Presented by Bobby Bothmann, Minnesota State University, Mankato for Peer Council 2019 on June 3rd at Madison Public Library in Madison, WI Budgets, personnel, technology, services, and information-seeking behavior are some of the factors that influence today’s libraries. During this session, we will look at some of the historical technologies, processes, and trends in cataloging and examine how they panned out. We will use that information to identify and discuss current technologies, processes, and trends to see where we might be going and how advocacy might help us change fate.

1. Conforming to Destiny
or Adapting to
Circumstance:
The State of
Cataloging in 2019
Bobby Bothmann
Metadata & Emerging Technologies Librarian
Minnesota State University, Mankato

2. Your Presenter
• Bobby Bothmann
• Metadata & Emerging
Technologies Librarain
• Minnesota State
University, Mankato
2

3. Gratuitous Dog Picture
3

4. Overview
Definitions
Futurist Thinking
Past Trends
Current Trends
Brainstorming
Discussion

5. What are our values? Our roots?
• Description and Access
• Raganathan’s Laws
• Charles Cutter’s Objectives
– Find | Show | Assist
• Elaine Svenonious’ Principles
– User convenience
– Representation
– Sufficiency & necessity
– Standardization
– Integration
5

6. Technology, n. (Oxford English
Dictionary)
• 4.b. The application of … [mechanical arts
and applied sciences] for practical
purposes, esp. in industry, manufacturing,
etc.; the sphere of activity concerned with
this; the mechanical arts and applied
sciences collectively.
• c. The product of such application;
technological knowledge or know-how; a
technological process, method, or
technique. Also: machinery, equipment,
etc., developed from the practical
application of scientific and technical
knowledge; an example of this. Also in
extended use.
6

7. Process, n. (Oxford English Dictionary)
• 8. A continuous and regular action or succession of actions
occurring or performed in a definite manner, and having a
particular result or outcome; a sustained operation or series of
operations. (Now the most common use.)
7

8. Trend, n. (Oxford English Dictionary)
• 4.a. The way something trends or bends away; the general
direction which a stream or current, a coast, mountain-range,
valley, stratum, etc. tends to take.
• b. figurative. The general course, tendency, or drift (of action,
thought, etc.). Now frequently with qualifying word and without
const.
8

9. Gartner Hype Cycle
• Represents the maturity,
adoption, and social
application of ermerging
technologies
• Graphs the intersection of
Technology and Trends
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10. Technology
• Cowardly Lion
• Wants courage
• Believes his fear makes him
inadequate
10

11. Trends
• Tin Woodman
• Wants a heart
• This is about emotions
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12. Processes
• Scarecrow
• Wants a brain
• He’s only 2 days old and
merely ignorant
12

13. Futurist Thinking

14. Thinking Like a Futurist
• “Thinking about the far-off
future is more than an
exercise in intellectual
curiosity. It’s a practical skill
that new research reveals has
a direct neurological link to
greater creativity, empathy,
and optimism. In other words,
futurist thinking gives you the
ability to create change in
your own life and the world
around you, today.”
Jane McGonigal, PhD, director of games research and
development at the Institute for the Future 14

15. Where Do You See Yourself in Five
Years?
• Vision
• Goals
• Projects
• High value tasks
15

16. Look for Signals
• Innovations
– MarcEdit
– Identifiers for entities
• Disruptions
– Vendor cataloging
– Outsourcing
– Faceted vocabulary
• New practice
– Stop claiming
– Demand-driven aquisitions
16

17. Current signals?
• Stripping RDA down
• Vendors buying companies
unrelated to their core
services
• Off-site storage
• What are the public libraries
doing?
• What are the big university
libraries doing?
17

18. Crafting Your Predictions
• “Any useful statement
about the future
should at first seem
ridiculous.”
--Rohit Bhargava, Founder of The
Non-Obvious Company
18

