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Category: Metadata and Collections

Learn with Core in February

Learn new skills to enhance your career in February with continuing education offerings from Core. Reserve your spot and register now. Continuing Education Opportunities Virtual Interest Group WeekFebruary 1-5, 2021View program schedule for session dates and times.*Registration is free for program sessions during Interest Group Week. Fundamentals of Acquisitions (FOA) February 8 – March 19, 2021 (six week online course)1:00 – 2:00pm CT Fundamentals of Metadata (FOM)February 8 – March 19, 2021 (six week online course)1:00 – 2:00pm CT Developing the Best Survey Tips from Consultations Presenter: Jung Mi ScoulasTuesday, February 9, 2021 (rescheduled from Feb. 3)1:00 – 2:00pm CT Assessing and (Re)Writing Operational PoliciesPresenter: John SandstromWednesday, February 10, 20211:00 – 2:00pm CT The First 90 Days: A New Manager Crash CoursePresenter: Julia DavisWednesday, February 17, 20211:00 – 2:00pm CT Designing for Human BehaviorPresenter: Joe Agati, Jr.Tuesday, February 23, 20211:00 – 2:00pm CT The Simple Keys to Developing Motivated WorkplacesPresenter: Douglas CraneWednesday, February 24,…Continue Reading

Register for 2021 Virtual Interest Group Week

Core is pleased to present virtual Interest Group Week, February 1-5, 2021. Explore a full week of free sessions that will cover emerging trends and topics that are important to your library work. Registration is free, and programming is open to all. Sessions fill up quickly, and each session is limited to 300 participants. You can view the full Interest Group Week program schedule below. Reserve your spot now by selecting your topic of choice, then click the “register” button for each session you’d like to attend. All times listed are for Central Time.

Final Guide in Sudden Position Series Provides Tips and Tools for Library Acquisitions

ALCTS Publishing has released its third and final guide in the Sudden Position Guide series, the Sudden Position Guide to Acquisitions. Authored by Deborah Hathaway, Paul Kelsey, Stacey Marien, and Susan E. Thomas, the Sudden Position Guide to Acquisitions arms those new to library acquisitions with the tools and resources needed for traditional collection development and print monograph, streaming media, e-book, and serials acquisitions. In addition, it familiarizes those new to the field with scholarly communications and open education, licensing electronic resources, negotiating with vendors, cataloging, and working with library systems. Through this guide, readers will gain the knowledge and competencies required for library acquisitions work. The work of acquisitions is challenging and constantly evolving, and new acquisitions library workers will need a wide range of skill sets to perform their responsibilities well in this position. Budgeting and accounting, managing purchase orders and invoices, evaluating usage statistics, submitting fiscal reports, supervising employees, and…Continue Reading

Privacy and How to Lose It

This article is from our guest blog contributor, Graeme Williams, Online Catalog Analyst. It’s not just your parents that think you’re unique.  The companies that collect your personal data think so, too. There are 55,000 people in my zip code.  The browser I use is Vivaldi, which has a popularity of 0.04% (!) so there are 21 other people in my zip code that also use Vivaldi.  About half the people in Las Vegas have an active library card, so 11 people share those three attributes with me.  Of those 11 people, 2 or 3 share my interest in science fiction. Those four pieces of information are just about enough to uniquely identify me among the 8 billion or so people in the world.  And they’re also what a vendor means when they talk about anonymous or “non-PII” (or non-personally-identifiable information). The Las Vegas library uses Bibliocommons.  Their privacy statement says,…Continue Reading

Announcing the December 2020 Issue of Information Technology and Libraries

The December 2020 issue of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) was published on December 21, rounding out a year many of us are glad to see behind us. Contrary to my fears as the year started, library technologists of all stripes continued to do great things and write about them. Our final issue of 2020 has some great material for you. Core President Christopher Cronin writes about the possibilities brought forward by the creation of Core out of the previous ALA divisions in Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures. Our December “Editorial Board Thoughts” column, Public Libraries Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Creating a New Service Model, by board member Jon Goddard, highlights some of the ways COVID-19 has changed the landscape of service for libraries of all kinds, but particularly for public libraries. In our “Public Libraries Leading the Way” column this issue, Jessica Hall at the Fresno Public Library describes an…Continue Reading

