By Debbie Smith
The Manitoba School Library Association (MSLA) Advocacy with Library Archives Canada regarding changes to AMICUS and the impact on Canadian school libraries.
How AMICUS Was Used by School Libraries
AMICUS had long been used by our school libraries to access MARC records for their catalogues, with the capability to download these directly into most Library Management systems. This was accomplished by accessing the AMICUS catalogue via a Z39.50 connection built into the library system. There was no need to export/import records. The Z39.50 records showed up as a search result and you could save the record into your catalogue.
Loss of AMICUS
In the spring of 2017, the Manitoba School Library Association (MSLA) became aware of the changes coming to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and their catalogue AMICUS. The LAC catalogue moved to an OCLC library management system in the spring of 2018. Access to the catalogue and its MARC bibliographic records now requires a subscription to OCLC which is not economically feasible for our school divisions. The OCLC CatExpress subscription is a cataloguing tool that allows non-member access to search and download a prescribed number of records per year per subscription.
In April of 2017, MSLA sent a letter to LAC voicing concerns regarding the catalogue move to OCLC and its impact on our school libraries. Letters of support were also sent from the Manitoba Association of Library Technicians (MALT) and The Manitoba Teacher’s Society (MTS). The letter included the following impact statement.
The impact on Manitoba school library staff include:
- The loss of Z 39.50 access means records will not come directly into our library systems for editing. Instead, staff will need to initiate a separate search in another catalogue or tool (such as CatExpress). The record would then need to be exported from CatExpress and imported into the library system for editing. These extra steps will affect the workload of school library staff.
- The loss of free access to online records without CatExpress would add additional costs to school division budgets.
- Records for Canadian publications are not readily available from other sources, which would necessitate creating original records resulting in less consistency in applying Canadian Subject Headings and varying quality in the records.
- Creating original records is very time-consuming adding to the workload of school library staff.
- Many rural and remote school libraries may not have trained staff able to create original records. The catalogue display is very different from the MARC view and most catalogues do not show the MARC view with the fields, subfields and tags.
- If schools do not have free access to LAC records, many Canadian titles will require original cataloguing resulting in them becoming part of a cataloguing backlog when they should be on the shelf and in the catalogue with access for staff and students. These should be among the first titles on our school library shelves.
- The backlog of original cataloguing for Canadian titles means books published with uniquely Canadian content will have less visibility in our school library collections.
Move to Voilà and Aurora
The updating of AMICUS was good news as it was technologically out of date. Its replacement came in two separate interfaces in order to differentiate between the two collections, the National Union Catalogue and the Library Archives Canada. The National Union Catalogue became Voilà and launched in February 2018. The Library and Archives Canada catalogue became Aurora and launched in December 2018. With the new catalogue launched, access to AMICUS records via Z39.50 ended in April of 2019.
In May 2019, school libraries immediately noticed the loss of Canadian bibliographic records in their Z39.50 searches when cataloguing.
Conversation: MSLA and LAC
In September 2017, following up on the letter sent in April 2017, an email was sent to Pierre Gamache, Director General, Published Heritage Branch of Library and Archives Canada. In the email we shared the IFLA graphic Library map of the world. The data reports Canada as having 732 academic libraries, 3,415 public libraries and 14,451 school libraries. This showed the large number of libraries impacted by the loss of the Z39.50 access to LAC records.
Later in September 2017, MSLA received a letter from Monica Fuijkschot, Director General, Published Heritage, Published Heritage Branch, Library and Archives Canada informing us that Pierre Gamache former Director General had retired. Monica’s response was sincere and opened the door to further discussions. This began the conversation with MSLA advocating for school libraries.
By November 25, 2018, our conversations culminated with an offer of a one-time only, one-year transition funding to OCLC’s CatExpress tool to be shared for Manitoba School Libraries and paid by LAC. The funding needed to be approved by the beginning of December 2018, a very tight time-frame. The funding for the subscription was put into place and access began on April 1, 2019 with a limit of 13,000 MARC records. The dilemma was how to share this access with all Manitoba school libraries. Many divisions no longer have centralized cataloguing to facilitate the management of the OCLC subscription. It is imperative that only one person have access to the CatExpress trial so as not to exceed the 13,000-record allotment thus incurring additional cost. As there is currently no shared catalogue in Manitoba, or the capability to share MARC records between school divisions the CatExpress offer was made to a few divisions. In the end it was decided to test the product in St. James-Assiniboia School Division. This allowed testing across a union catalogue division wide with collections supporting French and English programs as well as the International Baccalaureate program.
When St. James-Assiniboia staff send in materials that need original records, CatExpress is searched for these records and the results are tracked on an Excel spreadsheet. Finding records for growing collections of multilingual materials is one important area of testing as these parallel records are more challenging to create originally. As of January 2020, library cataloguers in St. James-Assiniboia have found records for 73% of the titles searched. The CatExpress tool is very easy to use. There are both a Basic and Advanced search capability. Records can be viewed from the search results and a selected record saved. Once the session is ended, all the saved records can be downloaded in one MARC format file for import into a catalogue.
While CatExpress has been easy to use and has shown some success in locating the records school libraries need, it does not negate the fact that it is a paid subscription. This would add cost to any division’s library budget as an annual expenditure. With 37 school divisions in the province and 49 independent schools, this cost is amplified. Assuming a high percentage of overlap in the titles in our school collections, it would be more efficient to look for ways to share bibliographic records among school libraries.
