JessicaHymers

November 2023 Meeting Minutes

OCATS November 2023 Meeting Minutes

Date: November 30, 2023, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.

Location: virtual meeting via Zoom

Co-Chairs: Trina Grover (Toronto Metropolitan University), Diana Haefele (Hamilton Public Library), and Kelly Buehler (Toronto Public Library)

Trina opened the meeting with a land acknowledgement and welcome. Everyone introduced themselves and talked about what they’ve been working on:

Diana Haefele (Hamilton Public Library) – Indigenous subject headings (maintenance phase), lots of new physical formats

Janna Colton (Belleville Public Library) – has been with the library for 46 years and ended up in cataloguing about 8 years ago; had to learn on the job, take courses, now implementing RDA as much as possible, has started Indigenous SH and eliminating unacceptable terms, introduced People of Colour, LGTBQ+ headings, also labeling for some of these headings so that people can find the material

Jeanne Enright (Toronto Public Library) – in Senior Cataloguer position for 2 years now, previously reference librarian at Toronto Reference Library with assignment of periodicals and serials, pre-amalgamation was a cataloguer at Metro Toronto Reference Library, has been working on serials documentation and training a new cataloguer virtually

Kelly Buehler (Toronto Public Library) – due to the cyber attack on TPL, mostly working on procedures, training, reports, etc. and now on Business Recovery Plan. Cataloguers currently have no access to the ILS and can’t do any cataloguing. Will have a tremendous backlog in all departments

Michael Rutledge (County of Brant Library) – they moved to Bibliocommons a couple of years ago and he has been working since then to make things display correctly, especially series; they have implemented Indigenous subject headings, LGTBQI+ headings

Elisa Sze (University of Toronto) – metadata librarian, teaches a cataloguing course in iSchool, looking for a way to explain RDA instructions better, will be one of the people offering the RDA workshop at OLA elisa.sze@utoronto.ca

Thomas Brenndorfer (Guelph Public Library) – aka Mr RDA, will also be at the OLA workshop, interested to see what other people are doing: best practices, profiles, processing specifications; looking at various tools and their prices

Carrie Mauer (Aurora Public Library) (copied from Chat) – If it gets to me, I’ll pass speaking  – I’m in an open work area today. I’m Tech Svs Team Lead at Aurora PL. First time attending OCATs meeting, excited to be here.

Tricia (Niagara Falls Public Library) (copied from Chat) – I’m not able to speak today either.  I’m the “Collection and Digital Asset Technician” at Niagara Falls Public Library (which means I’m the cataloguer).  We’re fully into wrap-up-the-year mode, as well as prepping to reopen a renovated branch.  We have many non trad collections, like outdoor equipment, parks passes, board games, musical instruments, and more.

Maeve Sarazin (Nation Municipality Library) (copied from Chat) – I will have to pass on speaking as well. There’s a baby group right outside my office at the moment. I’m Maeve, I work at the Nation Municipality Library. We have branches in St. Isidore, Limoges and St. Albert. I am responsible for most of our cataloguing at the moment. though I also help out with school visits and technological things like the 3D printer. This is only my second year here, and my second OCATS meeting. Thank you for having me here!

Kathleen OReilly (National Gallery of Canada)

Jana (Burlington Public Library) – puzzles, birding kits, etc. lots of non-traditional items and now early years engineering kits, cognitive kits, 3 people in dept – documentation on every format to make cataloguing consistent – paired with 2 schools whose items they host – make sure the records are consistent

Jessica Hymers (University of Toronto) – works in metadata production, loading electronic books and journals, works on the OCATS website, doing a Masters degree at iSchool, also working with Janna on Conference of Ontario Association of Library Technicians in Hamilton

Discussion:

Closure of Library Service Centre has affected several public libraries, who have had to find new vendors

Cataloguing procedures – several libraries are working on documenting cataloguing procedures. Feel free to share procedures here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14urOZRmENv7xun3TuC7_35jxBUdeo5BzvhGjiwCd7uw/edit?usp=sharing. Also note that Edmonton Public Library has their procedures online: manuals.epl.ca

OCATS Survey – we worked on one a couple of years ago but if we go ahead with it we have to figure out what we are going to do with the information and how are we going to do it

Future ideas – workflows of other departments (could we share), authority control/management, critical cataloguing projects – how do you identify projects, different cataloguing tools and how do we use them

Several people discussed their workflows and the following points were made:

  • Updating records (for fixed field coding, Type of Material, series tracing, etc.) – it is not feasible usually to look at the whole catalogue – have to choose a cut-off date – but you could upgrade records ad hoc at the same time you are doing other changes (e.g. replacing spine labels)
  • Belleville has shortened some of their Dewey numbers by removing subdivisions for Biography or Location and using special Biography or Canadian labels instead
  • Although many public libraries get MARC records from vendors, they still have to go over the records to edit them to the local standard and check for errors; Aurora uses various reports to help identify issues (cmauer@aurorapl.ca)
  • When migrating to new web catalogues it’s easiest if all MARC records are correct and consistent before the migration. Editing records post-migration so that they display correctly is time-consuming
  • Some libraries store cover images on a local server; others have a subscription to Syndetics for cover images; cover images for multilingual materials are a challenge
  • Libraries get MARC records from a variety of sources other than vendors: Bookwhere, MarcEdit (Z39.50 tool), SmartPort on SirsiDynix Symphony
  • AutoHotkey is a useful macro tool when cataloguing
  • Consistent records are important – procedures help with this
  • There’s a lot of duplication of effort when cataloguing – could we create a Canadian or public library application profile in RDA so that our records are consistent and we can share with each other and not have to edit heavily? E.g. we could all chip in on series tracing

 

April 2023 Meeting Minutes

OCATS April 2023 Meeting Minutes

Date: April 27, 2022 3–4 p.m.
Location: virtual meeting via Zoom

Co-Chairs: Trina Grover (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Kelly Buehler (Toronto Public Library)

We did not take attendance.

