DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative

1. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative It’s all about the Users: Enhancing our metadata to improve discoverability: Evidence from the READ-ability Initiative Lynne Dyer, Bibliographic Services Team Manager, De Montfort University August 2014

2. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative The two programmes of work for Bib Services: The Record Enhancement to Aid Discover-ability Initiative The Protecting the Integrity of our Catalogue Project were both developed in October 2012, and pulled together work that the team were already doing. They provided the team with an idea of where they were headed over the next year or so.

3. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative READ-ability – the Record Enhancement to Aid Discoverability Initiative - was about : Bib Services committing to improving the experience of students and other library users when interacting with the library catalogue and the library stock. Articulating and understanding what Bib Services as a team did, and how what Bib Services did helped the users. Promoting the work of Bib Services to the wider library staff. READ-ability focussed mainly on the work of the cataloguers.

4. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative Note that Bib Services’ regular activities, like: the ordering, cataloguing, classifying, processing (and hotlinking where appropriate) of new books, streamed videos, DMU theses and new and amended journals titles, already contributed to the READ-ability Initiative and the PIC Project. So, the focus of the programme was on new and different activities, which wherever possible and appropriate would become part of the regular work of the team.

5. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative The READ-ability Initiative sees us, the cataloguers, focussing on, and improving some specifically targeted areas. These include: LCSH enhancement programme – adding LCSH to records which don’t already have them, making information more discoverable through OPAC or a new discovery system LC Name Authorities enhancement programme – authorising all currently unauthorised name headings, thus bringing all titles by the same author together on OPAC

6. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative The READ-ability Initiative also includes: E-book record separating and upgrading programme – initially we had attached to h/copy records, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that users were not as confused as we thought they’d be by more than one entry for a title, & interoperability, importing MARC records etc. would be easier if records were separate

7. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative The READ-ability Initiative also includes: Continuous programme of hotlink checking and upgrading – when acquiring hard copy of government docs, ephemera etc. if an electronic version is available we link through to it. Such websites often move around and keeping links up-to-date is vital, but sometimes a struggle.

8. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative The READ-ability Initiative also includes: Completing re-classification to DDC23 – when a new edition of DDC comes out we adopt it immediately and re-class existing stock over time Participating in DORA REF Submissions Project – adding records to DMU’s institutional repository Contributing to DORA Record Upgrading Project Acting upon Typos of the Day for Librarians Continually seeking opportunities to improve records

9. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative READ-ability Initiative - Progress LCSH enhancement programme – since commencing, seen a reduction in the number of records without LCSH of 12,299 LC Name Authorities enhancement programme – unable to calculate as the 2nd listing was done differently from the 1st & 3rd not yet available E-book record separating and upgrading programme – is complete and we’ve now moved to streamed videos Continuous programme of hotlink checking and upgrading – this has been incorporated into the work of the team, and is now an annual activity

10. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative READ-ability Initiative - Progress Completing re-classification to DDC23 – about 50% of the re-class needed has been done Participating in DORA REF Submissions Project – work towards this and the DORA Record Upgrading Project amounted to nearly 1000 additions / edits Acting upon Typos of the Day for Librarians – this task has been circulated to cataloguers in rotation, however, only a small number of inaccuracies are detected and corrected this way Continually seeking opportunities to improve bib records – as an example, we now extensively use the MARC 521 field

11. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative READ-ability Initiative - Progress Of the possible future components that were identified: A paper on the possible re-classification of the Shakespeare collection has been prepared for presentation to a meeting of the Library management Group An improved OPAC display has now been adopted and members of the team have been assessing it in terms of RDA field display We had an idea for using a shared mailbox, but this has been shelved and replaced by a feedback form on a soon-to-be-released Bib Services LibGuide. Feedback can also be sent to us via the library catalogue.

12. DMU Bib Services – READ-ability Initiative What next? Who knows!