Session A5: Encore, Enterprise, Primo and WorldCat Local: Explore the Evolving Discovery Tools for Your Catalog

Sunday, July 13, 2008 1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

• Richard M. Jost, University of Washington, Gallagher Law Library
• Mary Jane Kelsey, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Library
• Julie Loder, Vanderbilt University
• Debra Moore, Cerritos College

This session was a great way to get a taste of four of the major "discovery" products in a vendor-neutral setting. An excellent comparison of the features of all four platforms was compiled by the moderator, Keiko Okuhara of the University of Hawaii, and is available from the AALL handouts page at http://programmaterials.aallnet.org.

Mary Jane Kelsey spoke first about her experiences with Encore, Innovative Interfaces' (III) entry into the faceted browser market. They were development partners for Encore, and so were involved with its design from the beginning of the project.

• Their goals for implementing Encore included improving the user experience, increasing their return on their investment in the ILS and cataloging, maintaining a credible Web presence, and bridging the gap between the Law and University OPACs (the main library is currently on Voyager).
• As a current III customer, setup was pretty much plug-and-play, though increasing customization is available. Encore will also work with non-III systems, but the data is not displayed in real time.
• Encore displays a Google-like single search box. (A link to perform an index search is present on subsequent pages after the main search page.) Results are relevancy-ranked, with journal titles and electronic resources "pushed" to the top of the list; the latter are Yale's customizations to the ranking algorithm.
• Book jackets are shown at both the results and individual record level. Version 2.0 of Encore also features images from Yahoo "Safe Search" – though Mary Jane found some of those images not so "safe!"
• A built-in spell-check validates against the database to prevent dead-ends (though this sometimes gives odd results; for example, a search on "voter fraud" responds "do you mean violin fraud?").
• She finds the subject facts very useful; the ability to refine by tag includes a tag cloud displaying relative font sizes.

Debra Moore of Cerritos College presented their experiences with SirsiDynix's Enterprise Portal Solution (EPS) interface. They had not intended originally to implement a discovery platform, but they needed to migrate systems anyway and found funds available to make the switch, so they went ahead with EPS as their new interface for the new system.

• EPS is intended to be a total portal to the library, not just to its resources. It is built on a proprietary software system that allows the library to create content modules (called "rooms"). The library can customize the design of each "room" within limited parameters and can select which resources appear in each "room" (for example, you could have a "psychology room" with links to your local or other OPACs, journal databases, Web searches, etc.).
• Her favorite things about the system are the links to reviews, book jackets, and RSS feeds, and how the built-in federated search results display. (However, it is necessary to purchase a third-party product, such as Serial Solutions' 360 Search, to implement federated search.)
  
• Her not-so-favorite things are the lack of authority control (e.g., a search on "movies" instead of "motion pictures" will retrieve nothing), the clunkiness of the "room builder" software, the lack of faceted search results (though this is under development by SirsiDynix as a separate product), and the speed of the system.

Julie Loder of Vanderbilt University presented an overview of ExLibris' Primo. As Yale was with III, Vanderbilt was a development partner with ExLibris for Primo, and did a soft rollout of their "DiscoverLibrary" in Spring 2008.

• Their underlying OPAC is actually Unicorn, with Primo sitting "on top." At present the use of the native catalog is still required for "My Account" functions and requesting.
• Primo works by building "pipes" to various collections (local OPAC, digital repositories, other databases) from which it extracts metadata into a standard form and "normalizes" it into an XML or PNX record.
• Primo features include faceted search to refine results, built-in federated searching, "did you mean" spell-check based on the library's catalog metadata, user tagging, and user-customizable views. A new feature, called "third node searching," converts remote compatible databases to a Primo-type index for faster searching.
• Initial feedback from their students has been positive, and the Primo interface is increasing the visibility of their TVNews Archives.

Richard Jost spoke last about the University of Washington's experience with WorldCat Local. (Note: the law library is not yet implementing WorldCat Local; these experiences are based on the main library.) Their implementation searches three catalogs and four article databases through one interface, including links to full text via an OpenURL resolver. WorldCat Local is still under development and not officially in release; UW is a beta partner on the project. They are still doing testing on design, the results algorithm, and request methods.

• Results can be sorted for the user: in UW's case they display UW libraries first, consortial libraries second, and WorldCat results last. If all UW/consortial copies are checked out, the system automatically brings up an ILL form. The ease in which items can now be requested from non-UW libraries has increased their borrowing significantly.
• Record results are displayed in a tabbed format so users can easily navigate to information about subjects, editions, libraries holding the item, item details, and reviews. WorldCat Local also offers faceted search, advanced search options and a built-in SFX-like link for articles.
• One drawback is that WorldCat Local does not contain any 3rd-party resources for which OCLC does not have a license to put in WorldCat, such as Early English Books Online and some microform sets. For those materials users must return to the current catalog. Richard mentioned he expected these materials would eventually be able to be included, but he was dependent on OCLC obtaining the relevant licenses.

The Q&A session afterwards revealed some interesting similarities and differences among the systems. Most systems highlight the user's search terms in results (though this wasn't always apparent from the PowerPoint screenshots). Most also allow libraries some control over how results display and are sorted. Interestingly, none of the libraries had done a multi-vendor evaluation before choosing their now-implemented platform: three of the four were development partners or beta test sites, and Cerritos College chose EPS because it came with their new SirsiDynix system. In response to a comment from the audience that faceting is breaking apart pre-coordinated data, all four librarians said they did not think anything was being lost by this. Instead, users are now finding things they never would have before, and faceting is an improvement over plain keyword searching.

