Opac and RA - #ra2015
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This document discusses how cataloguers can leverage their skills to enhance the reader experience by improving subject access and discoverability of materials in online public access catalogs (OPACs). It suggests cataloguers can analyze book descriptions and holdings to add relevant genre and subject headings to aid user searches. When desired headings don't exist, the document recommends librarians generate their own custom headings. Contact information is provided for a librarian who can discuss their experiences improving an OPAC.
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Opac and RA - #ra2015
- 1. Your OPAC and Readers Advisory – making the most of your cataloguing skills. To boldly go where no Readers Advisor has gone before… into the OPAC
- 7. So, given there are 54 holdings of this book across Australia, what does this book look like in your OPAC? And what have you done to make it easier for library users to find it in your OPAC?
- 23. gsafd: genre subject access (for fiction, drama (etc)
- 24. Q: But what do you do when the heading you want to use doesn’t exist? A: Make up your own!
- 25. Chick Lit Paranormal Erotic
- 31. Cathy Johnston Coffs Harbour Libraries 02-66484900 catherine.johnston@chcc.nsw.gov.au @CatyJ
Editor's Notes
- First, a disclaimer: the following slides include several screen shots from various libraries around NSW. I have tried, where possible, to remove any indicator of what location the example comes from but you may in fact end up recognising your own OPAC. I mean no offense but only to exemplify not only the varied ways in which Libraries throughout NSW present the very same book to their patrons (depending on the idiosyncrasies of your LMS), but also the importance of presentation within your OPAC and how subject headings enhance the access points for your library’s patrons.
- This is the Redshirts by John Scalzi record on Libraries Australia – it was definitely my favourite science fiction read from 2013. Note, no.5 is an RDA compliant record
- (no. 7 seems to have better subject headings … though they could do with a little tidying up…) If you mashed the 2 records together, notably the subject headings, you’d end up with a good record. The available World Cat & Library of Congress records are pretty much the same.
- Here’s what this book looks like in Coffs’ cataloguing client
- And here’s what it looks like in Coffs’ OPAC
- Sitting under this display are 3 ‘containers’ – Similar Titles, Titles by this author, and People who borrowed this also borrowed…
- Armidale Dumeresq Library
- Clarence Regional Library
- Leichhardt
- Penrith City Library
- State Library of NSW
- UTS Library – note, catalogued in NF not Fiction …
- Gosford Library - Libero
- Hornsby Shire (Amlib)
- Liverpool (1st record) – note the Other Editions statement (Spydus)
- Liverpool (2nd record) – note Imprint data and copyright date (Spydus)
- Pittwater Library Service - Mona Vale Library (Amlib) Same for Randwick Library (also Amib)
- Shoalhaven – Nowra (Libero)
- City of Sydney (Aurora) – this is the more detailed view
- This is the marc view of the LA record which Coffs originally downloaded, before we ripped it apart and made it prettier that is (the 520 tag is the summary, I’ve deleted it out because of the way the screen shot went) I can hear you going, oh my god what does all that mean? I’m not a cataloguer, this has nothing to do with me Oh but it does…
- RDA – these are very important tags – 100 = author name; 245 = title and responsibility; 264 (replaces the old 260) = publication details; and the 2nd 264 is usually for copyright date (that’s what the 4 means; now, you don’t need to use this if the copyright date is the same as the publication date, so get rid of the 2nd 264 tag)
- Now, here’s where all the RA stuff happens – subject and genre headings 650 = subject heading 655 = genre heading Top left is the LA marc record On the right is the Coffs marc record Now, the 655 tag is the genre which this book belongs to, the 650 tags help describe the contents of the book and create links with other library items with the same subject heading. So the more you apply 650 & 655 tags the more links you create. So then when Mrs Jones walks in the door and says “I’ve read every John Scalzi book out there. I really like Science Fiction, what else have you got?” you can simply bring up one Scalzi record and link to other books like it simply by clicking on the subject heading link. Or, you can do a subject search for science fiction and go from there, but if you don’t have the heading on the record, you won’t be able to find that one library item that your patron wants. Which is why, from a basic RA perspective, cataloguing is so important.
- Within the cataloguing rules there is scope to create local subject headings, providing they meet standard cataloguing guidelines. Here are some that Coffs has created which are specific to us and our Fiction collection
- Gentle read – fiction – this complements the other 2 subject headings of Love stories and Christian Fiction We created this heading to be more inclusive of those titles which were a sweet gentle read but not restricted to Christian Fiction Y’know, when Paranormal fiction first hit the scene we had no idea what to do with it as it wasn’t quite a horror tale and wasn’t mainstream romance – now “Paranormal Fiction’ is in wide use If an item is paranormal romance we include both subject headings Gay and lesbian fiction is another heading we brought into use following the Adult Fiction stock quality health check as a way of highlighting those items within our collection that fitted this genre. We also created a spine label to identify them as well (yes, it’s a rainbow) Rural Literature is our collection of (mostly Australian) stories set in a rural environment. Authors here include Nicole Alexander & Bronwyn Parry. Our genre label here is a pair of pink cowgirl boots. Sometimes we use a standard genre heading but we give it a twist with our genre label – be brave, be creative! BUT, the main thing is to use genre headings to create linkages between your books and helps your customers browse your collection online. We use spine labels to find things, we should all be using subject headings too. If you genrify the spine of the item you need to make sure you have also genrified the record.
- But it isn’t just a case of adding a subject heading to your record, you also need to ensure that the heading on this record links to all the other records with the same heading, otherwise things are just as hidden as before. Here’s a very simple subject search done on our OPAC for science fiction; I’m browsing the search because I want the answers to start with “science”
- Oh dear… Coffs has 94,603 headings featuring “science fiction”, but it’s the top few headings here which interest me today. You can see some serious duplication of headings which shows that while 982 science fiction titles link together there are an additional 98 that don’t. I’m not even going to start in on the duplication of the other headings below … This is not good. At Coffs we have an open document that all staff can add to which is simply called “Authorities Maintenance” so that when any staff find a record or heading which needs a look at they can add it to the list and cataloguing staff will take a good look at it and either merge the authorities or correct the error. This way, everyone contributes to an online catalogue that is clean and useful and helpful for finding things. And yes, before you ask, fixing the Science Fiction authority heading is most definitely on the list!
- And after just a little bit of concerted work, here’s what it looks like now – with 1049 records now sitting together under the one genre heading and as a result much easier to find.
- With sets of results that can be refined by collection, sorted by title or by author, or saved as the ultimate sci-fi reading list by patrons… All because a little care was taken with the subject headings… RA in action.
- Without good catalogue records, our various RA resources, like these bookmarks, are worthless.