Announcements

  1. Call for Co-Chairs for 2023-2024, please consider volunteering to coordinate and host our meetings for the coming year.  As a volunteer-run group we rely on each other to take on this responsibility, which is not onerous, in order to give us space to gather and share.
  2. RDA training materials developed for the workshop at OLA 2023 are now available at https://ocats.ca

Discussion

Members of the CFLA Cataloguing Committee were present to talk about the new Cataloguing Code of Ethics released in January 2021. The Committee was seeking feedback from the Library community so it can consider recommending that the CFLA-FCAB Board of Directors officially endorse the Code.

Welcome and thanks to the members of the CFLA Cataloguing Committee:

Beth Shoemaker, Head, Bibliographic Services, Victoria University Libraries, University of Toronto

Antonio Muñoz Gómez, Digital Scholarship Librarian, University of Waterloo Library

Emma Cross, Cataloguing and Metadata Librarian, Carleton University Library

May Chan, Head, Metadata Services, University of Toronto Libraries

 

September 2022 Meeting Minutes

OCATS September 2022 Meeting Minutes

Date: September 22, 2022 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Location: virtual meeting via Zoom

Co-Chairs: Trina Grover (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Kelly Buehler (Toronto Public Library)

Present: Thomas Brenndorfer, Maggie, Karen Ellis, Juliya Borie, Annabelle Drobniak, Jessica, Kyla, Tricia, Kathleen Dahl, Jolene, Elisa Sze, Janna Colton, Elizabeth Steward, Natalie MacDonald, Trina Grover, Kelly Buehler

Thoughts and feedback on the Tutorial on Creating a 245 Field in New RDA by Thomas

  • It’s helpful to see various navigation options
  • More visuals would be helpful to understand the terminology, e.g. present a sample MARC record and label the RDA components
  • Note that there are patterns in the RDA terminology (Title Proper is the exception); this helps with translation into other languages
  • Question: do these changes improve the user’s experience? (customers and staff).  System implementation and functionality plays a huge role in the user’s experience.
  • A half-day workshop at OLA 2023 on navigating the Toolkit is planned

Getting together at OLA: unconference booking – Natalie will look into this

Reminder:  Emma is looking for a volunteer to help run a session, please let her know if you are interested in working with her on Cataloguing Code of Ethics at OLA super conference 2023.

Announcements

CCM is looking for a member-at-large from a public library, or special library that uses MARC, following Carol Rigby’s resignation, and called for the network to help recruit a new representative understanding the needs of small libraries.  The membership details can be viewed at CCM’s terms of reference: https://www.marc21.ca/040010-203-e.html

A big Thank You to Kyla Jemison, Metadata Librarian at the University of Toronto, for her tutorial on MarcEdit.

RDA Toolkit can be found at https://www.rdatoolkit.org/

Resources to learn https://www.rdatoolkit.org/learning

Next meeting let’s talk about library vendors.  Sometime in January.

June 2022 Meeting Minutes

June 2022 Meeting Minutes

Date: Thursday, June 16, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Location: virtual meeting via Zoom

Co-Chairs: Natalie MacDonald (Canadian Research Knowledge Network) and Trina Grover (Toronto Metropolitan University)

Introduction and welcome – Natalie

Land acknowledgement: Natalie shared a picture of quill work made by Melissa Peter-Paul of the Abegweit First Nation as she gave a reflection and land acknowledgement

OCATS code of conduct – Natalie presented our code of conduct:

“OCATS is dedicated to providing a welcoming, professionally engaging, and safe experience for all participants. OCATS values the productive exchange of ideas and insights from our community and fosters an inclusive environment to discuss opportunities and challenges. Discriminatory language, actions, and imagery are not appropriate for any OCATS event, whether online or in a face to face environment. OCATS does not tolerate harassment in any form.”

CFLA Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee – Emma Cross 

Emma’s presentation on the committee will be posted on the OCATS site.

  • The CFLA CMSC is composed of representatives from 8 Canadian provincial, regional and territorial library associations as well as a representative from the CFLA Board
  • There is a strong demand in the Canadian cataloguing community for training. The Committee will collaborate with member associations to co-ordinate the development and delivery of training. However, the Committee has encountered challenges finding trainers.
  • Forums like OCATS are a great resource for training outside conferences. OCATS provides opportunities for shorter and more informal training.
  • Post COVID, the Committee is working on consultation sessions for the Cataloguing Code of Ethics which was finalized in January 2021. ALA Core Board and CILIP Board have approved the Code of Ethics and now it is Canada’s turn
  • Early plans for a consultation session on the Cataloguing Code of Ethics at OLA super conference 2023. Emma is looking for a volunteer to help run the session, please let her know if you are interested.
  • Please contact Emma if you have ideas, suggestions or comments for the CLFA CMSC. The Committee meets 2-3 times each year and there is a provincial / regional report at each meeting so comments and feedback go directly to the Committee.