This was a truly interesting look at the state of things to come in library interfaces, and the 75 minutes really flew by.

Session D-2: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Rethinking Bibliographic Services in the 21st Century

Monday, July 14 8:45 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Richard Amelung, Saint Louis University, Omer Poos Law Library
Diane I. Hillmann, Director of Metadata Initiatives, the Information Institute of Syracuse

This session began with Richard Amelung, the AALL representative to the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control presenting an overview of the Group's members and of its final report, which was disseminated in November 2007. Along the way he clarified several aspects of the report, the role of the Working Group, and the involvement of non-library parties that have evidently been causing misconceptions among libraries and librarians:

• Working Group members have been careful to make sure they are all sending out the same message to various library communities when individual members of the Group are invited to speak. However, they are not speaking on behalf of the Library of Congress, only the Working Group. Only LC speaks for LC.
  
• The Working Group is not responding to responses to the report. (As Richard noted, "the report's done, folks!") However, Working Group members are staying on in an advisory capacity to LC.
• The report was structured to identify what would happen if nothing was done, then provide several recommendations for action and the anticipated outcomes if the recommendations were implemented.
• The report was intentionally "long on ideas, but short on 'how'" – that is, it was focused on outcomes, not how they might be achieved. In this way, all involved parties would be given the maximum flexibility to develop their own ideas as to how best to achieve a given outcome. Planning for how to achieve these outcomes is what needs to happen next – the detailed steps behind how we will get from Point A to Point B.
• LC is involved with a vast amount of projects, but communication between various areas within LC– and to the outside world in general – about what is going on has been an ongoing problem. Many of these projects are in various stages of development, from fully implemented to pilot stages only, but they all seem to get mentioned as if they are all at the same stage – which they're not.
• The Working Group made recommendations to many entities outside of LC and the library/cataloging community, but many of these groups (publishers, vendors, etc.) need to be convinced of the importance of bibliographic control to their community, and to get involved.
• Standards creation currently takes so long that by the time a standard is completed the community has moved beyond it. Multiple groups are usually involved in standards development, and unfortunately they aren't necessarily working in a coordinated fashion.

After Richard's presentation, Diane Hillmann took the podium to present "After the Report," where she described what she agreed and didn't agree with in the final version of the report. Her detailed PowerPoint slides are available at http://hdl.handle.net/1813/11115 (with even more detailed comments at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dn8z3gs_51dsqc77), but here are some of the highlights:

• In the age of mashups, is there any need to continue seeking the "holy grail" of a "unified philosophy of bibliographic control"? Libraries are no longer the only players in the information universe – yes, we may "do it better" than others, but maybe "good enough" is in fact good enough. Can we survive and thrive if we continue to insist on "unified" anything? Do we all have to agree on everything before any progress can be made?
• While the report recommended increasing efficiencies, it's possible we may have wrung all of the efficiencies possible out of our current systems. It's time to explore alternate distribution systems beyond our current networks. "Sharing materials" does not necessarily have to take place only within bibliographic utilities. OCLC doesn't handle images, single items, and media well on an item-level basis. Sharing data about these types of materials may be better handled through other distribution methods.
• Two big "YES"es from Diane: internationalizing authority files & transforming LCSH.
• Traditional cataloging has focused too long on the secondary products of research. The new mindset needs to be more like that of archivists and Metadata Librarians, focusing on primary materials.
• Without improved abilities for machines to manipulate our data, we are going to be locked out of participating in a world where the Web is everyone's platform. While we need a more flexible and extensible metadata carrier than MARC, LC is not necessarily well prepared to create it.
• The idea of "return on investment" is a non-starter, because right now we really don't know what that means, or how to achieve it.
• Suspending work on RDA made vendors breathe a sigh of relief (one less thing to do!) but it isn't realistic.
• For a good explanation of why user data will be important in relevance ranking and selection, Diane referred to LibraryThing founder Tim Spaulding's ALA presentation on his Thingology blog, http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2008/07/future-of-cataloging.php. (BTW, in the interests of full disclosure, I recently joined LibraryThing and think it's a blast.).

This was a very stimulating discussion, and for folks (like me, sorry) who just couldn't quite motivate themselves to read the final report in its entirety when it came out, a good overview of the highlights. It looks like the report will be generating discussion for some time to come, and stimulating the library profession to do some serious thinking about what we will want and need to do with "our" data (if we can even call it "ours" any more!) in the years ahead.

Task Group on Vendor Supplied Bibliographic Records

Good morning!



The Task Group on Vendor-Supplied Bibliographic Records has been working on a wiki, where we can publish evaluations of MARC record sets provided by various vendors, as well as any related information. We are happy to announce that the wiki is ready to go “live”, and can be found here.

Currently we have reviews and other information posted for BNA, CALI, HeinOnline, World Trials, MOML, and the Westlaw/Lexis records from Cassidy. Please note that some of these reviews are works in progress and may not yet be complete. The reviews will also be edited or updated as new information is received.

In addition, the VBR wiki also contains a link to Yael Mandelstam’s excellent AALL presentation, “ Demystifying Batchload Analysis.” It contains very useful information for analyzing large MARC record sets.

Angela
________________________________________________________________________________________

Angela Jones
Senior Technical Services Librarian
Underwood Law Library
Southern Methodist University

The Future of Subject Access in the 21st Century

Monday, July 14, 2008
4:00 - 5:15pm

Dr. Barbara Tillett
Chief, Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress

Dr. Lois Mai Chan
Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Kentucky

Coordinated and moderated by Rhonda K. Lawrence

It was a great pleasure to hear these two accomplished women address the mystifying issue of how cataloging may be brought in line with current trends while at the same time retaining the positive aspects.

