Azerbaijan
Document No. LSFPSG-V1/19
Introduction
The essential base of integration and implementation of cutting-edge technologies in the institutions, organizations are the standards and protocols.
One of the strategic directions of the ADA University Library is the adjustment and adoption of the global and local standards and protocols for library and information operations/services.
Cataloging and Acquisition standards, formats and protocols
Cataloging Standards and Rules:
AACR2 - The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) are included in a national cataloging code, first published in 1967. AACR2 stands for the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition. It is published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK. The editor is Michael Gorman, a British-born librarian living in the Chicago area and honored by both the ALA and CILIP. AACR2 is designed for use in the construction of catalogues and other lists in general libraries of all sizes. The rules cover the description of, and the provision of access points for all library materials commonly collected at the present time.
Despite the claim to be 'Anglo-American', the first edition of AACR was published in 1967 in somewhat distinct North American and British texts. The second edition of 1978 unified the two sets of rules (adopting the British spelling 'cataloguing') and brought them in line with the International Standard Bibliographic Description. Libraries wishing to migrate from the previous North American text were obliged to implement 'de-superimposition', a substantial change in the form of headings for corporate bodies.
AACR2 exists in several print versions, as well as an online version. Gorman has edited several revisions of AACR2 including a concise edition. Print versions are available from the publishers. The online version is available only via Cataloger's Desktop from the Library of Congress. Various translations are also available from other sources.
Principles of AACR include cataloguing from the item 'in hand' rather than inferring information from external sources and the concept of the 'chief source of information' which is preferred where conflicts exist.
Over the years AACR2 has been updated by occasional amendments, and was significantly revised in 1988 (2nd edition, 1988 revision) and 2002 (2nd edition, 2002 revision). The 2002 revision included substantial changes to sections for non-book materials. A schedule of annual updates began in 2003 and ceased with 2005.
Note: AACR2 cataloging rules were implemented between 2007 and 2014 in Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (currently ADA University Library).
RDA - Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a standard for descriptive cataloging initially released in June 2010, providing instructions and guidelines on formulating bibliographic data. Intended for use by libraries and other cultural organizations such as museums and archives, RDA is the successor to Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2). RDA emerged from the International Conference on the Principles & Future Development of AACR held in Toronto in 1997. It is published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in the United Kingdom. Maintenance of RDA is the responsibility of the RDA Steering Committee (RSC). As of 2015, RSC is undergoing a transition to an international governance structure, expected to be in place in 2019. RDA instructions and guidelines are available through RDA Toolkit, an online subscription service, and in a print format.
Note: Starting from year 2014 RDA cataloging standard is being implemented in ADA University Library.
Metadata Description Formats:
MARC21 - MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) standards are a set of digital formats for the description of items catalogued by libraries, such as books. Working with the Library of Congress, American computer scientist Henriette Avram developed MARC in the 1960s to create records that could be read by computers and shared among libraries. By 1971, MARC formats had become the US national standard for dissemination of bibliographic data. Two years later, they became the international standard. There are several versions of MARC in use around the world, the most predominant being MARC 21, created in 1999 as a result of the harmonization of U.S. and Canadian MARC formats, and UNIMARC, widely used in Europe. The MARC 21 family of standards now includes formats for authority records, holdings records, classification schedules, and community information, in addition to the format for bibliographic records.
MADS Schema & Documentation - The Metadata Authority Description Schema (MADS) is an XML schema for an authority element set that may be used to provide metadata about agents (people, organizations), events, and terms (topics, geographies, genres, etc.). MADS serves as a companion to the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) to provide metadata about the authoritative entities used in MODS descriptions. The standard is maintained by the MODS/MADS Editorial Committee with the Network Development and MARC Standards Office of the Library of Congress and input from users.
Classification Standards:
LCSH - The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is perhaps the most widely adopted subject indexing language in the world, has been translated into many languages, and is used around the world by libraries large and small. LCSH has been actively maintained since 1898 to catalog materials held at the Library of Congress.
LCCS - ADA University Library uses Library of Congress Classification System (LC) to organize the books on the shelves. A classification system uses letters and/or numbers (call numbers) to arrange the books so that books on the same topic are together. This arrangement results in "serendipitous browsing:" you find one book in the catalog, go to the shelf, and, an even better book is sitting right next to it.