Tutorial – Creating a 245 Field in New RDA – Thomas Brenndorfer

  • Presentation focused on RDA, not MARC
  • Handout is posted on OCATS site
  • LAC policies will be added to Toolkit eventually
  • Link to LC policies: LC Metadata Guidance Documents https://loc.gov/aba/rda/mgd/index.html
  • Elisa noted that it’s helpful to read introductory chapters in the Guidance menu, especially Introduction to RDA – Data Elements and Manifestation statements

  • It’s important to create your own profile in the Toolkit
  • There are many ways to get everywhere in the toolkit
  • You can search by MARC tag

  • MARC (etc.) mapping help is available through the Element Reference button

Summer School Topic and Dates – Trina

  • Someone has volunteered to do a MarcEdit tutorial this summer – date and time TBA
  • We will record the session so that people can watch it if they can’t attend
  • Keep in mind that you don’t have to be an expert to provide training on something

Open discussion

Claims returned 

  • Joanne asked what other libraries do about customers who have a lot of claims returned items

MARC 

  • Not dead yet – many ILSs are dependent on it 
  • MARC Advisory Committee meeting is June 28-30 – here is the link: https://www.loc.gov/marc/mac/an2022_age.html

MarcEdit

  • MarcEdit is useful for dealing with records for electronic resources (often poor quality)
  • MarcEdit listserv: https://listserv.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=marcedit-l

LD4 Conference is July 11-15: https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/2022-ld4-conference/schedule?authuser=0

Name authorities

  • What are libraries doing about trans authors’ deadnames? 

Some articles:

https://journals.ala.org/index.php/lrts/article/view/6036/7732

https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/25432/33326

https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/Gender_375%20field_RecommendationReport.pdf

Also recommended: Ethical questions in name authority control (Library Juice Press, 2019)

  • Libraries like OPL, TPL, and Toronto Metropolitan University continue to do authority control despite lack of support for traditional metadata work 
    • even when there is no browse searching / see references in the discovery layer, authority work is useful to provide consistent hyperlinks
  • Authors sometimes contact the library to ask that dates be removed from their headings
    • Example of record with dates removed: https://lccn.loc.gov/nr91003643
    • LC requires dates in name heading; NACO rules say author’s wishes trump the rules
    • There is no easy way to establish headings for local authors
    • Motion Pictures Actors’ Union discourages the use of dates with actors’ names since it can lead to age discrimination; IMDB uses numbers to differentiate actors with the same name
  • RDA will not dictate what to do with authorities

Please feel free to send feedback on this meeting to Natalie MacDonald <nmacdonald@crkn.ca>

Next meeting:  September 22 @ 10 ET

March 2022 Meeting Minutes

March 2022 Meeting Minutes

Date: Thursday, March 17, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Location: virtual meeting via Zoom

 

In attendance:

Co-Chairs Natalie MacDonald (Canadian Research Knowledge Network) and Trina Grover (X University)

Elisa (U of T Libraries, Metadata Services Dept; RDA Steering Committee Education and Orientation Officer), Jana (Burlington Public Library, Digital Resources and Collections), Jeanne (Toronto Public Library, Cataloguing Dept), JR (Library and Archives Canada), Karen (Barrie Public Library), Kelly (Toronto Public Library, Cataloguing Dept), Kyla (U of T Libraries, Metadata Services Dept), May (U of T Libraries, Metadata Services Dept), Patty (Canadian Research Knowledge Network), Tammy (BMO, Metadata and Metadata Discovery; formerly at Hamilton Public Library), Thomas (Guelph Public Library; Chair of Canadian Committee on Cataloguing; Extent Working Group of RDA Steering Committee)

Land acknowledgement: Trina shared a Christie Belcourt painting as she gave a reflection and land acknowledgement

Welcome and introductions

Discussion

This is Natalie and Trina’s first meeting as co-chairs

  • Very thankful for all the work Tammy has done
  • How would we like to move forward with OCATS, keeping in mind that we are volunteers with time constraints?

Natalie shared a jamboard: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1M7Vc56Mrd0AdbLoDw7utiFVXlvYr3ZqH0yLeKAqA-CE/edit?usp=sharing

