Schools Cataloguing Community of Practice

Last month, In posted an entry relating to cataloguing different editions under one SCIS Record.

SCIS Connections (Term 4, 2025), features an article by Renate Beilharz. A networking group (Schools Cataloguing Community of Practice) has been created for library staff in schools to discuss cataloguing within professional settings. Questions such as what I raised on online forums (i.e. multiple editions under one entry) can be discussed as well.

If interested, send an email to education@alia.org.au with 'Schools Cataloguing CoP' in the subject line.

Merging different editions under one SCIS Record & local practice in School Libraries

After a recent discussion with a colleague, I was curious whether it would be acceptable to merge different editions of a title into a single SCIS record and whether any schools engage in this practice. 

I posted a request for advice on the OZTL-Net form, along with a Yammer Group for NSW Public School library staff to obtain different perspectives.

A big thank you to the dozen or so who responded to my request in either group and enjoyed reading through each insight. I felt the need to share a summary of those responses with the broader professional community

The majority of responses favoured merging records, though the approaches and circumstances varied by school and its particular needs. Based on my responses, the reasons given were:

• Some want to know how many copies of a particular title are available, not the smaller details, e.g., the edition number or ISBN.
• Simplifies the search process
• Feedback from library users, e.g. if there are two copies of the same title, why do they appear twice in a search result? This included one response of placing the students first.
• Ability to merge catalogue records from SCIS

Some who did posed their own rules, e.g., it would apply to specific sets or collections, such as class sets, or would only create separate copies if the edition was distinct, e.g., an illustrated edition. One would create separate entries if the covers were different, i.e. if the same cover had different ISBN numbers, they were still merged together.

I was given one tip, and I would recommend it: If merging different editions, make sure that there is a documented process for doing it.

There were a few responses suggesting they prefer not to, and, if so, it was because they preferred separate records; in that case, it would come down to having correct data and bibliographic records.

I will take the ideas on board and work towards a practice that best suits my school and our needs. 

Fixing up a cataloguing problem with ChatGPT

At the recent School Library Association of NSW Summit in Parramatta, I attended a workshop focusing on the role of AI in the School Library Context. I was asking a question on how it would improve library management. Then I shared an account of how I manually catalogue an item on ChatGPT, applying the cataloguing procedures used by SCIS. This included uploading the procedures book (pdf format) into the chat, and it did a scan.

This situation arose because SCIS will not accept items without a publication date and needed to have them catalogued. The item was identified in a stocktake of the non-fiction collection as not being catalogued because the barcode was not connected to it.

Ultimately, it fixed a problem that would have left me in a difficult situation.

Click here to view the transcript that aided me in cataloguing the item.

Is your library collection really ageing? - Progress Report + ClickView and OLIVER

Last week, I completed the list of books without publication dates to determine the age of the books in my library collection, and the final figure reflected an estimate that I took back in November when using a spreadsheet; I applied a formula from the Awful Library Books Blog and OLIVER got it to within one year of the estimate.

Now, I will have a date to start aiding me in weeding an ageing collection and target books that are older than that date before shifting to books past that date. 

But I also discovered a fault in OLIVER that was keeping my collection appearing younger than it should be - Clickview Items were appearing as books in format. It meant that in OLIVER I had to change the format to video to ensure that only books were listed as format and change. 

Another opportunity arose as well, updating catalogue records on SCIS as well. There are a number of items that are not linked to SCIS, which means extra work, but I feel that it is important to ensure that each book in our collection is correctly catalogued but also with the correct data. SCIS is integrated with OLIVER which means data can be automatically updated. 

NSW PRC and SCIS - Please Note

I am commenting on observations that I have made as I have been in the process of allocating genres to Fiction books on the school NSW Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) list and placing the appropriate sticker/s on them.

• Alot of books are not necessarily allocated a genre under genre. I used SCIS and ScOT Terms to formally allocate a genre.
• I read blurbs and notes if required.
• If I had doubt, I would refer to the listing of the item on Trove and look at the headings.
• Before making any changes, I would use OLIVER Software to "enhance" the resource by obtaining the most recent details listed on the Schools Cataloging Information Service (SCIS) .

Even after the changes, books that were not originally catalogued as being on the PRC list needed to be manually added in by using the details available on the NSW PRC website.

My tip for Teacher Librarians and support staff in school libraries, undertake a check to ensure that all items are properly catalogued if not already done so on your library system.

So far, I have located 200 books that needed their records updated to ensure that they appear as PRC books on the system. 

Cataloging DVD's

This week on the OZTL-NET Message board, I queried about how various schools catalogued their DVD collections using the Dewey System

I have been in schools where DVD films are generally given F [Insert first three letters of title) with documentaries etc classified as non fiction.

One school however has insisted that every DVD be cataloged with a Dewey number from 000 to 999.99.

I have found that it makes the process of cataloguing much more difficult. I find that the line between fiction and non-fiction items is not clear.

I got responses from a number of schools, especially those that went on a different path. I thank those contributors for sending their responses.

So, what if you end up appointed to a school where every item in the DVD collection is subjected to receiving a Dewey decimal number.

The long term goal is to split it into fiction and non-fiction, and following the Dewey classifications for both

One respondent at a school currently places the DVD's at 791.43 (Films) and 791.45 (Television Shows). Movies based on books or relevant to English are classed in the 800's and foreign language films in the 400's. Historical films are classed in the 900's.

In my view that system based on the respondent's school is a suitable short term fix, as the existing system is retained but allows for a gradual transition.

What do you think?