[DCRM-L] Future publication of DCRMs

[Alison Bridger]

While I admit some disappointment in not having a print version of DCRM(MSS) (purely Ego) I do know it is very important to make our manual as readily available as possible. Since DCRM(MSS) is to serve as a companion standard to DACS, covering areas that DACS does not, it needs to be available to a wider and many times a different audience then some of the other modules (this is of course true of many of the modules). The hope is the module will be helpful to both Librarians who need to catalog the occasional manuscript and to Archivists who need to describe a unique item in their collections in not just a MARC universe but EAD and other metadata standards as well.

Also many archival institutions are staffed by the "lone arranger" where money is even harder to come by and may not have access to Catalogers Desktop. I also know of one medium sized institution years ago that canceled CD when they pulled APPM before DACS was approved by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and for all I know they have not renewed their subscription. [Sidenote: DACS, which is currently out-of-print is now available for free as a pdf; unsure if the 2013 edition will be available free as well, but since it is a publication of SAA they have more leeway.]

I along with many others put countless unpaid hours and travel expenses (some covered by employers, some not) into writing rules for the different DCRM modules and I would hate to see all that hard work be hidden away not helping as many catalogers (and archivists) do their work helping patrons find what they are looking for. Having rules makes it easier to know how to describe that item you may have never come across before, to make the work of many workers (or even the one) be more consistent.

And besides I was hoping to pick out a color for our cover ...

Alison Bridger
__________________________________________

Alison E. Bridger
Cataloging
Archivist
Library-Archives
Division
WisconsinHistorical Society
816 State Street                     
Madison, WI53706-1482
Phone:
608-264-6453
Email: alison.bridger at wisconsinhistory.org
Website: www.wisconsinhistory.org
 
Collecting, Preserving and Sharing
Stories Since 1846





________________________________
 From: Laurence S. Creider <lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu>
To: DCRM Revision Group List <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu> 
Cc: DCRM Revision Group List <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>; "'bsc at rbms.info'" <bsc at rbms.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Future publication of DCRMs
 
Well, at least we know where LC stands.  I am not nearly as concerned that
the DCRM manuals be available in print format as that they be available at
minimal or no cost.  This means that the manuals must ultimately be
available outside of Cataloger's Desktop. I have always felt badly about
the fact that I could not refer catalogers directly to the DCRM manuals
from the Directory of Web Resources as the site does to the controlled
vocabularies.

It seems like LC is dissolving the publishing relationship between RBMS
and itself, and we should take advantage of that.  Since there will be a
turnover of existing DCRM modules as we adapt to RDA, BSC should take
advantage of the opportunity and publish these materials on its own
imprint.  As a cataloger who is still outraged by ALA's attitudes towards
making RDA available and forcing online access to AACR2 through the prices
of RDA Toolkit, I believe that BSC should not publish through ALA or ACRL.
At this point, I think that we should take our own responsibility for
distribution through the internet of these tools that we all use and not
hand it off to a corporate body with less interest in making special
collections materials available than in covering costs or making a profit.

As a side note, I am not very impressed with Peter Seligman's argument
(actually Congress's) about recovering production costs.  How about the
thousands of hours put in by members of the rare book cataloging community
to provide the content and much of the display for these manuals?  It is
unlikely, but can we use this as a (moral) bargaining chip?  The law may
be the law, but sometimes the law is also an ass.

There should be some interesting discussions at ALA.

Larry

P.S. I just saw Richard's note, which makes many good points.  I would
prefer doing something on the BSC level rather than the RBMS publication
committee because there seems to be some sort of organizational law that
the higher up in the structure you go, the less understanding there is of
what life on the ground is like.  The rare materials cataloging community
has done a remarkably good job of keeping its focus on improving and
making standards public.  With the constantly changing membership of the
section Publications Committee, we are likely to get a Pharoah who did not
know Joseph and end up making bricks without straw.

-- 
Laurence S. Creider
Interim Head
Archives and Special Collections Dept.
University Library
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003
Work: 575-646-4756
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu

