BCC2004/Auth/2

Media Resources Committee (MRC)
ALA Midwinter Conference, San Diego, CA, January 11, 2004

Reported by Marlena Frackowski, Chair, Authorities Subcommittee

The Chair, Miriam Palm, distributed copies of the documents relevant to the meeting: documents from the committee's 2003 review, minutes of the summer 2003 meeting. a draft charge for the media cataloging interest group, and a letter from the ALCTS President informing the committee of its option to re-establish itself as either an interest group or a discussion group.

Palm summarized last summer’s actions and opened a forum for discussion to determine the group’s future. The Media Resources Committee has been officially disbanded as a division-level committee but has been given a year to re-constitute itself and to petition for a new status within ALCTS. The major issue to be decided was whether this committee is merely a relic of the past and should be simply disbanded, or whether it can muster enough justifiable vitality to carve a niche for itself within ACLTS. Media issues are still important, but perhaps MRC will function better if it considers other structural models, such as possible alliances with other groups (such as the Electronic Resources Discussion Group). The members agreed to divide up responsibilities for polling other groups within ALCTS to inquire about their interests in such a merging.

There was also a lengthy conversation about whether MRC should attempt to become an interest group or function as a discussion group for now. The discussion group option provides greater flexibility in setting up meetings as infrequently as once a year with no pre-set agenda other than to discuss topics of current interest. The formal structure of the group calls only for a chair and co-/vice-chair. However, the discussion group cannot stage programs, prepare publications, or have liaisons either to, or from the group.

The two liaisons present, Frackowski (MLA) and Weitz (OCLC), spoke in favor of the interest group model because official liaison relationships, and the formal reporting responsibilities they encompass, are very important to the groups they represent. Palm reminded the group that if it “downsizes” to a discussion group level at this time, and decides to become an interest group later, it will have to gather quite a momentum to reestablish itself before applying in the future for interest group status with its formal structure, liaisons, and programmatic responsibilities. In conclusion, all agreed to go down the path toward formal recognition as an interest group, and to draft the charge before the Orlando meeting..

Cecilia Tittemore had prepared a draft charge, based on the serials cataloging committee in the ALCTS Serial Section (SS), in event that those with an interest in cataloging wished to form a distinct group within the Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS). Many media catalogers are members of the non-ALA group, Online Audiovisual Catalogers (OLAC), which is well connected and very active. A reconstituted media group in ALCTS could leave cataloging details and standards to OLAC, and focus on continuing education about media cataloging issues, engaging in a fruitful collaboration with OLAC. This might appeal to new catalogers, people with new assignments to catalog media materials, and the entire school library market. In accepting this direction, MRC would recommend that OLAC assume our liaison role to the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC: DA).

Brian McCafferty, Chair of the MRC Standards Subcommittee, reported that his group remains inactive at the moment. Most of the recent issues brought to the Subcommittee have been cataloging-related. Mark Scharff (guest) commented that in the past, the group dealt with NISO packaging standards, compiling bibliographies of standards, and drafting an unpublished brochure intended for the producers of media materials. Palm remarked that the ALCTS and ALA of today are very different then ten years ago, and the roadblocks to publishing such short guides currently appears to be less arduous.

The group agreed to meet again in June, to stage a business meeting, and to offer a discussion forum on several “hot” media issues, where attendees could respond to some broad, generic questions. In order to gather topics for that forum, the group members will solicit information from the school library community, other sections of ALCTS (Acquisitions, Serials, Collection Management and Development, Preservation and Reformatting, Cataloging and Classification), and OLAC. These contacts should identify the immediate goals and needs of these groups regarding media issues, and make them aware that MRC plans to become an interest group. The liaisons from the national libraries (NLM and LC) and the Canadian Library Association (CLA) will be contacted as well to assess the value of these relationships to their constituencies.

Brian McCafferty has agreed to chair the group beginning in June 2004.

George Abbott has drafted a proposal for a glossary differentiating the various types of compact discs; he distributed it to the attendees, and electronically, to those not in attendance. The document will soon be posted on the BCC website at http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/bcc.html.

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Last updated February 28, 2004