----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Most everyone who asked for this also suggested that I post it to
the list. So here it is! I'm still interested in this subject, so If
anyone wants to add to or refine this a bit more, let me know, and I'll
keep it up to date, and repost it with the changes at a later date. Sort of
a mini-FAQ I guess. If anyone is maintaining a real FAQ for this list,
please use any of these efforts as you like.
-----------------
In early August, 1993, I asked the following question on the MAPS-L
discussion list:
Subject: Re: Cataloging digital data sets (how to?)
"I have a lot of different digital data sets and pointers to data
sets that I would like to put into an organized database of some
sort. Since I'm not a librarian, I don't know the "rules" or
conventions too well. I was hoping that someone here could give me a
pointer or two about how I would go about learning how to do this?"
First of all, thanks to all who sent responses! I really appreciate
your help. Here's the "full" summary of the responses (it's a summary,
so I've editied it a bit):
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1993 16:59:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: [log in to unmask] (David Coleman)
Various federal and provincial government departments across Canada (and
the U.S. and Australia, among others) have examples of such "meta-data"
systems in place or under development. I know that one of the Working
Groups of the Canadian General Standards Board Committee on Geomatics has
been working on a standard set of descriptors for digital data sets being
held by different organizations across Canada. I'm not sure of the Working
Group Chairperson's name, but you could contact the CGSB Geomatics
Committee Chairman, Mark Doherty, for more information. He works at
Intergraph Canada in Ottawa-Hull, and his number is (613) 772-2040, Fax
(613) 722-0320.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 14:56:25 -0400
From: [log in to unmask] (Steve Frank)
There are a few commercial cataloging programs on the market now. Two that
I have heard a little about are "GeoIndex" from Hughes Technology and a system
(I can't remember the name) from Terra-Mar in Mountain View, CA. These are
more on the order of systems for cataloging maps and imagery, but might be
suitable for your purpose. Others who have developed nice systems are
Ric Vrana at Portland State University (Oregon) and Matt Hiland at Louisiana
State. Both systems were developed for government applications and seem to be
well received. The LSU system was written up in the San Jose GIS/LIS
proceedings.
------------------------------
Date: 04 Aug 1993 14:03:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: [log in to unmask]
Although I have an MLS I am not a cataloguer. I am, however, slowly catalo-
guiing a small judaica library. From what I have learned in trying to classify
and catalogue this collection from a scheme I developed on my own, my advice
is don't even bother. I would suggest that you try and find out if OCLC
has catalogued these.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1993 18:19:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jim Minton (615) 974-4315, X3878" <[log in to unmask]>
Saw your message on MAPS-L and thought I might suggest you contact:
Victor Rosenberg
Personal Bibliographic Software, Inc.
Box 4250
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
(313) 996-1580 VOICE
(313) 996-4672 FAX
His company produces a program called ProCite for both PC &
McIntosh. Easy to learn, easy to tailor to your various data, and
has a good track record.
I have just begun to use it to organize hundreds of personal files
which include maps, books, thousands of pieces of paper, letters,
data sets, etc. that I have accumulated over 20 years. It can
accomodate almost any format. You can assign keywords, call
numbers, etc. You don't have to be a rocket scientist NOR a
librarian to learn and use. I haven't put too many records in my
files yet but I am real happy with what I have done so far.
Another program that might work is InMagic. I do not have any
information on this one.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1993 13:41:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: DEBBIE LORDS <[log in to unmask]>
I'm not sure if you are asking for a specific database product. You
will see reference to GEODEX on Maps-L. It was developed by Christopher
Baruth.
If you are looking for something to help you learn Marc record format,
one possible resource, is MitiNet Marc. My contact person was in California:
Jeff Epstein at 1-800-824-6272. Jeff sent me a perusal copy of the software
and I was very impressed. I found that it had only one deficiency (but major
for our purposes). It is intended to help library folk who needed to learn
and use Marc. Most of those in its intended audience are non-MLS people, but
I think MLS people who need to build Marc record skills would find it useful.
MitiNet Marc leads you through a Marc record field by field using either
the numbers (so loved by catalogers who speak Marc fluently) or by using
Mnemonic labels. You can choose which of these you want and can flip back
and forth if you want. It also allows the setting of an example of each
field to let you know what sort of information goes there. This is a VERY
cursory statement of its power. There are many things I found which make it
easy to recommend.
Jeff told me earlier this spring, in a follow-up call, that the
deficiency -- not supporting the full ALA character set -- would be taken
care of in the release scheduled for August 1993. The characters which might
most concern you with this are the prime, and double prime which are the
standards for map coordinates' minutes and seconds. I don't now recall if it
supported the superscript 0 which is used for the degree symbol. (Our other
need was for transliterated Middle Eastern languages which use several
diacritic characters). Our primary interest was for our part-time students
(i.e. NO MLS) to use for doing retrospective conversion of manual
bibliographic records. We were also interested in it to help new
paraprofessional staff learn the tagging and coding rules needed for our
library's level of bibliographic record entry.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1993 15:04:23 -0700 (MST)
From: Linda Zellmer <[log in to unmask]>
Since you are at a CARL institution, you might want to take a look at
the Internet Resources database on CARL (under information databases).
You can see the bare (MARC-MAchine Readable Cataloging) record by
bringing up a full record and entering the command //DS1, and then
hitting R to repeat the display.
It appears as though CARL has forced the database into a MARC format
(505 is the notes field, 245 is the title field, etc.). You can reverse
this command by entering //DS0 and then pressing R to repeat this
display. (I suggest reversing the display if you do your search on a
public terminal).
It would be nice if there was a nice big database that we could
contribute information to, with a field that we had to fill to supply
information on the contributor. That way, we could contact someone who
used the system with questions.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 15:16 MST
From: DEBBIE LORDS <[log in to unmask]>
...
Also regarding OCLC, if you don't already know Marc and library stuff,
it would not be particularly helpful. OCLC is an international database
of cataloging records for many things. I don't know how much digital
data information would be on it, but I would guess not much. Also, many
libraries do some fairly "unique" styles on it, so I don't know that I
would say you could just accept what is there.
If you want to look into OCLC, contact the BCR offices in Denver.
Gretchen Redfield there is very good, as is Rosario Garza. It should be
in the phone book under either BCR or Bibliographic Center for
Research. I can't find the number right now or I would give that to
you. But, from your statement of background, I don't see that OCLC
would do you much good. It can also have a fairly high cost, all things
considered. The BCR people might be able to help you a little more with
some other kinds of resources, but I don't know if a fee is attached.
- Bill Thoen
[log in to unmask]
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