Home--Minutes

AJL RAS Cataloging Committee Virtual Annual Meeting Minutes

17 June 2024, 12-1pm EDT (11am CDT, 9am PDT, 7pm IST)

Old Business

1. Welcome, designate note-taker (Daniel)

1. Tali Winkler volunteered

2. 2024 Winter meeting minutes approved (Daniel)

Continuing/New Business

1. A recap of the programming for Cataloging Committee: Cataloging Forum and Cataloging Clinic (Haim)

1. Cataloging Forum: this is the third year of the forum, and there have been 11 forums in three years. This year’s three forums were on manuscript waste (with Judith Olszowy-Schlanger), proposing subject headings (with Amy Phillips), and ethical cataloging (with Tricia Mackenzie). There are more planned for the future!

2. Cataloging Clinic: this is being run through the education committee. We have had a total of 10 clinics so far. Catalogers can come with questions to discuss as a group. They are not recorded. 

2. HCM-RDA updates: what’s been done; what needs to be done (Jasmin)

1. Some changes have been made. Lili has converted the flat PDF to a linked Google Doc which is easily navigable. The changes included typos and any changes in RDA since 2019. It is currently in an editable form, which has not been shared, but a stable form will be made available to everyone for use. 

2. With the adoption of Official RDA, more substantive changes will need to be made. 

3. OCLC merge training: interest? (Jasmin)

1. The following people expressed interest in OCLC merge training: Daniel, Lili, Ari, David, Ilana, and Tali. 

4. Official RDA: Phase 1 training completed; slides and recordings available. Phase 2 TBD (Jasmin) 

1. Discussion about MGD / HCM 

1. Caroline asked whether our group wanted to make Metadata Guidance Documentation as part of Official RDA, either separate from or parallel to HCM. 

2. Aaron: Ideally we would only have one document, but we need to know more about the implications of having it as part of Official RDA. What is the best way to make it viewable / accessible? This decision may be easier once we get a sense of what types of changes will be needed. 

3. Ahava: We have two options. We can try to get LC to include our documentation in the toolkit. However, this limits access to the documentation to people who have access to the toolkit. Alternatively, we create a Judaica community (which would include Israel, Germany, US, etc.). Things we all agree on, we can put as a community resource document. When there are differences between countries, we can use “conditions.” Anything in the community resources can be made available outside the toolkit. But we need to be careful not to quote too much of the toolkit, because ALA is getting copyright-sensitive. 

4. Aaron: how well-developed are German and Israeli guidance? HCM and RDA are interwoven - the toolkit is the foundation, and there is a lot of Hebraica in the Toolkit. 

5. Ahava: They are trying to pull a lot of the community-specific information out of base-RDA and put that information into community resources instead. 

6. Aaron: Does Israel have an equivalent of HCM? 

7. Ahava: We are currently writing something, but we are waiting to see if there is going to be a Judaica zone to decide whether to write it in Hebrew or English. 

5. NACO updates (Jasmin)

1. TG on evaluation guidelines for non-Latin script references in NARs:

1. presentation Thurs., June 20 (register here);

2. survey, report forthcoming;

3. charge, interim report, progress report available here.

2. We will want feedback on the proposals so please submit feedback! 

6. SACO updates (Jasmin)

1. funnel name change: Israel/Judaica SACO Funnel

2. projects/work underway

1. tentative list 2406 includes proposals for "October 7 Hamas Attack, 2023" and "Israel-Hamas War (2023-)"

1. editorial meeting this Fri., June 21 (write policy@loc.gov to request meeting access; PLEASE ATTEND!)

2. note the list also includes proposals for "Palestinian diaspora" and "Palestinians--Migrations" -- Please write listcomments@loc.gov with any comments or concerns by June 18

1. Jasmin: by not clarifying “Arabs” or “Jews,” Palestinian Jews are being erased. 

2. work being done to remove "Falashas" in captions and cutters from LC Classification schedule

1. It has been replaced as a subject heading but currently working on removing it in captions and cutters. There will need to be new call numbers proposed. 

3. What areas still need attention? 

1. Orthodox Jews

1. Reach out to Jasmin if you want to be part of this conversation. 

2. David Floyd: "Orthodox Jews" BT Jews, RT Orthodox Judaism is on the May 17 2024 Tentative list 

2. There is a SAC working group on question headings which Jasmin joined 

7. Event for "cool things we have cataloged" (Haim)

1. Haim: perhaps we can have an event once a year, where people can bring examples of cool things they have cataloged. 

2. Daniel: Perhaps we can combine that with the cataloging forum, instead of creating a whole new event? 

3. Haim: great idea, we can incorporate it into the forums. 

8. NLI updates (David R.)

1. Yaniv Levi-Korem left the library (for Ex Libris). New head of Technical Services is Orly Simon (orly.simon@nli.org.il)

2. This is the end of David’s second term. Elad Weisz is being recommended to replace David. 

3. RSC updates:

1. There is a working group about AI - Ahava is the chair. The North American representatives are Charlene Chou and Judith Cannan. If anyone has comments, feel free to contact Ahava. 

2. There is a short-term working group about place names and corporate body names with multiple languages, that could be misinterpreted as parallel names but aren’t. Please send examples to Ahava. 

1. Ahava: An example of the type of multilingual corporate body/place names the RSC working group is looking at: סיכוי-אופוק 

3. We are working on the Hebraica/Judaica section of the Community Resources in the RDA Toolkit, which we'll soon be getting permission to establish.  It will try to incorporate standards from HCM and Israeli and German practice. 

4. Yossi: Are there plans at NLI to have a new interface for authority records? Or do you still have to go to the old website? 

1. Ahava: It will be a subsection of the library catalog. We will see proof of concept in the 3rd quarter of the year, will be going live by the end of 2024 or early 2025. 

5. Lili: How can we access BHB? 

1. Ahava: it's currently available in primo:  https://merhav.nli.org.il/primo-explore/search?vid=MBI  

In attendance (based on Zoom chat)

Daniel Scheide (Florida Atlantic University, chair)

Haim Gottschalk (LC, member)

Caroline Miller (UCLA)

Jasmin Shinohara, (University of Pennsylvania)

Nora Dolliver (NYPL, member)

Tali Winkler (Yale, notetaker) 

Ilana Abend-David (University of Florida)

David Floyd (Binghamton University/Yale as of August 1, member)

Ari Kleinman (Brandeis University)

Aaron Taub (LC, member ex-officio) 

Mirit Lerner Naaman (USHMM)

Ahava Cohen (NLI)

David Roth (NLI, member)

Sharon Benamou (UCLA)

Annette Sasse (Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main)

Lili Brown (Stanford, member)

Joseph Galron-Goldschlager (Ohio State)

Neil M. Frau-Cortes (Broward County Public Libraries)

Avrom Shuchatowitz (Yeshiva University)