In her presentation, Dr. Tillett reviewed the LC assessment of the pros and cons of pre- versus post-coordination of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and resulting changes that are being implemented at LC. The entire report and appendices can be found on the web at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/pre_vs_post.html

Definitions:

• Pre-coordination combines elements into one heading in anticipation of a search of that compound heading
• Post-coordination combines headings or keywords at the time of search by user

Pros of pre-coordination include context, precision, and suggestibility.

Cons of pre-coordination include training time, syntax not understood by end users, headings too specific and many used only once, syndetic or connecting structure not rigorous enough, and slow incorporation of new terms.

Cons of post-coordination include limitations for recall and precision, poor relevance ranking capabilities, and less understanding (without the context of the string).

The recommendations of the LC report, some of which have been implemented, included:

• Continue pre-coordinated strings
• Assist end-users through improved "front-end" to OPAC including social tagging experiments
• More automation of LCSH with software to suggest and verify subject headings
• Simplification by removing the language subdivision which is already in fixed and variable fields
• Utilize some form subdivisions in separate 655 (i.e. genre/form test with motions picture/tv currently being done)
• Offer LCSH in a Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)

For the future, Dr. Tillett predicted that the global use of LCSH will expand and that the process will be improved to reduce costs and at the same time maintain the system.

In her presentation, Dr. Chan offered her suggestions for changes to LCSH which would be theoretically sound but at the same time be more useful to OPAC and web users. These ideas can also be found in her paper in the appendices to the LC report at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/pre_vs_post.html

Dr. Chan contrasted keyword - the predominant way to retrieve information on the web - with controlled vocabulary - the primary way for subject retrieval in library catalogs and many online databases. She outlined the many advantages of LCSH including richness, comprehensiveness, standardization, and translation into many languages. Her question is -- how can LCSH be made more flexible?

Challenges for the continued viability of LCSH included improving compatibility with other controlled vocabularies, simplifying rules for heading construction, improving tools for automatic indexing, and striving for interoperability with other retrieval languages.

In order to do this Dr. Chan recommended that the terminology be separated from the application by reconfiguring LCSH into two separate files:

• The source vocabulary consisting of building blocks for subject cataloging and removing subject heading strings
• A validation file which has a list of validated subject heading strings, a keyword-searchable file created from 6xx fields, a browsing tool, and is maintained by updating subject headings in the source terms

Advantages of a source vocabulary would include easier maintenance, compatibility with other controlled vocabularies, amenability to different applications in organizations, easier translation to other languages, facilitating automatic assignment of subjects, and more compatibility with user-assigned terms and social tagging.

Advantages of a validation file would include increased productivity by easily accessible ready-made subject headings, higher rate of correctly constructed subject heading strings, and facilitating end-user browsing and searching by showing search terms in their proper context in the string.

Dr. Chan looked at the advantages and disadvantages of social tagging. The positives of user participation and empowerment are tempered by the inability to represent complexities which will become more of a problem as content scale increases (example of Flickr with 6000 pictures tagged as "summer vacation"). She suggested improving social tagging by suggesting LCSH subject headings to users during tagging and by mapping user-assigned tags to LCSH.

The lively discussion at the Roundtable following the presentation suggested that many of us are realizing changes are necessary, and are becoming engaged in the conversation. It was encouraging to see that leaders in the field are doing some creative thinking about options and stimulating discussion of some potentially reasonable, but not simple to implement, options for the future.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Diane Hillmann's presentation from Monday, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, can be found at: |http://hdl.handle.net/1813/11115|
Please check it out if you are interested!

Title: After the Report: Reactions to ?On The Record?
Authors: Hillmann, Diane I.
Keywords: cataloging / metadata
Issue Date: 16-Jul-2008
Abstract: Presentation at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting in Portland, OR, July 14, 2008.

Thanks,
Andrea


-posted by Andrea Rabbia

AALL pictures available at Flickr

http://flickr.com/photos/tags/aall2008/

Innovative Interfaces Law Users Roundtable

About 25-30 Innovative users joined the Roundtable at 12:00 pm on Tuesday, July 15th. Moderator Sarah Boling invited attendees to join one of six tables labeled with the subject of their choice, including Release 2007, Web OPAC/front end design, Research Pro, user authentication issues, acquisitions and ad hoc. The groups had lively discussion for about 45 minutes and reported back to the whole group.

Attendees ranged from new users to those with many years of experience. Within each group members made connections with others who had information or suggestions about their areas of concern, and either shared information at the time or agreed to make contact in the future.

The three topics selected were ad hoc, acquisitions, and Web/OPAC. However, the discussions were wider ranging. Topics discussed included emailing notices, ERM, federated searching, use of widgets, coverage load issues, Case, electronic invoices, Encore vs Research Pro, Release 2007 generally, as well as specifically spellchecking and printing issues.

Observations were made about the changes in customer service -- pro and con -- as Innovative grows larger. Members hoped to interact with the Innovative representative who ended up not making it to the Roundtable. However, all seemed to value having a forum to make connections and share information.

Gift Certificate Winners on Monday!

Ming Lu and Noella Padua Flores both won $20 Starbucks Gift Certificates Monday afternoon! There will be a drawing for two more $20 Starbucks Gift Certificates Tuesday afternoon at the TS-SIS table. Stop by and drop off your business card - do not have to be present to win!

