In order to convert the intellectual access and information organization competencies into actionable goals, I propose the following exercise: First, (1) ask ourselves questions about our expectations for staff participation and training. Next, (2) re-formulate competencies in terms of actionable goals. Finally (3) try combining newly-formed actionable goals with the pre-existing strategic goals in order to form a single set of amalgamated goals.
Questions:
A. Staff participation
Should development of new competencies be sought for all members of the department, or just some?
If only some, how are selections made?
Do we focus on both professional and support staff?
With respect to support staff, do we distinguish among grades (e.g., levels D-E, versus A-C?) Or identify any by aptitude and interest?
Should those involved be self-selecting (i.e., those with aptitude and interest)? Alternatively should new expectations and assignments be imposed from above?
What will be the relationship between the Metadata Team and the other Cataloging teams?
- Could the Workstation Support Expert User program serve as a model for distributing responsibilities, i.e., one metadata expert per team to serve as resource person and liason?
B. Staff Training
What training opportunities will be made available to staff? E.g.:
Pilot projects; practical hands-on experience
Encourage targeted Learning Plan allocations, in support of departmental initiatives?
Conferences and preconferences ... Make sure that important meetings outside of ALA or even the library profession are covered by members of our staff? Ahronheim & Marko maintain in their 2000 CCQ article "Exploding out of the MARC box: Building new roles for cataloging departments," that librarians "should be encouraged to attend non-library metadata conferences, in order to learn what standards and tools are being used by other professional communities." Currently we tend to be over-represented in groups like CCDA, but often have no one representing us in other areas. e.g.:
- International Society for Knowledge Organization
- Educause ("nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology")
- ISKO (International Society for Knowledge Organization)
- ISKO-NA (North American Society for Knowledge Organization, Richard Smiraglia chair of 2006 meeting)
Training through NELINET, Connecticut State Library, New Horizons?
Targeted SCOPA forums, SCOPA grants, IAP grant?
Forum speaker suggestions: Marty Kurth, Lorcan Dempsey, Thomas Mann, Roy Tenant ...
SCOPA grant suggestion: funding MARC-XML testbed?
IAP (International Associates Program) suggestion: Invite european librarian to introduce new metadata tools to Yale staff in exchange for access to Yale resources and networking with U.S. librarians
Departmental meetings (especially given expressed need for more agenda programming), interest groups, colloquia ?
What new skills should be acquired?
- Non-MARC, non-AACR metadata standards and tools, e.g.:
- MODS
- METS
- MARC-XML
- OAI-MHP
- TEI
- EAD
- RDF
- XHTML
- XSLT
- Dublin Core
- OpenURL (e.g. SFX), CoiNS (ContextObjects in Spans), unAPI, and other link-resolving and interoperability tools
- Unicode
- Database and content management tools and systems (e.g., in order to collaborate more easily with ILTS); e.g.:
- MySQL
- PHP
- Apache
- FEDORA (VITAL)
- wikis, blogs, rss
Based on the answers given, how do we build bridges between ideal staff competencies and the actions that can help get us there. Here are just some examples (with original wording of competencies underlined):Proposed re-framing of competencies as actionable goals:
Designated staff will develop expertise in theory and methods for subject analysis, including thesaurus creation, indexing, and classification; This will be accomplished through in-house subject analysis training, familiarity with NISO Z39.19 ("Guidelines for Construction of Monolingual Thesauri"), understanding W3C-endorsed Web Ontology Language (OWL) and Resource Description Framework (RDF), as well as 'folksonomic' tools such as del.icio.us and technorati.
Designated staff will obtain knowledge of information-seeking behaviors of user groups based on reviews of literature, institutional data collection, and participation in local usability studies. They will maintain knowledge of the activities that must be performed to provide the products and services users need, and develop ability to evaluate information-retrieval systems in relation to user needs and information-seeking behaviors;
Designated staff will develop expertise in basic database design and database management concepts, participate in usability studies of OPAC and other retrieval tools, and improve resource discovery and retrieval in collaboration with ILTS. In addition to traditional cataloging tools such as AACR2, LCRIs, LCSH, LCC, etc., skills in MySQL, PHP, XML will be needed to help us better understand the way metadata is used and transformed through new computer applications, and improve the management and interoperability of our databases. Designated staff members will be able to write basic PERL script and Javascript to enhance catalog and database functionality.
