“The new RDA Toolkit addresses


­users­have­different­needs.” RDA is just one of the requirements made upon metadata that enables library systems to function coherently. Add MARC21, NACO headings, Dewey Decimal Classification,­Library­of­­Congress­Subject­ Headings, Thema codes – and you begin to realise that creating metadata is not for the faint-hearted. But RDA is interesting because­it­offers­­multiple,­even­infinitely­ varied access points to the information stored in the library.


the cataloguing of all types of content and media and recognises the fact that different­


Making Metadata


One method of bringing order to metadata compliant with the RDA standard has been developed­by­BDS.­It­can­be­simplified­ into: Source – Validate – Classify – Enhance – Deliver, something Lesley Whyte calls “The BDS Method”. “Source” starts the process by working closely with publishers. “Validation” checks the aggregated metadata. “Classification”­employs­the­intellectual­ expertise of the cataloguer. This ensures each record conforms to accepted standards, guaranteeing consistent results when used in diverse systems. “Enhancement” links each record to all the extra information such as book jacket covers, popular in public libraries where an image can identify an item as successfully as the title, or tables of contents, useful in an academic environment where students are searching for­specific­information­or­ideas.­“Delivery”­


The Hive at the University of Worcester.


Photo: Elliot Brown / Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic


addressing huge technical, practical and personnel questions. If the new vision was to be achieved, three collections and two library catalogues had to be amalgamated... We were fortunate as both the Worcestershire and the university catalogues used the same library management system that employs BDS as the source for their catalogue metadata.” The Hive is a mirror of the human mind achieved through technological progress and inspired inventiveness. It is just one attempt to answer the questions that the nuts and bolts of the real-world library asks of the vision described by Lars G. Svensson at the beginning of this article.


is giving the library exactly what it wants in a­way­that­fits­its­LMS.


The Working Library


Back in 2012, I went to see how this works when I visited The Hive, a recently opened library in Worcester that combined the functions of public and university library as well as being a civic space where the public could engage with local government and simply get together. While there, I spoke with David Pearson who was then Stock Manager for Worcestershire Libraries6


.


“We­think­it­is­the­first­fully­shared­ and integrated library in Europe, maybe the world. We achieved this only after


When Andrew Carnegie described his model library, he wanted a glass lantern atop each building that would let in light; today that lantern is a searchlight, illuminating wherever we choose to look. It is powered by a combination of developments in technology, training and systems built on intellectual rigour and enquiry, and at its heart it is metadata that ensures people get what they want. BG


References 1 “A Connected World” www.bdslive.com/bdslife-online/a-con- nected-courageous-world/


2 Catalogue & Index, issue 200, Lesley Whyte, “40 Years a Cataloguer”. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.cilip.org.uk/resource/ collection/0C44DCEE-84F7-4540-A5B6-716A05454B64/C&I_200.pdf


3 “Information, Catalogues and the Future” BDSLife for Libraries, Summer 2019, pp 8-9


4 Bibliographic Data Services (BDS) supplies metadata to all UK public libraries, the British Library and many academic libraries in the UK


5 Information Professional, October/November 2020


6 Bringing A Buss Back to Libraries, BDSLife for Librar- ies, Autumn 2012, pp 6-7.


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