Fw: Query about a listing of my work in World Cat

[jkirk]

Well, it's been ten days since I sent this query to OCLC online.

Why am I surprised that I haven't received a reply? Bureaucracy

ueber alles?

This is just one example of various travesties involved in the cataloging

of digital media. Similar experiences, anyone?

Jo Kirkpatrick

===================================

 

 

Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:00 PM

Subject: Query about a listing of my work in World Cat

> Hello OCLC:
>
> Checking World Cat listings under my name, Joanna Kirkpatrick, I found that
> my multimedia CD-ROM publication is also listed as a 'book' from Indiana U
> Press.
> However, there IS no book. So why do you have it listed this way?
> There is only one publication by that title, and it is the multimedia
> CD-ROM.
>
> Please advise and thanks.
>
> Joanna Kirkpatrick
> www.ricksha.org
> New World Film Review Editor
> Visual Anthropology

[Wade KOTTER]

Jo:

I understand your frustration, but unfortunately, contacting OCLC won't
resolve the problem. WorldCat is a cooperative union catalog. Catalogers
at member libraries do the cataloging and export their records to OCLC.
The number of records entered into WorldCat numbers in the millions each
year and OCLC doesn't have the time or resources to review each record.
Libraries have been suffering from this weakness of the system for many
years. I did a search in the full (pay) version of WorldCat and
discovered that there are actually three listings for your CD. 25
libraries correctly cataloged it as a "Computer File: Interactive
Multimedia," 11 libraries cataloged it merely as a "Computer File," and
only two institutions cataloged as a "Book." Interestingly, one of these
is Baker & Taylor, a wholesaler that sells "books" to libraries, and the
other is the Canadian Museum of Civlilization Library. I know that it's
not really an acceptable alternative, but the only way to have these
records corrected is to contact each library and ask them to correct the
record.

I suspect that you found this problem using WorldCat.org or perhaps Open
WorldCat on Google. One thing that OCLC's search engine does in
WorldCat.org is attempt to "merge" records for the same title. So it
might well look like all copies are cataloged as books. Catalogers have
found all kinds of problems with how the search engine merges records.
Also, one thing to recognize about WorldCat.org it doesn't retrieve
everything in the full WorldCat database. Individual libraries must
first subscribe to the full WorldCat service (which can be quite
expensive) and then they must agree to let their holdings "appear" on
WorldCat.org. Our library cannot afford a subscription to the full
WorldCat service, so our holdings do not appear in WorldCat.Org or Open
WorldCat.

Again, I don't expect this explanation to satisfy your concern, but it
should help you understand how this problem is actually much more
complex than one might think. It also shows that, despite all the hype,
we have a long way to go before WorldCat.org really provides open access
to worldwide library holdings.

------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Wade Kotter
Professor & Social Sciences Librarian
Adjunct Faculty, Anthropology
Stewart Library
Weber State University
2901 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2901

Voice: 801-626-7458
Fax: 801-626-7045

wko...@weber.edu
http://library.weber.edu/cm/wkotter
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/wkotter
>>> "jkirk" <jk...@spro.net> 12/22/06 5:15 PM >>>

[Alex Golub]

Wow Wade,
Thanks for that very informative email.
-A

[jkirk]

Greetings Wade,

 

Wow-----OCLC much more complicated than I'd thought it is.

 

Thanks for looking up my entry and finding the two libraries that reported my work as a book. I shall get in touch with them (not that it will do any good, but might as well anyway). In a way, my product IS a sort of digital book, so far as numbers of illustrations and of text words goes, but not of the usual sort that consists of a book that is simply scanned and digitized, then put on a website. Mine was digital from the start. 

 

One thing that this confirms for me is how retarded most institutions STILL are so far as digital media are concerned, comparing what the situation was like when I produced my CDR, to what it is now. When I did that work, I naively thought that most academics at universities and colleges would by then be going more digital, using computers more in teaching or otherwise, and getting au courant with digital production.

 

Well-------I was misguidedly optimistic. The way it looks to me today, most institutions of higher learning and the scholars in them are still in the dark ages, so far as digital is concerned (and this mind-set has implications for Open Source online, too). This ignorance, or deliberate refusal to countenance digitalized media, also goes for evaluations of work that is digital (both static and film) getting less attention, or negative attention. I found out from checking OCLC.org (admittedly not the pay-to-play version) that only 35 libraries purchased my ethnographic CD-ROM.  Perhaps there are a few more, but I doubt it. Compare that to the number of new books libraries purchase every year. And my work was priced less than most monographs. 

