The document discusses the results of research conducted by OCLC to understand metadata quality expectations of end users and librarians. The research found key differences in their priorities, with end users prioritizing ease of access, full text availability, and summaries, while librarians focused more on accuracy and structure of records. The research suggests technical services should better align their work with end user needs by focusing more on unique collections, accessibility, and independent use of resources.

1. Choosing What to Hold and
What to Fold
NELINET
Considering the
Catalog and its Data
Database Quality Decisions in Tough Times
Karen Calhoun
WorldCat and Metadata Services
27 May 2009
calhounk@oclc.org
http://community.oclc.org/metalogue

2. With thanks to
Janet Hawk,
Joanne Cantrell,
Peggy Gallagher,
OCLC Market Research
Photo by allw3ndy
http://flickr.com/photos/allw3ndy/2757149584/

3. Online Catalogs:
What Users and Librarians Want
End-Users expect online catalogs:
to look like popular Web sites
to have summaries, abstracts,
tables of contents
to help find needed information
Librarians expect online catalogs:
to serve end users’ information needs
to help staff carry out work
responsibilities
to have accurate, structured data
to exhibit classical principles
of organization
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm

4. Where does the library profession’s
definition of “catalog quality” come from?
Charles A. Cutter. Rules for a dictionary catalog.

5. Where does an end user’s definition of
“quality” come from?
“Users bring expectations developed through Internet use into
library environments.”—Alison Dellit and Tony Boston,
National Library of Australia
“Due to the popularity of web search engines ... users think
they can find everything on a topic with a few well-chosen
words.”—Roy Tennant
“More and more, users want, expect, and pursue full text.”—
Norm Medeiros

6. What factors influence an end user’s
definition of “catalog quality” today?
“Dewey arranged books by subject, but
Amazon tries to find every way we might
want to get from the A of a book we know
to the B, C, and Z of books we don’t know,
including the fact that lots of other people
bought Z.”
--David Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous, p. 62.

7. What is “full”?
Product
description
and purchase
information;
‘More like this’
Editorial
reviews and
author info
Bibliographic
Bibliographic information ‘Inside the
information book’ tags,
Library holdings ratings,
Australian Details customer
library holdings Subjects reviews,
Editions lists and more + 3 more screens
Reviews
With thanks to David Lankes:
http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf

8. The Task Before Us
“What is needed now is to integrate the best of
both worlds in new, expanded definitions of
what “quality” means in library online
catalogs.”—Online Catalogs report
How can what technical services does better
reflect what end users want?

9. Objectives of our metadata
quality research
•Start over with a blank page
•Identify and compare metadata expectations
• End users
• Librarians
•Compare expectations of types of librarians
•Determine end-user satisfaction with WorldCat.org
•Define a new WorldCat quality program
•Considering the perspectives of all constituencies of WorldCat
• End users (and subgroups of end users)
• Librarians (and subgroups of librarians)

10. Research methodologies and
demographics
• Focus groups
• Conducted by Blue Bear, LLC
• Three sessions: College students, general public, scholars
• Pop-up survey on WorldCat.org
• Conducted by ForeSee Results
• 11,000+ responses: Students (28%), educators (22%), business professionals
(19%), other; mix of ages; 44% from outside U.S.
• Librarian survey
• Conducted by Marketing Backup
• 1,397 responses; North America (64%) and outside North America (36%);
academic, public, special libraries; staff with roles in technical and public
services, ILL, directors

11. What did we learn?
End-user focus group results
Key observations:
• Delivery is as important, if not more important, than discovery
• Seamless, easy flow from discovery through delivery is critical
• Summaries and tables of contents are key elements of a
description
• Improved search relevance is necessary

12. What did we learn?
Pop-up survey suggestions
Changes to help identify an item?
End users (n=7535)

13. End-user recommendations
• Improve search relevance
• Add more links to online full text (and make linking easy)
• Add more summaries/abstracts: Make summaries more
prominent
• Add more details in the search results (e.g., cover art and
summaries)

14. Librarian/staff survey results
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat
Total librarian responses

15. Librarian/Staff Results: End-User Results:
Highlighted Differences Recommended Enhancements
9 Recommended enhancements to WorldCat
Total end-user responses
1
4

16. What did we learn?
Librarians’ Perceptions Compared to
End-users
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat

17. What did we learn?
Librarians’ Perceptions Compared to
End-users
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat

18. What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
Respondents Who Reported Roles in Cataloging:
Upgrade Brief Records
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat

19. What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
Respondents Who Reported Roles as Library Directors:
More Clickable Links to Online Content
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat

20. Recommendations from librarian
survey
• Merge duplicates – New Duplication Detection and
Resolution software in final testing phase
• Make it easier to make corrections to records (fix typos; do
upgrades); Expert Community Experiment began Feb. 15
• More emphasis on accuracy/currency of library holdings
• Enrichment—TOCs, summaries, cover art—work with
content suppliers, use APIs, etc.
• More communication about what users say they want

21. What Does It Mean For Aligning What
Technical Services Does with What Users
Want?
By: David Wulff
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwulff/5357629/

22. Matching Up What Technical Services Does to
What End Users Want
“A persistent shortcoming in
the decision-making process
that needs to be addressed is
the lack of serious research
into user needs and benefits,
and the actual impact on
users of database quality
decisions.”—Janet Swan Hill
Hill, Janet Swan, “Is it worth it? Management decisions related to database quality,”
Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 46 (1) (2008): 5–26.

23. Two Starting Points
1. Paying attention to what’s important about
records
2. Aligning technical services priorities with end user
priorities
• E-resources, books, media, unique digital collections
• Redesigning workflows

24. “Evidence-Based Cataloging”
Assess quality on external measures rather than subjective
expert opinion
Acknowledge other functions of records besides ‘find’ (FRBR
“[Catalogers] need to practice evidence-based cataloging.
tasks find, identify, select, obtain)
They need to catalog based on the evidence that they can
HIlder for the effectiveness of particular practices, and they
find and Tan research: construct a measure of record
need tofrom empirical research into catalog use
quality judge their output according to this evidence.”
• July-October 2007
• National Library Board (Singapore) and State Library of
Victoria (Australia)
Hilder, Philip and Tan, Kah-Ching. 2008. Constructing Record Quality
Measures Based on Catalog Use. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 46:4.

25. Top Ten Elements for Identification and Selection at NLB, Compared to SLV
Ratings for Those Elements
90
80
70
60
Weightings
50
40
30
20
10
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Data Source: Hilder and Tan, p. 358.

26. Most Serious Errors by Field/Subfield (NLB)
10
9
8
Top Five Weightings (9 to 5)
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
100 a 110 a 111 a 856 uz 245 a 100 others 110 others
111 others 700 a 710 a 711 a 130 a 240 a 246 a
247 a 730 a 740 a 245 bhnp 630 a 650 a 651 a
655 a 700 bqcd 710 bgncd 711 bcdeqn
Data Source: Hilder and Tan, p. 354-5.

27. Buying What Users Want: Trends in Book,
Media, Journal, and E-Resource Expenditures
Public and Academic Library Acquisitions Expenditure Trends, 2004
and 2007 Reports
Estimated % of Acq. Spend
45.00
40.00
35.00 Books
30.00
25.00 AV Materials
20.00 Periodicals/Serials
15.00
10.00 E-Reference
5.00
0.00
Public Academic Public Academic
Libraries Libraries Libraries Libraries
2004 2007
As reported in The Bowker Annual, 2004 and 2007 editions; based on
data taken from the American Library Directory.

28. ARL Library User Priorities: What Do They
Want to Use, and Where?
Five Most Desired Items Overall
Making electronic resources accessible from my home or office
Easy-to-use access tools that allow me to find things on my own
A library Web site enabling me to locate information on my own
Making information easily accessible for independent use
Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work
•The ‘wild user’ wants to use the library’s collections:
•At a distance from the library
•Independently and self-sufficiently
•This is an international phenomenon
Martha Kyrillidou and Ann-Christin Persson. 2005. The New Library User in Sweden:
a LibQUAL+™ study at Lund University. Conference presentation. Available:
http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/sweden_finalpaper3.doc

