Midwinter ALA Documents from the Brown Bag

At the Midwinter 2005, Ann Della Porta (LC) reported on improvements to availability of the online LC catalog, implementation of AACR changes at LC, Unicode progress and romanization issues, music authorities enhancements, issues regarding headings for government-designated parks, and a pilot Database Improvement Unit. Ed Glazier (RLG) described features of the new RLIN21 database and client.  Most search options continue in the new system, as do error reporting to LC, access to earlier versions of authorities, and the authority record generator for deriving authority data from a bib record. New features include a "copy" button for deriving one authority from another; a sixty day time limit on saved records. RLIN21 for NACO is in late stage development and will be available soon.

Glenn Patton (OCLC) reported on the Connexion migration timeline and on features of upcoming versions, including a wider range of browse heading indexes and broader keyword indexing of authorities. A new feature will enable copying of authorities from a local system into the Connexion client. Patton also reported on OCLC's progress in linking bib headings to authorities, updating headings in the bib database, re synchronizing the OCLC copy of the LC/NACO authority file,  the sale of the MARS service to Backstage Library Works, and upcoming access to additional authority files, including HKCAN. Robert L. Maxwell (Brigham Young University) described using authority files with locally developed tags and indexing conventions to control data and search records using relator terms, form/genre terms, hierarchical geographic names for place of publication, and standardized citation names.

Marlene van Ballegooie (University of Toronto) described a project to provide metadata for a file of digitized human anatomy illustrations, including the use of MeSH subject tree codes for hierarchical browsing, control of terms for materials, printing techniques, and names. The project also derived metadata records from MARC records for books containing the plates to provide context. The database also enables a visual browse of the images by body region and anatomical level. Elizabeth O'Keefe described the work of a SAC Subcommittee studying headings for named buildings, outlining the problems that currently arise due to the division of these headings between the name and subject authority files, including differences in rules regarding qualification, subject references, and successive/latest entry.