Geographic Coordinates in Authority Records

1. Geographic Coordinates in Authority Records Jimmie Lundgren, U of Florida Authority Control Interest Group January 2009

2. Authorities for Places • SACO or NACO • See Division of the World • Current authority records • Often include coordinates in note field only

3. Why am I here? • To talk about a MARC innovation that I believe in and want to promote • To introduce the process of MARC development • Discussion papers • Proposals • Institutional support underlying MARC

4. MARC and the Monster Mask • MARC has become a controversial topic • It seems monstrously complex • Creative minds want to start over • The bibliographic universe is complex • MARC grew in order to accommodate its complexities

5. Once upon a time • UF GIS expert & Digital Library Center librarian complained about inadequacy of retrieval of places • Wanted to search using coordinates • Coordinates appear in map records • 255 field as note • 034 field as data • Alexandria Digital Library already did this

6. Why hadn’t this happened? • Too few bibliographic records have included geographic coordinates fields • Coordinates have been based on map coverage, not subject • Prior to popularity of GPS (Global Positioning Systems) in cars, etc. few library users grasped usefulness of geographic coordinates

7. What are Coordinates? Coordinates are used to represent the location of features on the surface of the Earth and the coverage of maps, etc., and coordinate place referencing has been associated with resources that have been treated by information management systems whether text-based systems or GIS (Hill & Jane, p. [1-2]).

8. Latitude is the angular distance north or south of the equator expressed as decimal degrees in the range: -90 at the south pole, through the southern hemisphere to 0 at the equator, through the northern hemisphere to +90 at the north pole Longitude is the angular distance east or west of the prime meridian at Greenwich, UK -- expressed as decimal degrees in the range: -180 at the antipodes of Greenwich meridian, through the eastern hemisphere to 0 at Greenwich meridian, through the western hemisphere to +180 at the antipodes of Greenwich meridian again.

9. Libraries in a GIS world “All while libraries attempt to shift to newly created and shared G.I. systems that allow the retrieval processes to increase usage, access and information integration.” • Jorge A. Gonzalez

10. Who uses geographic coordinates? • Everyone with a GPS-equipped vehicle • Everyone using Google-Earth • Everyone with a property deed • Anxious parents

11. What’s that got to do with libraries? • More users now bring their GPS savvy to their libraries • Scholarly research • Travel planning • Family history research

12. Challenge • How could we use power of geographic coordinates for subject searching given existing bibliographic records for library holdings? • Why not put coordinates data in the authority records for place names already included in those catalog records?

13. What made me think MARC could be changed? • I knew that Priscilla Caplan of the Florida Center for Library Automation in my hometown Gainesville, Fla. had proposed addition of anchor text subfield for 856 field and that became accepted practice

14. “Paradigm shift”* • Bibliographic records with places as subjects could then be searched using coordinates • Not just maps but all kinds of library materials through existing bibliographic records with place subject headings. *Jorge Gonzalez’s favorite term

15. Library catalogs • Should be searchable by coordinates • FRBR map of MARC fields to functions shows 034 should serve access function, yet few systems able to do so

16. Places in the catalog • 651 fields were found in 77% of book format member records in MCDU study • As of this week OCLC includes 125,012,234 records • By connecting through authority records, potentially all 651 fields could become retrievable by coordinates data

17. So • I thought we should include a data field in authority records for coordinates and demand that catalogs be programmed to use them for access • How to make it happen?

18. Talked about it • To UF colleagues (Nov. 2003) • Map Librarian Helen Armstrong • Cataloger/geography student Jorge Gonzalez • Permission to list UF as sponsor from Martha Hruska, former Assoc. Dir. Tech. Serv. • Mentioned idea at ALA meetings (2004) • Map Cataloging Discussion Group • Poster: Problems with Places, Orlando • Wrote & rewrote drafts of proposal

19. Took Draft Proposal to Map Cataloging Committee • Helpful comments & co-sponsorship • Revised draft and shared again • Exact concept hard to convey • Places are seldom points or rectangles, so precision in correspondence between named place and coordinates data is not feasible • General support strong, but not complete consensus on details

20. Time passed • I hadn’t given up, but felt a little stuck • Rebecca Guenther at LC offered to edit the Discussion Paper (fall 2005) • She got it on the agenda of the Jan. 2006 MARBI meeting (2006-DP01) • Wow, thanks Rebecca!

21. Discussion Paper and MARBI • Used concise handout with examples • MAGERT’s MARBI representative Susan Moore helped • MARBI members quick & enthusiastic • Good suggestions: go back and prepare Proposal then come back

22. Proposal 2006-06 • Rebecca rewrote text • I wrote examples • Sara Gonzalez, (Geology Librarian & wife of Astronomy Prof. at UF), helped • Presentation “Where we are with coordinates” at ALA 6/24/06 with Susan Moore & Colleen Cahill

23. Proposal at MARBI meeting • Map community support • Larsgaard, Mangan, et al. • Very smooth discussion • Also subfield changes for Bibl. • Distance from earth, beginning & ending dates and name of extraterrestrial body • ESRI contact interested

24. After MARBI Passage • Institutional support of national libraries late fall 2006 • Issued with next MARC 21 Updates • May 2008 OCLC Tech. Bull. 255 • 034 field for authority format • Changes to 034 for bibliographic format • Bibliographic KW Index of subfield Z

25. Getting coordinates into the authority records • Colleen Cahill at LC Geography & Maps has been gathering the data • NACO partners agreed fall 2008 • Only NACO place authority records will be done at first

26. Search capabilities in catalog systems will be needed • Contacted FCLA about coordinates search for my catalog • Was not told no • Endeca being implemented with emphasis on keyword and facets in SUL in Florida • Met with Spatially-Interested UF Librarians Dec. 2008 to discuss (scheme)

27. Still waiting • Hoping LMS designers will provide • Powerful retrieval options based on coordinates • User-friendly designs

28. MARC Development • Website transparent • Form provided • Support of appropriate communities significant • Flexibility and persistence • MARBI

29. Summary • Geographic coordinates data are expected to be loaded into name authority records for places in near future • These changes will not impact the form of heading in the 151 field • Please encourage systems developers to help us take advantage of this change