Lightning Round
By the Book and For the Reader: Elevating Cataloging for the User Experience
The essence of cataloging is about making it easier for our users to find what they’re looking for in our collections. It’s really about putting their needs and search habits front and center. My experience helping patrons at the reference desk has been so helpful, showing me just how much the way we catalog can make or break their search experience. Even as we edge closer to the promising horizon of Linked Data, there’s still a lot we can do right now with our MARC record.
In this presentation, I will be sharing my experience and thoughts on the roles of narrative full-text fields within MARC records–specifically through fields like the 505 (Contents Note) and 520 (Summary)—to make searches more fruitful. I’ll be bringing together the recent research and my own cataloging work to show how these small changes can make a difference in helping users discover exactly what they need.
Finding the Sweet Spot: Making Room in Law Libraries Without Losing Our Gems
In the midst of the digital transformation, law libraries are at a crossroads, challenged to innovate and create space while safeguarding the essence of our invaluable collections. This delicate balance between modernization and preservation sparks lively discussions and a whirlwind of emotions. How do we navigate these complexities without compromising the heart of our collections?
In this presentation, we’ll walk you through the experience of a new Metadata and Discovery librarian who took on the task of assessing and processing roughly 11,000 volumes of regional reporters in an academic law library setting. We’ll dive into the strategies that were made to maximize space efficiency while maintaining the integrity of our treasured collections. This presentation aims to provide a whole view of the hurdles faced, the thoughtful decision-making process, and the practical steps implemented to tackle this challenge. From our step-by-step workflows to the effective solutions we discovered along the way, we’re excited to share our story. Our goal is to offer practical inspiration for peers facing similar issues.
Technical service librarians, library staff, and anyone interested in the dynamic landscape of law library collection are welcome.
Hepburn Romanization Revisited: Two Japanese Romanization Styles and Discovery
Japanese romanization history begins in the late 19th century and keeps evolving in two styles, one of which is the Japanese-government preferred, the other of which is English-speaking-country preferred. The latest revision of the ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table (2022) adopts these two styles: ISO 3602 and Hepburn romanization. Regardless of the adoption, a lot of Japanese romanization appearing in library metadata does not make good sense to English speakers because it is “phonologically incorrect” for them. From my understanding, the table is based on ISO 3602 to a great extent, with some Hepburn utilized. In the real world, Hepburn romanization is prevalently used in personal, corporate-body or geographic names. Therefore, as far as Japanese romanization is concerned, the real-world scenario sometimes contradicts what the library metadata displays. In this proposed presentation, the past literature and research on Hepburn romanization in library metadata as well as the history of Japanese romanization and the ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table will be reviewed and examined. In addition, the research goals and plans, such as local and OCLC data extraction and analysis, and future research prospects will be shared with the participants. The research outcome will shed light on the best approach to Japanese romanization for libraries, in order to improve discoverability for a variety of users and user needs.
- Slides - By the and For the Reader
- Slides - Finding the Sweet Spot
- Slides - Hepburn Romanization Revisited