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Upcoming local Indigenous changes
by Casey Cheney 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

Hello everyone! At the end of November, I emailed our clients that were actively using our local “Indigenous peoples” authorities for related term changes. This email requested response to a survey related to some potential sweeping changes across our file. The questions were thus: 1. How do you feel about changing tribal naming patterns like "Cree people" to "Cree (North American people)"? The latter is more consistent with LCDGT and Greater Victoria Public Library. 2. Which format do you prefer for subject headings related to "Indigenous people of North America" * $a Indigenous peoples $z North America * $a Indigenous peoples of North America Of those that responded, the desire was OVERWHELMING to adjust and add parentheticals where appropriate as well as to move “North America” to a $z. There were 2 or 3 respondents that preferred our original way of doing things. Due to the response, we have decided to implement changes across the file. The changes also include much needed updating to some community names (such as changing “Delaware” to “Lenape”)! We’ve incorporated the work completed by the X̲wi7X̲wa Library as well as the Greater Victoria Public Library; their contribution is noted in a 6XX of our local authority record. In a few cases, a preferred term was taken from the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance. Instead of adding a parenthetical to ALL community names, we’ve decided to rely on just those that the Greater Victoria Public Library has identified. We’ve also decided to remove the term “people” from the community names. Instead of something like “Navajo people” the new term would be just “Navajo”. Where there is a conflict elsewhere in the greater LC authority file, a parenthetical will be added. For instance, instead of changing “Comanche people” to just “Comanche”, we will use “Comanche (North American people)” since there is a personal Name Authority for just “Comanche” . We would hate for a random bug in any ILS to accidentally change those to personal names! I’ve also taken the time to create other local authorities to force those original headings that may have $z Alaska or $z Canada to either Alaska Natives or First Nations. As such, our local authority file is now over 5100 terms. A full list of our NEW Indigenous Peoples term changes is attached. I will be updating the online Google Sheet<tinyurl.com/IndigGeneral>, too, once the changes are live (the current link has the old terms). The plan is to have the vocabulary LIVE by February 7th. Those of you who receive our Authority Notification service should receive these changes during your first run after we make the changes live. If you are an institution that needs to remain with our original pattern of “Indigenous peoples of North America” and retaining “people” in the community name, please contact your Project Manager so she can make sure that is retained … community name updates WILL still happen. Please let us know before January 5th if you must keep the original patterns. Thanks, Casey Ms. Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Automation Services Backstage Library Works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Phone: 801.356.1852 x692 | Fax: 801.356.8220 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | www.bslw.com<http://www.bslw.com/> [cid:image001.png@01DA5361.6F77B460]

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leave
by Karen E Selden 25 Feb '23

25 Feb '23

I'm fully retired as of October 31, 2022. Please remove me from this mailing list. Thanks, Karen ________________________________ From: bslwac-request(a)mailman.xmission.com <bslwac-request(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2023 12:00 AM To: bslwac(a)mailman.xmission.com <bslwac(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: BSLWAC Digest, Vol 87, Issue 1 Send BSLWAC mailing list submissions to bslwac(a)mailman.xmission.com To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to bslwac-request(a)mailman.xmission.com You can reach the person managing the list at bslwac-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of BSLWAC digest..."

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Backstage News Alert - Library of Congress MDS interruption - February 24, 2023
by Casey Cheney 24 Feb '23

