Podcast Cataloging Notes and Links
The Podcast Metadata Task Force consists of: Zora Breeding, Molly Dahl, Ann Ercelawn, Jeff Tayor, Pete Wilson and Yan-Xia Zhong. Yan-Xia, after training by Jodie Gambill, will submit podcasts to the E-Archive and create preliminary metadata records which will be edited by the other five members of the team. Previously Pete Wilson was the only one edited podcast records (Jodie had been submitting them), and currently there are 45 records in the collection. This group, with Juanita Murray and Roberta Winjum and without Jeff, met on Feb. 25, 2008 to talk about the project and so that Jodie could explain some of the technical functions to us (especially Yan-Xia).
On Feb. 27, 2008, Zora, Pete, Molly and Jeff had a meeting to talk about some aspects of making metadata for the podcasts in the Vanderbilt E-Archive. We made two revisions to the way Pete had been handling these previously:
1. Authors: Pete had been treating as an author only Ann Marie Deer Owens, who makes the short press-release-style podcasts for the News Service, on the grounds that she was creating podcasts as her express goal, rather than just being interviewed briefly or recorded while doing something else (a lecture or address, for example). Other persons heard speaking in podcasts were being treated only as subjects. We will change this so that anyone speaking at any length on a podcast (as opposed to just appearing saying a few lines as a sound bite on a press-release-style podcast) will be treated as an author. These persons will also continue to be recorded as subjects.
2. LC subject headings: Pete had been using LC subject headings for subject concepts when they existed (otherwise he would create non-LC keywords), and had been using subdivisions (topical, geographic, and occasionally chronological) with the LC headings, though somewhat more sparingly than in “regular” cataloging. We decided that we would treat the podcasts as an opportunity to experiment with faceted subject headings in the spirit of FAST. We may still use a heading-subdivision combination if it seems necessary to clearly convey a concept, but for the most part we will put what might be subdivisions into different fields entirely. We will record LC-authorized subdivisions in the LC subject heading fields of a podcast record even when the subdivisions do not actually stand on their own as LCSH headings.
LINKS TO HELP WITH PODCAST CATALOGING
1. Podcasts are accessible through this page, and there are informational blurbs about them. Use the search box at upper right, keeping the qualifier as “VUCAST,” to find out more about a podcast you are trying to describe.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/podcasts
2. Here is OCLC's home page for FAST: Facted Application of Subject Terminology. There are links to information that may be useful.
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/fast/
Updated 2/27/2008