F08Q3

= **Fall '08 Question #3:** = = = **Electronic information sources are transforming library information services and**
 * creating new challenges for the organization and representation of information.**
 * Identify THREE challenges that have been created for organizing and**
 * representing information by the presence of different types of electronic resources**
 * in online library catalogs. How have information professionals approached each**
 * of these three challenges? Provide specific examples to substantiate your points.**

**Responses:**
Leland: Three obvious challenges to older ideas in librarianship of the "card catalog" and its immediate electronic replacement, the online public accessible catalog (OPAC), are the mushrooming numbers of electronic journals, books and image collections. Setting aside issues of economics for now, and the 'ownership vs. access' argument, let us focus exclusively on the challenge a library faces in 'organizing' these information objects within a traditional integrated library management system's OPAC. A given library can often, for electronic journals, either purchase MARC records to accompany large packages of from vendors in order to ingest them into the ILS, or can occasionally use either their electronic resource management system or an open link resolver to export metadata that can be converted into MARC for ingesting into the ILS. The same can be done when purchasing eletronic books from vendors, such as netLibrary. If the e-book is publically available from a digital collection the library may be able to use XSLT to generate MARC records from either OINX or Dublin Core metadata associated with the digitla book. These remain very expensive and laborious options. When digital collections, of images or any other digital object, become involved the challenges are even greater. Often there is no option to purchase MARC compatible surrogate records that will point into a collection to a specific object, even if the library can afford to. There are, however, standards for generating, and in some cases harvesting, this metadata. The METS and MODS standards represent two XML based metadata standards that facilitate digital object use and management, but which also allows for the creation of crosswalks that generate MARC or MARCXML our of the MODS metadata within the larger METS framework of a digital object.

Older responses:
Sp06Q1 code Public Libraries In public libraries, electronic resources provide a variety of challenges. 1. How to show patrons what is available. Does the electronic link show up in the catalog? 2. How patrons get to what is available. Do they need a separate password or log-in? Is there support available? 3.

MY GUESS IS The THREE New CHALLENGES ARE: 1- Metadata Syntax Encoding XML (Interoperability, flexibility, Extensionbility) 2- Metadata schema (your elements artitic. /Taxonomy) 3- Metadata elements to fit your organization need, BUT the most important element is Identifier, URL of the information package) PLEASE consult the group and e-mail me back, I am going to work on Fall 2006 Que # 2 now, have a good day, laila code