Pictures from "Swim, Don't Sink"

Marie Whited, Melody Lembke and Kate Padgen deep in discussion



Jean Pajerek waits for the break to end.

OBs III Law Users Roundtable

The OBS-SIS is sponsoring a series of library system roundtables at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries in Portland, Oregon. Innovative Interfaces users are encouraged to attend the III Law Users Roundtable Tuesday, July 15, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM, in room OCC-B116.

12:00-12:45: Group discussions. Planned topics:

--Release 2007
--Web OPAC/Front end design
--Research Pro
--User authentication issues
--Acquisitions/Serials issues

12:45-1:30: Open forum discussion.


Sarah Boling
Chair, Innovative Law Users Group
Systems Services Librarian
Suffolk University Law School

TS-SIS activities table!

Volunteers are still needed to staff the TS-SIS activities table in the Exhibit Hall. Please consider signing up for a one hour shift.

The signup form is at: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/annualmeeting/2008/activitiestable/

The following time slots are still empty:

Sunday, July 13, 2008

01:00 pm - 02:00 pm
02:00 pm - 03:00 pm

04:00 pm - 05:00 pm

Monday, July 14, 2008

09:00 am - 10:00 am
10:00 am - 11:00 am

12:00 pm - 01:00 pm

04:00 pm - 05:00 pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

09:00 am - 10:00 am
10:00 am - 11:00 am
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Thanks for your help!!



June Liptay

TS-SIS Membership Chair



June Liptay

Cataloger / Bibliographic Control Coordinator

St. Thomas University School of Law Library

TS-SIS Continuing Education Opportunity

TS-SIS Continuing Education Opportunity

Redesigning Technical Services: Working in a Hybrid Environment

Registration is now open (www.regonline.com/TS-SIS) for the TS-SIS continuing education web seminar, Redesigning Technical Services: Working in a Hybrid Environment to be held on August 14 at 2:00PM (EST).

All libraries are experiencing the shift from print to digital collections. We find ourselves working in a hybrid environment while still trying to meet user needs and expectations, as well as the changing needs and expectations of their institutions.

Mary K. Dzurinko, Principal of MK Dzurinko Associates, will lead this session which will include discussions on how the increase of digital resources, staff restrictions, and budget limitations affects workflow processes. The effect on workflows of evolving analysis, description, and presentation standards for internal and external resource content will also be explored. This web seminar will be of interest to library directors, managers, public services librarians, technical services librarians, catalogers, acquisitions and serials staff.

Registration fee:

$15 (AALL members)
$20 (non-ALL members)

Additional information on this web seminar can be found on the AALL Calendar of Events.

This program is made possible by a grant from the AALL/BNA Continuing Education Grants Program

JoAnn Hounshell
Director, Bibliographic Services
Downtown Campus Library
Illinois Institute of Technology

ILSHTF/CSCP

The Inherently Legal Subject Headings Task Force (ILSHTF) and the Classification and Subject Cataloging Policy Advisory Working Group (CSCP) would like to hear opinions about the two issue described below. Discussion of these issues will start at the Cataloging & Classification Roundtable (Monday, July 14, 5:30-6:30 PM, OCC-B113) and will continue at the CSCP meeting (Tuesday, July 15, 7:30-8:45 AM, OCC- A109).


1. Should headings for individual crimes be considered inherently legal? Currently LC treats them as such, but some members of the ILSHTF and the larger community believe that this issue should be revisited.

2. What genre terms should be used for civil law and common law codes/compiled statutes?

CSCP Members working on law genre headings have had lengthy discussions on how best to treat codes/compiled statutes in civil law and common law systems. Although common law systems often have codes, they usually lack the high level of conceptualization that exists in civil law codes, and the underlying methodology used to create these two types of codes is markedly different.

Please read the discussion posted on the Law Genre Wiki at http://lawgenre.pbwiki.com/Codes+and+Compiled+statutes. Keep in mind that the most recent comments are on top, so if you want to get a good sense of the discussion, start your reading from the very bottom.

Thanks,
Yael

****************************
Yael Mandelstam
Head of Cataloging
Fordham University School of Law
Leo T. Kissam Memorial Library

EOS AALL User Group Option #1:

EOS AALL User Group Option #1:

Date: Sunday, July 13, 2008

Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Location: Doubletree Hotel Portland Lloyd Center
1000 NE Multnomah St. Portland, OR 97232
Room: Morrison
Event Description: Social gathering with wine and hors d'oeuvres; meet other EOS clients and hear about new features added to EOS.Web! RSVP for this event via EOS SupportNet http://www.eosintl.com/supportnet

EOS AALL User Group Option #2:

Sandwiches are being provided.

Date & Time:

* EOS Law Users Roundtable will take place on Tuesday, July 15th at 12:00-1:30. OCC-A104

Location & Listing:

* All RTs will occur in the Portland Convention Center. However, be sure to check the Final Program for confirmed location.
* The local systems Law Users Roundtables will be listed on aallnet and in the Final Program as such:


3. OBS-SIS EOSi Law Users Roundtable
OBS-SIS EOSi Law Users Roundtable OCC-A104

Event Description: Formal user group meeting led by Betty Roeske from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (Chicago HQ)
Meet other EOS clients, share ideas, and brainstorm on how to make EOS.Web even better (EOS representative will be available for questions)
RSVP for this event with Betty Roeske at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP 312-577-8022 betty.roeske@kattenlaw.com

Betty L. Roeske
Technical Services Librarian
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
525 West Monroe
Chicago, IL. 60661

TS PLL Technical Services Group

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!


