CATALOG DEPARTMENT

ANNUAL REPORT

July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001

Submitted by Linda Barnhart

 

Accomplishments

 

Cataloging:  The Department cataloged 52,631 print titles for thirteen campus libraries, an overall increase of 1% over last year.  This is especially remarkable because it was accomplished with approximately 15% fewer FTE.  Incoming receipts (purchases and gifts) totaled approximately 59,000 titles, an increase of 25%.  See TPOT (http://tpot.ucsd.edu/Cataloging/Stats/stats0001.pdf) for more detail.

 

CJK successfully handled a 58% increase in Chinese orders without additional staffing and with the extra step of searching all materials two ways:  Wade-Giles and Pinyin.  This dramatic increase resulted from a more effective use of vendors that provided significant cost savings and better student training.  The Section also took various steps in preparation for Pinyin conversion, undertook cataloging of the digital collection of Siku quanshu, completed cataloging of Japanese IP books in IR/PS and began cataloging new IR/PS materials upon receipt, and maintained Korean language materials without building a backlog with OCLC TechPro's help.

 

Database Management completed a number of projects to achieve the goal of accurate information in the Roger (and all affiliated) databases.  These projects include dismantling the UGL collection, correcting outdated MeSH headings and their associated authority records, correcting bibliographies classified according to a local practice, and Annex weeding in preparation for substantive collection moves in the coming years.

 

DISC cataloged over 5,000 serials, monographs, and databases for CDL, kept up with serials cataloging for all UCSD branch libraries, worked with bibliographers to provide access to hundreds of journals within databases, completed several major serials maintenance projects, added 8,500 PIDs, created WorldCat Collection Sets to benefit OCLC users, gave presentations at ALA, served as problem solvers and resource contacts for the Library, and provided leadership in the area of electronic resources throughout the UC system.

 

MC2 successfully handled a more than 30% increase in incoming monographs and began processing added electronic versions of monographs, which nearly doubled the work for S&E copy cataloging.  This huge accomplishment was achieved by reassigning work, assuming new responsibilities, developing more efficient methods, hiring new students and temporary staff, working overtime, and especially through tremendous effort on the part of all section staff and students.

 

The Music Cataloging Section cataloged 4401 scores, sound recordings and videos.  The acquisitions rate showed an increase in purchases of approximately 15%, while gift receipts were down significantly from last year.  Overall, we cataloged 642 more items than were received, 17% higher than the acquisitions rate, allowing us to make significant inroads into our backlog.  In the area of enhancing public access to uncataloged materials, we completed an effort to enhance local minimal-level records for uncataloged, published sound recordings to ensure that they contained contents and performer notes where appropriate.  Also enhancing public access was the proposal and acceptance via the SACO project of two subject headings dealing with toy pianos.

OSM's original cataloging increased by 3%.  The credit for this achievement goes to the original catalogers who performed with unusual speed to compensate for the temporary loss of staff.   The section effectively handled competing priorities throughout the year.  In addition, a small backlog of EU documents was completed and a special serial analytic project for SIO is well underway.

Electronic resources cataloging:  The number of online resources reflected in Roger (and RogerWeb) now totals over 25,000, an increase of 8,000 over last year’s cumulative total.   The Department continues to move toward the goal of having all staff members handle electronic versions.  This statistic includes 194 titles from the Siku quanshu Project, 937 electronic working papers, and 165 electronic European Union documents.

 

Shared Cataloging Program:  The DISC Section continued its role as the cataloging agency for the California Digital Library.  The Section cataloged and distributed 1,970 bibliographic records to the other eight campuses, in serial and monographic formats.  Planning is underway for broadening the program to include selected California state documents.  The use of PIDs continues to be an efficient labor-saving technique both for UCSD and for the other campuses in terms of record maintenance.

 

Personnel changes:  This year held an extraordinary number of staffing changes.  In August, Crystal Graham passed away, and Betty Flores cataloger retired.  In December, the Head of CJK Processing, Jean Tzung, also retired.  Becky Culbertson and Nobuko Smith admirably stepped into interim Section Head roles.  We re-evaluated the workflow in OSM and made some substantive changes, allowing us to post an opening (recently filled) for an LA IV cataloger.  We also hired Shi Deng and Adolfo Tarango as Section Heads in CJK and DISC.

 

 

Goals

 

Catalog all incoming materials, as well as continue to make inroads into such backlogs as German/French/Italian monographs, California documents, and sound recordings.

