Electronic Cataloging, edited by Sheila S. Intner, Sally C. Tseng, and Mary Lynette Larsgaard

Electronic Cataloging: AACR2 and Metadata for Serials and Monographs is a collection of eleven papers that were delivered at Association for Library Collections and Technical Services’ Regional Institutes on AACR2 in 2001-2002.  Overall, this book is an excellent introduction to why metadata is important to libraries, and how metadata is used within libraries.

In the first section, “Fundamentals,” Michael Gorman and Brian Schottlaender address some basic issues concerning cataloging and metadata.  Michael Gorman briefly describes the development of library cataloging standards, identifies five categories of electronic documents that we must deal with, and discusses four possibilities for providing bibliographic access to those documents.  Brian Schottlaender, in an article entitled “Why metadata? Why me? Why now?” describes three kinds of schema: encoding, metadata, and architectural, and addresses the need for catalogers to be leaders in metadata development.

The second part of the book addresses the topic of how libraries can use metadata.  Grace Agnew discusses the development of a metadata strategy, which begins with understanding your user community and its information needs.  Agnew recommends the implementation of a core or root schema, such as MARC or Dublin Core, that can be easily mapped to other schemas as needed.  Murtha Baca addresses the need to choose metadata schema based on user needs and the types of materials being represented.  Baca emphasizes the necessity of providing crosswalks and metadata mapping in order to provide effective access when more than one metadata schema is used, and stresses the importance of appropriate controlled vocabulary and its benefits to end users.  In an article about the Shanghai digital library, Yuan-liang Ma and Wei Liu provide a history of digital library development in China, describing several major projects.  They then discuss the development of digital collections in the Shanghai Library, a large public library, and address such issues as the need for metadata standardization and the preservation of digital objects.  In a very thought-provoking article, Sheila Intner addresses the issues of standardization and customization, and suggests that libraries could learn much from the “world of commerce” for ways to serve patrons better.

The third part of the book addresses more specific topics related to metadata.  In a useful analysis of AACR2, Ann Huthwaite compares AACR2 to Dublin Core and describes recent and possible future revisions to AACR2.  Huthwaite also outlines five models for providing access to free internet resources.  After addressing the evolution of cataloging and metadata, including the revision of cataloging rules to handle electronic resources, Barbara Tillett discusses activities of the Library of Congress and IFLA in the areas of digital projects and metadata and encourages a move towards an international authority file.  Jean Hirons provides a summary of the changes in the cataloging rules for serials, focusing on the challenges of integrating resources.  Erik Jul compares how texts are represented by MARC and other standards, particularly the Resource Description Framework.  Finally, Regina Reynolds provides an overview of the ISSN, contrasts its characteristics with other identifiers, and encourages the ISSN as a solution to a number of  problems related to serials.

Overall, this book is a stimulating analysis of a number of issues relating to metadata.  It is an excellent addition to metadata collections in libraries which do not already subscribe to Cataloging & Classification Quarterly.