There are no less than 3 programs this annual meeting aimed at helping Technical Services staff manage, cope with, and recover from change. But, only one will feature Seattle-based Crisis Counselor Renee Arcement, back by popular demand.

Renee will be speaking for the PLL Technical Services Group on Tuesday, 7 AM-8:45 AM, in Room OCC A107. Her interactive session, “Who moved my pencils?” is being generously sponsored by Softlink International.

Renee’s previous sessions for PLL in Seattle and San Antonio used clever audience-participation exercises to demonstrate how we overload ourselves trying to juggle our personal and professional lives, and how we can rise above environmental circumstances to facilitate positive change in our workplace.

TS Cat and Class Standing Committee meeting

The Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee meeting is
scheduled for Monday, 7/14, 7:00 -8:30 AM in OCC room F149. The
agenda is available online here.

Please note that there will be no coffee or refreshments available at
this meeting; it is recommended that you bring your own.

I hope to see you there!

--Jean

Jean Pajerek
Chair, TS-SIS Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee

OBS 2008 Business Meeting

Online Bibliographic Services Special Interest Section
2008 Annual Business Meeting
Monday, July 14, 2008
5:30 – 6:30 PM
OCC-A107

AGENDA
(7.8.2008, 1550 revision)

1. CALL TO ORDER – Andrea Rabbia
   
   
2. Announcements – Andrea Rabbia
   
   
3. Correction and/or approval of minutes of previous meeting – Mary Strouse
   
   
4. Report of Secretary/Treasurer
   a. Secretary/Treasurer – Mary Strouse
   
   
5. Report of Bylaws and Governance Special Committee
   a. Main Motion: ADOPT 2008 PROPOSED OBS-SIS BYLAWS
   b. Discussion
   c. Vote by show of hands
   
   [Time Permitting…]
   
6. Reports of Boards and Standing Committees
   
7. TSLL Board – Brian Striman
   
8. Education, 2008 – Andrea Rabbia
   
9. Education, 2009 – Michael Maben
   d. Local Systems – Elaine Bradshaw
   e. Nominating – Richard Jost
   f. OBS/TS Joint Research Grant – Ruth Funabiki
   g. OCLC and RLIN – Ming Lu/Keiko Okuhara
   h. Web Advisory – Kevin Butterfield
   
   
10. Reports of Representatives and Special Committees
    a. MARBI Representation – [Note: George Prager gave his report at the TS Cataloging & Classification Committee Meeting]
    b. OCLC Representation - Phyllis Post
    c. Record Sharing – Pat Callahan
    
    
11. New Business
    
    
12. Passing of the OBS cap to Michael Maben
    
    
13. Adjournment
    

OBS-SIS Proposed Bylaws Revision

Dear OBS members,

This is a reminder that we will be voting on the OBS-SIS 2008 Proposed Bylaws Revision, which is attached to this email and posted on the OBS website [http://www.aallnet.org/sis/obssis/].

Please read and review the revision and feel free to print a copy to bring with you for discussion. We will only have few paper copies available at the meeting.

Let me encourage you also to prepare any questions and discussion points ahead of time. Due to time constraints, we will NOT be able to read the revised bylaws at the meeting. The discussion needs to move quickly so that all discussion points can be covered with plenty of time for the vote and tally.

If you are not able to attend AALL this year, please send your Proxy Votes to Secretary/Treasurer Mary Strouse, strouse@law.cua.edu, by Sunday evening, July 13th.

With the realization that we will not have time to read the proposed revised bylaws, I am submitting a revised Business Meeting agenda. Please print and bring it along to the OBS-SIS Annual Business Meeting on Monday, July 14th, at 5:30 PM.

Thank you and see you in less than a week!
Andrea

Andrea Rabbia, AALL OBS-SIS Chair
Technical Services Librarian
H. Douglas Barclay Law Library
Syracuse University College of Law
E.I. White Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244-1030

TS-SIS 2008 Business Meeting

To all members of TS-SIS, Please plan to attend the annual Business Meeting at AALL in Portland. The agenda follows and is also being posted to the TS-SIS website. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Alan Keely, TS-SIS chair

TS-SIS 2008 Business Meeting
Sunday, July 13th, 5:30-6:30 pm
Oregon Convention Center F149
Portland, Oregon


Updated: June 24, 2008

5:30 Call to Order and Verification of Quorum

5:32 Approval of Minutes from the July 15, 2007 Business Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana

5:35 Secretary-treasurer Report

5:40 Standing Committee Chairs Reports

Acquisitions – Ajaye Bloomstone

Cataloging and Classification – Jean Pajerek

Preservation – Janice Anderson

Serials – Carol Avery Nicholson

5:55 Awards -- Kevin Butterfield

Recognition of Marla Schwartz Grants recipient

Recognition of TS-SIS Grant Recipients

Presentation of the Renee D. Chapman Memorial Award

By Margie Maes
6:05 TSLL Report – Brian Striman

6:10 Chair's Report – Alan Keely

6:20 Other Old Business

A Few Words from our Old Chair!

New Business

6:25 Passing of the "gavel"

6:27 A Few words from our New Chair!

6:30 Adjournment

All officer, committee, and representative reports will be available

on the TS-SIS web site after the annual meeting.





***********************************************
Alan Keely
Associate Director for Collection Services
and Systems
Professional Center Library
Wake Forest University
P.O. Box 7206
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109-7206

Volunteer to be a Conference blogger, too!