New Core Web Course Explores Fundamentals of Digital Library Projects

Core is pleased to announce the release of a new web course on the introduction to fundamental concepts of digital library projects. This course was developed by Jennifer Roper, Director, Digital Strategies and the University of Virginia Library in Charlottesville, Virginia, Gretchen Gueguen, an archivist and librarian specializing in digital libraries and technology and an adjunct professor for the Clarion University, and Ivey Glendon, Manager for Metadata Analysis & Design at the University of Virginia Library.  Jennifer Roper and Gretchen Gueguen will lead the course. The Fundamentals of Digital Library Projects course introduces students to the breadth of considerations, standards and skills needed to successfully launch and manage a digital library program. It provides an opportunity for hands-on activities to develop critical thinking and decision-making skills within the context of a digital library. Upon completion of this six-week course, attendees will: Gain an understanding of the types of expertise and skills needed to successfully manage a digital library: such as digitization and…Continue Reading

Implementing a Contactless Pickup Service Model at LUC Libraries

This article is from our guest blog contributor, Chris Martin, Head of Access Services / University Libraries, Loyola University Chicago Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of conversations within access services circles—notably the LIB-CIRC-PLUS listserv—have centered on establishing “contactless pickup” for the circulation of physical items. Yet for academic libraries, there is a lack of thorough documentation about models of such service, as well as an accounting of how they work. This post outlines how Loyola University Chicago Libraries planned and implemented our contactless pickup service this summer (with ongoing adjustments) and describes the results so far. Systems Choices and Practical Considerations The Libraries’ physical locations closed when Loyola transitioned to a remote learning environment on March 24. For most of the remaining spring and early summer, Libraries administration and staff were hoping to return to on-site work by early August, though limited on-site staffing ultimately did not…Continue Reading

Final Summary of “Regarding Library Database Cleanup” (December 2020 Core e-forum)

The two-day “Regarding Library Database Cleanup” e-forum that was continued from October 2020 in December 2020 had 152 messages posted from 31 participants who were from academic or public libraries or vendors.  Our discussions included the types of projects undertaken and some best practices, the methods that revealed the need for these projects, and the software or programs that are used to carry out, track or document the projects.  Our final discussions surrounded barriers to performing these projects as well as the underlying philosophy with which these projects are carried out.  Finally, the resources shared by the three co-hosts and participants can be found at the end of this summary. The participants used Voyager, Alma, or Aleph (from Ex Libris), Symphony or EOS (SirsiDynix), Sierra (Innovative) or LS2 (TLC) and reported that they work with all types of records (bibliographic, holdings, item, order, and authority records) for all types of…Continue Reading

Join the free e-Forum discussion December 8-9, Regarding Database Clean-up

Online Chat Message Connection Talking Concept

The Core e-Forum list has moved to a new discussion list platform called Groups.io. Please take a moment to subscribe to the new list by sending an email to core-eforum+subscribe@groups.io. Your request will be approved within 1-2 business days. You will receive a welcome email from groups.io with instructions on how to create a user account to manage your notification settings. If you have questions or need assistance, please write to core-eforum+help@groups.io. If you are not interested in subscribing, please ignore this email.*****Please consider joining us for this week’s e-Forum! Due to technical difficulties with our old listserv platform, the October e-Forum was cut short and rescheduled for December. To get the conversation started, the moderators posted a recap of the discussion held before the old list shut down.Regarding Database Clean-upDecember 8-9, 2020 Moderated by Julene Jones, Emily Williams and Susan WynnePlease join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone! Each day, discussion begins and…Continue Reading

Examine resources used in the study of philosophy with the most recent guide in the Sudden Selector’s Guide series

Caucasian woman reading book in bed

ALCTS Publishing has released its final printed guide in the Sudden Selector’s Guide series. The Sudden Selector’s Guide to Philosophy Resources offers key resources for selectors of philosophy materials. Authored by George J. Aulisio, this guide is aimed at any academic librarian committed to learning more about the study of philosophy and the philosophical community, including its various questions, methodologies, focuses, and idiosyncrasies. In addition to learning about philosophy, readers will also learn to develop and manage a comprehensive philosophy collection supported by effective research and user services strategies.      Philosophy has an extensive history that spans more than two millennia. Today, the study of philosophy reaches into various academic fields from the humanities to the sciences and is informed by multi- and transcultural reflections. Because of philosophy’s all-encompassing breadth and depth, the subject matter can be intimidating to anyone without an advanced degree in the field. Aulisio’s Sudden Selector’s…Continue Reading