Inverting the Library Cataloguing Process to Streamline Technical Services and Significantly Increase Discoverability and Search for Special Collections

Abstract

Digitization of special collections saves space and increases access. But are we really just creating a new kind of inaccessible media instead? OCR is helpful and promising but the current results are usually not adequate to ensure access to all appropriate content. Using the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and historical cataloguing methodologies supports storage but limits access. Traditional cataloguing methods are expensive and slow. This paper outlines a different approach. Maintaining the MARC records but significantly enhancing them with the addition of terms from the broadly based JSTOR thesaurus and adding geographical location information for every record provides more touch points. Using metadata and deep indexing instead of traditional cataloguing records speeds the process, allows for automation, and increases searchability and discovery. Creating a metadata record and then exporting MARC records from that record is an inversion to the traditional cataloguing process and enhances discovery, speeds the entire process and, once established, reduces costs. The following is a case study using three types of documents in the Special Collections of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida (UF) as a proof of concept and then a pilot project of the inverted cataloguing process.