cataloging Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Presenters at “Reclaiming Subject Access to Indigenous Knowledge,” a session during the International Federation of Library Associations’ 2016 World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio.

Removing Barriers to Indigenous Knowledge

By Terra Dankowski | August 18, 2016

Librarians from the Philippines, Canada, and the United States discussed their research on the barriers to accessing indigenous materials, ideas to modify metadata and subject headings, and obstacles to implementing new cataloging and classification systems. Cristina Villanueva, librarian at the University of the Philippines Baguio, presented her findings on classifying and indexing Philippine indigenous materials, … Continue reading Removing Barriers to Indigenous Knowledge →

A woman using the card catalog at the main reading room of the Library of Congress, circa 1940.

The Evolving Catalog

By Karen Coyle | January 4, 2016

Today when we say “technology,” it is often shorthand for “computer technology.” Of course this is not the only technology in our lives, but it is the one that defines our modern age. A century and a half ago, the defining technology was electricity and all things electric. The light bulb was literally the bright … Continue reading The Evolving Catalog →

The Last Card

By Joseph Janes | January 4, 2016

Ah, the memories that flooded back when we all heard the recent news that OCLC had printed the last run of catalog cards. If asked, I would’ve confidently assumed that had finished up long ago. An OCLC press release told us that since 1971, the company had produced 1.9 billion cards. My rough calculations give … Continue reading The Last Card →

Library Systems Report 2014

By Marshall Breeding | April 15, 2014

This phase of the industry offers many choices, including both proprietary and open source license options, some based on cloud technologies and others that continue to rely on local hardware. Though a new generation of library services platforms has entered a phase of early adoption, the integrated library system remains viable, especially when extended to … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2014 →

Organizing Content

By Karen Muller | January 23, 2014

Five years ago, ALA’s Presidential Task Force on Library Education specified eight areas of core knowledge for librarians. The third area, titled “Organization of Recorded Knowledge and Information,” details how librarians provide library users access to materials. It defined three specific competences related to recorded knowledge and info: Organization and representation; Developmental, descriptive, and evaluative … Continue reading Organizing Content →

Latest Library Links

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Los Angeles teachers are poised to end their first strike in 30 years after union leaders reached a tentative deal January 22 with the L.A. Unified School District. The board of education is expected to move quickly to ratify the deal, which must be officially approved by United Teachers Los Angeles through a vote of its members. A system is in place that could allow members to vote within a matter of hours, meaning teachers are likely to be back at work on January 23. The tentative deal includes what amounts to a 6% raise for teachers.

Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22
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Aaron Tay writes: “Every year, everyone from students to researchers and copywriters employed by publishers spend thousands of hours beating citations into shape. Is this really necessary? If you have ever helped university freshman in writing courses, one of the things you notice is how much anguish they have over citation styles and how many requests for help this generates. It doesn’t help that a lot of students merely Google and land on some site like the famous Purdue OWL site or use some librarian-created LibGuide that merely covers roughly what should be done; students get anxious when they inevitably run into cases not covered by those guides.”

Musings About Librarianship, Jan. 15
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Lucian Kim writes: “The Chistye Prudy neighborhood is one of Moscow’s liveliest, with restaurants and cafés clustered along a boulevard with a tram line and grand old apartment buildings. Before the bars fill up in the evenings, the neighborhood’s most popular hangout is the Fyodor Dostoevsky Library, named for the 19th-century Russian writer. While young people huddle over laptops as city traffic growls past the large windows in the main reading hall, a theater group is rehearsing a play in another room. A constant stream of visitors comes through the entrance, with the front door banging behind them.”

NPR, Jan. 21
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Margaret Kingsbury writes: “One of the main joys of reading fantasy is experiencing entirely new worlds and ideas and magic. But when every fantasy novel is based on a pseudo-medieval Europe, it kind of defeats the point. That’s why I seek out fantasy from around the world. These 20 African fantasy novels explore entirely new worlds, utilize fun and inventive magic in our own world, or add surrealist twists to an otherwise normal setting.”

Book Riot, Jan. 22
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Chiquita Toure writes: “I set out to do something different with new titles and other books buried in-between shelves. This transformation of the physical library space, including new furniture and technology, was due to grants and budget increases. I wanted a style and aesthetic that resembled smaller bookstores and larger chains like Barnes & Noble. These places are visited by students because they provide good reads, Wi-Fi, and a comfortable community space. After a clean sweep and weeding of approximately 1,100 books, I was set to display some titles that students may have never noticed when looking through the online catalog system.”

Knowledge Quest blog, Jan. 22
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The Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library is among those calling on publishers to lower their prices and improve access to ebooks and e-audiobooks for Canadian libraries. VPL is joining the list of Canadian libraries calling on multinational publishers—including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster—to improve ebook pricing and access for Canadian libraries. According to Kay Cahill, VPL director of collections and technology, many popular titles aren’t available for sale in ebook format to Canada libraries.

Vancouver (B.C.) Province, Jan. 20
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Allison Mower writes: “On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we acknowledge the efforts made by King and others to dismantle the stultifying apartheid system in America, a system that placed severe restrictions not only on the physical and political freedom of black people, but also on intellectual freedom. The Jim Crow south not only meant separate drinking fountains and restrooms. It also meant separate libraries and books. Laws and local policies also placed restrictions on what could be published. Dr. King—as well as those who worked to build libraries and ensure that they be free to use—operated within this system and sought to get rid of it.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, Jan. 21

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