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Members of UCLA Library are continuing to make an impact on the nation. Just last month, Elizabeth McAulay, head of the Digital Library Program, accepted a two-year appointment to the Library of Congress’ MODS/MADS editorial committee, which works to allow library and cultural heritage organizations to structure electronic information about information resources and cultural heritage objects.
The Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) is a system of classification designed by the Library of Congress to help information repositories describe and organize their digital holdings. It is complemented by the Metadata Authority Description Schema (MADS), which maintains standards for describing the people, places and organizations involved in the creation of objects cataloged by MODS. The MODS/MADS editorial committee is a group of up to 12 expert volunteers who are responsible for editing and updating these schemas.
UCLA Library has used MODS since 2006 and McAulay has contributed to discussions surrounding the schema. With McAulay’s appointment to the editorial committee, she joins librarians from Stanford University, Columbia University, the Library of Congress, the British Library, Dartmouth College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, State and University Library in Göttingen, and Harvard University.
As part of the MODS/MADS editorial committee, McAulay said she hopes both to offer what she knows and to learn from other committee members. One of the first projects she will work on is reviewing the MARC 21 to MODS 3.8 Mapping, which is slated to be released soon. This mapping will provide a guide for converting machine-readable cataloging (MARC) standards — which are used by an abundance of digital systems — to MODS.
“The way information is used and transmitted online is constantly changing,” said McAulay. “I’m excited to work with other information professionals to ensure that the world’s information landscape continues to have expressions of high quality and accurate information.”
