NCTPG Officers 2022-2023

Due to lack of nominations, there were no formal elections for 2022-2023. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact us!

Kalvin Van Gaasbeck, Santa Clara University (Chair 2022-2023, Past Chair 2023-2024))

Yu-Lan Chou, Santa Clara City Library (Past Chair 2022-2023)

Deirdre Stretton, TIND (Webmaster, 2-year appointment, 2021-2023)

Rod Lawlor, SJSU MARA program student (Treasurer, 2-year appointment, 2021-2023)

Brian Schumacher, University of San Francisco (Secretary, 1-year appointment, 2022-2023)

Vacant Positions

Vice-Chair

Member-at-Large (x 2)

Slides Available from 2022 Annual Meeting

Thank you all for attending our 2022 Annual Meeting and making it a success! Below are links to the slides from the various presentations.


Closing Loops: Updates from Linked Data for Production & preparations for linked data cataloging at Stanford

by Nancy Lorimer


Using Data to Best Meet the Needs of Your Community

By Shellie Cocking


Using LibGuides CMS to Power Our Library Website

By Anders Lyon


Library Systems Migration

By Swetta Abeyta


2022 NCTPG Annual Meeting

Date and time: Wed, May 18, 2022 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM PDT

Location: NOW ONLINE!

THE PROGRAM IS PIVOTED TO ONLINE ONLY. FREE TO REGISTER!

Please register and links to attend each session will be sent out by May 13. Refunds can be requested by writing a message to nctpg1@gmail.com to inquire.

Join us for the membership meeting and the annual program! NCTPG is pleased to present two featured presentations — Shellie Cocking, Chief of Collection and Technical Services, and Randle McClure, Chief Analytics Officer, both of the San Francisco Public Library on how data analytics is utilized to reposition and forecast library collections, services, and programs. Nancy Lorimer, Associate Director of Metadata Services at Stanford University, will update the progress of the Stanford’s Linked Data for Production (LD4P) Project and Sinopia, a linked data editor developed at Stanford, where Nancy is the primary stakeholder and lead.

In addition to the two featured presentations, NCTPG is continuing the tradition to provide a venue for members to exchange ideas and experience of the most recent projects undertaken at different institutions. Justine Withers and Anders Lyon, both of the University of San Francisco, will do lightning talks of their current endeavors on faculty ebook user study, Reparative and Inclusion Description working group update, and USF’s CMS move to LibGuides.

At this event, we expect to have a broad representation of all types of libraries (academic, public, special) and a diverse representation of roles within and around technical services. Attendees are encouraged to participate in the informal discussion groups after the annual program ends for networking activity to checking in with our colleagues and peers. Swetta Abeyta of St. Mary’s College will lead a discussion on the ILS migration as many institutions are embarking on the journey. Everyone is welcome to contribute!

For more information about the annual meeting and programs, please email us at nctpg1@gmail.com.

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Featured Speakers

Shellie Cocking: I currently serve as Chief of Collections and Technical Services at San Francisco Public Library. Having started my time at SFPL selecting children’s books and AV, and then went on to experience the joy of being the Borrower Services Manager at the Main Library, as well as the Manager of Collections and Cataloging. I have been tracking trends in collection use for my full 27 years at SFPL, and am happy with the improved tools available today. Here at San Francisco Public Library we are so dedicated to using data to assist with decision making that we added an Research, Strategy & Analytics Unit close to five years ago. 

Nancy Lorimer is Associate Director of Metadata Services at Stanford University, where she oversees original metadata creation and remediation for Stanford’s ILS and digital repository and participates in linked data projects and planning. She is active in Linked Data for Production (LD4P) Project, a series of grant-funded project that aim to begin moving Technical Services workflow into a linked data environment. Her current role in LD4P is primary stakeholder for Sinopia, a linked data editor developed at Stanford. Nancy is a voting member of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Policy Committee (PoCo), co-chair of the PCC Metadata Application Profiles Working Group, and a member of the Standing Committee on Training. Nancy also represents Stanford and LD4P on the Share-VDE Advisory Council the SVDE Sapientia Entity Identification Working Group. Nancy has an MMus from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario (London, Canada), and spent far too many years doing doctoral work in medieval musicology at the University of Chicago.

Nancy Lorimer

Lightning Talks

Using LibGuides CMS to Power Our Library Website

Anders Lyon

Gleeson Library at University of San Francisco is in the midst of a website redesign. As part of this work, we’re moving our entire website over to LibGuides CMS. This move will give us more control over the site, and allow us to overcome some of the design and functionality constraints of the web content management system used by the university. This talk will provide a high-level look at how we’re creating webpage templates and components in LibGuides CMS with the help of an easy-to-learn Bootstrap design framework.

Anders Lyon is the User Experience & Web Design Librarian at Gleeson Library, University of San Francisco. He is responsible for the assessment, usability, and management of the library’s web interfaces.

