MARCH 1, 2013
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
IPLAR – Help for sections 17-19 of the IPLAR can be found in the following document which was recently updated. IPLAR
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES ARTICLE– We would recommend the article Tech Tips for Every Librarian found in the Jan/Feb issue of Computers in Libraries, pps. 24-25. This article is a great checklist of tasks that should be looked at annually to maintain the health of your local IT network environment.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT TECHNICIAN – It is with regret that we will be saying goodbye to Willie Balitaan in mid-March. Willie’s service to the CCS organization has been stellar over a 13 year period part-time and full-time. We will miss him but are happy to see him making an upwards career move. We are also happy that Willie will help us with the transition. This means that we are accepting resumes from outstanding candidates. The job description and contact email is at
Please also drop Linda an email if you have interest or have a recommendation.
BIG RDA CHANGES OCCURRING NOW AND OVER THE NEXT MONTH OR SO:
This week CCS loaded 2 files from Marcive. One file included 3458 updated authority records and the other included 350 new authority records that our database needed, but were not available before.
The 3458 updated authority records contained many heading changes because of RDA (or the new cataloging rules that catalogers are just getting used to).
Under RDA rules, headings that used to include titles of nobility and rank are not going to be included now, so for example, the author of all those Sherlock Holmes stories has a new heading in our catalog. The old heading was “Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930”, and is now “Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930”. There are references from the older form. Over the past few nights, the system has been feverishly changing over 500 bibliographic records to the new heading (and will finish up the last of the changes tonight).
Other notable RDA changes, include spelling out abbreviations in corporate headings, so now you will have “United States. Department of State” instead of the old heading, which was “United States. Dept. of State”. Also there will be big changes with headings for the Bible. The Old Testament and the New Testament will not be abbreviated in headings (before you might have found a heading like “Bible. O.T.”). Headings for individual books of the Bible in RDA will not include the testament if belongs in, so for example, you might find a heading like “Bible. Matthew” (the older form of the heading was “Bible. N.T. Matthew”)
Some of those headings (especially some governmental departments) have already changed in our database, and other changes will occur over the next month or so.
Virginia Seward
Authorities Librarian
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Mon., 3/4, 1:30, CCS: BiblioCommons/Enterprise Task Force
Wed., 3/6, 1:30, CCS: Budget & Finance Committee
Fri., 3/8, 9:30, Lake Villa: Circulation
