Occasional Progress Report #12 – April 30, 2014

Hi everyone:

Here’s what’s been happening with TSI.  This report, along with previous updates, is also available in the Project Reports section of the TSI wiki.

  1. The details involved in putting together a formal consortial agreement for 2CUL have been more complex than we originally anticipated.  While we have been conducting 2CUL (and TSI) activities for quite some time now, we are starting to run into some limitations related to TSI that require completion of that agreement – most importantly, perhaps, the ability to bring Alma negotiations with Ex Libris to fruition.  Work on the consortial agreement (or “2CUL MOU”), including the coordination of input from university lawyers, financial experts, and HR representatives at both institutions, is still in progress.
  2. Irina Kandarasheva, Jesse Koennecke, Jason Kovari, Susan Marcin, Chew Chiat Naun, Matt Pavlick, Lois Purcell, and Melanie Wacker participated in a panel entitled “2CUL Technical Services Integration: Making It Real” during Cornell’s annual Career Development Week in early April.  Focusing chiefly on monograph ordering, e-resources, cataloging, and non-MARC metadata, the participants talked about the initial steps they’re taking towards integration and/or deeper collaboration in their respective functional areas.
  3. In fact, there are number of functional working groups currently engaged in cooperative activity.  The most recent summary of these efforts can be found in the notes from the second quarterly meeting of the working group leads with the TSI Steering Committee on the TSI project wiki.  Of particular interest were the face-to-face meetings between Alan Schaplowski and Deb Warfield (representing the Print Serials Working Group) at Columbia in March, and the in-person meeting of the entire Cataloging Working Group at Cornell in April.  The biggest TSI joint effort thus far, however, is the purchase and implementation of the consortial edition of Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager at both institutions on which preliminary work is now underway within the E-Resources Working Group.
  4. Adam Chandler, Jesse Koennecke, and Sarah Witte (Research Collections and Services Librarian at Columbia) led a hands-on workshop on the 2CUL collaborative evaluation of vendor e-resources interfaces at the annual Electronic Resources and Libraries conference in Austin, Texas in March.  Their presentation reflected the work of the 2CUL Licensed Electronic Resources Interface Working Group (LERIWG), our joint initiative to evaluate, monitor, and report on functional and usability issues associated with these products.
  5. Columbia just hired Kate Burch as a new Bibliographic Assistant in Original and Special Materials Cataloging (OSMC).  Among her assignments will be the application of FAST subject headings to certain categories of material (e.g. Burke religious pamphlets) that have had no form of bibliographic control until now.  Both Columbia and Cornell are exploring the use of FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) headings.  Cornell is piloting FAST for its minimal-level cataloging and is working with OCLC both to provide feedback on the system and to add FAST access to its entire local catalog to improve subject faceting in their Blacklight discovery system.  The two libraries will be sharing documentation for their use of FAST.
  6. Acting on a tip from Columbia’s Peter Magierski, Cornell’s Natalya Pikulik recently harvested over 3,800 Arabic-title records from the Stanford University Library catalog using the Z39.50 protocol.  Both Cornell and Columbia used these records to enhance the skimpier versions they originally acquired from Kotobarabia to represent Arabic content in their respective collections.
  7. Chew Chiat Naun (Director of LTS Cataloging & Metadata Services at Cornell) has agreed to replace Boaz Nadav-Manes on the TSI Steering Committee.  Boaz (as most of who have probably heard), resigned his position at Cornell after twelve years of service to take a job with OCLC’s Europe, Middle East and Africa office in Leiden, Netherlands.

That’s all for this time.  As always, please feel free to direct questions or concerns to your supervisors or any member of the TSI Steering Committee: Adam Chandler, Kate Harcourt, Jim LeBlanc, Colleen Major, Chew Chiat Naun, or Robert Rendall.

-          Jim and Kate

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