RDA and NHU-PAC

The upcoming OCLC RDA policy implementation (March 31, 2013) should not have any effect on NHU-PAC users. We reviewed the OCLC plan (because all NHU-PAC records come from the OCLC WorldCat) when it was announced back in January and determined that NHU-PAC is set. The parts of the OCLC policy that relate to NHU-PAC boil down to this:

• OCLC WorldCat will continue to include both AACR2 and RDA records. So will NHU-PAC, as it has for several years now (see New RDA Field post).
• MARC fields that are new to the RDA format will need to be added to display and search mappings in local systems (including NHU-PAC) if the library feels the information in those fields is important to their users. We made the needed changes to NHU-PAC search and display for the 264 tag. We determined that no other tags needed to be accommodated in NHU-PAC displays. If you wish to see the full record with all the tags use the 'marc display' toggle on the bottom of the left hand panel of a record display.
• A new record MAY not be added to WorldCat if there is an existing record in the library's language of cataloging for the item in hand regardless of the cataloging standard (RDA or AACR2) of the record. This fact requires that NHU-PAC continue to include both formats of record.
• New records being added to WorldCat may continue to be AACR2, or they may be RDA. The NHAIS Services Original Cataloging Program will continue to create records that comply with AACR2.  We will not be transitioning to RDA in the foreseeable future.

When the Library of Congress implements RDA, that change will probably result in more OCLC records being RDA instead of AACR2, but will otherwise have no impact on NHU-PAC users.

NHAIS Libraries that download records for their local systems from NHU-PAC will have (and have had since 2010)  both AACR2 records and RDA records in their local systems. They should check that the records both search and display the way they want them to. If they don't, you will need to work with your local system vendor to make any needed changes. If you get records from sources other than NHU-PAC, you will need to find out what those sources are doing regarding the RDA transition if you want to know what you are adding to your local catalog.

Basically three options are available to a library regarding RDA:

1. Maintain a hybrid catalog with both AACR2 and RDA records in it.
   I think this is the best plan and it is what NHSL (both Technical Services and NHAIS) is doing.
2. Keep only AACR2 records in your catalog -- this will drastically limit your ability to use cataloging records from sources beyond your own library as more record sources move to RDA without significant editing of each record.
3. Transition your catalog entirely to RDA -- this will require you to re-catalog every item in your catalog to the new standard as well as revising any shared records for new materials that were cataloged by other libraries to the AACR2 standard.

Cataloging kill a watt energy detectors

Earlier this month 800 Kill-O-Watt meters were delivered to the NH State Library and distributed to every NH public library. Each meter was packaged in a 8" x 8" box with promotional materials and instructions. Small libraries serving populations under 3,000 got two boxes, those serving populations up to 15,000 got four boxes, and the large libraries got 6 boxes.
You were encouraged --in the letter that went out with the boxes -- to circulate the kits freely to your patrons. To help you get the kit into your local system and ready to circulate a MARC record for it has been added to NHU-PAC. It is NHU-PAC record #2402416.

Update on the Original Cataloging Project

The NHAIS Original Cataloging Project continues to add records to the NHU-PAC (and to OCLC's WorldCat) for materials held by NHAIS libraries that have not been cataloged by anyone else.



During 2008 original records were created for 196 books, 35 sound recordings, and 59 visual materials (VHS and DVD recordings). You can see these records as a group by clicking on the year and MARC format you are interested in on the NHU-PAC's "About NHAIS" tab (on the Original Cataloging sub-tab specifically.)



When a NHAIS library sends us a photocopy of a title page and verso (or a copy of the packaging for multimedia items) in response to our request and the item still cannot be matched to an OCLC record the item goes into the queue for original cataloging. The pile of stuff to be cataloged grows all the time (this is a phenomenon familiar to many of you I'm sure). However, to give an idea of where this project is at, here is a snapshot of things as of January 1, 2009:

• There were 23 actual items on the truck to be cataloged, mostly videos which have to be viewed (well, fast-forwarded through for titles and credits anyway) in order to be cataloged. There are still 8 of these on the truck today.
  


• There were 55 items that have been requested previously but not sent by the library which need to be requested again. Many of these are cases where the item was checked out when it was requested the first (or second, or third) time. Some of these were added to NHU-PAC as brief records several years ago.
  


• In the queue of things to be requested via ILL to be cataloged there were 89 books, 14 videos, and 18 sound recordings. These items were added to NHU-PAC as brief records between January and September 2008. None are older than that. This past Monday 26 of the books were requested for cataloging.
  

Since we began this project in April 2005 we have created new records for 797 titles.

Kangaroos & Didgeridoos

As Charlie mentioned in a recent post, in addition to the other problems with NHU-PAC recently we have been without dynamic indexing as well. When the dynamic indexer is working as it should as a record is added to NHU-PAC here in NHAIS services you can find that record with a NHU-PAC search right away. Actually, "right away" means within about 5 minutes, but that is pretty close to actually being "right away," except on those occasions that I am sitting there waiting for a specific record to be available in the NHU-PAC.

Anyhow, during the week that we were without dynamic indexing roughly 1200 NEW bibliographic records were added to the NHU-PAC. These records came from NHAIS Services staff finding and loading records from OCLC to match brief records added to the NHU-PAC by libraries; from libraries with OCLC access sending us files of OCLC records that we loaded to NHU-PAC; and from original cataloging completed here in NHAIS Services and loaded to both OCLC and the NHU-PAC.

The new original cataloging records include a sound recording many of you may have been using this summer as part of the "G'Day for Reading" Summer Reading Program. The cataloging record for Steve Blunt and Joseph Carringer's CD Kangaroos & Didgeridoos: Kid-friendly Australian Songs & Stories is now in the NHU-PAC and ready for your use. It is NHU-PAC record number 2204767. Other recent NHAIS original cataloging titles include Women of Granite (added to NHU-PAC in June as record #2183489) and The Story of Jonathan M. Daniels: Hero for Civil Rights (added in August as record #2198768). You can see what else has been added to NHU-PAC as part of the NHAIS Original Cataloging program by going to the "Original Cataloging" subtab of the "About NHAIS" tab in the NHU-PAC.