19. Counterfactual thinking
• Imagine how the past could have turned out differently and
what that would have meant for the future. Work through some
“what if” scenarios.
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20. What if….
• The Paris Principles were never written?
• MARC was never developed?
• Sandy Berman wasn’t a cataloger--where would we be today?
• RDA never happened? Where would be we today?
20

21. Identify Your Organization
• Before you can move
forward…
• Define and understand your
organization’s values.
• Do you have a vision
statement that asks you to
strive for something?
• Do you have goals and
objectives?
21

22. Past Trends

23. What were we worried about in…
• Privatization of information
• Flattening organizational structures
• Application of business management on libraries
• Just-in-time employment (temps)
• Decreasing staff size
• New workloads driven by technology
23

24. What were we worried about in…
• Organizational structure
• Workflow
• Relationship with Public Services
• Relationship with Systems/IT
• Electronic Resources
24

25. Emerging Issues--2007 Edition
New Technologies
• Federated searching
• OpenURL
• Google Scholar
• Digital collections
• Social networks & Tagging
• ILS implementations
• “Dumbing down the catalog”
• Indexing Genre/Form
• Tables of contents
Future Challenges
• RDA
• Description and access for more
non-English language resources
• Shrinking budgets
• Next Generation catalogs
• Simplified cataloging
Sanchez, Elaine. 2007. Emerging Issues in Academic Library
Cataloging & Technical Services.. New York, N.Y: Primary
Research Group.
25

26. Current Trends

27. Emerging Issues--2019 Edition
• Future of Cataloging & Technical Services
• Quorum of Libraries--interconnected consortia
• BIBFRAME and unified contribution databases
• More managing, enhancing, connecting metadata
– Less creation of metadata
• Information resources adapting to small mobile interfaces
• Assessment and effectiveness of metadata
• Diversification of staff workload outside tech services
Morris, Anthony. Emerging Issues in Academic Library Cataloging & Technical Services.. New York, N.Y: Primary Research Group., 2019 27

28. 2016: Davis’ “Transforming Technical
Services”
• Identified 4 change drivers of Technical Services
– Economy | Social behaviors | Technology | Academia
• Functions identified as changing include
– Demand-driven acquisitions
– Outsourcing
– Digital shift
– Metadata models
– Reuse of bibliographic data
– Emphasis on access and discovery
– Emphasis on local collections
Davis, Jeehyun Yun. 2016. “Transforming Technical Services: Evolving Functions in Large Research University
Libraries.” Library Resources & Technical Services 60 (1): 52–65. 28

29. 2018 Top Trends in Academic Libraries
• Publisher and vendor landscape
• Fake news and information literacy
• Project management approaches in libraries
• Textbook affordability and OER (Open Educational Resources)
• Learning analytics, data collection, and ethical concerns
• Research datasets acquisition, text mining, and data science
• Collection management
– Acquisition model developments
– Open access collection development policies and funding schemes
– Legacy print collections
ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. 2018. “2018 Top Trends in
Academic Libraries: A Review of the Trends and Issues Affecting Academic
Libraries in Higher Education. College and Research Libraries News 79 (6): 286–300.
29

30. 2019 State of America’s Libraries
• Artificial intelligence
– “Intelligent” machines that work and react more like humans.
– Deep learning, machine learning, and natural language processing, all of which seek
to develop intelligent machines that work and react more like humans.
• Smart community development
– Utilize smart, internet-connected devices (like the Internet of Things) that communicate
with one another to connect disparate utility, infrastructure, and public services to
generate real-time data that can help cities manage their programs and services more
effectively and gauge their impact immediately.
– Bring together technological innovations and a focus on community aspirations to
improve the efficiency of urban operations and citizens’ quality of life.
– Take advantage of new technologies and encourage the cycle of collection,
aggregation, and analysis. As institutions that create data, libraries may need to
evaluate policies and administrative capacities that will feed into smart city initiatives.
"State of America's Libraries Report 2019", American Library Association, February 13, 2019. http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2019 30