29. Shift effort to unique collections of
value to local communities
“The function of primary sources has
“The availability of searching across
Usage of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
been crucial for the success of my
2001-2008 [1] collections is a dream frequently
teaching in history. Students have
discussedwhat a difference it has made,
remarked but seldom realized at
10000000
9000000
2
R = 0.9701
aand I have noticed a big difference
robust level. This paper …
8000000
Millions of Sessions/Uses
7000000
discusses how we with themove
between this course might availability
6000000
5000000
4000000
of online primary resources to those I
3000000
from isolated digital collections to
2000000
have taught before that were based on
1000000
0
interoperable digital libraries.”
printed resources.” –History instructor,
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
—Howard Besser [3][2]
University of California
Posted 6/17/2008: Digital Collections Technology Librarian,
North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIAN
Digital visibility creates use: uncover those
to provide access tohidden resources! [4]
The Digital Collections Technology Librarian will investigate and develop solutions
and long-term management of heterogeneous collections
including text, images, video, and data…

30. Digital Collections Slide - Citations
[1] Data source for chart and photo: University of Wisconsin Digital
Collections Center. Summary Statistics.
http://uwdcc.library.wisc.edu/usageStats/publicView.shtml
[2] Quote from survey respondent as reported in Harley, Diane.
2007. Use and users of digital resources. Educause Quarterly 4,
p. 12-20. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0742.pdf
[3] Besser, Howard. 2002. The next stage: moving from digital
collections to interoperable digital libraries. First Monday 7:6.
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/articl
e/view/958/879
[4] For much more on the topic of digital collections’ visibility, see
Research Information Network. 2007. Uncovering hidden collections.
http://www.rin.ac.uk/files/hidden-resources-final-report.pdf

31. Workflows
20% to
80% to Cataloging
FastCat
From: Andreadis, Debra K., et al. 2007. Cooperative Workflow Redesign in Library Technical
Services at Denison University and Kenyon College. In: Library Workflow Redesign: Six
Case Studies, ed. Marilyn Mitchell. Washington DC: CLIR.
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub139/pub139.pdf

32. A New Context for Technical Services
Bibliographic Desktop (TS Data The Web
Control Workstation) Management
New sources/types Network, hardware Relational Data Authoring
of records; and software Management
outsourcing administration
New workflows Integrated library SQL: queries and Publishing
systems reports
New metadata Macros; impt. of More data Web site
standards ergonomics manipulation, less organization and
data entry management
E-resources and Growing number of Global change Digital library
digital collections applications management
systems
Adapted from Calhoun, Karen. Technology, productivity, and change
in library technical services. Library Collections, Acquisitions,
and Technical Services Volume 27, Issue 3, Autumn 2003, Pages 281-289

33. Examples of What Other Technical
Services Leaders and Librarians Have
Done (1)
• Adopt evidence-based cataloging
• Don’t sweat the small stuff (and figure out what the “small stuff” is)
• Let go of the perfect on behalf of the good
• Accept that fast and convenient availability are essential aspects of
quality
• Redeploy, re-skill, and refocus human efforts on (1) organizing
the materials your end user communities use or want the most
AND (2) what cannot be automated
• E-resources
• Media
• Digital collections

34. Examples of What Other Technical
Services Leaders and Librarians Have
Done (2) – Workflow Redesign for Print
•Study your processes with workflow •Stop special cuttering practices; close
maps starting with selection and ending the shelflist card catalog
with access (for e-) or on the shelf
•Consolidate multiple tech services
•Outsource or automate the ordinary departments (where it makes sense to do
(e.g., obtain MARC record sets for e- so)
journals)
•Reduce the number of times materials
•Maximize use of approval plans and/or are handled, moved, searched
vendor or OCLC record supply services
•Seek out and eliminate as many
(e.g., WorldCat Cataloging Partners)
workflow “exceptions” as possible
•Receive as much as possible shelf-ready
•Seek out and eliminate routines or
(and spot check only)
subprocesses that take time but don’t
•Do as much processing (FastCat) as add value
possible in acquisitions; save copy and
•Get rid of multiple processes that
original catalogers for the work only they
accomplish the same thing
can do
•What else?
•Stop editing CIP copy; examine and
adopt automated tools (e.g.,, OCLC
Bibliographic Notification) to capture
upgrades

35. Examples of What Other Technical
Services Leaders and Librarians Have
Done (3) – Not Going It Alone
• Commit to and invest in collective action with
• --other libraries and consortia
--other OCLC members
--like organizations (local museums, archives, historical
societies, cultural organizations)
--vendors
--other metadata communities
--end users (your local communities)

36. Start Small, But Start
We are staffed and
trained for a print
world—this MUST
change!
Realign our efforts to
match
• How collections are
changing Highway
• How users are changing By: SFAntti
• How the Web is changing http://flickr.com/photos/sfantti/274905309/