STANDING COMMITTEE ON AUTOMATION

MIDYEAR REPORT
OCT. 2005-JUNE 2006

The committee currently has two active tasks groups: the Monograph Aggregator Task Group and the Task Group on Normalization. The Monograph Aggregator Task Group was charged to "Develop a reference guide that lists the required data elements for machine-derived and machine-generated monographic records. The guide should include practical and detailed guidelines for application." A draft of this guide has been submitted to the committee and will be discussed at the committee's meeting at ALA in New Orleans. The task group had several questions to be brought to the attention of the PCC Policy Committee:

1. How will the finished guide be publicized by PCC to its intended audience?
2. The current version of the draft concludes with the following passage:

   "Vendors that do not choose to partner with an experienced cataloger may seek advice from the Program for Cooperative Cataloging before creating record sets. The contact person for this purpose is: [to be determined by SCA]". The Policy Committee may want to provide some advice on this passage."

3. Many libraries have developed in-house programs for automatically generating MARC records from vendor data. Should PCC/Standing Committee on Automation serve as a clearinghouse for sharing such information?

Members of this task group are: Kate Harcourt, Columbia (chair); Becky Culbertson (UC San Diego); and Kit Herlihy (California State San Marcos).

The Task Group on Normalization consists of Gary Strawn, Northwestern (chair); Tatiana Barr, University of Florida; Robert Bremer, OCLC; Larry Dixson, Library of Congress; and Ed Glazier, RLG. The background and charge to this task group are available at: Task Group on Normalization. The group has produced a draft document, "Authority File Comparison Rules," which is ready to be sent out to a broader community for comment. It will also be discussed at the committee's New Orleans meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Charbonneau, chair
June 19, 2006