Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloging of AV materials

[Brandon Burke <bburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Matt,

I would argue for incorporating your catalog with the greater library system.  I
created a catalog of sound recordings for the Richard F. Wright Jazz archive at
the University of Kansas a few years ago and (for a couple of reasons) decided
that doing this as a Filemaker Pro database was a good idea.  I'm not so sure
of that now.

For starters, the Archive was not part of the library system when I was there so
there was little in the way of cooperation with them.  Second, someone had
already begun cataloging holdings before I started there using Filemaker Pro,
so I decided to go ahead and run with it.  Granted, I chaged things around
quite a bit and renamed all of his quirky abbreviations.  (Abbreviations, by
the way, are worthless to whomever has to deal with that database later, unless
you document what they mean somewhere or use commonly accepted "standard"
abbreviations.)

It was recently announced that the Archive will return to the greater KU library
system perhaps as soon as this fall.  Can we be assured that the Filemaker
database will easily translate to the library OPAC?  Absolutely not.  It might,
of course, but there's always the chance that it won't and that would be a waste
of thousands of hours of work.  (Especially since there is little chance that
Library IT would devote programing hours to creating a digital "crosswalk"
between programs.)  I don't see any reason not to create MARC records.  Even a
simple MARC record would at least make an item's presence known to users--which
it why we hold on to this stuff in the first place, right.  As for archival
materials, perhaps Dublin Core or EAD is the answer.

In any case, I suggest an open source medium that incorporates your collection
materials with those of the greater library system.

-- Brandon Burke

Brandon Burke
Graduate Research Assistant
Digital Library Services
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
phone: (512) 495-4439
email: bburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*********************************************************************
*  "Stand up and face the full force of a dissonance like a man."   *
*                                                                   *
*                                  -- Charles Ives                  *
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Quoting Matt Bailey <msbailey@xxxxxxx>:

> Those of you who take care of AV collections in the context of a larger
> institution (such as a university or a museum), I am interested in
> hearing your opinions on whether you prefer a separate catalog or
> database for your materials or prefer to integrate your materials into
> the institution's catalog (such as an OPAC for a library).
>
> Feel free to contact me off-list.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Matt
> --
> Matt Bailey
> Audiovisual Archivist
>
> Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
> University of Georgia Libraries
> Athens, GA 30602-1641
> (706)542-5788
> http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/
>


Brandon Burke
Graduate Research Assistant
Digital Library Services
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
phone: (512) 495-4439
email: bburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*********************************************************************
*  "Stand up and face the full force of a dissonance like a man."   *
*                                                                   *
*                                  -- Charles Ives                  *
*********************************************************************