[Metadatalibrarians] Crosswalks

[Keenan, Teressa]

Hi everyone;

I am new to metadata librarianship. Though I've been lurking on this list for a while. I officially start my new position as a metadata/digital projects librarian on September 1st.  I am very excited about actually putting my education to use in the real world.  I have a question that I hope isn't too silly and that someone here on this list can point me in the right direction.

We learned a bit about crosswalks in library school.  Basically we either read about or set up tables that show which elements are equivalent to each other, but the one thing we didn't cover was how this actually happens.  So if a person wanted to take MARC records from their local ILS and transform them into DC, how would they do that?  I am assuming that this isn't only done manually with someone physically keying in (or copying and pasting) the information into a form.  Is there some literature out there someplace that explains or describes the process?  Has anyone actually done this in real life and not just in a classroom on paper?

I realize I haven't even officially started my new job yet; but I have a feeling that this is going to be a topic that comes up very soon so I'd like to learn as much as possible.  

Thanks in advance for any tips you all can send my way.


Teressa M. Keenan
Library Technician – Bibliographic Management Services (until 08/31/08)
Metadata/Digital Productions Librarian (after 09/1/08)
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
The University of Montana 
32 Campus Drive (MMLA01)
Missoula, MT 59812-9936
teressa.keenan at umontana.edu , (406) 243-6862