Web Resources Description Standards:
DublinCore - The Dublin Core Schema is a small set of vocabulary terms that can be used to describe web resources (video, images, web pages, etc.), as well as physical resources such as books or CDs, and objects like artworks. The full set of Dublin Core metadata terms can be found on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) website. The original set of 15 classic metadata terms, known as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, is endorsed in the following standards documents:
- IETF RFC 5013
- ISO Standard 15836-2009
- NISO Standard Z39.85
Dublin Core Metadata may be used for multiple purposes, from simple resource description, to combining metadata vocabularies of different metadata standards, to providing interoperability for metadata vocabularies in the Linked Data cloud and Semantic Web implementations.
Information Resource Retrieval and Exchange Protocols:
Z39.50 – is an international standard client–server, application layer communications protocol for searching and retrieving information from a database over a TCP/IP computer network. It is covered by ANSI/NISO standard Z39.50, and ISO standard 23950. The standard's maintenance agency is the Library of Congress. Z39.50 is widely used in library environments and is often incorporated into integrated library systems and personal bibliographic reference software. Interlibrary catalogue searches for interlibrary loan are often implemented with Z39.50 queries.
FTP - stands for File Transfer Protocol. A protocol is a system of rules that networked computers use to communicate with one another. FTP is a client-server protocol that may be used to transfer files between computers on the internet. The client asks for the files and the server provides them.
EDIFACT (ISO 9735) - is the international standard for electronic data interchange (EDI). The term stands for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. The three major components of EDIFACT are a standard syntax for structuring data, i-EDI (interactive EDI), and standard messages to accommodate interaction among various industries and countries. The EDIFACT standard was developed by the United Nations. Further development of the standard is also overseen by that organization’s Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. The standard is sometimes seen as UN/EDIFACT.
XML/EDIFACT, defined in ISO TS 20625, specifies a way for XML-based systems to work with EDIFACT messages.
IT Standards and Protocols
Circulation:
The NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) – defines and specifies the objects, services, messages, and data elements needed to facilitate interoperability between dissimilar circulation systems. Three applications are addressed: direct consortium borrowing, circulation / interlibrary loan interaction, and self-service circulation. Functions that permit a circulation system to manage controlled access to electronic materials, such as e-books and music files, are also included in the protocol.
Code 39 – is a general barcode standard utilized in many industries. It is sometimes called the “3 of 9 code” as it uses 9 bars, 3 of which are wider than the others, to define a character. An alphanumeric system is used which can have up to 43 characters with 1 start/stop code pattern. Code 39 is considered one of the easiest codes to use because of its self-checking capability.
Self-Service:
SIP2 – The Standard Interchange Protocol is a proprietary standard for communication between library computer systems and self-service circulation terminals. Although owned and controlled by 3M, the protocol is published and is widely used by other vendors. Version 2.0 of the protocol, known as "SIP2", is a de facto standard for library self-service applications.
Resource Sharing and Interlibrary Loan:
ILL Protocol – The ILL Protocol breaks transactions down into separate activities or tasks, each of which is defined as a “service.” These services have defined specific data elements and “messages” that get transmitted during the ILL transaction in a specified sequence. Three standards make up the full protocol:
• ISO 10160 defines the ILL roles, models the different role combination interactions, and defines the various ILL services, messages, status states, and sequencing rules.
• ISO 10161-1 is the “meat” of the protocol, specifying the “ILL Protocol Machine’s” behavior requirements and the procedural rules to support the services defined in ISO10160.
• ISO 10161-2 details the requirements for completing a conformance statement
Electronic Data Interchange:
EDI – the electronic exchange of information to conduct business transactions is commonplace today in many industries, especially for purchasing and invoicing. Both the customer and supplier can benefit using EDI through reduced data entry time, improved accuracy of data, and faster speed of response and transaction fulfillment. Many publishers and book / serial agents are set up to utilize EDI with libraries for orders, invoices, claims, claim responses, and shipping notices.
Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, OAI-PMH – The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (PMH) was initially developed to support federated searching of metadata for distributed electronic archives of scholarly papers. The concept was deemed to have wider applicability and has since grown to encompass a standard harvesting protocol for multiple forms of metadata in any type of information repository.
Web Access:
Unicode – is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The latest version contains a repertoire of 136,755 characters covering 139 modern and historic scripts, as well as multiple symbol sets. The Unicode Standard is maintained in conjunction with ISO/IEC 10646, and both are code-for-code identical.
