Standing Committee on Automation: Annual Report 2000

FY 2000

Membership Changes

Ruth Bogan (Warren-Newport Public Library) and Gary Strawn (Northwestern University) were reappointed for new terms, through October 2003.

SCA Task Group on Journals in Aggregator Databases

This task group continued to thrive and to generate much interest inside and outside the PCC. The final report of the first task group (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/aggfinal.html) was issued in January 2000. At PoCo's recommendation, the task group was reconstituted for two more years with a new charge ( http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/aggtg2.html). Members of the new group include John Riemer (UCLA, chair), Jeanne Baker (University of Maryland), Matthew Beacom (Yale), Ruth Haas (Harvard), Kyle Banerjee (Oregon State University), Steve Oberg (Endeavor), SCA liaison Karen Calhoun (Cornell), and LC liaison Jean Hirons.

The group continues to lobby for vendor creation of sets of machine-derived records for major aggregations, to offer specifications for vendor-created sets, and to test the loading and maintenance of machine-derived sets of records. As of ALA annual, several libraries, including Yale, had loaded the EBSCO set of records. The most recent library to load the EBSCO set is the University of Maryland.

Task group members have worked hard to raise awareness in the library community of issues pertaining to discovery and access of full text journals in aggregator databases. In the past year, they presented and published many papers to share the news of the task group's work and the options for cataloging these resources.

New Task Group on Automated Classification

The charge of the SCA's Task Group on Automated Classification was approved in late 1999. Members are Gary Strawn (Northwestern University, chair), Kyle Banerjee (Oregon State University), Matthew Beacom (Yale), Martin Kurth (Cornell), Louise Ratliff (UCLA), Diane Vizine-Goetz (OCLC), and David Williamson (LC). They are investigating automation-based approaches to easing and streamlining the assignment of standard classification numbers to cataloging records.

The task group met in person during the 2000 ALA midwinter meeting in San Antonio and been performing most of its work via e-mail exchanges. Well on its way to the preparation of its final report, the task group issued an interim report in mid-August. A final report is due at the end of December 2000.

The interim report emphasizes that work with classification and call numbers remains largely a manual operation, and a costly one. Library vendors might enhance their offerings by assisting with the generation of classification and call numbers. The report surveys previous efforts and proposes a number of helpful automated aids to catalogers, such as checking a call number for duplication, completing a call number for a classed-together set, assigning a cutter number, more fully deploying machine-readable records for classification, and assisting with the formulation of class numbers.

Bibliographic File Maintenance (PCC tactical plan 1.2.4)

The SCA welcomed OCLC's announcement that its quality control group is working with WLN staff to obtain and act upon a weekly list of authorized heading changes in the Name Authority File. The group uses the weekly list to locate and correct headings in WorldCat. The SCA's LC liaison reported that LC staff continue to explore the potential for making global heading changes in the LC database, so that to work to report NACO heading changes to LC might be eased and streamlined.

Report prepared by Karen Calhoun 10-17-2000