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Encoding Standards Annual Report: 2022

Report Title: Encoding Standards Subcommittee Annual Report, July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022

Report Year: 2022
Submitted by: Karen A. Peters
Email: kapeters27@gmail.com
Report Type: Subcommittee
Group Name: CMC: Encoding Standards Subcommittee

Group Members

    • Karen Peters (Chair, 2019-2023)
    • Jim Alberts (2023)
    • Janice Bunker (2026)
    • Ethan D’Ver (2023)
    • Jessica Grimmer (2026)
    • Chelsea Hoover (2022)
    • Rahni Kennedy (2023)
    • Anna Alfeld LoPrete (2025)
    • Jeff Lyon (2024)
    • Tomoko Shibuya (2022)
    • Amy Strickland (2022)
    • Laura Thompson (2025)
    • Damian Iseminger (LC Representative)
    • Jay N. Weitz (OCLC Representative)

Previous Goals

  1. Continue to monitor and participate in MARC development—particularly in light of pending implementation of official RDA (expected July 2022)–and communicate any needs for best practices or other documentation to help music catalogers implement changes to MARC.
    • In early October, the Chair submitted her report of the June 2021 MARC Advisory Committee (MAC) meetings and LC’s June 2021 BIBFRAME Update Forum to the CMC Chair for publication in the November 2021 issue of the Music Cataloging Bulletin.
    • In early October, the Chair solicited comments from ESS/CMC members on a MARC/RDA Working Group (MRWG)-drafted proposal that followed on the earlier MARC Discussion Paper No. 2021-DP12, “Recording Representative Expressions in the MARC 21 Authority and Bibliographic Formats.” She used the comments to present MLA’s viewpoints at the MRWG meeting that was held on October 14.
    • In late October-early November, as the above-mentioned MRWG draft proposal continued to be discussed and revised, CSS Chair Keith Knop represented MLA’s interests at two MRWG meetings (October 28 and November 4) while the ESS Chair was unavailable. Following the October 28 meeting, Keith created some examples at the MRWG’s request, and passed these along, with related points for discussion, to ESS member Chelsea Hoover, who gathered comments from ESS/CMC members in the Chair’s absence and reported them back to Keith. The comments were subsequently used to represent MLA’s viewpoint at the November 4 MRWG meeting (note: the resulting proposal was ultimately designated as Proposal No. 2022-04)
    • In early January 2022, the Chair began gathering comments from ESS/CMC members on the 6 proposals and 5 discussion papers being considered at the MAC meetings set for January 25-27, 2022. Based on the comments, she wrote MLA’s response to the proposals and papers and submitted the response to the MARC discussion list in mid-January.
    • In her capacity as MLA’s representative to the MAC, the Chair attended and participated in the (virtual) MAC Meetings held on January 25-27.
    • In mid-February, the Chair submitted her report of the January MAC meetings and LC’s January BIBFRAME Update Forum to the CMC Chair for publication in the March 2022 issue of the Music Cataloging Bulletin.
      On February 24, as part of MLA’s 2022 Annual Meeting, the Chair participated in the CMC Town Hall by providing a MARC and metadata update for the previous year, and by giving a presentation on encoding RDA representative expressions elements in MARC.
    • In April, the Chair was contacted by OLAC representatives with the suggestion that $3 (Materials Specified) be added to MARC field 041 (Language Code). After consultation with the OLAC representatives, the Chair drafted a MARC discussion paper investigating this idea. After an initial vetting by ESS, the Chair revised the draft and made it available for review by ESS/CMC and OLAC members. No further revision was deemed necessary, and the discussion paper (ultimately designated as Discussion Paper No. 2022-DP07) was submitted to NDMSO for consideration at the MAC meetings at the end of June.
    • At the end of May, the Chair began gathering comments from ESS/CMC members on the 2 proposals and 6 discussion papers being considered at the June 28-30, 2022 MAC meetings. Based on the comments received, she wrote MLA’s response to the proposals and discussion papers and submitted the response to the MARC discussion list on June 21.
    • In her capacity as MLA’s representative to the MAC, the Chair attended and participated in the (virtual) MAC meetings on June 28-30, including presenting MARC Discussion Paper Discussion Paper No. 2022-DP07 (mentioned above). MAC determined that 2022-DP07, with minor modifications, can be submitted as a proposal for consideration at the next MAC meetings in January 2023.
    • Rahni Kennedy continues to serve as ESS’s representative to the Music Discovery Requirements ongoing revision recommendations project, and as ESS representative to the Vocabularies Subcommittee’s Deriving Faceted Music Terms (“Toolkit”) Task Group.
  2. Continue the work of the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group on the updating and redesign of the Metadata for Music Resources site.
    • TG members: Ethan D’Ver (Leader; 2019-), Chelsea Hoover (2019-2022), Anna LoPrete (2022- ), Jeff Lyon (2022- ), Amy Strickland (2020-2022), Tomoko Shibuya (2020-2022), Laura Thompson (2022- ).
    • In Fall 2021, the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group (MMR TG) continued analyzing the results of the usability test it conducted earlier in the year. Based on this analysis, the TG devised a new structure for the MMR site and re-sorted all of the site’s resources into the new structure’s categories and subcategories. In the process of doing so, the TG identified further resources that need better links, re-edited descriptions, or complete removal. The TG then communicated these changes to CMC Webmaster Josh Henry for implementation.
    • In Winter 2021-22, the MMR TG reviewed CMC Webmaster Josh Henry’s implementation of the requested changes to the website. After ironing out a few minor issues with some of the links, TG Leader Ethan D’Ver was able to unveil the redesigned MMR site and present a report on the redesign at the Encoding Standards Subcommittee business meeting on February 24, 2022.
    • Since the unveiling of the redesigned MMR site, the TG has continued work on editing the descriptions of the resources included on the site, and begun devising descriptions for resources that currently lack them.
  3. Conclude the work of the MARC Cataloging Inefficiency Task Group; alternatively, if justified, pursue further work in this area.
    • TG members: Jim Alberts, Janice Bunker (CSS representative), Anna Alfeld LoPrete, Jeff Lyon (Leader), Leo Martin (VS representative), Karen Peters, Laura Thompson.
    • In early July, Jeff Lyon accepted the position of TG Leader, which became vacant when previous TG Leader Matt Ertz finished his term as a member of the Encoding Standards Subcommittee the previous March.
    • Once the leadership issue was resolved, the TG began to evaluate and discuss the results of its recent survey of 7 MARC cataloging inefficiencies with the goal of identifying possible recommendations and/or other appropriate solutions for their alleviation. By Winter, the TG had settled on four recommendations for additions to MLA’s Best Practices for Music Cataloging document; these recommendations were subsequently agreed upon by CMC as whole.
    • At the Encoding Standards Subcommittee business meeting on February 24, 2022, TG Leader Jeff Lyons gave a report on the TG’s work, after which the four recommendations for additions to MLA’s Cataloging Best Practices document were passed along to Content Standards Subcommittee Chair Keith Knop, who promptly made corresponding changes to the BP document.
    • At the ESS business meeting, it was also decided that as we are currently in a period of transition between both content standards (original vs. official RDA) and encoding standards (MARC vs. BIBFRAME/linked data), this is not a good time to attempt further identification of persistent/ongoing inefficiencies. The work of the MCI TG was therefore determined to be complete and the TG disbanded.
  4. Pending future LDWG activity, involve ESS in operationalizing elements of the Performed Music Ontology within BIBFRAME.
    • Goal continues to be on hold: LDWG activity appropriate for ESS participation is still pending.