24 Feb '23

Just a quick alert for everyone. We received an email from Library of Congress' CDS Customer Service Team today stating the following: "There has been an unexpected service interruption in updating our daily and weekly MDS records. This service interruption was unplanned and we are working with technicians and system administrators to troubleshoot the technical issues." The MDS Service includes sending us weekly new/updated Authority Files to incorporate into our authorities processing. So what does this mean for you? Unfortunately, it's unclear at this time since we don't know how long the interruption will last. It's possible things will be resolved next week and you won't notice any difference in your Notification or Bibliographic Update services (we'll cross our fingers for this)! It's also possible that you may experience smaller than normal batches. If this indeed is the case that also means that once LC is able to fully restore their functionality that you may then receive a larger than normal batch as a "catch up". You shouldn't notice any major negative impact for your Basefile or Current Cataloging services. As we receive updates from Customer Service on estimated time for full restoration of service, we'll let you know! Ms. Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Automation Services Backstage Library Works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Phone: 801.356.1852 x692 | Fax: 801.356.8220 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | www.bslw.com<http://www.bslw.com/> Unsubscribe from this list<mailto:bslwac-request@mailman.xmission.com?subject=Unsubscribe>

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Backstage - Profile Updates (Including DEI support) - October 13, 2022
by Casey Cheney 13 Oct '22

13 Oct '22

We've had quite a busy year! Let's get going with a couple updates. Some of you may have already noticed, but there are some new sections available within your Authority Control profile! I just wanted to make you aware of these and give a little explanation behind them. 1. [cid:image004.png@01D8DEFA.D2067B20] More options for URI Enrichment (Section 2-12): Previously shown only in the Wiki, we have now elaborated as to which fields can have URIs added and to which subfields those would be added. We also added a note in the Wiki regarding TIND's requirements for Identifier placement as it is different than industry standard. [cid:image005.png@01D8DEFA.D2067B20] 2. Subject Term Conversions, including DEI related options (Section 3-12): We've added an entirely new section related to various term conversions. * LCSH to FAST: We will take your existing LCSH and ADD any related FAST headings * GSAFD to LCGFT: We have created a process that will convert GSAFD into LCGFT where there is an equivalent for those who wish to consolidate their vocabularies * LCSH to HOMOIT: We have a crosswalk that will search for LCSH terms that have a HOMOIT equivalent. We will add the Homoit equivalent to the appropriate 6XX _7 with $2 homoit. We do also include the "broader terms" as decided after various pilot projects last year as this gives greater discoverability. * Indigenous people: We have created a local authority file that will change "Indians of ..." to "Indigenous peoples of ..." as well as swapping the term "Indian" for "people" in individual tribal names. We've kept it simple! **We realize there is SACO funnel that will likely be proposing similar changes, we will update our list as those changes are implemented by LC * Undocumented immigrants: Prior to LC's change in terminology in late 2021 we had created a local authority file based on our clients' needs to change terms to "Undocumented immigrants" and "Noncitizens". Many institutions still prefer this change as opposed to LC's current practice, so this is still an option! * Other: You're free to suggest other term sets that you would like changed at your institution! We can incorporate lists of terms, authority records created by you, or we can create the authorities for you, just let us know how we can help. **We are currently working on developing an "Enslaved persons/Enslavement" file. We do know LC will start to address these but since we've had requests recently to make those changes since we really don't know how long the process with LC will be. 3. Other Subject Authority Files (Section 3-13): Another brand new section! We've historically had other vocabularies that were available to match your existing subject terms but we've never had a good spot to indicate that other than hidden in the Wiki! Hopefully this section will be of use to you! There are new Wiki entries for these options as well to give you a little more detail. Since I briefly glossed over the DEI related options (see point 2c-2f above) I wanted to take a moment to talk about this section specifically. In 2021 Backstage and I hosted a few different webinars that included some of the initiatives we'd undertaken to help support our clients' various DEI Initiatives. We officially launched our support processes earlier this year and have done some marketing in terms of social media posts, case studies, messaging in official marketing materials, as well as messaging at various conferences/events throughout the year. We've had great responses! Some of you have already taken steps to incorporate some of these changes into your catalog and we've had a great time helping you get started! Others of you are just in the early stages of thinking about what you would like to do for your own DEI initiatives. If this is you, please reach out even if you just want to talk in broad terms and are not ready to pull the trigger, we'd love to discuss options available for you! We do have an FAQ<https://www.bslw.com/inclusive-terms-faq/> available for those still reviewing options. When thinking about retrospective changes to your subject terms we find that it's ideal to reprocess your entire catalog, especially to capture those items related to LGBTQ issues that are not in a designated collection! We do have special pricing available based on number of records to be processed so feel free to enquire of your Sales Representative or your Project Manager! UPCOMING One thing that we're working on that we're hoping to have in place within the next few months is addressing those headings that appear in your 6XX fields but the matching authority record states it's not valid to use as a subject. Our Authorities Librarian, Karen, has spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the authority records that have this note (or follow the same pattern) in order to determine which LCSH is appropriate in its place. In the vast majority of cases, we've been able to identify the heading to use. We're building a process now that will automatically change these when they are inappropriately used in a 6XX. Once it's live you will have the option to turn it off, but it will be on by default. We'll announce when it's officially live, but if you know NOW that you don't want this automatic change, you can let us know ahead of time so we can turn off the process before the first live run. Ms. Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Automation Services Backstage Library Works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Phone: 801.356.1852 x692 | Fax: 801.356.8220 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | www.bslw.com<http://www.bslw.com/>

