BCC2003/Auth/3

Media Resources Committee

ALA Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, June 22, 2003

Reported by Marlena Frackowski, Chair, Authorities Subcommittee

The members present discussed the Committee's review that Miriam Palm, the Chair of the Media Resources Committee (MRC), had recently submitted to the ALCTS office. Palm also brought members up to date on the future of the Committee, in light of the division ballot to add a category of Interest Groups to ALCTS. Topical committees such as MRC may be asked to reconstitute themselves in another manner: as a discussion group, an interest group, or to align themselves with a section of ALCTS. She will share more information after the conference, but asked those in attendance to consider these possibilities. Historically, OLAC has been using MRC as a conduit to pass media cataloging-related concerns to the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA). After discussion, a consensus was reached among the members of the committee that MRC's “conduit-like” role should be retained and perhaps expanded to create a mechanism that would coordinate media cataloging issues among OLAC and other groups beyond ALCTS, especially policy-setting bodies, like CC:DA and MARBI. There is a need for an “expert voice” because media formats have moved from the periphery to the center stage. A list of concerns that the Committee should be addressing will be compiled by August 1.

New Project
George Abbott proposed that a list or glossary of terms should be created to differentiate the various types of compact discs (optical, data, and CD-Rom) and their system requirements. There are important distinctions between these formats, which are not presently reflected in the rules for descriptive cataloging. This new project might be undertaken in conjunction with CAPSI (OLAC). Abbott will draft and share a prototype of such a list with the Committee members by September 2003. Several extant resources were identified as possible patterns for this project.

Program
The Committee staged a program in Toronto titled “Digital Audio/Digital Video: Is Your Library/Media Center Digitally Ready?” Possible future programs for 2005 might include one on the topic of digital rights management.

The ALCTS office will set up a listserv for the Committee so that it can continue to discuss ongoing business in the near future.

Return to 2003 Documents Menu
Return to BCC Historical Documents Menu
Return to BCC Home Page

Last updated August 5, 2003