On Wed, February 27, 2013 12:31 pm, Carpenter, Jane wrote:
> Manon,
>
> The publication issues and options regarding the DCRM manuals are
getting
> more and more complex by the minute!  Peter has just informed me that
any
> of the manuals in print--Books, Serials, Graphics-- cannot be made
available for free on the RBMS website.
>
>         "CDS made an investment in printing the Books and Serials
publications;
> and the same will         hold true for Graphics. Because the two earlier ones
are still active products, for sale,         and the Graphics publication will
also be for sale, we cannot, at this time, agree to have         the RBMS web
site post those three manuals online.
>         Congressional legislation mandates that we return the cost of
production
> plus an additional         percentage back to the U.S. Treasury. So, we don't
have really any leeway here."
>
> Unfortunately, I do understand that LC would be reluctant/unable to
provide free access through the RBMS website to publications that it is
marketing for sale as print publications and for paid accessibility
through Catalogers Desktop.
>
> I asked him how LC would feel about allowing free access through the
RBMS
> website to DCRM manuals that AREN'T available in print.  If
Cartographics,
> Music, and Manuscripts will be appearing only on CatDesk, would LC allow
RBMS to make those files available on its site? He responded that
because
> CDS will not be publishing in print any DCRM publication after Graphics,
LC would have absolutely no say on whatever arrangements RBMS/BSC would
wish to make.  Ironically, it seems that those manuals without a print
version could be made more widely available--through the RBMS
> website--than the ones with a print version.
>
> Another possible option to consider might be the current model of the
RBMS
> Controlled Vocabularies, which is hosted on the RBMS site, but
"available"
> through a seamless link on CatDesk.  This is the what the Standard
Citations Forms Revision Group is hoping to do with its new completely
revised and expanded edition which is nearing completion, and is slated
for publication sometime before year's end.
> I'm not sure putting all the manuals, Examples, and SCF on the RBMS site
is feasible for the Web Team as it stands now.  It would certainly be a
lot more work for them.
>
> Annie's suggestion to explore the possibility of securing another/other
publisher(s) for the remaining DCRM manuals is worth considering. But
again, if a publisher were selling the DCRM manuals, would they agree to
have RBMS post it for free online?  I'd also like to know if LC would post
> the manuals on CatDesktop if someone else were publishing them.  I'll
wait
> to hear from Bruce Johnson on the CatDesk issues.
>
> I'm becoming quite concerned about keeping multiple RBMS/BSC
publications
> uniformly accessible in this changing publication landscape, with some
available in print, some print and online, some online only, some
through
> LC on CatDesk, some through RBMS but linked to Cat Desk.. This is
clearly
> a discussion topic for the BSC agenda at Annual.  Perhaps BSC should set
up a Publications committee to ensure that BSC has a consistent and
sustainable plan for making its manuals and other cataloging tools as
widely and easily available as possible.  Would this be something for the
> DCRM Steering Group to consider, if their charge were expanded?  That
might be another option.
>
> Jane C.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Manon Theroux
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 10:31 AM
> To: DCRM Revision Group List
> Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Future publication of DCRMs
>
> Jane,
>
> I like the idea of having them freely available on the RBMS website for
people to download (and print, if they want a print version). Is there
some doubt that this can be done? (I notice the words "we hope"
> ...).
>
> I would not want them to *only* be available through Cataloger's
Desktop.
> That would price out a lot of people/institutions. And there are times
when a print version is highly desirable.
>
> If LC will remain the publisher, it would be good to confirm with them
whether they will still be responsible for contracting out the indexing.
And whether they can still do the graphical work to produce the covers
(basing them on the existing DCRM covers). Although the covers wouldn't
display in Cataloger's Desktop, it would be nice to be able to
incorporate
> them into the versions of the DCRM documents posted on rbms.info (and I
should think it shouldn't be hard to create these cover images).
>
> -Manon
>
> --
> Manon Théroux
> Head of Technical Services
> U.S. Senate Library
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 12:33 PM, ANN W. COPELAND <auc1 at psu.edu> wrote:
>> Jane,
>> Thank you for sharing this news. I wonder if we would seek another
publisher for the remaining 3 manuals when they are ready, or do they have
to be LC to be including in Catalogers' Desktop? For instance, the Music
Library Association does some publishing I believe.
>> Thanks, Annie
>> ________________________________
>> From: "Jane Carpenter" <jfcarpenter at library.ucla.edu>
>> To: "dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu" <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
>> Cc: "Jose Fernando Pena" <Jose.Pena at liu.edu>, "bsc at rbms.info"
>> <bsc at rbms.info>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 12:24:09 PM
>> Subject: [DCRM-L] Future publication of DCRMs
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> As most of you already know, LC informed BSC this week that with the
exception of DCRM Graphics, all future DCRM publications will be online
only.  I'm passing on some additional information received today from
Peter Seligman of LC's Consumer Products and Services Section of the
Office of Business Enterprises, which now oversees print publications:
>>                 "Given the projected manuscript production and
>> delivery schedule, we felt that the Graphics publication was too far
along for us to suddenly inform everyone that we could no longer do it in
print.  Music and Cartographics were not quite so imminent. We're truly
sorry to deliver this unexpected news but these are business decisions we
must make. Yes--Bruce [Johnson] will be handling the three manuals
inclusion in Cataloger's Desktop. As for the
>> sequester--who knows what effects it will have on everyone? The Library
of Congress is planning for almost  a week of unpaid staff furloughs, but
nothing is written in stone."
>> So DCRM Graphics, currently undergoing close reading by BSC members and
other BSC colleagues, will join the DCRM Books and Serials manuals already
in print.  However, all future DCRMs--Cartographics, Music, and
>> Manuscripts-- will be available only online through Catalogers
>> Desktop, and, we hope, through the RBMS website as well.
>> LC has always been an excellent partner with RBMS/BSC in publishing
these important cataloging tools, and I don't see that changing in the
future.
>> As always, comments and discussion are welcome,
>> Thanks,
>> Jane
>> Jane Carpenter, Ph.D., M.L.I.S.
>> Chair, Bibliographic Standards Committee
>> UCLA Library Special Collections
>> jfcarpenter at library.ucla.edu
>
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