Read Brian Striman's post below, and sign up to be a TSLL reporter!

You can also contribute to the TS/OBS Conference blog. We need people to write about programs they've been too, and also anything else of interest to TS/OBS blogreaders. Photos would be especially appreciated.

If you'd like to join the blog reporting team, leave me a comment below or contact me at ctarr[removethis]law.berkeley.edu and I'll get you hooked up in no time at all.

Thanks!

Chris

Be a conference reporter for TSLL!

HELP ---- HELP ---- HELP!!

TWO WAYS TO VOLUNTEER TO BE A CONFERENCE REPORTER:

1. CALL BRIAN --- [see email sent to TS/OBS lists for phone number]. And we'll get you signed up for one or more Portland programs about which to write up a report.

or,

2. Go to the TSLL reporter wiki and sign up there. If you've not participated in a wiki before, it's time to jump in


Colleagues who are going to be Portland:

Those of you who know me, realize that this is standard "Brian-Last-Minute" stuff. This is very important though! I NEED BUNCHES OF AALL ANNUAL MEETING REPORTERS FOR THE TSLL SEPTEMBER CONFERENCE ISSUE. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION IS AUGUST 21st.

I've created a TSLL wiki for this ponderous task of getting reporters signed up for all the OBS and TS SIS programs. Go to it! Sign up! I need lots of help here. For those who already contacted me to assign them a program to report, just go to the wiki and sign up there. It's fast, and fun! If you have never wiki'd before, this is your chance to get your feet wet and do some wiki-look-wiki-work.

http://tsll.pbwiki.com --- I've password-protected the wiki, the password is [see email for password!], with more instructions once you're in the wiki.

The advantage of the wiki is that you can sign up for reporting on a program (or two) at the last minute, on Friday night or Saturday, in your hotel room, whilst looking at the final program, sipping your favorite beverage and making those last minute decisions on what programs you are actually going to attend. You can fire up your laptop and launch to the wiki and make your selections. Sweet! Please go to it right after reading the rest of this email.

The wiki is free, so it has its foibles. It's not nice and tidy like Martin Wisneski whips up for us (I was too late getting him the info he needed). But it will work for us. If I've forgotten a program on the listing, just ADD IT to the list. Be sure to save your editing work and log out of the wiki when done.

Thank you! Your reward will be... will be.... the glory of seeing your name in print in TSLL and contributing to your profession. New librarians are also welcome and encouraged to write up a report. Generally, I need reports of a length somewhere between 400-1500 words. *Easy*

See many of you very soon!

Brian Striman
Editor-in-Chief, TSLL
Schmid Law Library
University of Nebraska College of Law
tsll[at]unlnotes.unl.edu

TS-SIS Business Meeting

To all members of TS-SIS, Please plan to attend the annual Business Meeting at AALL in Portland. The agenda follows and is also being posted to the TS-SIS website. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Alan Keely, TS-SIS chair


TS-SIS 2008 Business Meeting
Sunday, July 14th, 5:30-6:30 pm
Oregon Convention Center F149
Portland, Oregon


Updated: June 24, 2008


5:30 Call to Order and Verification of Quorum

5:32 Approval of Minutes from the July 15, 2007 Business Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana

5:35 Secretary-treasurer Report

5:40 Standing Committee Chairs Reports

Acquisitions – Ajaye Bloomstone

Cataloging and Classification – Jean Pajerek

Preservation – Janice Anderson

Serials – Carol Avery Nicholson

5:55 Awards -- Kevin Butterfield

Recognition of Marla Schwartz Grants recipient

Recognition of TS-SIS Grant Recipients

Presentation of the Renee D. Chapman Memorial Award

By Margie Maes

6:05 TSLL Report – Brian Striman

6:10 Chair's Report – Alan Keely

6:20 Other Old Business

A Few Words from our Old Chair!

New Business

6:25 Passing of the "gavel"

6:27 A Few words from our New Chair!

6:30 Adjournment

All officer, committee, and representative reports will be available

on the TS-SIS web site after the annual meeting.

Encore, Enterprise, Primo and WorldCat Local

Greetings Portland Conference Attendees,

You are cordially invited to an OBS-SIS sponsored program, A-5 Encore, Enterprise, Primo and WorldCat Local: Explore the Evolving Discovery Tools for Your Catalog. It will be held on Sunday, July 13, 1:30 pm-2:45 pm in the OCC-Portland Ballroom 254. Handouts for this program are posted here.

Four panelists share their experiences implementing their discovery platform. They are:

Mary Jane Kelsey, Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library, Innovative Interfaces Encore

Debra Moore, Cerritos College, SirsiDynix Enterprise Portal Solution (EPS)

Julie Loder, Vanderbilt University, Ex Libris Primo

Richard M. Jost, University of Washington Gallagher Law Library, OCLC Worldcat Local

Each panelist discusses:
1. How one search box leverages their library service and changes the role of their OPAC.
2. What they like about their system and what needs to be improved to make the system even better .


Please add this program to your conference agenda! I hope to see you all!!

Aloha,
Keiko Okuhara
Program Coordinator and Moderator

TS-SIS Table

Dear Technical Services Special Interest Section members:


You've completed your travel reservations, created a schedule of
exciting meetings and events to attend, downloaded the program handouts,
and planned your sight-seeing. There is just one thing left to do
before packing your bags and heading to Portland: Volunteer to staff
the TS-SIS table! Once again, TS-SIS will have an activities table in
the exhibit hall area and TS-SIS members and needed to staff the table.
Volunteering is not only a great opportunity to support TS-SIS by
encouraging others to join, it is also a great way to meet other TS-SIS
members.