  1. How often do you want to meet? Consensus is every three months.
  2. Share your ideas for different themes that you’d like to see explored during meetings. Responses: 
    • RDA/LRM
      • application profiles in new RDA
      • policy changes coming from RDA (e.g. fictitious characters)
    • uses of MarcEdit
    • BIBFRAME
    • OpenRefine
    • cataloguing best practices, such as for special formats
    • new elements, new MARC fields
    • Changes to LCSH – how to advocate, what to do in the meantime
      • improving subject headings on Indigenous topics
  3. What does a typical OCATS meeting look like to you? (open question and answer time, workshops, show and share, tutorials, etc). 
    • Responses
      • some updates on cataloguing or metadata best practices and how to’s
      • I like to question/answers in the first part of the meeting. The second half can be show and tell or tutorials
      • I like the open question/answer time at the beginning and then on to tutorials etc.
  4. Would you be interested in attending a “summer school” that has a few workshops spread over a short period of time? Most responded Yes, but people who work for a school board would be away in the summer
    • Elisa, Jessica, Kyla, and May are all involved with Library Carpentries; could offer tutorials on Open Refine, GitHub, Unix Shell, etc.
    • Trina and Natalie (and others if they want) will take this feedback and develop a schedule
  5. A discussion about the nature of OCATS arose from Natalie’s questions:
    • BC CATS group was affiliated with BCLA, whereas OCATS is more grass roots
    • BC CATS had special topics (e.g. how do we all want to deal with gov docs, going over a policy change, round table report – new hires, etc.); OCATS members do not necessarily speak for their institutions
    • OCATS is information and education oriented rather than policy oriented
    • A drawback to being affiliated with something like OLITA is that there is a membership fee; this restricts access to those who can afford it. Smaller libraries in Ontario might be prevented from joining
    • We should lobby OLA to have more cataloguing content – 
      • Could OCATS present at OLA? 
      • We should hold an unconference at OLA
    • In person meetings are great, but virtual meetings are more accessible – break down barriers
    • Without a link to OLA, how do we share cataloguers’ point of view with CFLA-FCAB, etc.? Small public libraries whose tech services departments are being reduced need someone to speak on behalf of cataloguing and tech services. We may need to get connected at a personal level:
      • Get involved in various committees (e.g. Cataloguing Ethics Steering Committee, Cataloguing Metadata and Standards Committee)
        • How do these committees recruit? Mostly drawing from academic libraries rather than public or other libraries?
        • Let’s get members of these committees to come speak to us and tell us about what their committee does
      • Join cataloguing listservs
        • Kelly volunteered to start a list of committees and listservs to post on the OCATS site
      • Attend an open meeting of the MARC Advisory Committee
      • Sign up for training
      • Present at OLA, etc. (e.g. Masckawacis http://www.mccedu.ca/microlearning-sessions/)
  6. Other business
    • At Burlington Public Library they have pasted the new citizen oath into their copies of Discover Canada
    • Feedback on Launchpads (preloaded games at different intellectual levels)
      • They work for about 2 years before the battery dies
      • Burlington and Barrie Public Libraries have Launchpads
      • Vendor sends good MARC records with the Launchpad

https://burlington.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S194C198174

https://burlington.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S194C284494

2022 meeting dates:

Thursday, June 16, 10 am

Thursday, September 22, 10 am (tentative)

Next meeting at OLA at end of January?

December 2021 Meeting Minutes

OCATS Meeting Agenda

Date: Thursday December 9, 2021
Time: 10:00am – 11:20pm
Location: Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
  1. Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
  2. Approval of Agenda
  1. OCATS Survey – Lindsay Shaw / Kelly Buehler – OCATS will be conducting a survey of its membership asking questions around areas of knowledge, expertise, access and use of tools for cataloguing, training and mentoring needs. The survey will off an anonymous option for responses. The overall goal of the survey is to collect information on all OCATS members for networking and educational opportunities.

During the discussion it was proposed to add a question about EDI (Electronic Data Exchange) which some libraries are using for acquisitions and invoicing. Questions around knowledge or experience with RDA and linked data may be included.

There is the hope that this data can also be used to aid communication and advocacy in libraries around the importance of cataloguing and preparation around RDA.

DRAFT SURVEY CIRCULATED WITH THE MINUTES

  1. OCATS Leadership – Tammy – Tammy is taking a step back from heading OCATS for 2022. Trina and Natalie MacDonald will share chair duties, with Kelly Buehler helping with minutes.

  2. SirsiDynix Workflows / Overlaying item records – Lindsay Shaw – Received a lot of responses to this question. Don’t have EDI enabled on system, which may impact overlaying of item records. Lindsay will share to build knowledge base – put on OCATS website. Curating what is there.
  3. Other Business

OCUL’s COLLABORATIVE FUTURES SURVEY: Antonio Munoz Gomez will circulate via the google group a survey from OCUL’s Collaborative Futures group. They are wanting to indigenize their consortial ALMA catalogue and are looking for policy and workflows from all other libraries that have done this work.

There was discussion around building an OCATS knowledge base for information sharing around this type of topic. Natalie MacDonald shared CKRN’s spreadsheet about working process from CKRN around their removal of the subject heading Indians of North America from their Canadian site. Her information includes some French language mapping. (LINK: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uPI55rpGEQT7OP3uJWVm2KWZ0RpaznaW/edit#gid=466199250 )

USE OF INDICATORS IN THE 650 FOR SUBJECT HEADING CHANGES: There was talk about the use 650 #4 vs 650 #7 in MARC for non-LCHS headings like the move from approved to local headings.  For those who don’t have it there is a great MARC 21 site hosted by Library of Congress that talks about indicators and subfields for all MARC codes.

(LINK: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/)

Natalie pointed out that NIKLA (LINK: https://www.nikla-ancla.com/ ) The National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance will be announcing supplemental information around subject headings to bolster the ontology that they have already developed on Indigenous naming.