OpenURL – is a standardized format for encoding a description of a resource within a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), intended to help Internet users to find a copy of the resource that they can access. Although OpenURL could be used with any kind of resource on the Internet, it is usually used by libraries to help connect patrons with such content as articles, books, or patents held in their collections or available by subscription.
XML – The eXtensible Markup Language (XML), one of the latest incarnations of “markup” languages, is quickly becoming the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web. While HTML, also a markup language, addresses the presentation and look of information, XML defines the structure of the information and describes the role of its structured components.
Persistent Identifier:
The Handle System – is a technical development of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) for assigning, managing, and resolving PIs known as "handles". A set of protocols with reference implementations like e.g. DOI, LoC provides the technical basis.
License:
A Creative Commons (CC) license – is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created. CC provides an author, flexibility (for example, they might choose to allow only non-commercial uses of his/her own work) and protects the people who use or redistribute an author's work from concerns of copyright infringement as long as they abide by the conditions that are specified in the license by which the author distributes the work.
Research and Instructional Services Standards, Guidelines and Styles
APA Style Guide - American Psychological Association style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing).
Guidelines for the introduction of electronic information resources to users - These guidelines are intended to assist librarians who provide and publicize new electronic information resources to users and potential users. This document applies to Web-based, networked, and stand-alone resources that users may directly or indirectly access in an electronic format. The guidelines primarily apply to electronic information resources provided for end users and secondarily to mediated services. They apply to resources created by the library, commercially licensed, or freely available. Directed at information service staff who coordinate and manage the introduction of new electronic information resources, this document offers practical guidance to any library staff concerned with strategies for implementation, policy, procedure, education, and/or direct provision of electronic information resources. Though intended for all types of libraries, not every statement will apply to a particular library or type of library. Accordingly, this checklist contains suggestions and recommendations that may be adapted to local library environments. These guidelines apply to the implementation of new resources that have already been selected by the library for purchase; processes for selection and purchase of new resources are not addressed in this document, although some of the same points may apply.
Guidelines for implementing and maintaining virtual reference services - The purpose of these guidelines is to assist libraries and consortia with implementing and maintaining virtual reference services. The guidelines are meant to provide direction, without being overly prescriptive. Variance among institutions will result in differences in the adherence to these guidelines, but the committee hopes to have cast the model broadly enough to provide a framework for virtual reference which can be widely adopted, and which will endure through many changes in the ways in which libraries provide virtual reference services. Libraries and consortia may also want to reference the Virtual Reference Companion.
Guidelines for instruction programs in academic libraries - Academic libraries work together with other members of their institutional communities to participate in, support, and achieve the educational mission of their institutions by teaching the core competencies of information literacy—the abilities involved in identifying an information need, accessing needed information, evaluating, managing, and applying information, and understanding the legal, social, and ethical aspects of information use. The systematic delivery of instructional programs and services should be planned in concert with overall strategic library planning, including the library’s budgeting process. Such planning may also involve strategizing with other campus units to deliver collaboratively designed programming.
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education - These standards were reviewed by the ACRL Standards Committee and approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) on January 18, 2000, at the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association in San Antonio, Texas. These standards were also endorsed by the American Association for Higher Education (October 1999) and the Council
of Independent Colleges (February 2004).
Key Issues for e-Resource Collection Development: A Guide for Libraries - Edited by members of the Acquisition and Collection Development Committee, including Ann Okerson, Jérôme Fronty, Joseph Hafner, Judy Mansfield and Regine Schmolling. The purpose of this Guide is to help develop an awareness of the key issues that every library will need to consider and address in developing an e-portfolio. The Guide is not intended to be exhaustive but is written to provide a reasonable and informed introduction to the wide range of issues presented by electronic resources.
Standards for Proficiencies for Standards for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators:
A Practical Guide - As the role of instruction and information literacy continues to grow in the academic library, librarians are faced with a need to develop a more focused set of skills to teach effectively in library instruction programs. At the same time, many libraries struggle to offer meaningful training and professional development to improve instruction, especially without a set of established standards for what makes a good instructor. This document is intended to help instruction librarians define and gain the skills needed to be excellent teachers in library instruction programs and to foster collaborations necessary to create and improve information literacy programs.
In many academic libraries, instruction librarians also serve as coordinators of instructional services and as instructional leaders in their organization. In addition to proficiencies needed for librarians with teaching responsibilities are the skills required for instruction coordinators to manage programs. They also must operate effectively at all levels of the academic organization in order to implement broad-reaching curriculum-integrated information literacy programs.