The Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate is pleased to issue "Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A Library of Congress Action Plan." The Action Plan stems from the Library of Congress Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium: Confronting the Challenge of Networked Resources and the Web, held on November 15-17, 2000. The Cataloging Directorate convened this invitational Conference as a working meeting of experts from the various communities that play a role in the creation, retrieval, and cataloging of Web resources. The primary goals of the Conference were: 1) to develop an overall strategy to address the challenges of improved access to Web resources through library catalogs and applications of metadata; and 2) to identify attainable actions for achieving the overall strategy. The aim of the conference, therefore, was to generate recommendations for the Library of Congress, in collaboration with the larger library community, to use as a blueprint for action to improve bibliographic control of the Web.

The Cataloging Directorate is grateful to the 135 Conference participants for their insights and expertise. Their deliberations resulted in eleven sets of recommendations that have been distilled into this Action Plan. In developing the Plan, we took into account both the original Conference goals and LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress, the National Academy of Sciences report commissioned by the Library.

From the content of the recommendations, we teased out some over-arching objectives for the framework of the Plan. This resulted in the identification of the following six objectives into which the action items were placed: 1 increased availability of standard records for Web resources; 2 enhanced record display and access across multiple systems; 3 collaboration among metadata standards communities for better bibliographic control of Web resources; 4 development of automated tools for harvesting and maintaining metadata; 5 provision of appropriate training for the Web environment; and 6 support of research and development to enhance bibliographic control of Web resources.

We are keen on enlisting the support and involvement of varied organizations and groups in taking concrete actions to implement our plan. For each action item, we identified LC organizations, as well as potential external collaborators, to help with implementation. We also assigned a priority. The priorities have two aspects that were assigned as follows: near-term could be accomplished within eighteen months; long-term could be accomplished within five years. The aspect of "High," "Medium," or "Low" was assigned on the basis of the benefit each action would bring to the library community relative to the expense involved in carrying it out.

Many recommendations underscored a theme of the Conference, namely, the importance of collaboration, partnerships, and synergistic approaches to providing better bibliographic control to networked resources. Every objective of the Plan acknowledges the importance of partnerships between libraries and a broad spectrum of other groups: metadata producers; standards developers; systems and software vendors; computing and technology suppliers; scholarly and academic enclaves; publishers; dot.com creators; bibliographic utilities; registration agencies; other information providers; government agencies; other libraries, including national libraries; and other stewards of cultural and historical knowledge, e.g., museums and archives.

It was clear throughout the Conference and in follow-up discussions that many of the recommendations would pertain not just to resources available on the World Wide Web, but to digital content available in other venues and even to certain non-digital materials as well. Nevertheless, we have retained the phrase "Web Resources" in the title of the Action Plan as a tie to the title of the Conference. Although a few of the action items in the Plan may not appear to be central to the original goals of the Conference, Conference participants proposed them with such enthusiasm that we felt persuaded to include them in the Plan.

We reaffirm the value of all the recommendations stimulated by the Conference, although all do not appear as separate action items in the Plan. The original eleven sets of recommendations will remain intact on the Conference Website, so that any one can be easily resurrected or activated as circumstances may warrant. The Directorate is committed to accomplishing each action item in the Plan, using its own resources and seeking external assistance when necessary and appropriate. During the coming months, we will make assignments within the Library and seek to establish working relationships with external collaborators.

The Cataloging Directorate welcomes comments on any aspect of this Plan. Please send your comments to Judy Mansfield via email at juma@loc.gov or via fax at 202-707-0973 at your earliest convenience, but no later than September 1.

Beacher J. Wiggins
Director for Cataloging
Library of Congress
Washington, DC
June 4, 2001

1 Increase the availability of standard records for selected electronic resources.

1.1 Develop a plan to increase the creation and availability of standard records for electronic resources to include authority control and subject analysis.

Potential Collaborators: CORC; PCC BIBCO/CONSER; RLG; ARL; ALCTS

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

1.2 Explore ways to re-purpose/reuse metadata received under programs for registration, acquisitions, cataloging, copyright, and related activities.

Potential Collaborators: LC's CIP, ECIP, and New Books programs, Metadata Policy Group,NSDP, and Copyright Office; Standards bodies; CORC; Editeur (ONIX); Harry Fox Agency

Priority: Near-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

1.3 Compile/review/disseminate selection criteria for electronic resources to supplement traditional selection criteria (e.g., authorship, content, provenance, accuracy, relevance to institutional mission, and subject matter) used by libraries, archives and museums. Supplemental criteria include: design, use, timeliness, permanence, quality of links to other sites, value-added utility beyond print version, originating domain, downloading capability, uniqueness, reverse links, etc.

