**National Library of Medicine**

**Report of Activities**

**ALA Annual Meeting**

**June 2006**

**Voyager Upgrades**

In January, NLM upgraded Voyager and LocatorPlus to the Voyager Unicode
release (2003.1.1) which provides the capability to create, search and
display non-roman characters in bibliographic records. With this
release, NLM began in-house cataloging using vernacular scripts. There
are already over 4,000 records in the database in Japanese and Chinese
vernacular characters, which came from previous cataloging contracts
with OCLC. Vernacular data is supplied for all access points (authors,
titles) and the edition and imprint. We anticipate that by the end of
the June, most in-house cataloging of Chinese, Korean, Russian, Arabic
and Hebrew monographs and serials will be done with vernacular scripts.
NLM plans to upgrade to Voyager 6 on the weekend of July 1.

**Electronic Resources Management System**

Meridian 1.0 has been installed as a test environment. The project team
is reviewing current workflows for electronic resources and identifying
possible data sources for migrating existing data into Meridian. They
are also making and documenting decisions on which DLF fields to use in
the system and establishing standards for coding data.

NLM will go into production with Meridian when a filter is available
from Endeavor that will allow bibliographic data to be maintained in
Voyager and updated regularly in Meridian. The filter is expected to be
developed after release 1.5 has been implemented. Once the filter is in
place a new record load will be performed and the system will be
considered in production.

**Review of RDA by NLM on Behalf of the Medical Library Association**

NLM did an extensive review of the draft part 1 of Resource Description
and Access (RDA), and provided a very detailed list of comments and
suggestions to improve this resource. Our comments were issued on behalf
of MLA and the Library. Overall, NLM remains dismayed that, as presently
constituted, RDA represents a largely a cosmetic revision, rather than a
high-level reexamination of content. The major comments focused on the
failure of the current draft to address several key points: 1)
incorporation of rules to allow use of a single record to describe
multiple entities in certain instances; 2) treatment of the description
of a reproduction based on its original; 3) the definition of
major/minor changes that restates whole cloth provisions of AACR2 (2002
revision) that NLM found problematic. NLM's view also is that RDA
remains too ISBD-centric and should be reconstituted and expressed in
terms of elements.

**2006 NLM Classification**

2006 revision to Classification was published on April 6, 2006. Fifteen
new class numbers were added to the schedules and ninety-eight MeSH
terms were added to the index, including fifty-seven new to the MeSH
vocabulary as of 2006. In particular, the sections dealing with proteins
and bacteria were significantly updated. The new edition also includes
an animated tutorial.

**Access Level Cataloging for Serials**

NLM participated in the testing of the proposed access level cataloging
for serials. The access level record proposal was developed as a way to
meet all the user tasks defined in the IFLA document, *Functional
Requirements for Bibliographic Records*, yet cut down on the amount of
time it takes to create and maintain serial cataloging records, as well
as the time it takes to train new catalogers. Catalogers created records
at both full and access level for a variety of titles, recording the
time spent on the various cataloging tasks. A variety of reviewers
representing the reference, acquisitions, and indexing perspectives then
looked at these records, and evaluated their usability. Overall response
to the access level records was good. Based on the feedback from
reviewers, some adjustments were made to the recommended data set (most
notably adding back place of publication), and the CONSER membership
approved the recommendation that the group go forward with making this
streamlined record the single CONSER standard for serial record
creation. The formal report and recommendation will be sent to the PCC
after this ALA meeting.

**Cooperative Project to Archive and Catalog NIH Videocasts**

NLM has undertaken a major project in cooperation with the National
Institutes of Health's Center for Information Technology. The Center for
Information Technology (CIT) makes special NIH events, seminars, and
lectures available live to viewers on the NIH network and the Internet
from its VideoCast web site. CIT will be archiving these videocasts for
permanent access, and the Library will provide catalog records and
enhanced metadata for selected titles, to enhance retrieval and access.
Over 1500 titles already on the website were selected for cataloging and
preliminary records have been added to LocatorPlus and the NLM Catalog,
and are currently being upgraded. In addition, catalogers are providing
catalog records for new videocasts as they are selected for the
collection.

**Personnel**

Three new catalogers joined NLM in April and May, Katarzyna Palmer,
Carlos Fernos, and Craig Dowski.

Marti Scheel, head of the Cataloging Systems Unit, and long-time NLM
MARBI representative, retired on May 31.

The Serial Records Section underwent a reorganization, effective March
1, 2006. New teams were formed with the intention of integrating all
acquisitions tasks for all serial formats. Prior to the reorganization
there was a unit for ordering and invoicing and another unit for
receiving. The primary motivation for undertaking the reorganization was
the need to achieve greater efficiency in processing print serials so
that additional staff resources could be dedicated to managing
electronic resources. Within the new structure assignments for each team
are based on acquisition source. Members of the team are responsible for
all aspects of managing the serials from that source including ordering,
invoicing, vendor correspondence, problem resolution, receiving and
claiming. For electronic versions the teams will identify where online
versions are available, obtain information about the terms of access and
maintain records once online access is established. Decisions regarding
priorities for new electronic resources, as well as the review and
negotiation of licenses, are still centralized at the management level.
The reorganization has required a significant training effort. However,
the time spent reviewing and updating numerous policies and procedures
and training staff in new aspects of serials work has been well spent.