Monthly Archives: April 2015

Revolutionizing cataloguing – implementing RDA!

Posted on by
2

There’s been a revolution in cataloguing! Since 2010, RDA (Resource Description and Access) has been the new international standard for description. It was developed over many years through the cooperation of institutions such as Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the Library of Congress, the British National Library, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and other national and international committees (LAC employees sit on the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing, for example). Implementation of RDA began at LAC in late 2012 and is still ongoing, involving the entire cataloguing section. This has included hundreds of hours of training sessions, meetings, individual research and reading, and informal team discussions and consultations as we have to rethink a lot of our policies and practices to adapt to the new philosophies and rules for description represented in RDA.

So, what’s so different about RDA?

There have always been standards and rules for description of course. But the rules we were using were developed before the advent of the multitude of formats that are now collected by and available in modern libraries. This has forced cataloguers to try to treat everything like a printed book. You can imagine how frustrating that was at times! On top of that, the old rules were designed to help cataloguers fit all the essential information on a 3” by 5” card that was filed in a card catalogue drawer. This meant abbreviating words, omitting non-essential information, and making decisions based on the placement of information on the physical card. Now with online catalogues, linked data, and international databases available with the click of a mouse, we need to rethink how we do things. Some of this involves physically changing how the information is presented in the catalogue record (for example, RDA eliminates abbreviations unless they appear on the item itself). Other changes focus on thinking differently about the relationships between the content, the physical item (what we call the “carrier”), and the people involved in creating both.

What hasn’t changed?

As always, our goal is to create a bibliographic record for an item that accurately and thoroughly describes both the physical item and the content it holds, and allows users of our catalogue the best possible access to the item and our collection. The employees in the cataloguing section are committed to creating useful, accurate, credible metadata that is used by libraries across the country, and in international databases. RDA may be changing the “how” of cataloguing, but not the “why!”

Useful links:

Subject Headings emblazoned with maple leaves

Posted on by
Reply

Subject access to Library and Archives Canada’s collection is made primarily through the use of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). A list of these headings has been actively maintained by the Library of Congress since 1898. But if the topic fits a Canadian like a warm winter toque, it is probably found in the Canadian Subject Headings (CSH) or its French equivalent in the Répertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM), published by the Bibliothèque de l’Université Laval.

CSH and RVM are designed to be used in tandem with LCSH and follow the same principles for the structuring of the headings and most of the same policies as LCSH.

The former National Library of Canada first developed a list of access points to Canadian topics not covered by the Library of Congress in 1968, to address Canadian terms and subjects from a Canadian point of view. Canadian Subject Headings have been found on the Web since 2000 in conjunction with AMICUS, Library and Archives Canada’s database of bibliographic and authority records. The list is constantly updated to reflect subjects discussed from a Canadian perspective, including those recently in the news.

The scope of Canadian Subject Headings is mostly limited to the Canadian cultural, economic, historical, literary, political and social experience. Subject areas include Canadian history, Canadian literature, Canadian government, Canadian geography, social and economic history, the Canadian legal system, Canada’s approach to second languages, bilingualism and multiculturalism, and Aboriginal or Native peoples.

Screen capture of a Canadian Subject Heading search result for the search “Hudson’s Bay blankets.”

Example of a Canadian Subject Heading search result showing a uniquely Canadian subject heading.

Here are some examples which reflect our unique identity:

Native youth [CSH]
Jeunesse autochtone [RVM]

Native peoples—Canada—Residential schools [CSH]
Internats pour Indiens d’Amérique – Canada [RVM]

Hudson’s Bay blankets [CSH]
Couvertures de la Baie d’Hudson [RVM]

Canada—History—War of 1812 [CSH]
Canada—Histoire—1812, Guerre de [RVM]

Italian Canadians [CSH]
Canadiens d’origine italienne [RVM]

European Canadian authors [CSH]
Auteurs canadiens d’origine européenne [RVM]

Voyageurs [CSH]
Coureurs de bois [RVM]

Habitants—Canada [CSH]
Agriculteurs—Canada—Histoire—18e siècle [RVM]

Goods and services tax—Canada [CSH]
Taxe sur les produits et services [RVM]

Band membership [CSH]
Nationalité indienne [RVM]

Films for second language learners [CSH]
Films pour allophones [RVM]

Sugar bush—Canada [CSH]
Érablières [RVM]

Do you have a suggestion for a new subject heading? We welcome your ideas! Send them to the Editor, Canadian Subject Headings at: standards@bac-lac.gc.ca.

First World War Centenary: Honouring Canada’s Victoria Cross recipients

Posted on by
3

As part of its commemoration of the centenary of the First World War, over the next three years we will profile each of Canada’s Victoria Cross recipients. Each profile will be published on the 100th anniversary of the day that the actions for which the recipient was awarded the Victoria Cross took place.

Colour photograph of a medal. Ribbon is crimson. Cross-shaped medal is bronze with a lion above a crown bearing the inscription For Valour on a scroll.

The Victoria Cross (MIKAN 3640361)

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration in the Commonwealth and takes precedence over all other medals, decorations and orders. A recognition of valour in the face of the enemy, the VC can be awarded to a person of any rank of military service and to civilians under military command. So far, 98 Canadians have been awarded the Victoria Cross, beginning with Alexander Roberts Dunn who in 1854 fought in the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. The Victoria Crosses were awarded to 71 Canadian soldiers during the First World War, and 16 were awarded during the Second World War. The remaining VCs were awarded to Canadians for the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (in which William Hall of Nova Scotia became the first-ever black recipient of the VC) and the South African War (1899–1902).

In 1993, the Canadian Victoria Cross was adopted in place of the British VC. The medal is identical to the British VC but the inscription is in Latin—Pro Valore—a linguistic ancestor to both English and French. The Canadian Victoria Cross has yet to be awarded.

The profile series will also include links to photographs, service papers, war diaries, and other digitized artifacts in Library and Archives Canada’s collections that help to tell the stories of the Canadians who experienced the Great War on many fronts, including the home front, and whose actions and memories shape how contemporary Canadians remember and understand the first truly global conflict.

We will begin our First World War Victoria Cross profiles with Lance-Corporal Frederick Fisher.