OLAC Newsletter
Vol. 29 | No. 2| June 2009

The OLAC Newsletter (ISSN: 0739-1153) is a quarterly publication of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. appearing in March, June, September and December. Permission is granted to copy and disseminate information contained herein, provided the source is acknowledged.

In this issue

From the Editor

Treasurer's Report

News and Announcements :

• 2010 OLAC Conference
• Playaways and RDA
• Task Force on Music Genre Headings
• The Best of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly

News from OCLC

Book Reviews:

• Uniform Titles for Music

OLAC Cataloger's Judgment:

• The Wide, the Full, and the Ugly
• An Animated Discussion of Technique
• Mysteries of Field 043
• On-Demand or Locally Reproduced DVD?
• The Remoteness of PDF Illustrations

From the President
Robert Bothman

Dear OLAC Members,

As my tenure as president comes to a close, I want to express my gratitude and pleasure in serving this organization, its members, and its goals of supporting AV cataloging.

OLAC has been busy during this past year, preparing for the upcoming ALCTS “Cataloging Digital Media: Back to the Future!” preconference, co-sponsored by OLAC. OLAC is also co-sponsoring the ALCTS “Streaming Media and Proliferating E-Books: Acquiring and Managing Emerging Formats” preconference. Both preconferences are scheduled for Thursday 9 July 2009 in Chicago, Ill.

The location of the next OLAC Conference has been chosen by the Executive Board. It will be held in Macon, Georgia October 14-17, 2010. Julia Huskey and Muriel Jackson are serving as the conference co-chairs and are already busy planning the event.

After several years of inactivity, OLAC is once again offering the OLAC Research Grant. This year’s grant has been awarded to Kevin Furniss and Morag Boyd in the amount of $1,000. Their project is entitled “Describing Reproductions: A Series of Decisions”. Preliminary results of their research will be presented at the OLAC 2010 Conference.

I would also like to include special thanks to Kelley McGrath who authored and led the discussion on the recent “OLAC Statement on OCLC's Proposed New Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat® Records.” Kelley has had some successful and positive initial meetings with OCLC on the ramifications of the policy and the implementation of CAPC’s “Moving Image Work-Level Records Task Force” project.

I hope to see many of you in July at the OLAC meetings at ALA in Chicago!

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From the Editor
Amy K. Weiss

This month’s Newsletter is a short one, consisting mostly of news items. This one can be considered the calm before the storm. The fully functional Web version of RDA: Resource Description and Access will be unveiled at ALA in early July, with publication expected at the beginning of 2010. Testing will follow shortly after the publication. The national libraries are already lining up testing partners. In the end run, the economy, not the quality of RDA itself may determine its fate. As libraries cut back on all of their programs, there may not be the resources out there for the training necessary to implement a new cataloging code. Or will the national libraries take into consideration that most catalogers would have to train themselves, and target their training initiatives toward individual study? There are a lot of possibilities and in the best and worst ways it’s an exciting time to be a cataloger.

In the meantime, my fellow OLACers, we still need a new editor for the Newsletter, starting at the beginning of next year. I can assure you that it’s a rewarding experience to edit the OLAC Newsletter, and since we intend to go online only, you will have a lot of flexibility in making the Newsletter new! Send me an email at akweiss@fsu.edu and I’ll tell you about what it takes to be Newsletter editor.

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Treasurer's Report
3rd Quarter FY09
January 1 - March 31, 2009
Kate James, Treasurer

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