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Projects

AFA Index | Electronic Resources | Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web | Macro Development | Program for Cooperative Cataloging | Retrospective Conversion Project | Serials Holdings Project | Trade Literature

AFA Index

In 1995 the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) was awarded a grant by the Getty Foundation to code and key 30,000 manual "In" analytic and vertical file records of the African Art and Culture Index into OCLC (SIL's bibliographic utility) and the SIL online catalog. The records provide in-depth analytic indexing to relevant materials including pamphlets, journal articles, illustrations, chapters in books, and conference proceedings. Subject access is provided by combining the most appropriate terminology from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) with the terminology of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). The grant supported a three-year cataloging contract. The SIL staff and SIL contract staff continue to add new African Art and Culture Index records to OCLC and the SIL online catalog each year.

Electronic Resources

The Cataloging Services Department endeavors to provide access to materials in all formats and media that have been selected for the SIL collection. Electronic resources available over the Internet present special difficulties and challenges to process and manage in a systematic way to make them easily accessible to our users. These resources are especially subject to change over time, and we are seeking ways to maintain our records so that they will reflect the most current status of these materials. Suzanne Pilsk (202-357-3161; pilsks@si.edu) spearheaded SIL's participation in the OCLC CORC (Cooperative Online Access Catalog) initiative (1998-2002), a cooperative project to create a shared database for Web resources. She continues to lead our effort to catalog relevant Web sites, online databases, and digital editions, and she is the department's expert on metadata for electronic resources. Tom Baker (202-357-3161; bakert@si.edu), Serials Cataloger, is in charge of cataloging electronic journals.

Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web

An extensive listing of online exhibitions produced by libraries, archives, historical societies, and museums can be found at http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/. The site has been maintained since 1999 by Diane Shaw, Special Collections Cataloger, who compiles the list and updates it regularly. The exhibitions list may be browsed alphabetically by title, or searched by keywords in an exhibition's title, subject, or name of sponsoring institution. Suggestions for links to add, corrections, and questions about the project should be sent to shawd@si.edu).

Macro Development

In September 1997, a PfW Macro Task Force was established to canvas staff on the most needed Passport for Windows (PfW) macros and to research, develop and test a prototype collection of mandatory macros and a standard key map for the department. A macro is a single executable command that triggers a series of other commands and actions that you define. Repetitive tasks consisting of a predictable series of actions can be "automated" by a macro to save time and energy. Within PfW, a macro book is a a single file that contains one or more macros.

The Task Force was composed of staff from the Original Cataloging Section and Catalog Management Section in order to develop macros that could be of use to all cataloging department staff. This first PfW macro book of sixteen macros was installed on the personal computers of all cataloging staff in December of 1997. Additionally, the Task Force developed thirty-two macros using the NOTIS macro software for staff to use in the SIL online catalog.

In March 2001 the Task Force was renamed the Macro Development Committee, and its members continue to develop and test as well revise and augment the original macro book. Our current macro book now includes PfW macros, in combination with Macro Express macros, that facilitate editing and data entry in our current online system, SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research Information System), that runs on Horizon ILS software by epixtech, inc. Our Web site, OCLC Passport for Windows Macros, makes some of these macros developed by the Committee available to all other institutions using Passport for Windows and the committee's Guide to Macros provides documentation and instructions for the Cataloging Services Department staff.

Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)

Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL), through the Cataloging Services Department, is a full participant in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, an international cooperative effort aimed at expanding access to library collections by providing useful, timely, and cost-effective cataloging that meets mutually-accepted standards of libraries around the world. SIL became a PCC NACO (Name Authority Cooperative Program) participant in 1997, contributing name authority records to the National Authority file through OCLC, SIL's bibliographic utility. Series authority records were added to SIL's NACO contributions in 1998. In March 2002 SIL became the 46th institution to join the PCC BIBCO program, contributing bibliographic records for monographs to the OCLC database that meet PCC standards with supporting authority records for all controlled access points. For some time SIL has been active in proposing new subject headings to the Library of Congress for inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings. Under the SACO (Subject Authority Cooperative Program) component of the PCC, SIL has increased its proposals for new subject headings and LC classification numbers.

Retrospective Conversion Project (RCP)

In the mid 1980s Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) embarked on two major projects, the retrospective conversion of the collection and the retrospective barcoding of the collection. SIL contracted with OCLC, SIL's bibliographic utility, to accomplish retrospective conversion of its shelf list to machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records for use in the SIL online catalog. Although the LC classed portion of the collection presented little difficulty for OCLC, a significant number of Dewey classed materials required that the cards/items be examined further to provide additional data or to resolve conflicts. SIL contracted the completion of the Dewey RCP to local cataloging contractors. Working from the shelves, book by book and branch by branch, ensured that each Dewey-classed item was barcoded, represented in SIRIS (the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System, which incorporates the SIL online catalog), and reclassed using the Library of Congress classification system. The Dewey portion of the RCP was completed in 1998. The retrospective barcoding was accomplished by using system-assigned intelligent barcodes. The Cataloging Services Department managed a team of temporary staff hired specifically for the purpose of physically applying the barcodes to the LC classed books in each of SIL's branches. The retrospective barcoding was completed in three years.

Serials Holdings Project

The Serials Holdings Project is a retrospective project to add serial holdings information to existing bibliographic serial records in the SIL online catalog. In 1997 contract staff began creating current and reliable serial holdings information by inventorying serials in the branches, barcoding each volume, creating linked item records for each volume, and creating a summary of holdings record for each serial title that incorporates a formal statement of the extent of any given serial (copies, volumes, locations) that we have in our collection. When currently received issues/volumes are bound, holdings information is added by Cataloging Services Department (CSD) staff. CSD staff also add holdings for new serials at the time of cataloging. When this project is complete, the records of approximately 6,600 serial titles the SIL receives through purchase or exchange subscriptions and the records of ceased serials in the SIL collections will have serial holdings information available in the SIL online catalog.

Trade Literature

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries' collection of manufacturers' trade literature (285,000 pieces representing 30,000 companies) is one of the most extensive collections of its type in the world. These materials, dating primarily from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, include domestic and foreign trade catalogs, mail order catalogs, advertising brochures and leaflets, bulletins, technical manuals, consumers' manuals, pattern and design books, price lists, parts lists, photographs, technical drawings and blueprints, factory record books, correspondence, company histories, annual reports, business cards and samples. In the early 1990s, the department embarked on a long-term project to bring these important resources under bibliographic control at a faster pace, cataloging many of them at collection level. With this process, bibliographic records are created and used to describe groups of materials related to or issued by a particular company or firm. Carolyn Hamilton (202-357-3161; hamiltonc@si.edu), a cataloger in the Original Cataloging Section, and contract staff are engaged in this work.