RDA BASICS: Jana Colton was looking for information on RDA and keeping RDA fields in her local catalogue. A string will be started in the google group related to this where information can be shared on making a case for management, basic training and information on RDA in local catalogues.

  1. Next Meeting: tentative March 17 at 10 am.

 

  1. Adjournment

 

 

October 2021 Meeting Minutes

OCATS Meeting Agenda

Date: Thursday October 4, 2021
Time: 10:30am – 11:30am
Location: Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
  1. Welcome & Land Acknowledgement – if anyone would like to suggest changes to the Land Acknowledgement contact Tammy Moorse – tmoorse @hpl.ca
  2. Approval of Agenda – Approved
  1. OCATS Logo Update
    • attendees voted on the new logo. The “fade” logo will go on the website, but black and white photo will also be available
  2. Introduction – Elisa Sze (UofT), Education and Orientation Officer RDA Steering Committee (starting January 1, 2022, see http://www.rda-rsc.org/node/674)
    • Elisa would like to know what resources libraries need to introduce staff to RDA
    • She will put together a survey that can be circulated
    • She welcomes feedback on the RDA Toolkit (elisa@rdatoolkit.org)
    • There’s a free trial of the RDA Toolkit at https://rdatoolkit.org
    • RDA YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd5pa3AoQIr17wESE9YHcnw. There are explanations of RDA concepts, how to navigate the Toolkit, etc.
    • Thomas Brenndorfer and Elisa have submitted a presentation on introductory RDA for OLA 2022
    • Tammy will follow up with Elisa and Thomas about coming back to OCATS in 2022 to present on RDA
    • May Chan raised the issue of accessibility to the RDA Toolkit. Accessibility to cataloguing tools is an ethical issue; many libraries lack the financial ability to subscribe. May would be willing to advocate for consortia access to RDA Toolkit
    • Kelly Buehler and Lindsay will draft a survey to identify which cataloguing tools libraries have access to and which they would like access to – to be ready for the December OCATS meeting
  3. Member Check-In
    • Jana Prokupek – Burlington Public Library – BPL is switching from Sierra to Polaris with all that entails. Only cataloguers will have access to the Polaris client; public service will use Leap. Hamilton Public Library and Guelph Public Library are also on Polaris, and there was some discussion about the merits of the client vs Leap
    • Natalie MacDonald – Canadian Research Knowledge Network
  4. OCATS Mentorship or Networking – Initial Discussion
    • Should we create a way to offer mentorships or other networking opportunities to OCATS members?
    • Perhaps we should have an annual meeting to meet and get to know each other
    • Kelly and Lindsay will fold some additional questions into the survey mentioned in section 4 above: your profile, area of expertise, area about which you have questions
    • Can we get more people involved? Students from university and library technician programs?
    • OLA has a mentoring program – Tammy will investigate coordinating with them
  5. Music Cataloguing & Classification
    • Joanne MacDonald (Ottawa Public Library, joanne.macdonald@ottawa.ca) had questions about how other libraries classify music: changing from World Music to Global Music for inclusivity; placement of R&B and Hip Hop in to a Pop/Rock category; use of the term Folk Music
    • May Chan suggested that a good approach might be to learn how the music is viewed in its country of origin; do people consider it popular, classical, or folk, for example?
    • Someone (?) said that the classification scheme at their library had a tendency to separate “white” music (pop/rock) from “black” music (R&B, hip hop, soul)
    • Kelly Buehler (Toronto Public Library) said that TPL’s pop section is a huge category that includes everything from Frank Sinatra to Joni Mitchell to the Beastie Boys
    • Attendees discussed the level of cataloguing for various types of music. Anne Dundas said that London Public Library doesn’t want to put too much work into cataloguing a dying resource (CDs)
    • Lindsay said that her library no longer buys CDs but relies on a rotation collection from the county cooperative. She made the point that although CD circulation statistics may be low, streaming is not always a viable alternative due to lack of infrastructure or low income
    • Lindsay found a good resource for music cataloguing (etc.) at Edmonton Public Library: https://manuals.epl.ca/cat/soundrecordings/nonclassical
  6. Barcode Scanners
    • Suggestions wanted around wireless or reading QR codes
    • Nobody at the meeting had suggestions
  7. Other Business – none
  8. Next Meeting Date and Time – Thursday December 9 and 10 am
  9. Adjournment

