NACO Coordinating Committee Minutes

Date: 9 August 2004

Present: Steven Arakawa, Sarah Elman, Fanny Hsieh, Cécile Mandour, Rick Sarcia, Manon Théroux (chair and recorder)

Absent: Maria Hunenko, Mickey Koth.

1. RLIN Save Files

In the new RLIN21 environment, NACO records older than 60 days will be deleted from the save file. This means that we will have to monitor our save file records much more agressively than in the past and see to it that records are reviewed and produced in a timely fashion. To help us do that, committee members will start each meeting with a "save file status report". Each NACO reviewer will report on the number of records in "save" mode for those catalogers whose records they review. This month's report is as follows:

General SML: 19
Beinecke/Rare Book Team: 3
Divinity: 0
East Asia: 4
Hebraica: 17
Lewis Walpole: 6
Medical: 4
MSSA: 0
Music: 17
Near East: 6
Southeast Asia: 0
Social Science: 4

When making their reports in the future, the date of the oldest record in each save file should be noted.

2. YUL-NACO Discussion List

The YUL-NACO discussion list was started July 29. The list is configured so that all replies are sent to the list. Messages are automatically archived at: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/yul-naco/

Manon has asked Web & Workstation Support to add a link to the YUL-NACO archives on the general list of Library discussion list archives at: http://www.library.yale.edu/lso/workstation/listserv.html

Minutes from the NACO Coordinating Committee meetings will continue to be sent to YULCAT, rather than to YUL-NACO, so as to keep the broader cataloging community in the Library informed as to new developments. The YUL-NACO list will be reserved for messages of a more "internal" nature.

3. NACO/SACO Statistics

The monthly "Authorities Statistics" form was revised and is now called the monthly "PCC Statistics" form. In addition to NACO and SACO statistics, the form now used to record BIBCO statistics.Catalogers started using the new form in July (the start of the new fiscal year).

Manon called for statistics for the 2003-2004 fiscal year for inclusion in the Annual Report. Statistics for the Catalog Department have been supplied by Randy Main and are based on the monthly sheets submitted by individual catalogers; catalogers from other units have sent their statistics directly to Manon. She is still waiting for some numbers and will eventually send out an summary Excel spreadsheet to YUL-NACO so everyone can double-check their numbers before they get submitted as part of the Annual Report.

4. RLIN21

RLG has postponed (by about a month) the date for issuing the RLIN21 NACO-enabled client. The new timeline calls for the client to be issued in late August or early September. NACO catalogers will be able to test the RLIN21 client during the month of September and will begin using it for production work in October. Specific dates are not yet known.

Steven Arakawa is developing training on searching the RLIN21 Union Catalog for copy cataloging and acquisitions work. The NACO Coordinating Committee will be developing training for RLIN21 NACO work. The three main topics will be: creating/updating authority records, searching the authority files, searching the Union Catalog for headings. The training will be offered in early-mid September and will be limited to NACO catalogers. Manon will send out a rough first draft and reserve a computer for use during our next meeting so we can walk through and refine our training points.

RLG has warned us that it is possible there will be a short moratorium on NACO production work. We need to be prepared with a fallback plan. Some possible options include: asking catalogers to set books aside temporarily (might not be feasible for units with a high volume of names to be established); asking catalogers to photocopy relevant title pages, etc., but send the books through; and simply not establishing headings for items cataloged during that period. The latter option would affect BIBCO production as well, since BIBCO records must have all headings established.

5. NACO Independence Guidelines

Committee members continued their discussion (began at the last meeting) on guidelines for deciding when an individual cataloger may be granted independence for NACO work. Our current guidelines call for at least 50 perfect (or near perfect) name records and 25 perfect (or near perfect) series records. It was tentatively decided to divide up the name records category into subcategories (personal names, corporate/conference names, jurisdiction names, and uniform titles) and to assign numbers to each category as follows:

Personal names: 50
Corporate/conference names: 25
Jurisdiction names: 10
Uniform titles (non-music): 10
Series: 25

Catalogers would then be granted independence in stages. The personal names category was assigned the highest number because it usually serves as the cataloger's introduction to NACO work. The cataloger would be expected to contribute a mix of new and updated headings as well as a mix of "simple" headings and headings that require cross references. The committee will work on drafting a more detailed proposal for eventual presentation to CCC. The committee will also revise their internal documentation defining which errors to consider as major or minor when reviewing NACO records.