Potential Collaborators: LC Collection Policy Committee, Universal Holdings Policy Group, and Collaborative Digital Reference Service; CORC/OCLC; RLG; ARL; RUSA; ALCTS; Digital Library Federation

Priority: Near-term/Medium

Related Action Items: 4.4

1.4 Design mechanisms to archive and provide access to selected electronic government publications through partnerships with government agencies and/or academic institutions.

Potential Collaborators: LC Collection Policy Committee and Acquisitions Directorate; Big Heads; ARL; ALCTS; NARA; GPO; National Library of Australia

Priority: Near-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

2 Enhance the access to and display of records for selected Web resources across multiple systems.

2.1 Define requirements for a common interface for searching, retrieving, and sorting across a range of discovery tools, such as: abstracting and indexing services; other content databases; and other catalogs. Communicate the requirements to the vendor community and encourage their adoption. Consider adopting protocols and profiles, e.g., Z39.50 authority profiles, and identifying best practices and guidelines for indexing.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office and Metadata Policy Group; NISO; LITA; Vendors (e.g., SeaChange, Endeavor); PCC Standing Committee on Automation; ARL

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

2.2 Promote the use, linking, and international sharing of authority records/files for names (personal, corporate, geographic), uniform titles, subject terms, and classification systems.

Potential Collaborators: IFLA Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records Working Group (FRANAR); PCC Standing Committee on Automation; Vendors; MARBI; OCLC; RLG; ALCTS SAC

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

2.3 Explore ways to enrich metadata records by focusing on providing additional subject and other access mechanisms (e.g., front-end user thesauri) and increasing granularity of access and display (e.g., by enabling progression through hierarchy and versions and by additional description information including summaries).

Potential Collaborators: LC Metadata Policy Group; ALCTS; RUSA; OCLC; RLG; Metadata providers; Web design groups

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: 6.2

2.4 Define functional requirements for systems that can manage separate records for related manifestations at the global level and consolidate them for display at the local level. Communicate the requirements to the vendor community and encourage their adoption.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office and Repository Team; Vendors; PCC Standing Committee on Automation; Big Heads; JSC; LITA; ARL; ALCTS; OCLC; RLG

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

2.5 Investigate making Library of Congress Classification and LCSH available at no cost on the Internet.

Potential Collaborators: LC Cataloging Distribution Service

Priority: Near-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

3 Work collaboratively with metadata standards communities to improve bibliographic control of selected Web resources.

3.1 Develop and disseminate a widely-understandable paper that sets forth library principles for data content and structure for use by the metadata community. Disseminate it to the metadata community and encourage its use.

Potential Collaborators: LC Cataloging Policy & Support Office and Metadata Policy Group, ARL, ALCTS CC:DA, IFLA Section on Cataloguing, MARBI; National Library of Australia

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

3.2 Identify and publicize existing registries of metadata schemes to establish points of convergence among them, to promote the consistent labeling of fields, and to facilitate mapping of fields.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office, Cataloging Policy & Support Office, and Copyright Office; JSC; ALA; ALCTS SAC; Metadata community; IFLA Section on Cataloguing Metadata Working Group

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

3.3 Describe how AACR2 provides for explicit linking from a record to the resource; from record to record for related resource (bibliographic relationships); and from record for one manifestation to a record for another manifestation.

Potential Collaborators: LC Cataloging Policy & Support Office; CC:DA; PCC Standing Committee on Standards

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: 3.5, 3.6, 6.5

3.4 Enhance MARC 21 to support display of hierarchical relationships among records for a work, its expressions and its manifestations (based on the IFLA Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)).

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office; MARBI; OCLC; RLG; System vendors

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

3.5 Prepare guidelines for deciding when to create separate bibliographic records and when to create a single record for manifestations of an expression. Test these guidelines against AACR2, and if appropriate, propose changes to AACR2.

Potential Collaborators: JSC; PCC; Big Heads; ALCTS CC:DA

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: 3.3, 3.6, 6.5

3.6 Convey and reiterate the need for the continuing development of AACR2 to provide principles and practices for bibliographic access to and control of the full array of electronic resources on a timely basis and in harmony with other descriptive cataloging standards.

Potential Collaborators: JSC; LC Cataloging Policy & Support Office; AACR Publishers; Committee of Principals

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: 3.3, 3.5, 6.5

3.7 Evaluate feasibility of assigning a work/expression identifier on an international scale, similar to universal numbering systems proposed for authority records (e.g., ISADN) or the International Standard Text Code (ISTC).