June 2021 Meeting Minutes

OCATS Meeting Agenda

Date: Thursday June 17, 2021
Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Location: Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
  1. Welcome & Land Acknowledgement – if anyone would like to suggest changes to the Land Acknowledgement contact Tammy Moorse – tmoorse @hpl.ca
  2. Approval of Agenda – Approved
  1. Member check-in
    • Jana Prokupek– Burlington Public Library – Technical services has been working two days per week on site and three from home. They are offering contactless holds pick-up and will hopefully be opening the smaller branches for browsing in Phase 2.
      • Manager of their department has retired, and Cody Vanderslot has taken the role, will be hiring a new collections librarian to replace him.
      • A customer pointed out that Indigenous cookbooks were appearing in searches for “Indian cookbooks” even though they had already updated their subject headings – are currently looking into how to solve this problem
      • Have been adding photos to records that don’t include cover images from the vendors – photographing the items and adding the images to the records manually
      • Tammy Moorse suggested looking into the ISBN cover image look-up service provided by Bibliocommons
    • Erica Mayhew – Richmond Hill Public Library– recently finished updating the Indigenous Subject Headings in the catalogue using mostly the Greater Victoria Public Library, 350+ subject headings
    • Anna Dundas – London Public Library – Have been switching from cataloguing in-hand to cataloguing from invoices. Aim to continue with 80% of items being catalogued from invoices and 20% on hand. They have been operating without a coordinator for some time but will be hiring someone new soon. Also currently working on updating Indigenous subject headings as well as other subject headings that could be potentially problematic.
    • Kris Wawrzyniak – Toronto Public Library – Will be launching the new digital archive on July 14 after over two years of work. After the TPL archive goes live, the Ontario Digital Archive will as well as it uses the same data set. There were some challenges with the platform as it was built for museums and had limitations as to the number of subject headings of one type that can be used.
    • Tammy Moorse – Hamilton Public Library – HPL’s Red Book Database of Community services launched its new linked-data system in December. They can bring in data from provincial and federal data sets via API and use ESRI GIS technology for addresses to provide consistency throughout records and provide mapping capabilities. They also just launched the Senior’s Guide which is a curated subset of the general database that is targeted towards seniors in Hamilton. It is available as a dynamic PDF with notes on the bottom of each page to indicate the data so that the timeliness of the data can be noted after printing.
      • Public Services have remained open throughout the recent shutdown with 30 min computer use and contactless holds pick-up. In Phase 1 computer time has been increased to one hour. Grab-and-Go bags continue to be offered
    •  Diana Haefele – Hamilton Public Library – Technical services is working with a small number of staff currently. They are cataloguing print materials from invoices at home and non-print materials on site.
    • Kelley Buehler – Toronto Public Library – Have been offering grab-bags of pre-selected items and will be reintroducing board books into circulation. Next, they will be re-introducing magazines and other serials as well
    • Natalie MacDonald – Has been working on the French translations of the updated Indigenous Subject Headings and has approval now to publish a first phase of bilingual updates in Canadiana
    • Kathleen O’Reilly – National Gallery of Canada – They have also been working on updating the Indigenous Subject Headings. Are hoping to have access to their building soon as they have not been allowed on site since the last shutdown.
    • Jolene – Aurora Public Library – Have been working on updating Indigenous subject headings and are about halfway through using the list from Greater Victoria Public Library
    • Lindsay Shaw – New Tecumseth Public Library – Their department is going through some big staffing changes as they are one manager short, and their CEO is on their last days and has not yet been replaced. They are also working on cataloguing items as part of their new Library of Things collection and helping with curbside and public services.
    • Quarantining of materials has been ceased at Toronto Public Library, Hamilton Public Library, Orangeville Public Library, Barrie Public Library, and New Tecumseth Public Library
    • ALA RUSA presentation July 7, 1pm EST– Decolonizing the Catalog: Anti-Racist Description Practices from Authority Records to Discovery Layers https://www.ala.org/rusa/decolonizing-catalog-anti-racist-description-practices-authority-records-discovery-layers
  1. Plans for OCATs – Kelly Buehler, Toronto Public Library
    • Many thanks to Tammy Moorse for pushing this group ahead
    • Goals:
      • Form a networking community
      • Share info about trends and changes in cataloguing and metadata throughout all types of libraries
      • Support and push for increased cataloguing and metadata sessions at OLA
    • Meetings and membership will continue to be free. Group will meet quarterly for up to two hours either in person or online
    • Aim to provide low or no-cost training opportunities on topics such as MarcEdit, Open Refine, and RDA. There is also the idea to offer one-to-two-hour sessions in a “summer camp style” in July or August of 2022
    • OCATS Website is in development and will include meeting minutes, resources for new cataloguers, technical resources, links to other cataloguing organizations, updates on projects at the Ontario institutions, and information, resources, and links about specific topics such as Indigenous subject headings
    • A questionnaire or invitation will be sent to OCATS members to gather information for the website or contact Kris Wawrzyniak (kwawrzyniak @tpl.ca) to gain editing permissions
    • Note was shared to use the language of Indigenizing your catalogue rather than decolonizing your catalogue
      1. A link to a reading on this topic was shared: Decolonization is not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630
  1. OCATS Website https://ocats.ca/– Kris gave a demonstration of the current version of the OCATS website. Contact Kris (kwawrzyniak @tpl.ca), Kelly (kbueller @tpl.ca), or Tammy (tmoorse @hpl.ca) to share ideas for the site
    • New pages will be added for different topics
    • Retention policy needs to be considered to determine when old posts will be archived
    • All content is automatically backed up to google drive and the website is hosted in Montreal on Canadian servers
    • Institutions that would like their own page to share information on the website can email Kris
    • Institutional pages can be used to share conference presentations or specific project details and Tammy/Kelly/Kris are happy to address questions from senior leadership if permission is needed to post these items
  2. Update on Cataloguing Code of Ethics – May Chan, University of Toronto
    • Endorsement and engagement from library associations is underway and francophone and Indigenous committees are also being consulted. This process will take 6 months to 1 year.
    • Grassroots impact of this work includes a group from Portugal asking if they can translate and use this code of ethics and several people who served on the working groups asking to present on what the work has meant to them.
    • Some criticism/critique has been received that it is Anglo-American heavy. Response is that it was never meant to be a global endeavor. Everyone is invited to add to the bibliography.
    • August 10, 2pm EST – presentation geared to administrators and managers about the need to cataloguing ethics and why this type of work should be prioritized https://www.ala.org/core/walking-talk-realizing-ethical-considerations
    • Currently collecting case studies for situations that come up in the workplace that require some sort of ethical consideration. Details are found on the website: https://sites.google.com/view/cataloging-ethics/home/case-studies?authuser=0
  3. Final Report from the Canadian Bibframe Readiness Task Force from CFLA-FCAB
    http://cfla-fcab.ca/en/advocacy/final-report-canadian-bibframe-readiness/

