDIIPP partnership with the San Diego Supercomputer Center builds and measures trust and utility in a third-party bit-storage and preservation facility. Two content types, namely digital photographs and Web content, are being used as test data in this project. Eight test scenarios are being developed for the purpose of this project. Some of the test scenarios and required storage are already set up, test data has been transferred to San Diego and tests are under way. The SDSC hosted the NDIIPP semiannual partners meeting in January 2007. The SDSC report has just been issued and is available from the NDIIPP Website.
Section 108 Study Group – see Section 108 Study Group under U.S. Copyright Office
NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM
In 1994 the Library established its National Digital Library (NDL) Program, following a five-year pilot in which digitized versions of rare Library materials were distributed on CD-ROM to 44 schools and libraries nationwide. With the advent of the public Web in 1994, the Library was able to distribute these materials more widely and at less cost. By 2000, more than 5 million historical items were offered in American Memory, the NDL Program’s flagship Website at <http://memory.loc.gov>. The Library’s Website is now one of the largest repositories of noncommercial high-quality content online. There are more than 11 million digital files in American Memory alone and more than 22 million digital items on all the Library’s sites.
Partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities: The National Digital Newspaper Program – see Serial and Government Publications Division under Library Services, Collections and Services Directorate
Educational Outreach
The Office of Strategic Initiatives is expanding the use of the Library’s collections by educators and their students. Several OSI programs and services have made the Library’s online primary sources important tools for teachers in the classroom.
Teaching with Primary Sources Program/Adventure of the American Mind Transition. At the request of Congress, the Library was authorized to develop and administer a professional development program for educators based on the pilot An Adventure of the American Mind (AAM) program, which was active in seven states. OSI is expanding the AAM program into the new national Teaching with Primary Sources Program.
Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) was officially launched with the first consortium meeting in Washington and a new Website <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps>. An advisory board was also formed. One of the TPS initiatives will be a “virtual institute,” an online program that will provide programming to educators not currently in TPS partner areas. The Library has also contracted with the Center for Children and Technology for a research study of the best practices of the current AAM national program.
On December 3, 2007, the TPS Program added Southeastern Louisiana University to its network. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington jointly presented the three-year grant of $300,000 to Southeastern President Randy Moffett at a news conference on the University campus. Other institutions in the Teaching with Primary Sources consortium are: Metropolitan State College of Denver, the University of Northern Colorado, Barat Educational Foundation, DePaul University, Eastern Illinois University, the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, Governors State University, Illinois State University, Loyola University of Chicago; Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and Edwardsville, Quincy University, the Center on Congress at Indiana University, California University of Pennsylvania, Waynesburg College and the Northern Virginia Partnership.
Learning Page. The Learning Page Website <http://memory.loc.gov/learn> was specifically created for teachers and their students and features educational ways to use the Library’s online primary sources in the classroom. All lessons in the site are aligned to meet National Teaching Standards. A “Library of Congress News for Teachers” RSS feed is now available, which offers information on new Library content and professional development opportunities for educators.