Potential Collaborators: IFLA FRANAR; LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office, Cataloging Policy & Support Office, Copyright Office, and National Digital Library; JSC; MARBI; OCLC; RLG; System vendors; Content providers; National Library of Australia

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

4 Develop automated tools for harvesting and maintaining metadata to improve bibliographic control of selected Web resources.

4.1 Develop specifications for addressing issues related to record supply and maintenance for aggregated resources to provide mechanisms for: detecting and reporting changes in resource content; changing records; and notifying libraries when changes are made. Communicate the specifications to the vendor community and encourage their adoption.

Potential Collaborators: PCC Standing Committee on Automation; OCLC; RLG; Vendors; Publishers; ARL; ALCTS

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

4.2 Develop specifications for a maintenance tool to provide mechanisms for detecting and reporting changes in resource content and associated metadata. Communicate the specifications to the vendor community and encourage their adoption.

Potential Collaborators: PCC Standing Committee on Automation; OCLC; RLG; Vendors; Publishers; ARL; ALCTS

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

4.3 Develop specifications for a metadata creation tool for authors that can support various metadata standards. Communicate the specifications to the metadata community and encourage their adoption.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office; Dublin Core Metadata Initiative; ARL; NISO; ALCTS

Priority: Long-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

4.4 Develop specifications for a resource selection, evaluation and user feedback tool. Communicate the specifications to the vendor community and encourage their adoption.

Potential Collaborators: ARL; RUSA; ALCTS; LITA; Vendors; OCLC; RLG

Priority: Near-term/Medium

Related Action Items: 1.3

4.5 Promote OAI (Open Archives Initiative) standard for harvesting metadata.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office and Metadata Policy Group; ARL; OAI; ALCTS

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

5 Provide appropriate training/continuing education to improve bibliographic control of selected Web resources.

5.1 Address educational needs through improved curricula in library and information science schools and through continuing education for cataloging practitioners by: promoting consensus on determination of "Core Competencies;" devising training in the two areas of "Mind set and values" and "Managing operations;" developing Toolkits; and identifying other mechanisms to meet these needs.

Potential Collaborators: LC Library Services Office and Technical Processing & Automation Instruction Office; Library schools; PCC Standing Committee on Training; ARL; ALCTS; ALISE; CIO Core Competencies Group

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

5.2 Sponsor a series of open forums on metadata needs to support reference service in conjunction with various professional association meetings to include catalogers, reference librarians, vendors, systems developers, publishers, and administrators.

Potential Collaborators: LC Cataloging and Public Service Collections Directors; RUSA; PCC Standing Committee on Training

Priority: Near-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

5.3 Promote the use and understanding of standards for describing Web resources through education, targeted outreach, etc.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office and Cataloging Distribution Service; PCC; OCLC; RLG; ALCTS; ARL; ALISE

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

6 Support research and development on emerging metadata standards and address the challenges of interoperability to improve bibliographic control of selected Web resources.

6.1 Support relevant Library of Congress research and development on digital initiatives.

Potential Collaborators: LC Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team and Metadata Policy Group

Priority: Long-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

6.2 Research user needs and approaches in accessing the catalog and other discovery tools in a networked environment to develop user tools for customization.

Potential Collaborators: LC Public Service Collections Directorate and Metadata Policy Group; ARL; RUSA; OCLC; RLG RLG

Priority: Long-term/Low

Related Action Items: 2.3

6.3 Support research and development to improve controlled vocabulary mediating tools, including a simplified LCSH.

Potential Collaborators: LC Network Development & MARC Standards Office, Cataloging Policy & Support Office, Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team, and Cataloging Distribution Service; OCLC; RLG; PCC Standing Committees on Automation and Standards; Vendors; ALCTS

Priority: Long-term/Medium

Related Action Items: NA

6.4 Support research and development on the changing nature of the catalog to include consideration of a framework for its integration with other discovery tools.

Potential Collaborators: LC Metadata Policy Group; ALCTS; Metadata providers; Library schools; Vendors; ARL; Human/computer user interface community (e.g., Endeavor)

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: NA

6.5 Conduct research on how AACR2 might incorporate greater "event awareness" into the catalog.

Potential Collaborators: LC Cataloging Policy & Support Office; JSC

Priority: Long-term/High

Related Action Items: 3.3, 3.5, 3.6

Library of Congress
June 4, 2001
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