It has taken me all week to get to this stage in setting up this blog.
Something that I've been thinking about viz library's and their public catalogues.
Traditionally, the opac (online public access catalogue) has been the main gateway to the library's print/audiovisual/map/and e-book collections. The metadata that populates the database comes from many sources, adheres to various levels of standardization, yet remains key to "discovery" of materials owned or licensed by the library.
On one hand, many big heads say the opac is obsolete as a discovery tool, that cataloguing standards and tools such as library of congress subject headings are passe. I suspect, that these same heads are the same people that are saying, lets outsource all of our cataloguing, or to save costs, lets just use bibliographic data supplied from the publisher or a vendor. It is good enough.
Good enough for whom? How can a crappy record that may not even contain the correct title or subtitle, serve a good discovery role?
I maintain that you get what you pay for. If you want to enhance discovery, one way is to ensure that your have well trained staff creating enhanced bibliographic records that include things like contents notes and access points in the conventional catalogue. With advanced keyword searching capabilities that are the norm now, the added value has the potential to pay off in spades with greater discovery of relevant material and therefore cirulation and use of the material acquired, catalogued, shelved, preserved or made remotely accessible by the library.
Have a great weekend.
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