[Metadatalibrarians] Announcing Issue 40 of the Code4Lib Journal

[Ruth Kitchin Tillman]

 Joyfully cross-posted!

The new issue of the Code4Lib Journal, Issue 40, is now available. Many
thanks to the authors and editors who worked hard to make this issue
happen. Interested in a survey of filenaming practices? Wondering how to
develop centralized accessioning for born-digital archival materials? Want
to bring together cataloging and wikidata edits to contribute your
expertise and augment your library's catalog? Wondering what ever happened
to that Arduino-based transaction counter (update, it's now a Pi!)? Or
considering the principles behind digital collections? This issue's got
something for you!

Editorial: Beyond Posters: On Hospitality in Libtech
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13432

Ruth Kitchin Tillman

In this editorial, I will be using the word hospitality to mean the
intentional welcome of others into a space which one currently occupies,
possibly as a member of a dominant group. I do not wish to encourage the
idea that one should cultivate or maintain a role of benevolent host in a
way that forces others to remain forever guest or outsider, although there
will always be newcomers. Hospitality may be a first step to ceding one’s
position as host in a space. It may be expanding that space to become a
place with many potential hosts, each respected for their varied
contributions and skillsets. It may also be supporting those in a different
space or a different role, such as those who use the technologies we build
and support (both colleagues and patrons), and respecting them in that
space.

What’s in a Name? On ‘Meaningfulness’ and Best Practices in Filenaming
within the LAM Community
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13438

Drew Krewer and Mary Wahl

Cultural institutions such as libraries, archives and museums (LAM) face
many challenges with managing digital collections, particularly when it
comes to organizing the individual files that make up each collection.
While tools such as metadata and collection management systems support
identification and arrangement for digital files, administrative control
depends significantly on the mere filenaming in use beneath the surface.
Anecdotal evidence has shown that many LAM institutions have specialized
filenaming schemes in place for their digital collections. This paper
includes a literature review of filenaming practices in the LAM community,
followed by a description and analysis of survey data regarding filenaming
practices in the LAM community. The purpose of the survey was to learn
about filenaming conventions in use within LAM organizations who have
filenaming policies in place. The data suggests that: similarities and
differences exist in filenaming approaches between museums/galleries,
archives/special collections, and academic institutions; it is preferred
that filenaming be simultaneously meaningful to both humans and computers;
and conventions that affect sortability are deemed more important than
those that affect readability. The data also indicate several subtopics
related to filenaming that would benefit from further study.

Centralized Accessioning Support for Born Digital Archives
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13494

Alice Sara Prael

Archives often receive obsolete digital storage media alongside paper
acquisitions: CDs and DVDs mixed in with folders of correspondence, Zip
disks, and floppy disks set aside by the donor with the intention to review
the content later. Archives must not only have the expertise to work with
digital media, but also the hardware and software to capture the content
without the risk of altering the files merely by viewing them. This article
will describe how Yale University Libraries and Museums addressed
accessioning of born-digital archival content on physical media through a
centralized digital accessioning support service. Centralizing the hardware
and expertise required for working with physical media made it possible to
accession media more quickly and return the files to the originating
archives for arrangement and description.

Wikidata: a platform for your library’s linked open data
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13424

Stacy Allison-Cassin and Dan Scott

Seized with the desire to improve the visibility of Canadian music in the
world, a ragtag band of librarians led by Stacy Allison-Cassin set out to
host Wikipedia edit-a-thons in the style of Art+Feminism, but with a focus
on addressing Canadian music instead. Along the way, they recognized that
Wikidata offered a low-barrier, high-result method of making that data not
only visible but reusable as linked open data, and consequently
incorporated Wikidata into their edit-a-thons. This is their story.

Redux: Tabulating Transactions with Raspberry Pi and Visualizing Results
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13385

Tim Ribaric

Often in the library tech world we are not given the opportunity to attempt
a project again. Effort spent re-doing a previous project in a different
way, in some sense, means wasting time that could be used to work on new
initiatives. This article describes a redux of a project, a revenge story
so to speak. In 2013 the Arduino based Tabulatron first entered production
at Brock University Library. The device had its flaws, an attempt to
rectify those flaws was manifested in the creation of the PiTab, the story
of which is presented here.

FAIR Principles for Library, Archive and Museum Collections: A proposal for
standards for reusable collections
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13427

Lukas Koster, Saskia Woutersen-Windhouwer

Many heritage institutions would like their collections to be open and
reusable but fail to achieve that situation because of organizational,
legal and technological barriers. A set of guidelines and best practices is
proposed to facilitate the process of making heritage collections reusable.
These guidelines are based on the FAIR Principles for scholarly output
(FAIR data principles [2014]), taking into account a number of other recent
initiatives for making data findable, accessible, interoperable and
reusable. The resulting FAIR Principles for Heritage Library, Archive and
Museum Collections focus on three levels: objects, metadata and metadata
records. Clarifications and examples of these proposed principles are
presented, as well as recommendations for the assessment of current
situations and implementations of the principles.

Ruth Kitchin Tillman
Coordinating Editor