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Re: Backstage - News Alert - November 16, 2021 (UPDATED 12/01/21)
by Casey Cheney 01 Dec '21

01 Dec '21

I just thought I'd let everyone know that LC has pushed out their updated authority records much quicker than I think we all anticipated!! If you are currently using custom lists or local authority records please get in touch with me or your Project Manager to discuss how you'd like to move forward. Some of you may be OK with the changes while others of you may prefer the changes you'd originally agreed upon as an institution. If you'd prefer to keep your selected changes we will likely need to make some adjustments to any local lists or authority files we are currently using for you especially as copy records start coming in with the new LC terms. Thanks, Casey How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338> From: Casey Cheney <ccheney(a)bslw.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2021 9:38 AM To: bslwac(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [BSLWAC] Backstage - News Alert - November 16, 2021 News Alert I'm sure by now many of you have seen the announcement that came through AUTOCAT later in the day on Friday regarding "Illegal aliens". If you have not, LC is finally proposing to change "Illegal aliens". ALA issued a statement on the proposed changes. https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2021/11/ala-welcomes-removal-offensive… This has been a controversial topic in the library community for many years and many hoped that "Illegal aliens" would actually be changing to "Undocumented immigrants" or something similar. Unfortunately, that is not the current proposal. Here is a link to the full list of proposed/tentative changes: https://classweb.org/tentative-subjects/2111b.html?fbclid=IwAR2twTUEttr0tNd… A little summary would be: The heading for "Aliens" (sh 85003545) is proposed to change to "Noncitizens". The authority record for "Illegal aliens" is proposed to be cancelled altogether with a 450 for "Illegal aliens" being added to the "Noncitizens" authority. This results in both "Aliens" and "Illegal aliens" changing to "Noncitizens" in your bibliographic records. Additionally, where "Illegal aliens" was previously used, a new heading "Illegal immigration" would also be added (a new authority record for this term will be created). We understand that there will likely be pushback for the use of "Illegal immigration" so it will be interesting to see what the final result will be. Many of you have already undertaken special projects to change "Aliens" to "Noncitizens" and "Illegal aliens" to "Undocumented immigrants" whether it be through custom rule processing or through Local Authority records. Once LC issues its final list of changes, we will undoubtedly need to work together in order to determining how each of you would like to proceed. Feel free to reach out to me or your Project Manager if you would like to speak about this further. Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Authority Control Backstage Library works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 801-342-5692 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | ac.bslw.com/mars<http://ac.bslw.com/mars> | How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338>

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Backstage Feedback request - Term Changes - November 19, 2021
by Casey Cheney 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