Don't miss out on the fun! The sign up form is available on the TS-SIS
website.


Time slots are available from 9 to 5 on Sunday and Monday and 9 to noon
on Tuesday.


June Liptay
Cataloger / Bibliographic Control Coordinator
St. Thomas University School of Law Library

OBS-SIS Business meeting Agenda

Online Bibliographic Services Special Interest Section
2008 Annual Business Meeting
Monday, July 14, 2008
5:30 – 6:30 PM
OCC-A107

AGENDA

1. CALL TO ORDER – Andrea Rabbia
   
2. Announcements – Andrea Rabbia
   
3. Reading, correction, and/or approval of minutes of previous meeting – Mary Strouse
   
4. Report of Treasurer
   1. Secretary/Treasurer – Mary Strouse
   
5. New Business
   1. Main Motion: ADOPT 2008 PROPOSED OBS-SIS BYLAWS
   
6. Reports of Boards and Standing Committees
   1. TSLL– Brian Striman
   2. Education, 2008 – Andrea Rabbia
   3. Education, 2009 – Michael Maben
   4. Local Systems – Elaine Bradshaw
   5. Nominating – Richard Jost
   6. OBS/TS Joint Research Grant – Ruth Funabiki
   7. OCLC and RLIN – Ming Lu/Keiko Okuhara
   8. Web Advisory – Kevin Butterfield
   
7. Reports of Representatives and Special Committees
   1. MARBI Representation – [Note: George Prager gave his report at the TS Business Meeting]
   2. OCLC Representation - Phyllis Post
   3. Record Sharing – Pat Callahan
   4. Bylaws and Governance – Susan Goldner
   
8. Unfinished Business
   
9. Passing of the OBS cap to Michael Maben
   
10. Adjournment
    
    

New Catalogers’ Roundtable

Hello,

This is just a reminder about the New Catalogers’ Roundtable, which is scheduled to be held on Sunday, July 13, 2008, from 12:00-1:15 PM, in the Oregon Convention Center, room C122.

The program is fairly open, with the following requested items already on the agenda:


* A REVIEW /EVALUATION of the W-1 workshop: Swim, Don't Sink: Immerse Yourself in Law Cataloging. This is your opportunity to speak on what you feel were the highlights, lowlights, and things that can be improved about the workshops, plus to attempt to clarify what went on during Friday and Saturday!
* Discussion of the new LAW CATALOGERS RESOURCE DATABASE, a suggested project for the TS-SIS in which a central repository/forum will be constructed to help clarify and elucidate the various issues of law library cataloging. Get in on the ground floor with your contributions! Give your input on content and format!
* General discussion of issues facing new catalogers – The floor will be open to any questions you may have about any law cataloging topic, from cataloging integrating resources to how you count titles for the ABA’s AQ to what impact RDA will have on law library cataloging.


I heartily encourage all catalogers to attend, whether you consider yourself “new” or not. The Roundtable is about sharing knowledge, meeting new colleagues and encountering new ideas, and helping those new to the profession.

Again, the New Catalogers’ Roundtable will meet:
Sunday, July 13, 2008
12:00-1:15 PM
OCC-C122

If you have any questions about the Roundtable, or have any agenda items you would like to see added, please contact me at the address below. I look forward to seeing you there!

Dan Blackaby
Facilitator, New Catalogers’ Roundtable 2008
Reference & Cataloging Librarian
Western State University College of Law
Fullerton, CA

Online Bibliographic Services SIS Special Committee on Record Sharing

The Online Bibliographic Services SIS Special Committee on Record Sharing will meet at the AALL conference in Portland on Monday, July 14, 2008 from 12 noon to 1:30 in OCC-A104. Please bring your lunch and join us at our meeting! It is not necessary to be a member of the committee or of OBS.



Thanks to the great response from many of you to the survey on record sharing that we distributed last year, the committee went on to draft a Statement on Ethical Sharing of Electronic Records and Guidelines for Electronic Record Sharing. If you are interested in a preview of the statement and guidelines and would like to join the committee’s discussion of the relevant issues, please attend our meeting. We are very interested in your input.



Hope to see you there!



Pat Callahan

Chair, OBS-SIS Special Committee on Record Sharing

Voyager Law Users Roundtable

Fellow Law Voyager users,

Sorry for the duplication, but I want to catch as many of you as possible.

If you'll be in Portland, please set your calendar for:

Voyager Law Users Roundtable
Tuesday, July 15
Noon - 1:30
Convention Center Room B114

The Aleph Law Users Roundtable will be right next door so that
we can share the refreshments generously provided by Ex Libris.

The two groups will hear separate development update reports
from an Ex Libris representative, so that should take up about half
our time.

For the remaining 45 minutes, please send questions, topics
you want to hear about, and other agenda items to me. If I get them
ahead of time, I'll put together and distribute an agenda.

I'd also like some volunteers to share with everybody some of their best
practices using Voyager, as time permits. No need for elaborate presentations
-- a casual "We discovered this nifty use of this functionality" or "This is
how we handle this very complicated material" etc. If possible, please
let me know if you have something.

Thank you. I look forward to seeing you next week!

--
Cindy May
Head of Cataloging
University of Wisconsin Law Library

Don't forget:

Saturday, July 12, 2008
7:00-8:30 p.m. — TS/OBS/RIPS/CS-SIS Joint Reception (Sponsored by
Innovative Interfaces, Inc.) — OCC, Skyview Terrace

-Marie Whited and Andrea Rabbia

Concerned about the future of bibliographic control?