 

Convert all Wade-Giles data to Pinyin and clean up records so that users no longer have to search under two forms of the same name.  This includes sending a snapshot of Roger to OCLC, reloading the records, and doing subsequent manual review and cleanup.

 

Withdraw and transfer print materials to ensure adequate collection space.  Move print materials according to bibliographer instructions for various collections, under the umbrella of the Annex weeding project.  This includes moving monographs, serials, and documents out of the Annex, and Biomedical Library materials into the Annex.

 

Prepare for Melvyl-T.  Learn more about Aleph and SFX as we approach the transition of the Melvyl catalog.  Provide CDL with a snapshot of the Roger database, as well as any additional information they require to implement this transition successfully.  Clean up as much in Roger as we can prior to the Melvyl-T database load, including Pinyin records and collapsing processing units to achieve a master record for monographs.

 

Review the matrix.  Our cataloging environment has changed a lot.  The Catalog Department’s table “Cataloging-Related Assignments by Level” was last reviewed in 1996, and needs to have existing tasks re-assessed and new tasks added.

 

Training, training, training.  New staff, new Section Heads, and in fact everyone will need to be trained in a variety of areas in the coming year.  There will be new systems and skills to learn, such as Aleph, the Millennium Cataloging product, and the Cataloging MicroEnhancer; we may all begin learning Windows 2000, and may need to place more emphasis on the LC Cataloger’s Desktop.  In addition, we foresee a long learning curve that should continue throughout on both electronic resources cataloging and digital library metadata needs.  NACO re-training will also be held after the new OSM Head is settled.

 

Complete microform analytics load.  Almost 9,000 bibliographic records analyzing four large microform sets have been purchased from OCLC and will be loaded into Roger (and affiliated databases) this Fall.

 

 

Concerns

 

Increasing cataloging workload, and having sufficient staff to meet that workload.  The new schools of nursing, pharmacy, and management will all have impacts on the collection that will be felt in processing departments.   In addition, the demand for more access to equivalent electronic versions continues to increase, and the workload for large electronic resource packages remains wildly unpredictable.  While we will continue (as always) to look for more efficient processing methods, our number one concern is having sufficient staff to meet the access needs of our primary clientele.

 

Database maintenance workload.  The existing collections won’t hold still.  Forty percent of the Geisel Library tower must be weeded, a major Documents move is planned, and the Biomedical Library has a large collection move coming up.  We also would like to serve our users better by implementing the master record technique for monographs, which will be a significant database cleanup effort.  We remain very concerned about the impact on staff of increasing maintenance needs for electronic resources, and continue to monitor this area closely.

 

Limited options for hiring temporary staff.  The new hiring regulations on campus that prohibit us from hiring a one-year casual position have a dramatic effect on our ability to deal with workload fluctuations. 

 

Holdings format planning.  It is important for UCSD to follow national standards, and implementing the MARC Format for Holdings is within our grasp with the Innovative Millennium Serials product.  Planning will begin in the coming year for this major change.

 

Future of SCP.  With the implementation of Ex Libris’s Aleph system, the Shared Cataloging Program needs to undergo fresh scrutiny in terms of technical implementation (record coding techniques and distribution methods).  As the Program moves forward in cataloging California documents monographs, and other science monographs (most notably IEEE and ACM), there are other coding and social obstacles to be worked out for effective record sharing.

 

SRLF processing.  We expect to identify 80,000 volumes to send to SRLF during the coming year, and they are only able to process 6,000 (4,000 of which were sent as of September 1).  We would very much like to find a method to give them the ability to take as much as we need to send.  In addition, complex problem resolution is hampered by our inability to access Orion2 in “technical mode,” which results in synchronization problems between the databases.  To address this problem, there are technical as well as funding issues that must be resolved.

 

Innovative Interfaces concerns.  We continue to watch with interest the III implementation of Oracle, and wonder whether we should Beta test Release 2002.

 

Digital Library support.  Senior managers in the Catalog Department, and eventually all staff, must continue to increase and broaden their base of knowledge in the areas of metadata, databases, and digital library issues.  We are getting increasing and high-pressure demands for support and consultation in the digital library arena, for example to support DARP metadata, slide digitization, and new grants.  Training in the form of workshops, information sessions, and even discussion groups must be developed, made available, and supported for staff to develop professionally in this area.