NOTSL

NOTSL Virtual Spring Meeting will take place Friday, April 30, 2021

The Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians’ virtual Spring meeting, Copyright and “Copywrong”: Rules for the Digital Age, will be held on April 30, 2021 via Zoom. Our featured speakers will be Virginia Dressler, Digital Projects Librarian and Assistant Professor, and Cindy Kristof, Head Copyright & Scholarly Communication and Associate Professor, from University Libraries of Kent State University. The presentations “Copyright Basics and Creative Considerations” and “Copyright in Digital projects: Considerations and Evaluations” will discuss the various aspects of copyrights including controlled digital lending.

As you are well aware, the pandemic has brought an unprecedented year for many organizations, including NOTSL. We cancelled both our Spring and Fall meetings in 2020 and held this year’s election for the NOTSL Board online. This is not to say, however, that the NOTSL board has been inactive! We would like to share with you some updates on the work we’ve been doing and how we plan to move forward in 2021.

First, we would like to thank everyone for the valuable information you provided through our survey. Your generous and thoughtful responses allowed the Board to make some very important determinations regarding our Spring 2021 meeting and future meetings, as well. Thanks to the strength of our small but mighty organization, we received 192 responses! You can find the results of that survey here.

Second, because we did not have any meetings in 2020 in which our newest Board members could participate, we have decided to hold off on electing new Board members in 2021 and to allow the current positions to extend an extra year. We will resume our Board election process in 2022. The About page on our website will be updated to reflect this extension.

Last, though we did not meet as an organization this year, we have decided it is still important for us to distribute scholarships for 2021. NOTSL will award up to $500 as part of the Jane Myers Cataloging Scholarship(s), so please check the Scholarships page on our website for details on how to apply.

We thank you for your continued interest in and support of NOTSL and we wish you a healthy and happy holiday season!

Regina Houseman
NOTSL Chair

The Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians (NOTSL) survey is only available until September 9, 2020!

Please help NOTSL determine how we can best serve technical services staff as a professional association in the near term by taking this survey. NOTSL exists to provide continuing education events, and to offer scholarships, and we don’t want to stop doing our good work. Because there has always been interest in NOTSL meetings from outside the northern Ohio area, and because we are considering moving our meetings to an online model, we are seeking comments widely. Thank you for helping us determine our next steps by giving us your thoughts and opinions.
 
Click here for the survey.
 
Time is running out, so respond soon!

Due to the increase of COVID-19 cases, and the financial hardships facing most library systems at this time, the NOTSL Board has voted to cancel the Fall 2020 meeting “Metadata Matters: MARC and Beyond.” All monies will be refunded; if you have concerns regarding refunds, please contact Laura Maidens at lmaidens@rockhall.org. We plan to offer another meeting in the Spring of 2021, and ask that you participate in our upcoming survey to help us determine the most timely topics, as well as its format. As always, we thank you for your continued membership, and invite you to look for additional updates on here, in your email, Facebook and Twitter. Be safe everyone!

Metadata Matters: MARC and Beyond

Cuyahoga County Public Library | Parma-Snow Branch Auditorium
2121 Snow Rd. | Parma, OH 44134
Registration and light refreshments: 9:30 am – 10:00 am
Program: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Please note the change in meeting time from previous meetings!

Friday, March 20, 2020
Deadline to register is Friday, March 13

Step 1: Registration
Registration is closed.

Step 2: Payment
Payment is closed.

NOTSL is pleased to welcome the following speakers and their presentations

Metadata for Digital Collections
Presented by Marcia Zeng, Professor, School of Information, Kent State University

This presentation will contribute to the NOTSL 2020 conference’s main theme which focuses on digital projects in libraries. These digital projects are essential for extending the value of digital collections beyond being just retrospective resource warehouses. Advancing from digitizing to datafying will enable the digital collections to be better shared, linked, enriched, and reused. By looking at any given item from different perspectives (production, content, and the audience’s interests), a digital project can gain a clearer understanding about the range of its scopes, expected workflows, and needed investments for various opportunities. These will lead to a set of decisions, including: what metadata standards to follow, what metadata elements to include in the application profiles or schemas, how to ensure metadata interoperability (mapping and integration within a repository and beyond), and how to make the metadata search-engine-friendly. This presentation will discuss the best practices and standards that are applicable to metadata design and implementation while ensuring the functionality of metadata following the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles.  

Marcia Lei Zeng is Professor of Library and Information Science at Kent State University. Her research interests include knowledge organization systems (taxonomy, thesaurus, ontology, etc.), Linked Data, metadata, smart data, database quality control, semantic technologies, and digital humanities, with over 100 research papers, 5 books (including Metadata 2nd).  She has chaired or served on committees, working groups, and executive boards for IFLA, SLA, ASIS&T, NISO, ISO, DCMI, ISKO, and W3C. Currently she is serving as an Executive Board Member of the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO).

Maneuvering Through Complex Copyright and Privacy Issues in Digital Collections
Presented by Virginia Dressler, Digital Projects Librarian, Kent State University; and Cynthia Kristof, Head, Copyright and Scholarly Communication, Associate Professor, Kent State University

Kent State University Libraries received a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to aid digitization initiatives around selected subcollections from the May 4th Collection. The grant funded digitization of the selection of the large archival collection and the library developed new workflows to address copyright and privacy issues. The session will provide information around complex copyright and privacy issues in archives, including fair use analysis, permission-seeking and instilling a privacy review.

Virginia Dressler is the Digital Projects Librarian at Kent State University. Her specialty areas are project management of digital projects and reformatting of analog collections for open digital collections, including overseeing the Daily Kent Stater digital archive project (daily student newspaper) and working with the university’s unique collections. She holds an MLIS from Kent State University and MA in Art gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds.