Demise of Cataloguing
Although the one-year paid subscription to CatExpress is very much appreciated, the reality for our school libraries has not changed. With Voilà and Aurora hosted via OCLC we have another cataloguing tool moving from free access to paid access. In addition to LAC changes, the RDA Toolkit, and the Dewey Decimal Classification have also moved to a paid digital subscription model moving cataloguing expertise to an unaffordable realm for many libraries. This is especially so for our school libraries.
Schools continue to have access to bibliographic records from the Library of Congress via a Z39.50 access allowing records to be added directly into a library catalogue. Unfortunately, the records for Canadian resources are limited from Library of Congress and if available often do not always reflect our Canadian Subject Headings or address our specific school needs.
Face to Face Meeting
In May 2019, Monica Fuijkschot visited Winnipeg as part of the Canada wide consultation to develop a policy for Voilà, the new National Union Catalogue. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet face to face.
On May 15, 2019, we met Monica with 12 school library staff members in attendance. They represented 6 school divisions (metro and rural), independent schools, a representative from Manitoba Education and Monica Fuijkschot from LAC. The conversation was rich with much eagerness to learn and share from one another. In addition to the new catalogue, discussion included topics of interest to school libraries such as the Indigenization of Canadian Subject Headings, Repertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM) Subject Headings, the National Union Catalogue policy, authorities, access to Canadian authored content in the catalogue, and the online placespeak forum where you can have a voice in shaping the National Union Catalogue Policy.
Following the More Canada: increasing Canadians’ awareness and reading of Canadian books report (p. 17) LAC is working on identifying and accessing Canadian authored content. They are working with OCLC on a filter to accomplish this; the Canadiana numbers cannot be used since they are for works published in Canada, but not necessarily Canadian authored. At our May 2019 meeting, Laura Cowie, Manager, Library Support Services from the Winnipeg School Division requested Canadian illustrators be included as well. Access to Canadian illustrators is important in our school collections which have large numbers of picture book volumes.
LAC provides CIP and creates a bibliographic record when the item is brought into the institution. A 5-year backlog has built up since 2012 when their budget was cut by 50%. This backlog remains as they handle more current items.
Continuing the Conversation
On January 20, 2020, a phone call with LAC discussed changes to the Canadian Subject Headings website and the Indigenization of Canadian Subject Headings. Currently, Canadian Subject Headings are freely available as a download of multiple MARC21 or MARC XML files which can be loaded into your ILS. Unfortunately, some ILS systems do not give us the ability to create a shareable pdf of headings. MSLA is working on creating a pdf from the MARC21 or MARC XML files to share via their website. LAC has been working with Indigenous communities to indigenize the CSH, and their work on this is continuing. During our conversation I expressed the need for a freely accessible listing of the CSH for school libraries. Once the indigenization of CSH is completed, LAC will communicate the news both internally and externally. The Université de Laval will be informed as well so equivalent changes can be made to the Repertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM).
Thanks to Library and Archives Canada
The Manitoba School Library Association expresses our sincere thanks to Monica Fuijkschot and the LAC staff for their attention to the concerns of school libraries across Canada. We appreciate the relationship building and sharing of information with LAC as it strengthens our support to school library staff. We commend them for the changes they have undertaken in efforts to improve library access and use for their patrons. Change can be difficult however keeping the communication open has been a great benefit to all.
We will continue to share the unique needs of our school libraries with LAC as their developments and updates continue. As our collections become more diverse and multilingual, it is important to maintain access to high quality catalogue records that address our school’s specific needs.
Moving Forward
Via listservs, cataloguers from other provinces have noticed the loss of access since the AMICUS site went down. The MSLA wonders how school libraries from other provinces are dealing with the change and what solutions they have found. Please feel free to share your comments with the CSL at: info[at]canadianschoollibraries.ca, or directly with members of the CSL Board of Directors.
Some of our ideas to replace the loss of access to Canadian records have been:
- Find new reliable z sources for Canadian records
- Create a process for sharing records among school libraries (provincially or federally)
- Purchase the CatExpress tool from OCLC to download records
Simultaneously, during the LAC changes, Manitoba Education is preparing for change. Over the past year Manitoba’s Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education has been reviewing our province’s elementary and secondary education system. With information gleaned through public workshops, surveys and submissions they will prepare recommendations on the future education system for Manitoba (More information). The report was scheduled to be delivered to the Minister of Education in February 2020 with a public announcement expected to follow. Manitoba school libraries should look for opportunities to facilitate the sharing of catalogue records in any changes coming as a result of the Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education review.
References
Canadian Publishers Hosted Software Solutions. (September 2018). More Canada: increasing Canadians’ awareness and reading of Canadian books. Retrieved from https://www.morecanadareport.ca/
Manitoba Education. Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education. Retrieved on from the Manitoba Education website: https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/
Library and Archives Canada. Canadian Subject Headings. Retrieved from Library and Archives Canada website: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/canadian-subject-headings/Pages/canadian-subject-headings.aspx
Library and Archives Canada. Questions and answers for Canadian libraries about Voila and Aurora. Retrieved from Library and Archives Canada website: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/national-union-catalogue/Pages/questions-answers-contract-oclc.aspx
Debbie Smith is the Past President of the Manitoba School Library Association (MSLA) and Supervisor, Library/Media Services for St. James-Assiniboia School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Debbie is passionate about school libraries, literacy and lifelong learning.