31. ALA’s Library of the Future
• Artificial intelligence
• Badging
• Data everywhere
• Fandom
• Privacy shifting
• Virtual reality
Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014.
http://www.ala.org/tools/future
31

32. Group Exercise

33. Example: The Autonomous Library
• Many of the functions of the library--acquisition, circulation,
cataloging--are carried out by autonomously intelligent robots.
Autonomous agents assist patrons in conducting research and finding
the information they need. They teach classes about information
resources and help users evaluate search results and reference
materials so they are easy to find. Robots maintain collections and
organize library materials. AI develops and indexes databases of library
materials, and researches new books and materials by reading book
reviews, publishers’ announcements, and catalogs. These autonomous
librarians make decisions to acquire new books, audio books, videos,
and other materials for the library. Especially because more and more
library materials are in digital rather than physical form, these are easily
managed by AI.
33

34. Name Some Signals
Auto
Lib
Crro
wd
Enroll
Cent
ral
Cat
34

35. 35

36. Artificial Intelligence
• “Intelligent” machines that work and react more like humans
• Rely on deep learning, machine learnings, and natural language
processing
• Could be introduced in many aspects of technical services
36Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014. http://www.ala.org/tools/future

37. Badging
• Recognize individuals’ accomplishments, skills, qualities, or
interests and help set goals, motivate behavior, represent
achievements, and communicate success in learning offered
through schools, professional settings, or daily life
• Metadata involvement
37Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014. http://www.ala.org/tools/future

38. Data Everywhere
• Information collected by devices is used to develop products
and services, improve marketing and communications, or
monetize information
• We talk about the how of sharing library data, the how of
making it useful
• We don’t know what consuming nonlibrary data looks like
• We will need to understand data to intervene when meshing
disparate data sets
38
Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014. http://www.ala.org/tools/future
Mcelfresh, Laura. “The Year of Coding, the Future of Catalogers.” Technicalities 32, no. 4 (2012): 5–7.

39. Fandom
• A community of people who are
passionate about something, whether it’s
a film, a band, a television show, a book,
or a sports team.
• Linked Data
• Series
• Relationships galore
39Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014. http://www.ala.org/tools/future

40. Privacy Shifting
• How we value privacy is
changing
• We will have to balance our
value for privacy
with the benefits
of new technologies.
• ORCID
• RDA & FRAD
40Billey, Amber. “Just Because We Can, Doesn’t Mean We Should: An Argument for Simplicity and Data Privacy With Name Authority
Work in the Linked Data Environment.” Journal of Library Metadata, April 2, 2019, 1–17.

41. Virtual Reality
• Simulated images or environments
• Augmented
reality
41Center for the Future of Libraries. “Trends,” American Library Association, July 31, 2014. http://www.ala.org/tools/future

42. Troublesome Catalogers &
Magical Metadata Fairies
• Artificial intelligence
• Authority control via identifiers over unique text strings
• Batch processing
• Context over relevancy
• Linguistic diversity and non-Roman scripts
• Linked data
• Local focus
• Outsourcing
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43. Communication
• Advocacy
– Defining our values
– Demonstrating the value cataloging adds
• Collaboration
– Metadata enhancement
– Personal connections
43
Borie, Juliya, Kate Macdonald, and Elisa Sze. “Asserting Catalogers’ Place in the ‘Value of Libraries’ Conversation.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 2015, 1–16.
Schomberg, Jessica. “Examination of Cataloging Assessment Values Using the Q Sort Method.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 54, no. 1 (2015): 1–22.

44. Linked Data
• Next 5-10 years
• Change our processes
44

45. The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz

46. Green Spectacles of Oz
46

47. Creative Problem Solving
• Play games
• Do art
• Use your imagination
• Come up with crazy ideas
47

48. Q & A Time
• Bobby Bothmann
• bobby.bothmann@mnsu.edu
Q & A Time
• Bobby Bothmann
• bobby.bothmann@mnsu.edu