ALA New Orleans, 2018 – Richard’s report

ALA Annual, New Orleans, 2018 Conference Report
Below are some of the significant things I learned at the many sessions I attended:
1. OCLC Expert Cataloging Community Sharing Session
As OCLC continues to develop its WorldShare manager systems and related services, OCLC reps assured catalogers that support for Connexion would not be going away without plenty of notice. I asked about the recent spate of DLC records without controlled headings. While no one had any certain answer, some in the group speculated that: a) records were being used by OSU before LC had created authority records for personal names (although the records included uncontrolled subject headings); b) records created by other libraries that had controlled headings were copy-cataloged by LC and for some unknown reason the headings became uncontrolled; c) something was going awry at LC. In any event, OCLC did not claim responsibility and suggested I get in touch with someone at LC.

2. Emerging Leaders Poster Session
The Emerging Leaders program enables ALA units to task groups of early career librarians with research and development projects that further the aims of the association. IRRT again sponsored a group of emerging leaders to survey international librarians who are members of ALA and/or IRRT as to how the round table can better serve their needs and engage them in the work of the association/round table. I also spoke with some who did a project for the American Indian Library Association to create a database of tribal museums and libraries accessible on the web. I noted that they missed the ones in Oregon, but as this is an ongoing project, they assured me I could submit information for inclusion in the database.
3. International Librarians Orientation – an orientation for some of the 500 librarians from overseas so that they can get the most out of their conference experience.
4. Opening General Session with Michelle Obama
Ms. Obama was interviewed by Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. This was an event not to be missed. Ms. Obama was her warm, compassionate self in describing her early life, life in the White House, and her support for girls and women to be all that they can be. If she had any inkling of running for office, I’d vote for her in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I think she has other plans for her future.
5. IRRT All Committees Meeting
Committee chairs shared about programs planned for Annual and beyond as well as other IRRT business. The session is a good networking opportunity for all.
6. IFLA Update
Gerald Leitner, IFLA General Secretary, and Gloria Salmeron-Diaz, IFLA President, reported on IFLA initiatives, especially the Global Vision Project and the Library Map of the World. The former is an effort to collect input from librarians worldwide to create an “idea store” to further the ten foci for the future of libraries around the world. The latter is a project to collect data on libraries around the world to further library development and integrate stories from libraries with the UN’s Sustainable Development goals.
7. IRRT Chair’s Program: Libraries Saving Lives: Supporting Refugees and Immigrants
3 speakers from very different venues spoke on their libraries’ efforts to support immigrants and refugees:
a. Louisville (KY) Public Library. The city has seen an incredible uptick in diversity with 138 languages listed as the primary language spoken in home, with the top 5 non-English languages being: Spanish, Arabic, Somali, Nepali, Swahili. Programs include: free English conversation classes given by the school district; partnering with universities and high schools to have immigrants integrated into syllabi of appropriate classes; veterans speaking with refugees from the countries they were stationed in; engaging retired immigration lawyers to respond to questions from immigrants; having immigrant musicians play together at the library and offer lessons (oud, ukulele) at the same time as English lessons. Citizenship ceremonies are conducted at the library. Numerous other examples were given: multiethnic iftars; film series about causes that brought refugees here; language salons (Arabic, Somali, etc.); even bringing books to a local slaughterhouse where immigrants worked so they could take advantage of library services on their lunch break.
b. Koln, Germany, public library. The 4th biggest city in Germany where 37% of population is minority immigrants, but are well integrated in the city. Plus about 10,000 refugees. Public libraries funded by municipality but unlike the US, they charge a $45 fee to borrow books. They offer intercultural mediakits for schools and other locations. In 2015, they created a language space, open to all, as a place to practice German, using volunteers come from the community. Library serves as mediator between committee members and refugees, offering training for the volunteers. The library also encourages immigrants to tell their stories, which are recorded and posted on the libraries website. Their stories are also told through art, such as painting. The library has also used reading dogs, an idea borrowed from their sister library in Indianapolis; multilingual reading events; encouraging story times with fathers – especially important for people from countries where reading aloud to children isn’t well established.
c. The director of Libraries of Malmo, Sweden discussed their efforts where 1/3 of the population was born abroad. They have an obligation to prioritize people with a first language other than Swedish. Over 150,000 refugees coming to Malmo – a large strain on resources. They have created a children’s library in Arabic on Facebook. “Maktabat al atfal” (sp?). Also a service called “A Million Stories” at www.refugeelives.eu. The library cooperates with outside groups that work with immigrants to conduct language workshops where new immigrants can practice Swedish skills and also to learn English.
8. Catalog Form and Function Interest Group
Several interesting projects were described here. One involved using MARCEdit to crosswalk tab delimited text (Excel) describing finding aids to Marc. Records, which were still very brief, were then loaded into the local ILS, but not shared with WorldCat.
Dallas Public Library created something called Library.Link to take their 100+terabytes of MARC records and make it discoverable on the web. They used Bibframe to move the data to Dublin Core as well as schema.org. Using “Data dashboard” (?) they were able to generated links reconcile data, then publish it on the open web. This was definitely a bit beyond me, but seemed like a very cool project nevertheless. New Directions in Non-Latin Script Access
9. International Papers Session: Libraries Supporting Social Inclusion for Refugees and Immigrants
Since this was the IRRT chair’s theme for this year, this program also featured a variety of innovative ways of reaching out to immigrants and refugees.
Libraries empowering immigrant communities in Hawaii: Using a Hawaiian approach, the ”talk-story” which is similar to storytelling. About ¼ of the Hawaiian population are immigrants: Japanese, Filipino (the largest group), Portuguese, Americans, Puerto Rico, etc. In pidgin Hawaiian, talk-story means that the more you chitchat, the more you understand. It legitimizes storytelling. There are many social issues that need addressing. Many immigrants live on Oahu where the cost of living is very high and the need for affordable housing is very great. Many are homeless. The indigenous population is struggling for sovereignty. Immigrants struggle for equitable wages. At the University of Hawaii it is hard to keep faculty because of how expensive it is. Hamilton Library is the largest in Hawaii. It does outreach to high schools to try to reduce the library anxiety. They conduct many cultural sensitivity activities in an attempt to reduce ethnic slurs and bullying – problems which make attendance undesirable to kids. The library sponsors events that include eating and dancing in the library and a chance to share about their history. Their goal is to flip their stories to hope instead of despair.
Nordic World Library Project: This project delivers digital library services to immigrant communities in the Nordic countries, a cooperative project between the national libraries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. A digital platform for disseminating film and music was developed by the Royal Library in Denmark with the goal to improve digital library services to minorities in Nordic countries. The project purchases rights, services, cataloging, etc. for these resources. Many immigrants from these countries are illiterate, so the project also needs to teach languages to enable them to read, educate, and enable users to find employment and integrate into Nordic society. Materials are purchased in 5 languages: Somali, Arabic, Farsi, Serbo-Croatian, and Tigrinya.
Two Norwegian presenters discussed their public library’s programs in the northernmost part of the country. They sought to make their public library a place for learning and social inclusion of immigrants. Of the total population of Norway, 880,000 are foreign born or have foreign-born people. Their county in the very northern part of Norway has a population of 75,000 and borders on Russia and Finland, with their small town of 7000. The county has settled the most immigrants per capita. They offer literature in the immigrants’ own languages, including literature from their home countries and Norwegian literature in translation. Over 70 different languages are represented. They host “anguage cafes” – places where immigrants and refugees can talk about a particular topic in Norwegian, to encourage speaking in the language. They also create meeting points between immigrants and local citizens based on hobbies and interests.
10. Technical Services Discussion Group (ACRL-Rare Books and Manuscripts Section)
This was my first time attending this discussion group. The floor was open for discussing topics from participants rather than having any formal presentations as many discussion groups have. The most relevant part was the discussion of links in records for archival finding aids, something that the OCA has been dealing with this past year. I shared some about the effort to remove portfolios from our finding aid records.
11. IRRT Executive Board Meeting
The was our semiannual meeting face-to-face. The board was very happy with the Emerging Leaders project mentioned above, which will likely result in some changes in the way the IRRT conducts its business and communicates with the membership.
12. Authority Control Interest Group
Janis Young (LC) provided the following info:
a. “multiple” subdivisions in LCSH will be going away over a yearlong project to begin June 30 and expected to last a year. These are subject headings of the type [Topic] in Christianity [Judaism, Islam, etc.] where the cataloger could substitute the name of the religion in the heading freely. These types of headings cause problems for linked data. LC will work with OCLC to provide strings of these multiples so that proper subject heading authority records can be created for each one. Once that is done, multiple subdivision authority records will be cancelled. For now, LC is asking that catalogers don’t propose any new ones of this ilk, but you can continue using multiples as needed. They also ask that catalogers don’t try to help by making individual proposals. Propose new subdivisions as needed where a multiple does not exist. Instructions are now included in the Subject Cataloging Manual under H1090.
b. There are duplicate authority records for some entities, such as the Catholic Church, in both NAF and LCSH. These are not a true duplicates. These are created when LC needs to provide info. Please do not report these as duplicates.
c. For a variety of reasons, only LC staff will add LC-verified author numbers in LC Classification from now on rather than allowing PCC and other catalogers to propose author numbers in the P schedules.

13. Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Participants Meeting
a. Guidelines for bibliographic file maintenance were provided.
b. Gender and authority records report based on the recent survey has been completed, including best practice recommendations. An approved DCM will be placed in Cataloger’s Desktop and the policy posted on the PCC website.
c. Library and Archives Canada has joined NACO, but because of bilingualism, training, etc., we are asked to report anything unusual in the NAF.
d. Relationship designations for authority records have had guidelines approved. A general announcement about the guidelines will go out soon and should be a big help for linked data.
e. Literary author class numbers (053 field in authority records) have been included in PCC authority record proposals in the past. However, LC is no longer allowing these as they cause problems for LC authority record reviewers given a number of suppressed classification records that PCC members cannot see but LC catalogers can.
f. Janis Young reviewed the processes that LC performs when reviewing subject heading proposals and advised libraries submitting new subject heading proposals to be patient when awaiting approval.
g. Isabel Quintana reported on a pilot project to include ISNI identifiers in authority records. A report and other information is available on the website.
14. Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group
a. Casey Mullin, WSU, reported on his experience coordinating with multiple other units and staff at WSU with respect to cataloging of resources in their IR. His collaborative model of digital collection management was very interesting and reminiscent of our own Metadata Interest Group discussions.
b. Dave Van Kleeck, U. of Florida, reported on their efforts to improve legacy metadata quality issues in order to improve discoverability. They partnered with Access Innovations, Inc., to clean up metadata since different standards had been applied over time. This included enhancing subject terms for ETDs and digitizing issues of a Florida journal.

15. OCLC Research update
a. The main presentation here was from Andrew Pace who discussed their linked data project to enhance cataloging productivity using Wikidata, MediaWiki, and OpenRefine. A website at OCLC provides details of the project.

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