Please join us as we hear presentations focusing on the LC Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control final report in session D-2, “The good, the bad, the ugly: rethinking bibliographic control in the 21st century,” (Monday, July 14, 8:45-9:30 AM, OCC Portland Ballroom 251). Then move with us to OCC-E146 for the OBS-SIS sponsored program “All good, no bad, no ugly? The conversation continues” (Monday, July 14, 9:45-10:15 AM) where the speakers from D-2 will be available to answer questions and continue the discussion. NOTE: this is a change in the title and plans for the session at 9:45 AM.

-Caitlin Robinson

TS-SIS Serials Committee

TS-SIS Serials Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 15th from 7:30am - 8:45 am. The agenda for the meeting includes the following:

* Project Counter Subcommittee
* LLJ Centennial Article project
* Exchange of Duplicates program
* Changes to the ABA Questionnaire
* 2009 Program Proposals
* Project ideas for 2008-09

Anyone interested in serials issues is welcome to attend!

Thanks,
Carol Avery Nicholson

OBS SIRSI/DYNIX Law Users Roundtable

Hello,



The OBS-SIS SIRSI/Dynix Law Users Roundtable is scheduled for Tuesday, July 15th from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. I was originally scheduled to facilitate this roundtable however I now have a conflict. If there is someone from a Sirsi law library who would be willing to facilitate this meeting please let me know.



Thank you,



Heather Buckwalter

Serials/Acquisitions Librarian

OBS Table needs volunteers

The AALL Annual Meeting is only one week away so I'm making one last
request for volunteers to sit at the OBS exhibit hall table. Please
consider volunteering!

Volunteering is simple. You just need to sit at the OBS Exhibit Hall
display table and tell your colleagues about the wonders of OBS, hand
out some candy, encourage passersby to participate in our annual
paperback exchange, and invite them to enter our drawing for a $25 gift
card from Amazon.com.

The following time slots are still available:
Sunday, July 13th
1-2
4-5

Monday, July 14th
9-10
11-12
1-2
4-5

Tuesday, July 15th
9-10
10-11
11-12
12-1
1-2

If you are available to sit and share the beauties of OBS with others,
please let me know when and I will add you to the schedule. For those of
you who haven't really thought about it yet, please give this some
consideration. Representing OBS in the Exhibit Hall is a wonderful way
to serve your SIS.

Thank you for your consideration,
Corinne Jacox
OBS-SIS Member-At-Large
CORINNEJACOX[at]creighton.edu

OBS-SIS Table

Colleagues:

Once again, OBS-SIS will have a presence in the AALL Activities area of
the Exhibit Hall. We'll have the ever popular paperback book exchange, a
list of OBS-SIS programs, and a $25 gift card drawing for Amazon.com.

Please stop by and visit the table anytime the exhibits are open ... and
if you have a bit of extra room in your suitcase, toss in an extra
paperback, and drop it off; we always run out!

Corinne Jacox
OBS-SIS Member-at-Large

TS-SIS Hot Topic: Technical Services and the Three Rs

SAVE THE DATE!

Please join us for an intriguing program on management issues in the modern law library.

HOT TOPIC Program (TS-SIS): Technical Services and the Three Rs: Reinventing, Restructuring and Renewing (TS-SIS Program)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 — 10:455-11:45 a.m.
Every department goes through change, and Technical Services is no different. Recent news about an increasing amount of departmental restructuring in academic libraries has been piquing interest across the country. While some libraries have created more hierarchy in their management structure, others have opted for a flat organization. Their choice and changes in library practice have left many librarians wondering about the future of their jobs and how restructuring changes the role of the technical services librarian. During this hour-long discussion, our panelists will go into detail about what motivates departmental restructuring in real life situations. They will share advice about how to know when to restructure, as well as how to help staff through the transition. Panelists: Barbara Garavaglia, Assistant Director, University of Michigan Law Library; Paul Lomio, Director, Robert Crown Law Library, Stanford Law School; Edward T. Hart, Acquisitions and Serials Librarian,!
University of Florida Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center. There will be time for questions and answers.

Karen A. Nuckolls
Head of Technical Services
University of Kentucky Law Library
Lexington, KY
kanuck2[at]uky.edu

Demystifying Batch-load Analysis Program

Demystifying Batch-Load Analysis: What You Need to Know About Vendor-Supplied Bibliographic Records

Co-sponsored and co-funded by OBS-SIS & TS-SIS

When: Sunday, July 13, 2008, 4:15-5:15 PM

Where: OCC-E146

Handout available at: http://tsvbr.pbwiki.com/Batchload+Analysis

Description: The availability of vendor-supplied bibliographic records for batch-loading into our local catalogs presents new challenges: How should my library evaluate the quality of vendor-supplied MARC records before acquiring them? What role can the TS-SIS Task Group on Vendor-Supplied Bibliographic Records play in this process? This program will introduce ways to use readily available tools to analyze batches of MARC records. It will help libraries that have purchased access to packages such as MOML, LLMC, BNA, CIS, WLX, etc. and are considering how to provide access to them through their catalogs.

Coordinator: Ellen McGrath, University at Buffalo

Moderator: Kevin Butterfield, College of William and Mary

Speaker: Yael Mandelstam, Fordham University

Learning outcomes:

1. Participants will be able to identify quality control issues and problems associated with the batch-loading of vendor-supplied bibliographic MARC records

2. Participants will be able to analyze and modify batches of MARC records using tools available in their libraries