Designated staff will have knowledge of the theory of information organization and intellectual access including relevant national and international standards; This will be accomplished through participation in ALCTS, ASIS&T and other LIS organizations. Regular discussions based on professional literature should be held to review best practices and stimulate innovation.
Designated staff will have knowledge of the theory and methods for describing, identifying, and showing relationships among materials, and the ability to develop and apply syndetic structure and controlled vocabulary in information retrieval systems. This includes familiarity with AACR/RDA, LC Classification, LCSH, and NISO Z39.19, as well as with non-library W3C standards such as Web Ontology Language (OWL), and Resource Description Framework (RDF), and social 'folksonomies' such as del.icio.us and technorati.
Designated staff will understand the theoretical basis for retrieval and how searching techniques and data structures affect precision and recall. This means engaging key thinkers in our field, such as S.R. Ranganathan, Charles Cutter, Seymour Lubetsky, W.F. Lancaster, and more recently, Elaine Svenonius, Lois Mai Chan, Arlene Taylor, Barbara Tillet, and others. Increasingly, it is important to understand the mechanics of Web services and search engines, as resource discovery will continue to migrate to the Web. OCLC OpenWorldCat is important, but so are Google, Yahoo, and other non-library-specific service providers. Principles and methods for planning and designing user-driven information retrieval systems must be emphasized, as must knowledge of state-of-the art research and practice in this area.
Designated staff will master bibliographic relationships underlying database design, informubg bibliographic database design with authority control and FRBR concepts.
Designated staff will have knowledge of cataloging tools and sources of bibliographic records and how to use them; including mastery of bibliographic utilities and Voyager (and its successor). Selected librarians and support staff will develop specialized skills in the Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting Protocol (OAI MHP), as this will increasingly serve as a distribution and collocation mechanism for bibliographic data.
knowledge of the operations of other parts of the employing organization and how they relate to providing intellectual access to information resources; through cross-training? Serving on cross-departmental committees?
Program to provide consulting services for metadata and information organization issues for Library and University community.
Provide expertise in theory and methods for subject analysis, including thesaurus creation, indexing, and classification; Provide in-house subject analysis workshops, familiarity with NISO Z39.19, W3C-endorsed OWL and RDF, and more informal 'folksonomy' tools such as del.icio.us and technorati.
Based on reviews of literature, institutional data collection, and participation in local usability studies, utilize knowledge of information-seeking behaviors in order to support products and services our users need, and evaluate information-retrieval systems in relation to user needs and information-seeking behaviors
Apply theory of information organization and intellectual access including relevant national and international standards; Designated staff will have knowledge of the theory and methods for describing, identifying, and showing relationships among materials, and the ability to develop and apply syndetic structure and controlled vocabulary in information retrieval systems;
Understand the theoretical basis for retrieval and how searching techniques and data structures affect precision and recall. Appying conceptual tools of S.R. Ranganathan, Charles Cutter, Seymour Lubetsky, W.F. Lancaster, and more recently, Elaine Svenonius, Lois Mai Chan, Arlene Taylor, Barbara Tillet, and others, to help meet our clients' challenges. Understand the mechanics of Web services and search engines, as resource discovery continue to migrate to the Web. Develop principles and methods for planning and designing user-driven information retrieval systems.
Knowledge of the operations of other parts of the employing organization and how they relate to providing intellectual access to information resources; through cross-training? Cross-departmental committees?
Catalog management program includes management and maintenance for the quality of a wide range of catalogs and databases.
Designated staff will have expertise in basic database design and database management concepts, participate in usability studies of OPAC and other database-driven tools, and, with increased knowledge of mySQL, PHP, XML, etc., better understand the way metadata is used and transformed through new applications, and improve the management and interoperability of Yale databases, thereby improving resource discovery and retrieval.
All staff competent in core metadata schema and tools.
Designated staff will master bibliographic relationships underlying database design; Librarians will inform bibliographic database design with authority control and FRBR concepts.
Ongoing staff training plan developed that includes emerging metadata topics.
Knowledge will be enhanced through participation in ALCTS, ASIS&T and other LIS organizations. Regular discussions based on professional literature should be held to review best practices and stimulate innovation within department.
Implementation of metadata consulting services for library projects
Provide project assessments
Recommend metadata strategies
Estimate level of work, appropriate staffing plans, and cost and time estimates
Preliminary consulting in the use of tools for organizing non-library content
Implementation plan for promoting new services