    • To be added to the September agenda
  4. Program of Cooperative Cataloguing (PCC) position on RDA 3R
    https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/PoCo-2020/newRDA%20ImpementationPlanNov2.pdf

    • To be added to the September agenda
  5. Other Business – none
  6. Next Meeting Date and Time – September date and time TBD
  7. Adjournment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2021 Meeting Minutes

OCATS Meeting Agenda

Date: Thursday March 18, 2021
Time: 10:00am – 11:00pm
Location: Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
  1. Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
    • Any feedback or suggestions for the land acknowledgement are welcomed and should be sent to Tammy Moorse.
  2. Approval of Agenda – approved
  1. OCATS Logo Update – options for the OCATS logo will be recirculated again before the next meeting
  1. Working during the Pandemic
    • Tammy Moorse – Hamilton Public Library
      • Team of three working entirely from home migrating data into the new Red Book database
      • Microsoft Teams has been a useful tool for both meetings and as a document repository
      • a large portion of the library staff have been seconded to work with the city public health department and open hours have been reduced to accommodate
    • Lindsay Shaw – New Tecumseth Public Library
      • opened up to the public this week
      • cannot do remote cataloguing due to firewall and non-web-based ILS
      • investigating VPN options for working from home
    • Jessica Van Keulen – Western University Library
      • major renovations to the largest library have displaced study space and holds pick up to the science library
      • technical services staff are mostly working from home with 1-2 days per week on site, only physical materials are catalogued on site
      • cleaning up issues from migration to Alma
    • Antonio Munoz Gomez – University of Waterloo Library
      • continuing with curbside pickup service
      • technical services staff are mostly working from home with 1-2 days per week on site to work on print materials
      • remote cataloguing of print materials is done with the help of receiving/holdings maintenance staff – for original and foreign language cataloguing scans of titles pages etc. can be requested, only cataloguing on site if absolutely necessary
    • Kelly Buehler – Toronto Public Library
      • processing, shipping, and receiving staff have been working on site since June, other staff including supervisors, acquisitions, and cataloguing are working from home with 1-3 days one site per week
      • staff are all using TPL laptops because of security issues involved with installing VPNs on personal laptops
      • workflow involves spreadsheets with information from vendor invoices, OCLC copy is compared with title pages available on Amazon or Publisher’s websites to verify, supervisors pull books that can’t be verified to be reviewed by staff when they are on site – the biggest issue is audiobook copy records listing the incorrect number of disks
      • working from home requires a lot more work in planning and administration of procedures and workflows
    • May Chan – University of Toronto Libraries
      • Transitioned to Alma in early January, currently learning the new system and redeveloping workflows
      • Cataloguing is completed off spreadsheets, onsite staff assist by scanning parts of books that require more complex description
    • Lorna Young – Toronto District School Board
      • Limited onsite staff based on a weekly rotation which includes technical services staff and managers
      • Supporting school libraries undergoing renovations by packing and unpacking collections
      • Will be holding a virtual book fair in the near future
    • Aurora Public Library
      • Beginning to plan changing Indigenous Subject Headings
  1. Ethics in Cataloguing Update – May Chan, University of Toronto
    • Final version of the Code of Ethics for Cataloguers was released in Jan 2021 after two rounds of feedback
    • Next steps are to get US, UK, and CAN endorsement from professional associations which is expected to take 6 months to 1 year
    • The steering committee is now expanding the Code by adding about case studies and they are looking for a few volunteers to test the process for submitting case studies. If interested email May Chan at ms.chan@utoronto.ca
  1. What more can be done to stimulate discussion on the google group?
    • Goal for 2021 is to complete the OCATS website, it will include a knowledge base of related links and resources
    • Emma Cross, OLA rep with CFLA/FCAB CMSC will gather input and relay it to OCATS
    • Looking into creating a more formal leadership structure for the OCATS group
    • Discussing eventually becoming part of OLA but there are concerns about OLA membership and associated costs becoming a barrier to involvement with OCATS
  1. Topics for presentations or presenters for meetings in 2021
    • Ad Hoc committee to plan themes and presentations for future events and meetings
    • Thomas Brenndofer to return with a presentation on the new RDA toolkit
      1. Interest in format-specific best practices
    • Canadian BIBFRAME readiness Task Force with an update on where Canada is on this and assistance to prepare libraries for the transition
    • Kris Wawrzyniak to do a tutorial on moving MARC data into and from OpenRefine and how to manipulate MARC data in Open Refine
    • Antonio Munoz Gomez to do a presentation on MarcEdit
    • Implementation of Indigenous Subject Headings and how to get vendors involved
    • Discussion surrounding LGBTQ+ subject headings
    • Stories and examples of other local treatments for subject headings
    • Introduction to Sinopia
    • Looking into creating or exploring existing alternatives to the Legislative Library of British Columbia’s MARC Records Batch Service
    • OLAC best practices for A/V resources including guidelines for the new MARC accessibility fields
    • Using ALMA analytics for cataloguing purposes
    • Different projects that people use tools for including special projects or regular workflows
      • Interest in Bookwhere and APIs for Alma
    • AHA! Moments where people discovered a new way of doing something that made a difference to their job
    • Suggestion for more voices from public libraries to avoid academic libraries dominating the discussion
  1. Other Business
  1. Next Meeting Date and Time – June 17
  2. Adjournment – Thanks Everyone