 

Best wishes,

Jo Kirkpatrick

===========  

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[Wade KOTTER]

Jo:

I could go on and on about the issues you raise, but I won't. Instead,
let me make a few counterpoints. At wever, we have faculty in many
disciplines that are very active in digital media. I'm confident that
this is true at other institutions as well; I know it is at the
University of Utah and BYU. The fact that only 38 libraries (according
to the "full" WorldCat) purchased your CD is probably more a result of
other factors, like marketing, collection parameters, etc. At Weber, for
example, we generally only purchase items that faculty specifically
request. And we don't have any anthropology faculty that specialize in
India. If it were requested, I would have definitely ordered it and made
sure that it was cataloged properly.

Also, I think you will find that librarians, especially at large
institutions, are at the forefront of the digital media and OA
"movements." Within the American Library Association there is a very
active group of media catalogers that work precisely on these issues.
Unfortunately, only the largest libraries can afford to have expert
media catalogers on their staffs. I think this explains why the Canadian
library cataloged you CD as a book. They probably have only one person
doing the cataloging, and that person may not even be a trained
cataloger.

Wade

>>> "jkirk" <jk...@spro.net> 12/22/06 6:35 PM >>>

[Wade KOTTER]

wever - Where did that come from? It's been a long day.

------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Wade Kotter
Professor & Social Sciences Librarian
Adjunct Faculty, Anthropology
Stewart Library
Weber State University
2901 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2901

Voice: 801-626-7458
Fax: 801-626-7045

wko...@weber.edu
http://library.weber.edu/cm/wkotter
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/wkotter

>>> "Wade KOTTER" <wko...@weber.edu> 12/22/06 7:57 PM >>>

[Alexandre Enkerli]

Fellow OA enthusiasts,

There might be a larger point, here. Most of us are very enthusiastic about technology and optimistic about its future in academia. Not to pat ourselves in the back too much, we're something of trailblazers and possibly trendsetters. IOW, we might be considered geeks, at least as the general academic population is concerned.
Technology is changing quite rapidly. Not by revolutions, but by the way specific technologies are implemented in specific social contexts. Most of us probably think that academia is especially slow to move. DARPAnet was an academic project but it took until the business side of world became interested for online communication to become mainstream in academia. We probably all know members of the academic old guard who still have issues with the simplest dimensions of IT. Not because academics are stubborn, but because academia threads cautiously through the meanders of technological change.

My point here is this: we all want to help academia cope with this new world in which we live. We probably all believe that certain elements of technology can benefit academia. We might even be patient about those changes. But we tend to forget that we're still in for a bumpy ride.

As databases go, WorldCat is certainly less than perfect, but quite an achievement nonetheless. WorldCat.org (the OA version of WC) is in beta. As Wade mentioned, one of the wonders of Open WorldCat is that it can be integrated in other services, like Google Scholar. Though there are some very obvious rough patches in this field, we may revel in this "Release Early, Release Often" ambiance. If Open WorldCat becomes truly open, it might be possible to update some records ourselves or, at least, add information to what's available.

As an idealist myself, I tend to think that the best way to get others to adopt new technologies is to use them successfully ourselves. We should be patient for changes to be implemented broadly in academia but we can't wait for things to change to truly experiment with those technologies. Best thing is, we don't risk so much in the process. The old guard has no reason to be afraid.

[jkirk]

This is a heartening development---Jo Kirkpatrick

===================================

http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,,1931465,00.html

"As MAS becomes cheaper and easier to use, and as knowledge in genomics becomes more easily available over the next decade, plant breeders around the world will be able to exchange information about best practices and democratise the technology. Already plant breeders are talking about "open source" genomics, envisioning the sharing of genes. The struggle between a younger generation of sustainable-agriculture enthusiasts anxious to share genetic information and entrenched company scientists determined to maintain control over the world's seed stocks through patent protection is likely to be hard-fought, especially in the developing world."

[JKirkpatrick]

Hello all,

Have y'all seen this NYT article about a court judgment against
Google books:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/03/22/business/AP-US-Google-
Book-Battle.html?hp

Regards,
Joanna K.