Cynthia Kristof is Head, Copyright and Scholarly Communication, and Associate Professor at Kent State University.

Metadata Transformation for Digital Migrants
Presented by Arjun Sabharwal, Associate Professor/Digital Initiatives Librarian, The University of Toledo

Metadata transformation is an inevitable process in the migration of digital repositories, given the capabilities of the platform, emerging standards, and collection reassessment. Several factors can compel a decision to migrate and shape the directions that migrations take: budget, staffing, institutional mandates (or lack of investment), emerging technologies, and new metadata, description, and encoding standards. There are also multiple external frameworks that shape the migration process; for instance, a transition team (or just the repository manager) needs to plan how a migration may affect compliance with such standards as the OAI-PMH, how it can continue interfacing with DPLA, discovery services, and open data environments. Each move requires a collection reassessment, which includes reappraising the digital collections, reevaluating the metadata records, and redesigning the workflow involved in the daily administration of the digital repository because each move necessitates content and format migration, metadata transformation, and workflow reconfiguration. In cases of migration away from costly proprietary environments towards bare-bone open-source platforms, workflow becomes an important issue with the need to develop macros, tool chains, and creative solutions. This presentation will present details on metadata transformation in relation to the University of Toledo Digital Repository.

Arjun Sabharwal joined the University of Toledo as Digital Initiatives Librarian in 2009.  His primary work focuses on digital preservation, curating the Toledo’s Attic virtual museum, and managing the University of Toledo Digital Repository. He completed his MLIS degree with a graduate certificate in archival administration at Wayne State University in Detroit. His research interests include Digital Humanities, interdisciplinary approaches to digital curation, digital preservation, archival science, and information architecture. He wrote a book (Digital Curation in the Digital Humanities: Preserving and Promoting Archival and Special Collections), published several articles, and presented on the topic of digital curation.

Andrew Kosmowski (North American Center for Marianist Studies)

• $300 to attend the Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians  (OVGTSL) 2020, in Akron, OH

Lindsay Miraglia (Akron-Summit County Public Library)

• $1,200 to put toward tuition and fees for Technical Services-related courses at Kent State University

Colleen Fedewa (Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University)

• $1,000 for Rare Book Cataloging Class and the Rare Book School in Charlottesville, VA

NOTSL Spring Meeting will take place Friday, March 20, 2020

Registration will open soon!

The Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians’ Spring meeting, Metadata Matters: MARC and Beyond, will be held on March 20, 2020 at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Parma-Snow Branch Auditorium. Our featured speaker will be Marcia Zeng. Her presentation will discuss the best practices and standards that are applicable to metadata design and implementation while ensuring the functionality of metadata following the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. Topics of discussion include: what metadata standards to follow, what metadata elements to include in the application profiles or schemas, how to ensure metadata interoperability (mapping and integration within a repository and beyond), and how to make the metadata search-engine-friendly.

Wrangling Realia and Other Random Resources

Cuyahoga County Public Library | Parma-Snow Branch Auditorium
2121 Snow Rd. | Parma, OH 44134
Registration and light refreshments: 9:45 am – 10:15 am
Program: 10:15 am – 4:00 pm
Please note the change in meeting time from previous meetings!

Monday, November 4, 2019
Deadline to register was Friday, October 25. 

Links to presentations:
Bobby Bothmann: Wrangling with Orthodoxy
Anne Drozd: Collecting and Connecting

NOTSL was pleased to welcome the following speakers and their presentations:

Wrangling with Orthodoxy: Object Cataloging Lessons Gleaned from Osborn, Lubetzky, and Svenonius
Presented by Bobby Bothmann, Metadata & Emerging Technologies Librarian, Minnesota State University, Mankato

The theory and practicality of bibliographic descriptions for objects continue to be subordinate to the orthodox rules for the cataloging of books, serials, music, and moving images. An exploration of cataloging theory through the lens of Andrew D. Osborn, Seymour Lubetzky, and Elaine Svenonius allows us to wrangle (in both meanings of the word) with practices, traditions, and expectations for bibliographic descriptions. We will explore the principles of description, identify what elements are necessary for various types of objects, and question some assumptions that may be rooted in monographic cataloging traditions. After scrutinizing some examples such as tool libraries and atypical resources offered by libraries such as bicycles, creator space equipment, technology equipment, and the like, we will consider what we have learned with regard to user needs and expectations.

Collecting and Connecting: Unusual Collections in Public and Academic Libraries
Presented by Anne Drozd, Museum Coordinator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, The Ohio State University 

What does a theremin have in common with a sewing machine and original Calvin and Hobbes art by Bill Watterson? All are objects that libraries collect—and sometimes even make available for patrons to borrow! Why are these things in libraries and how do you manage them? When should they circulate and when should they be part of a special collection? Let’s talk about the process of selecting, cataloging, and circulating realia and things. We will also explore how partnerships with local organizations, exhibitions, and events can help connect patrons and researchers with your collections.   

Panel discussion with librarians from Akron Summit County Public Library, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Public Library, and Columbus College of Art & Design

We will close the afternoon with a panel discussion representing multiple area libraries, both public and academic with both circulating and closed collections containing non-traditional resources. Panelists will attempt to answer attendees’ questions citing specific examples from their personal projects. What are you cataloging?

Registration is now open for Wrangling Realia and Other Random Resources.  All are welcome; membership is conferred on all attendees.

The Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians’ Fall meeting, Wrangling Realia and Other Resources, will be held on November 4, 2019, at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Parma-Snow Branch Auditorium. Our featured speaker will be Bobby Bothmann, Metadata & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. We will discuss traditional cataloging and processing procedures and how they apply to “Things.” Please watch for a detailed announcement soon.