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Showing posts from July, 2012

Metadata Update #9 - MARC 21 Standard

For those who weren't at the MARC 21 Standards meeting, this is the link that I recommend for looking information about MARC tags: http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ That's not all folks..... As promised, here is OCLC’s version of the MARC standard: http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/default.htm I don’t tend to use this one that much because it is generally less up to date and also I find it a little harder to navigate.   However, it does have some strengths so it may be worth having a look at it sometime. It gives a slightly different explanation or definition of the MARC tag that helps clarify why it might be used.   A very useful feature is that this website lists some of the odd local or OCLC specific tags which are not part of the “official” standard.    An example is the 099 tag which can be found in this version of the standard.   In short, the OCLC version of the MARC Standard is much more complete but not my first place to look because it is not as easy

Libraries, Patrons and eBooks - report of a study

This is an interesting report of a Pew Internet study which was done in Nov -Dec 2011 and funded by the Gates Foundation: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/06/22/libraries-patrons-and-e-books/ As expected with something funded by the Gates Foundation, it focuses on U.S public libraries but I think that its still of interest to those working in academic libraries.  From my point of view, findings that Americans value and use the library and like eBooks but often either can't find or use the eBooks that the library offers are key.  Unlike paper books that sit on a shelf, a library user who doesn't know how to search or where to begin searching, will have a hard time locating eBooks which appear readily accessible to library workers.  In addition, as long as a print book is written in legible type-face on reasonable quality paper, most readers do not require an special technology to just pull a book off a shelf and start reading it.  Not so with eBooks.  Lack of standardisat