December 2020 Meeting Minutes

OCATS Meeting Minutes

Date: Thursday December 3, 2020
Time: 10:45am – 12:00pm
Location: Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
  1. Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
    • To connect our community and work towards Truth and Reconciliation. We’ll begin this OCATs meeting by acknowledging that we are meeting, al bet virtually, on Indigenous land that has been inhabited by Indigenous people from the beginning. For those of us who are settlers, we thank all the generations of people who have taken care of these lands and acted as stewards of these places for us over thousands of years.

      With the large geographic area that this virtual meeting covers, we acknowledge that there are many Indigenous groups and treaties that are historic to this province. We recognize the contributions of the Metis, Inuit and all those that are Indigenous peoples. We deeply appreciate all their historic connections and contributions to strengthening and shaping this province and this country.

  2. Approval of Agenda – Approved
  3. Presentation on Bibframe & Linked Data – Ian Bigelow, University of Alberta (10 minutes)
  4. Logos
  5. Working during a Pandemic
    • Hamilton Public Library is in a Red Zone. All branches are fully open. Cataloguers are working on site but are doing more front-end service, so cataloguing is progressing slowly. A lot of cataloguing is being completed from invoices or simply approving vendor records.
    • Whitby Public Library is in a Red Zone. Staff and cataloguing team are on site, but the number of visitors is low.
    • Western University Libraries are open for study space, but the stacks are closed. Tech services are in a separate building and are working with reduced staff for physical distancing.
    • Burlington Public Library is open for browsing except for the central branch which is operating as grab and go. Tech services are not doing front end work and are focusing on cataloguing.
    • Barrie Public Library is in an Orange Zone. It is fully open and still offering express service. Most staff are on site, including tech services.
    • Ryerson University Library’s print cataloguing backlog is 10 months long as cataloguers have not been deemed as essential. Ebook cataloguing is being done from home. The library is offering some access to study space and print books can be requested and picked up on site.
    • Aurora Public Library has switched to indoor pick-up service because their parking lot (where they were previously offering pick-up) is under construction. Also offering ‘take and make’ kits from their Creative Studio and one-hour computer use on site.
    • Orangeville Public Library is in the Orange Zone. It is open to the public for computer use and holds pick up.
    • Richmond Hill Public Library is in the Red Zone. Hours are reduced but visitors are welcome to use the space and to browse the stacks. Reference desk staff are reduced. The opportunity is being taken to shift the collections. All staff have returned to regular hours except for some of the programmers.
  1. Discussion
    • OLA Superconference 2021 – entire conference will be virtual in 2021. Libraries can purchase a site license which will allow the entire library staff to access the conference and all recordings for 6 months
    • Tammy Moorse will be presenting on leveraging community information within the library and her work on the Red Book of Community Information at Hamilton Public Library.
    • May Chan will be part of a panel along with student interns from the University of Toronto. They will be discussing their project of increasing staff engagement around the need to improve subject headings pertaining to Indigenous Peoples.
    • Thomas Brenndorfer will be leading two presentations on the new RDA toolkit.
  1. Update on Ethics in Cataloguing and upcoming OLITA Event – May Chan
    • May Chan gave an update on the activities of the Cataloguing Ethics Steering Committee. https://sites.google.com/view/cataloging-ethics/home
    • They are continuing work on “A Code of Ethics for Cataloguers”. There have been two rounds of feedback and editing since the last OCATS meeting. The team meets every two weeks to review and discuss all comments. The second draft was pushed forward in August and closed for comments in September. They are close to issuing a final version but are still reviewing comments and consulting with teams in the UK and US to ensure that it meets the needs of those cataloguing communities.
    • OLITA is running a presentation on December 15,  “What’s Ethics Got to Do With it” https://fontevacustomer-1650ff83de5.force.com/s/lt-event?id=a1U5x00000EfzMNEAZ
    • There is currently a cost of $45 for the webinar but Tammy and May will follow up with OLITA as it was meant to be free. An update will be sent to the Google group and May will be invited back to give a presentation to the group if the OLITA webinar remains at $45.
    • Heather Pretty and Robin Desmeules will also be offering a webinar on Bibframe with OLITA in February. This will have a cost as it is more hands on.
  1. Other Business – no business to discuss
  2. Next Meeting Date and Time – MARCH 4, 2021 from 10 am to 11:30 am
  3. Adjourned