The Intersection of Standards and Professional Knowledge, Skills, and Service: One Road to Ensuring a Functional Future of Bibliographic Control for Serials Acquisition, Management, and Access

Abstract

The evolution of libraries to the online format has significant implications for serials acquisitions and work flows. From an acquisitions perspective, the recent development of standards and recommended practices by numerous organizations aims at bibliographic control of the online format including the underlying metadata for accessing full text. This article discusses metadata and standards for their effect on serials bibliographic control. Our literature review reveals the colloquial use of the word standards, about which we strive for a more precise delineation. We distinguish standards from recommended practices and maintain that a broader librarian participation in developing standards benefits all relevant groups.

KEYWORDS:

• electronic resources management, interoperability, metadata, professional activity, serials acquisition, standards

Notes

1. See additional background information on Vannevar Bush at http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/bush.html

2. See Taylor, A. G. (Miller, D. P.). (2004). Wynar's introduction to cataloging and classification by Arlene G. Taylor, with the assistance of David P. Miller (Rev. 9th ed., pp. 3–6). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

3. See “What is FRBR?: A conceptual model for the bibliographic universe” at http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF

4. See Needleman, M. H. (2011); Coyle, K. (2005a, 2005b).

5. Weihs, J., A Brief History of Classification, Part 1, Technicalities. 2010 Jan/Feb; 30(1): 14–16. Ibid., A Brief History of Classification, Part 2. Technicalities. 2010 Mar/Apr; 30(2): 16–19. Ibid., A Brief History of Classification, Part 3. Technicalities. 2010 May/June; 30(3): 15–18.

6. For information on and applications of the Bath Profile, see OCLC's Bath Profile Compliance Checklist: http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/firstsearch/z3950/bath/; SRU (Search/Retrieval via URL and the Bath Profile: http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/resources/bath-profile.html; and an archived document of the 2004 standard at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/bath/ap-bath-e.htm. Email received 12/14/2011 from the Library and Archives Canada Standards Office, written by Laura M. May, confirmed that this standard is no longer being updated.

7. Listed here are the links to the standards/recommended practices discussed in this section: SERU (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/seru), PIE-J (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/piej), CORE (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/core/), COUNTER (http://www.projectcounter.org/about.html), SUSHI (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi), and KBART (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/kbart).

8. See full WorldCat® knowledge base description at http://www.oclc.org/knowledgebase/default.htm.

9. See the Scientific American article, “The Semantic Web: A new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of new possibilities,” May 17, 2001 available at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web

10. Nadine P. Ellero was employed by the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, when the survey was developed and distributed.