How readers managed to get through the weekend without knowing what happened on the final day of EPC Meeting 124, we can only imagine. But at last we can put you out of your misery. Friday morning saw us pick up with further discussion of DDC user training, and Caroline Kent (British Library, Boston Spa) reported that the most pressing requirement is for users to be trained using WebDewey. Caroline noted several benefits of introducing catalogers to the DDC through WebDewey: the mappings of Library of Congress subject headings to DDC numbers give users an additional access point; the copy-and-paste facilities assist in number building and help to eliminate transcription errors; many "built" numbers are listed in the electronic index; and new numbers are included in WebDewey long before they make it into the print edition. Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa [Unisa] Library, Pretoria) gave an excellent talk on bibliographic standards in South Africa, which included an interesting report on the conversion to DDC of collections from Vista University's Distance Education Campus (now merged with Unisa) that had previously been classified using the Zastrau scheme. Yes, Zastrau. It was a new one on us, anyway.
Joan reported on the preliminary results from the survey that we undertook of libraries' use of the options that are available in 200 Religion (more bloggery on that later), and I gave a presentation on some exploratory work we've been doing on rationalizing the DDC's treatment of iconography in 700 Arts & recreation -- which is one that will run and run, I think. And, of course, the day would not have been complete without yet further consideration of the Great Graphic Novels Question. We received some guidance from the Library of Congress's expert on comic books, Elmer Klebs (via his spokesperson, Winton), and resolved to return to the topic at the next EPC Teleconference, to be held on November 17. Suffice it to say that the story-arc of this one shows little sign of reaching a conclusion by the fourth panel ...
Our final act was to approve a new
development for social services related to tsunamis. And then -- puff! -- everyone was gone. It wasn't all a dream,
though: we have photographic proof. In the picture, from left to right, are Beacher Wiggins (Library of Congress, Washington, DC), Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing, Norman Park, QLD), Jessica MacPhail (Racine Public Library, Racine, WI), Chew Chiat Naun (University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, IL), Jan DeSirey (Southdale Library, Edina, MN), Andrea Stamm (Northwestern University Library, Evanston, IL), Arlene Taylor (University of Pittsburgh, PA), Caroline Kent (British Library, Boston Spa), Welna van Eeden (University of South Africa Library, Pretoria), and Deane Zeeman (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON).
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