You probably know that you can search the WorldCat database via FirstSearch or WorldCat.org. Did you know we now have a union catalog for Missouri? To search for holdings in Missouri libraries, try the new Missouri Group catalog: missouri.worldcat.org/. You can use this catalog to scope to all Missouri libraries, Missouri public libraries, or different regions in Missouri including the Mid-Missouri region.

Some of the neat features:
• Individual bibliographic records show which libraries in Missouri own a title: http://missouri.worldcat.org/oclc/9756742&referer=brief_results
• You can view recent acquisitions for individual Missouri libraries. The information is based on holdings information in WorldCat. Try this out with the following:
o For MU Libraries, you can view lists for:
–MU Libraries (except HSL and Vet): http://missouri.worldcat.org/libraries/5438
–HSL and Vet: http://missouri.worldcat.org/libraries/4501
–You’ll see a drop-down menu that offers options to limit to other MU Libraries branches. Since we don’t add information to WorldCat based on specific branches only those noted above will work.
o MU Law: http://missouri.worldcat.org/libraries/4496
o Daniel Boone Regional Library: http://missouri.worldcat.org/libraries/12257
• You can set up an account and create lists of favorites, add tags and reviews to records, etc. This is available in WorldCat.org, too.

This catalog is one of the services offered by the State Library as part of the Show Me the World program: http://mo.webjunction.org/moshowme.

–Felicity Dykas

The Catalog Department cataloged two large ebook series and one collection this month. They are:

• ACS Symposium Series: This series consisted of over 1,000 titles published by the American Chemical Society in the last 30 years, covering a variety of topics in chemistry.
• Advances in Chemistry Series: Over 250 titles published from the 1950’s, also by the American Chemical Society.
• University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions: Nearly 500 titles which the University of Pittsburgh has chosen to make open access, including many out of print titles.

As a reminder, you can now limit to ebooks in searches in MERLIN with the expanded Material Type limits.

Jee Davis and Felicity Dykas will repeat the presentation they gave at the Missouri Library Association conference at the Catalog Department’s October training. In their presentation — FRBR: First Step to RDA — Jee and Felicity will review basic concepts covered in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), a report published in 1998, and their application in Resource Description and Access (RDA), the cataloging standard slated to replace AACR2.

Everyone is invited to attend:
October 26
10:00-11:00 am
Ellis 4G41

Wayne Sanders and Felicity Dykas presented a session at the MOBIUS Annual Conference 2009 on June 3 entitled “What’s New in Cataloging 2009.” They gave a whirlwind tour of changes that have taken place in descriptive and subject cataloging standards and in the MARC format. They also reviewed relevant changes that have occurred at places such as the Library of Congress, OCLC and GPO.

For additional news from the Catalog Department, visit their news blog.

Visit the new Catalog Department blog for information on Catalog Department activities and projects. Department staff will post news about projects they are beginning and have completed, records loads, MERLIN updates, staff news, etc. In the right-hand column you will find a link to “Useful links.” These links will take you to pages on the Catalog Department website that provide information of interest to others, including MERLIN location codes and MERLIN record create dates. Please let Felicity Dykas know of other links or information that you would like to have added to the “Useful links” page.

You can access the blog via the RSS feed on the Catalog Department homepage at mulibraries.missouri.edu/staff/catalogdept/catalogdeptmain.htm or you can link directly to the blog at mulibraries.missouri.edu/blogs/catdeptblog/

Wayne Sanders, attended the ACRL Rare Books and Manuscript Section’s Workshop on Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) given by Deborah Leslie of the Folger Shakespeare Library at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on Dec. 12th. Through lectures, visual aids and in-class exercises, workshop participants were introduced to and gained practical experience in using Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) (DCRM(B)).

At her request, Adrienne Arden has moved away from her supervisory position in the Acquisitions Dept. In her place Amy Lana has become the new supervisor of the monographs acquisitions unit. Adrienne will continue to be a member of the monographs order team. The members of that team are still working out the specifics of their respective work assignments. Please contact Amy with any questions that you previously took to Adrienne. Continue to refer gift questions to Amy. And continue to send purchase requests to the Dept’s general email account: acquisitions@missouri.edu.

All of the members of that team will be happy to answer any general monograph purchasing questions you may have. I will be happy to answer any and all questions as well.

Karen Darling

Just a couple of weeks ago the Catalog Department announced that it has achieved independent status as NACO contributors of series authority records to the OCLC authority file. Shortly after that, we received notice that we had achieved independent status for personal name headings as part of our larger NACO membership. NACO (Name Authority Cooperative) is a program sponsored by the Library of Congress. A goal of this program is to provide for “the timely creation and maintenance of authoritative, cost-effective … authority records by knowledgeable catalogers at many institutions around the world.”

In February, eleven members of the Catalog Department and Anselm Huelsbergen participated in 4.5 days of NACO training. Following training our work was under review by a Library of Congress designated reviewer to ensure that we know what we are doing. Our independent status means that we’ve passed! We now belong to a select group. While thousands of libraries around the world contribute bibliographic records to WorldCat, there are under 250 NACO participating institutions and projects.

Congratulations are especially due to Mary Aycock who coordinated the effort in the Catalog Department.

Amanda Sprochi and Wayne Sanders also participate in NACO work via other projects.

In April, Wayne Sanders attended training at the Library of Congress on creating series authority records. Following the training, we were assigned a reviewer who has been reviewing our work. Thanks to Wayne’s good work, we are now off review and are independent NACO series members. Being a NACO series member means that we can add series authority records to the OCLC authority database and our work can be used by libraries worldwide. The authority records provide assistance to our users in MERLIN, too, as the cross reference in an authority record demonstrates here: Title search: Occasional paper (Devon Archaeological Society). Congratulations are due to the MU Libraries, and especially to Wayne Sanders, for this achievement.

Mary Aycock recently completed a five-week, online course in shareable metadata titled “Metadata for You and Me.” With aggregated repositories such as OAIster.org becoming more popular, ensuring that your metadata is shareable assumes greater importance. A classic example cited by Robin Wendler at Harvard concerns a record of a photo she encountered in an aggregated collection titled “On a horse.” Such a general title provides little information to a researcher regarding what the photo is. However, learning what local collection the photo came from provides the key to unlock the context: a collection of photos of Theodore Roosevelt (thus, the photo features Theodore Roosevelt on a horse). Shareable metadata find ways to address how to bridge the gap between what is sufficient in a local collection versus the needs of a wider universe.

This course will help support Mary’s work in developing metadata guidelines for MOspace.