RDA Full Draft Out W/C 3 November

Just in case anyone doesn't subscribe to LIS-UKBIBS:

The Joint Steering Committee has announced that the full draft of RDA will be available for constituency review the week of 3 November.

The plan is to make it available in a prliminary version of the software.

Full post here.

Announcement: Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference, Glasgow, September 2008

CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference entitled "Classification and subject retrieval in the 21st century: you can't make jelly without a mould" will take place at the The University of Strathclyde on 3 - 5 September 2008

The CIG conference 2008 web pages are now available at:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/CIG/2008/conf-glasgow/

Online booking is now open.

135 years after Melvil Dewey first had the idea for his classification scheme and with the exponential growth of new information storage and retrieval systems we are still wrestling with finding the right way to get things in order - on the shelves and in those very systems - and then to enable people to find them when they search. This conference is intended to explore current developments in classification and subject retrieval. The conference programme will cover both the longstanding methods - such as traditional classification schemes - right up to social networking and 'bleeding edge' ideas. The conference will also include the CIG AGM and Annual Standards Forum.

Following a call for papers, the conference programme is now in place. Papers will be considered for publication in Catalogue and Index following the conference. Powerpoint or similar presentation files, that accompany papers, will be published on the CIG website.

The varied programme of presentations and updates on standards will be complemented by opportunities to network with fellow professionals.

Dublin Core Deficiency?

This ongoing dialogue on the DC-GENERAL mailing list might be of interest to some.

The plaintiff complains that there is no obvious element in DC which can indicate that a resource is a translation of another resource. Subsequent discussion occurs around possible usage of the isVersionOf / hasVersion refinements of element Relation. During that discussion, it is suggested that 'it may be helpful to look at FRBR'.

The plaintiff responds:

I can scarcely believe that it took the Scholarly Works Application Profile, in 2006, to define a "hasTranslation" property - and even now there's no isTranslationOf to reciprocate. In all these years has no-one needed a hasTranslation property, if hasVersion isn't appropriate?

Hmmm. Does DCMES really not cater for something so basic as translations?

What's your take on this?

Bob

Guardian and Observer Archives to be Digitized

In an item posted on the KOnnect blog back in August I commented on our sister group KIDMM's expression of interest in digital preservation issues and referenced the current tussle between Microsoft's OOXML format and the Open Source community's ODF as leading contenders for a preservation format. I also referred to the PDF/A format as a possible third contender, and posted a further item on this blog noting the launch of an XMP editor for PDF under Windows.

In a highly significant development, the Guardian News and Media group (GNM), publishers of the Guardian and Observer newspapers, have recently announced that they are to digitize the whole of the archives of the two newspapers. The announcement adds:

"The group says the move will ensure the preservation of the papers’ legacy as microfilm and paper archives are in danger of degrading beyond repair."

Why is this interesting? Well, firstly because there are many in the Records Management community and beyond who claim that paper and microfilm are still the preservation formats with the longest lifetime, and who scorn the suggestion that digital formats can have greater longevity. Can anyone shed any further light on this debate?

Secondly, I wonder what retrieval facilities are to be offered for the new archive; plain content-based FTR plus author & title, or something more sophisticated? We shall find out soon enough, since the archive is free to access during November.

Invasion of the Knowledge Organizers

London, England, 22 August 2007.

The authorities in London have issued a warning that the city is likely to be hit by several swarms of Knowledge Organizers next month. The first swarm will make landfall on 4 September, when the UK Chapter of ISKO hold their half-day seminar Tools for knowledge organization today.

Disorganized knowledge workers are advised to take extra care on 12 September, when mixed swarms of knowledge managers and data managers are forecast to hit the Charing Cross area. First to arrive will be those attending the afternoon seminar of NetIKX - the Network for Information and Knowledge Exchange - at the DWP in John Adam St., where Stella Dextre Clarke will be speaking on Standardising the language of information and knowledge management – the Agony and the Ecstasy.

Following in the early evening of the 12th., another swarm is expected to descend upon the British Computer Society's premises in Southampton Street for a meeting entitled Information, data and metadata: why they need to be managed. The meeting marks the launch of Keith Gordon's new book Principles of Data Management: Facilitating Information Sharing.

After a brief respite, we are warned that a further swarm is due to hit the Covent Garden area on 17 September in the form of the BCS KIDMM (Knowledge, Information, Data and Metadata Management) day conference KIDMM: MetaKnowledge Mash-up 2007. Since this gathering comprises a number of different species which do not normally swarm together, visitors to the area are advised to be on their guard against unpredictable behaviour.

So, make sure you get these in your diary:

04 September: Tools for knowledge organization today
12 September: Standardising the language of information and knowledge management – the Agony and the Ecstasy
12 September: Information, data and metadata: why they need to be managed
17 September: KIDMM: MetaKnowledge Mash-up 2007

Planet Cataloging

After a busy fortnight, I've been catching up on my C&I postings this afternoon, and just wanted to share with you my top link for the day, Planet Cataloging.

"An automatically-generated aggregation of blogs related to cataloging and metadata designed and maintained by Jennifer Lang and Kevin S. Clarke," its blogroll is impressive, and I'm sure it's going to be useful for anyone interested in keeping up-to-date with what the catalogue-blogging community is saying - in the library sector and beyond.

I've posted a couple of drawbacks and caveats on C&I Blog, and I hope you won't mind my just linking to the post there for anyone who's interested, rather than repeat posting here.