Training Course “Standardization of Bibliographic Data – Requirements and Methods"

To carry out the tasks assigned by the Decision number 2175/QD-BVHTTDL dated July 23, 2023 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the plan to implement the digital transformation program of the library sector to 2025 with a vision to 2030, and the Library’s work plan for 2024, from June 26-27, 2024, in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) organized a Training Course on “Standardization of Bibliographic Data – Requirements and Methods”.

Overview of the Training Course “Standardization of Bibliographic Data – Requirements and Methods”

Attending the Training Course on the side of the delegates were Mr. Lai Duc Dai - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak province, Mr. Nguyen Huu Gioi – President of the Viet Nam Library Association, Mr. Vu Hung Cuong – Director of the Institute of Social Science Information, and representatives of leaders and officials working on professional activities from public, academic, specialized and armed forces libraries nationwide. On the side of the Organizing Committee, there were Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung – Director of the NLV, lecturers and reporters participating in the training course.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung – Director of the National Library of Viet Nam delivered the opening speech of the Training Course

In the field of library - information, besides standards, technical regulations and codes of practice are important tools to ensure standardization in document processing, standardization of data is one of the important steps for libraries to implement connectivity, sharing and digital transformation. Specific regulations are expressed through cataloging rules, classification schemes/tables, subject heading tables, terminology systems, regulations on order and procedures, machine-readable cataloging templates, etc.

The data that needs to be standardized first includes bibliographic data of traditional information resources and metadata for digital resources. In recent years, the NLV has organized training courses on material digitization; processing and standardizing digital resource data. In 2024, the Training Course "Standardization of Bibliographic Data - Requirements and Methods" was organized to focus on the standardization requirements in resource description and access, material processing, unifying the creation of records and bibliographic data, and at the same time equipping librarians with knowledge on standardization, retrospective processing of bibliographic data, ensuring data synchronization, optimizing processing procedures, and being ready for the creation of national union catalogs, sharing and interconnecting libraries.

Mr. Lai Duc Dai - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak province gives a welcome speech to the Training Course

During the 2-day training, lecturers and reporters shared and discussed with the trainees 04 lectures on "Standardization and standardization requirements in document processing", "Machine-readable cataloging and methods of creating MARC 21 records", "Relationship between some fields in MARC 21 records", "RDA - Resource Description and Access Cataloging Rules (Expanded Vietnamese Edition 2015" and 03 topics, including: "Next Generation of Online Catalogs – OCLC’s cataloging and metadata services", "Principles of cataloging digital materials for connecting and sharing resources among libraries", "Digital transformation of libraries - Model and digital knowledge repository services".

MLIS. Doan Anh Duc – Head of Legal Deposit Division (NLV), lecturer of the Training Course

MLIS. Le Thi Khanh Van – Head of Cataloging Division (NLV), lecturer of the Training Course

Along with the direct lectures, the training material "Standardization of Bibliographic Data - Requirements and Methods" provides trainees with content on standardization requirements in resource description and access, technical processing, unifying the creation of records and bibliographic data. The training material is compiled based on a number of materials such as: MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data, training material on cataloging according to MARC 21, RDA Resource Description and Access, Understanding MARC Bibliographic: Machine-Readable Cataloging, etc. and references to actual bibliographic information data of libraries in the country and the world.

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With a serious but open, friendly learning spirit, the trainees exchanged, discussed and shared experiences as well as feasible solutions to overcome difficulties and obstacles in data processing and standardization. The positive feedback on the content and training program from the delegates and trainees is both a recognition and a source of encouragement for the Organizing Committee to strive to prepare practical and quality training content for the following years.

On this occasion, OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) together with IDT Company, the OCLC's authorized representative in Viet Nam, presented the NLV with a data service sponsorship package, through which the bibliographic records of the Indochina Collection will be uploaded to the WorldCat Global Union Catalog system to increase the accessibility of these materials to libraries around the world as well as the global user community.

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Leaders of the NLV, OCLC and IDT join hands to bring the Indochina Collection currently archived by the NLV to WorldCat

In his closing speech, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung – NLV Director highly appreciated the serious learning process of the trainees, the careful preparation and enthusiastic teaching of the lecturers and reporters, and sincerely thanked the attention and facilitation of the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the leaders of the People's Committee of Dak Lak, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak, and the Dak Lak Provincial Library. He hoped that after the training course, with the knowledge gained, the trainees could apply it to the practical professional activities of their units with high efficiency.

At the end of the program, the Organizing Committee awarded certificates to more than 200 trainees participating in the Training Course.

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