A group of NLNZ cataloguers were intrigued by the “Janeathon” held at the American Library Association’s Mid-winter conference in January. The purpose of the workshop was to: “catalog Jane Austen resources with software specifically designed to use RDA: Resource Description and Access [RIMMF]. In addition to building practical experience with "native" (not MARC-based) RDA, participants will explore the very real issues inherent in using Resource Description Framework (RDF) statements in aggregated “packages” ready to contribute to the Linked Data world.”

The details of the original event can be found here, and a report on the event is available here.  

We would like to try something similar here in New Zealand and wondered whether any of you would like to join us. CatSig has identified this as an area of interest for New Zealand cataloguers and are adding their support. Thanks to CatSig, we are very fortunate that Deborah Fritz, one of the presenters at the ALA Janeathon, is likely to be present. We are considering holding the event in Wellington just before or just after the National Digital Forum. This year NDF itself is on 13^th -14^th October.     

As covered in the information about the original event, you must be prepared to be an active participant. You don’t have to be an expert in either RIMMF or RDA, but you should come ready to work with both. You should be prepared, as a minimum, to download the RIMMF software, work through the series of tutorials available on the RIMMF website, and bring along some examples to work with. Ideally, you would be able to bring a laptop with the RIMMF software loaded on it to work with on the day, but being at least a little familiar with the software beforehand is more important.

While the cataloguers at the National Library have spent quite a lot of time using RDA, we are novices in the use of RIMMF and still grappling with RDF triples and what it all means for cataloguing.  This means that we are not in a position to offer the full range of expertise available at the original Janeathon, but hopefully  we can provide a supportive and fun space to explore, trial and learn, and have some interesting and constructive conversations around RDA and linked data.

If you are interested, could you please let me know by May 27th. This will help us with working out what kind of space might be needed.

Any questions? Please contact me at this email or via the contact information below.

Chris Todd

PS we are thinking about changing the theme to something with more of a NZ connection

Chris (Christine) Todd | Team Leader, Cataloguing Team 1

National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa

Direct Dial: +64 4 474 3093 | Extn: 3093

Corner of Molesworth & Aitken Streets | PO Box 1467, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.natlib.govt.nz

National Library of New Zealand is part of the Department of Internal Affairs

.