Feedback Request Let's talk about more term changes, shall we? Indigenous peoples Earlier this year I'd mentioned that we'd started undertaking a project to change "Indian" related terms (not just names of Tribes/Nations). I'd originally identified over 3600 LCSH terms that included "Indian" in the 1xx or 5xx fields that might be eligible for change. Our amazing Authorities Librarian, Karen, spent the summer going through the list and suggesting changes to the terms. She also spent some time identifying possible alternatives to the names of Tribes/Nations. After some internal review, and thinking about what would be best for our clients, we've decided that for now the names of the Tribes/Nations would be left as their more common, LCSH, version with "Indians" being changed to "people". The reasoning behind this has two parts: 1. We know that there are some ILS/Discovery layers that utilize keywords from the Bib record instead of the authority record. We didn't want drastic changes to headings with terms that may not be widely known and therefore frustrate the search needs of the users. 2. We wanted to take more time to really identify the proper preferred term of the current Tribes/Nations on the list. This is where YOU come in! We would like your help going through the list that is specific to the names. I've created a GoogleSheet with basic instructions on the first tab and then the list of terms on the 2nd: https://bslw.it/3nwUNlc Our intent is that in the future we will change all of our authority records to the preferred term while having a rule that will retain the original version for those who need both in their Bibs for search functionality. We will update authority records as needed when final determinations are made. Other term changes We are aware that there may be other term changes that you're looking into that may not be as widely discussed on the listservs. We would be interested in knowing what else you're looking at! Again, I've created another GoogleSheet for you to outline what you've been exploring so we can begin looking at options to expand our own lists/rules/authorities: https://bslw.it/3CAw6c2 We appreciate all you do! Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Authority Control Backstage Library works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 801-342-5692 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | ac.bslw.com/mars<http://ac.bslw.com/mars> | How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338>

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Backstage - News Alert - November 16, 2021
by Casey Cheney 16 Nov '21

16 Nov '21

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News Alert - Hardware failure [UPDATE PT 2 - Good news!]
by Casey Cheney 29 Sep '20

29 Sep '20

What a crazy 28 hours! With the brilliant work of our technical staff, we've gotten to a place where we can begin processing files again! While we don't foresee any hiccups moving forward, please do continue to grant us your patience in case anything else unexpected arises. A HUGE shout-out to Chad & Chris for their diligence over the last day! Thanks, Casey Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Authority Control Backstage Library works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 801-342-5692 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | ac.bslw.com/mars<http://ac.bslw.com/mars> | How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338>

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News Alert - Hardware failure [UPDATE]
by Casey Cheney 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

Good afternoon, friends, Our staff are still tirelessly working on a temporary workaround for the failure that we experienced over the weekend. It will be a long night to try to get a solution up and running and while we hope we'll be able to resume processing tomorrow (Tuesday), we cannot guarantee that at this stage. Your project managers and I will keep you updated as best we can and we'll certainly let you know as soon as we're able to move forward. Again, we thank you for your patience with this unexpected issue. Thanks, Casey Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Authority Control Backstage Library works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 801-342-5692 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | ac.bslw.com/mars<http://ac.bslw.com/mars> | How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338>

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News Alert - Hardware failure
by Casey Cheney 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

All, Unfortunately, it appears that our server suffered a hardware failure over the weekend. Our programmers and IT staff are working diligently to remedy the situation. We are hoping that functionality will be restored later today, but of course that may be pushed out depending on what other complications arise. Because of this failure we're unable to process files, access the WebPortal or external FTP, or access any of your specific client-files on our network. We realize this is causing significant issue for you and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We do appreciate your understanding and patience in the matter and we will update you again this afternoon. Thank you for your continued support! Casey Casey Cheney, PMP | Vice President, Authority Control Backstage Library works | Provo, Utah & Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 801-342-5692 | ccheney(a)bslw.com<mailto:ccheney@bslw.com> | ac.bslw.com/mars<http://ac.bslw.com/mars> | How am I doing?<http://ac.bslw.com/customer_satisfaction/review.php?token=338>

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