Future Goals

  1. Continue to monitor and participate in MARC development—particularly in light of pending implementation of official RDA (now expected no sooner than October 2022, and most likely later than that), and with an eye towards the facilitation of BIBFRAME/MARC conversion when possible—and communicate any needs for best practices or other documentation to help music catalogers implement new changes to MARC.
    • Goal Areas 1: Organize Strategically, 2: Develop and Retain Membership (particularly Objectives 2.3-2.6), and 4: Strengthen Communication.
  2. Continue the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group’s ongoing maintenance and improvement of the Metadata for Music Resources site. In addition, consider if and how ESS might better serve the needs MLA members who use non-MARC metadata in the bibliographic description of music resources, if such can be identified.
  3. Transition to a new Chair for ESS (whose term will begin after MLA Annual in March 2023), and work to keep ESS activities moving smoothly during the transition.
    • Goal Area 2: Develop and Retain membership–Specifically the development of the new Chair.
  4. Pending future LDWG activity, involve ESS in operationalizing elements of the Performed Music Ontology within BIBFRAME.
    • Goal Areas 1: Organize Strategically, 2: Develop and Retain Membership, and 4: Strengthen Communication.
  • Please note: I am finding it very difficult to align the specific Goal Areas and Objectives with the work done by the Encoding Standards Subcommittee. I would ask that you consider that while the work done by this subcommittee is critical to fulfilling a number of items outlined in MLA’s Mission statement (particularly “ensure and enhance intellectual access to music for all by contributing to the development and revision of national and international standards and vocabularies for the description, organization, and retrieval of music information”), as well as its stated values (especially Advocacy and Collaboration), it is difficult to find the work we do enunciated within the specific goal areas and objectives as they are currently stated. While this has always been the case to some extent and is likely unavoidable given the diverse activities of organizations such as this one, attempting an alignment with the current Strategic Plan seems more difficult to me than it was with the previous Strategic Plan. As such, I ask that you consider alternatives to requiring alignment of work with specific Goal Areas and Objectives, unless these can be made more inclusive of the work that some of us are doing. Thank you for considering this request.