Encoding Standards Subcommittee (Cataloging and Metadata Committee) Annual Report 2021

submitted by Karen Peters

Current Roster

  • Karen Peters, Chair (2023)
  • Jim Alberts (2023)
  • Ethan D’Ver (2023)
  • Matt Ertz (2021)
  • Chelsea Hoover (2022)
  • Rahni Kennedy (2023)
  • Anna Alfeld LoPrete (2025)
  • Jeff Lyon (2024)
  • Felicia Piscitelli (2021)
  • Tomoko Shibuya (2022)
  • Amy Strickland (2022)
  • Laura Thompson (2025)
  • Damian Iseminger, LC Representative
  • Jay N. Weitz, OCLC Representative

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • Continue to monitor and participate in MARC development, and communicate any needs for best practices or other documentation to help music catalogers implement changes to MARC
    • Submitted No. 2020-FT03, “Adding Subfields $0 and $1 to Field 384 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic and Authority Formats,” in October 2020, which was approved by the MARC Steering Group and incorporated into the MARC formats with MARC Update No. 31 (December 2020)
    • Commented on No. 2021-DP04, “Defining a New Subfield for Original Sound Capture and Storage in Field 344 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format,” for the January 2021 MAC meetings
    • Commented on No. 2021-DP05, “Terms and Definitions in Field 007/13 for Sound Recordings in the MARC21 Bibliographic Format,” for the January 2021 MAC meetings
    • Completed ESS 2019-2020 goal of converting 2020-DP12 into MARC Proposal 2021-05
    • Submitted MARC Proposal 2021-05, “Renaming Field 348 and Defining New Subfields for Form of Musical Notation in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format,” for the January 2021 MAC meetings, which was approved by the MARC Steering Group and incorporated into the MARC formats with MARC Update No. 32 (June 2021)
    • Submitted Fast-Track Proposal “Modifying the Definition of Serial Number in Field 383 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic and Authority Formats” in April 2021, which was approved by the MARC Steering Group and incorporated into the MARC formats with MARC Update No. 32 (June 2021)
    • Commented on No. 2021-DP08, “Cleaning Up Redundancies Related to Fields 34X in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format”
  • Continue the work of the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group on the updating and redesign of the Metadata for Music Resources site
    • Metadata for Music Resources (MMR) Task Group solicited responses for a usability test of the site
    • The Task Group conducted a preliminary analysis of the data and compiled the key points into a report, which the Task Group Leader presented at the ESS business meeting at MLA 2021
  • Continue and conclude the work of the MARC Cataloging Inefficiency Task Group
    • The MARC Cataloging Inefficiency (MCI) Task Group distributed a survey of seven MARC cataloging redundancies
  • 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

Additional activities

  • The Chair submitted reports of all MAC meetings attended in June/July 2020 and January 2021
  • Rahni Kennedy continues to serve as ESS’s representative to the Music Discovery Requirements ongoing revision recommendations project
  • Felicia Piscitelli also served as as ESS’s representative to the Music Discovery Requirements until she finished her ESS term in 2021; a replacement for has not yet been found
  • Rahni also serves as ESS representative to the Vocabularies Subcommittee’s Deriving Faceted Music Terms (“Toolkit”) Task Group

List of Future Goals

  • 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
    • Goal area: Value of the Profession
  • Continue the work of the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group on the updating and redesign of the Metadata for Music Resources site
    • Goal areas: Value of the Profession, Technology
    • In Fall 2021, the Metadata for Music Resources Task Group plans to further analyze the results of its usability test and come up with a set of specific recommendations for revising the MMR website.
    • The Task Group will work with MLA’s Web Editor to implement these changes in late 2021/early 2022, with the goal of having the new and improved MMR ready to present at MLA 2022.
  • Conclude the work of the MARC Cataloging Inefficiency Task Group; alternatively, if justified, pursue further work in this area
    • Goal area: Value of the Profession
  • Pending future LDWG activity, involve ESS in operationalizing elements of the Performed Music Ontology within BIBFRAME
    • Goal area: Value of the Profession

All of these goals contribute to MLA’s mission to ensure and enhance intellectual access to music for all by contributing to the development and revision of national and international codes, formats, and other standards for the bibliographic control of music.