Spring Peer Council Meeting was held on Thursday, May 24, 2007 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street in Madison.
Charley Pennell, Principal Cataloger for Metadata and Cindy Levine, Reference Librarian for the Humanities from North Carolina State University discussed the usefulness of cataloging and classification for future search systems. (see www.lib.ncsu.edu/libinfo)
Substitute or Supplement? Alternate Search Mechanisms and
Changing Expectations in the Creation of Library Metadata
Charley looked at the changing role of surrogate (catalog) records in an increasingly full-text world and explore current alternatives to controlled vocabulary, including faceted search, word clouds or clusters, social tagging/folksonomies, and keywords. This was presented against some of the controversy surrounding reports from Indiana University, the University of California, and the Library of Congress concerning the future of descriptive and subject cataloging practice.
It's a Thin Line...
Cindy Levine talked about the thin line between technical and public services, and the critical role of library technical services in facilitating scholarship. She demonstrated key features of the new online catalog interface developed at NCSU Libraries, and showed how the incorporation of Endeca's new guided-navigation technology can leverage the cataloging and classification work performed by technical services staff, thus allowing users to take advantage of this work in new and interesting ways.
Schedule
| 9:00 | Registration with coffee and pastries |
| 9:30 | Introductions and Housekeeping |
| 9:45 | It's a Thin Line—Cindy Levine, NCSU |
| 10:45 | Break |
| 11:00 | Substitute or Supplement? Alternate search mechanisms and changing expectations in the creation of library metadata—Charley Pennell, NCSU |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 | Connexion Client Batch Processing Connexion Client Batch Processing (ppt)—Bill Doering, UW-LaCrosse BadgerCat Update—Kirsten Houtman, WiLS |
| 2:30 | Break with cake for Debbie Cardinal's retirement party (memories of Debbie) |
| 2:45 | OCLC Business Meeting—Cataloging and Technical
Services Advisory Committee rep, Irene Zimmerman; OCLC Members Council
rep, Patrick Wilkinson OCLC Product Update—Jane Richard, WiLS |
| 4:00 | End of Day |
Charley Pennell is Principal Cataloger for Metadata at the NCSU Libraries, North Carolina State University, where he spends much of his time contemplating database structures and various descriptive metadata schemas. He has enjoyed a rich and varied career in cataloging, in both the U.S. and Canada, and has served as Head of Cataloging at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Villanova University, and NC State. He holds the A.B. in Geology from Earlham College, where he worked as a student assistant under Evan Ira Farber and Tom Kirk, and an M.L.S. from the University of Toronto, where he studied cataloging with Nancy Williamson and Margaret Cockshutt.
Cindy Levine is Humanities Reference Librarian at North Carolina State University Libraries. Before becoming a reference librarian, she was a cataloger for several years, and developed an interest in improving the usability of library catalogs. She has been involved with several major projects to improve the effectiveness of the library catalog at NCSU. She is active in American Library Association, serving as Director-at-Large on the RUSA Board. In recent years, she has served as Chair of the RUSA/RSS Catalog Use Committee, and Secretary of the Reference Services Section. She is currently a member of the editorial board of /Public Services Quarterly
What is Peer Council?
Peer Council is what other entities often call a user group. In Wisconsin, it is important to the WiLS member libraries that the aspect of equal participation by all be emphasized and always apparent with the use of the word "peer." The Peer Council meetings are an opportunity to talk with your peers and appreciate WiLS member library differences as well as similarities. WiLS, along with the elected Peer Council officers, plan these meetings.