Sharing progress from Gleeson Library’s Reparative and Inclusive Description Working Group: Harmful Language Statement

Justine Withers

Content warning: Resources may contain harmful language and images 

Gleeson Library at University of San Francisco’s Reparative and Inclusive Description Working Group has been working towards affirmation of our Harmful Language Statement. This talk will discuss the goals of the Reparative and Inclusive Description Working Group, detail the process and major decision points of our Harmful Language Statement, and provide initial thoughts about “distancing behavior” found in other statements.

NCTPG 2022 Annual Program Lightning Talks: Call for Proposals

We are pleased to announce the in-person 84th Annual Meeting of the Northern California Technical Processes Group (NCTPG) will take place in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Registration details will be available by April 25, 2022.

Our 84th annual meeting will feature two full presentations on the topics of data analysis by Shellie Cocking and Randle McClure of San Francisco Public Library, and BIBFRAME by Nancy Lorimer of Stanford University.

In addition, we are seeking proposals for 5-minute lightning talks where speakers can discuss an idea, a project, or a change from their library.

At this event, we expect to have a broad representation of types of libraries (public, academic, special) and a diverse representation of roles within and around technical services. We are planning a half-day event to be held in person at Koret Auditorium at San Francisco Public Library.

Possible topics could include but are not limited to:
• Best practices in technical services (acquisitions, cataloging, collection management, contract negotiations, data analysis, electronic resources management, project management, etc.)
• Cross-training staff and/or cross-departmental collaborations
• Diversity, equity and inclusion within technical services and/or its work
• Hiring for technical services
• Improving morale and reducing burnout
• ILS/LSP migrations – insights or experiences
• ILS/LSP tips or workarounds

Deadline for submission: Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

BIBFRAME activities during a pandemic

Join NCTPG for an online webinar!

Title: BIBFRAME activities during a pandemic

Presenter: Jodi Williamschen, Senior Technical Metadata Standards Specialist, Library of Congress

When: January 20, 2022, 10:00 am to 11:30 am PST

Where: Online via Zoom

March 13, 2020 was the last day that the BIBFRAME development team in the Network Development and MARC Standards Office worked on-site at the Library of Congress. Since then, the team members have only returned to the library a handful of times to pick up new laptops. However, work on the BIBFRAME cataloging pilot at the Library has continued and expanded. Join NCTPG in a discussion with Jodi Williamschen, Senior Technical Metadata Standards Specialist, from Library of Congress as she provides an update for the last 22 months on the BIBFRAME project.

Jodi Williamschen joined the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress in 2017. She is part of the BIBFRAME development team, where she tests software changes, maintains data conversion specifications, edit XSLT conversion routines and answers questions from catalogers and developers. Before moving to Maryland, Jodi worked at Innovative Interfaces in Emeryville for 21 years. She held a variety of positions in customer support, implementation, and product management, including product manager of the SkyRiver bibliographic utility.

NCTPG Officers 2021-2022

The NCTPG election of officers 2021-2022 ended October 14 and the election results are affirmed:

Yu-Lan Chou, Santa Clara City Library (Chair 2021-2022, Past Chair 2022-2023)

Kalvin Van Gaasbeck, Santa Clara University (Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect 2021-2022, Chair 2022-2023)

Swetta Abeyta, Saint Mary’s College of California (Past Chair 2021-2022, Chair 2019-2020/2020-2021)

Deirdre Stretton, TIND (Webmaster, 2-year appointment, 2021-2023)

Rod Lawlor, SJSU MARA program student (Treasurer, 2-year appointment, 2021-2023)

Angela Brindle, Saint Mary’s College of California (Secretary, 1-year appointment, 2021-2022)

Wen-ying Lu, Santa Clara University (Member-at-Large, 1-year appointment, 2021-2022)

Brian Schumacher, University of San Francisco (Member-at-Large, 1-year appointment, 2021-2022)

Opening Up Technical Services – NCTPG 83rd Annual Meeting

Online via Zoom

Friday July 30, 2021 • 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm PST

Register Now!

Our theme this year, Opening Up Technical Services, focuses on two issues that are increasingly important to the work we do in library technical processes: Open Access and library-vendor relationships. As always, we aim for a broad representation of types of libraries (public, academic, special) and a diverse representation of roles within and around technical services.

Program and Speakers

Building Momentum for Sustainable Open Access

Rice Majors – University of California, Davis

The University of California has committed to transforming article publishing to sustainable open access models.  We will share our vision for this initiative, progress to date, how we approach publishers and potential agreements, and how all of this is informing our approach to collections.

Managing Vendor Relationships

Matthew Hill – Sacramento Public Library

This presentation will cover managing vendor relationships in a digital landscape, including the request for proposal (RFP) process. Sacramento Public Library has used a standardized Likert scale to make RFP scoring simple, easy, and transparent to vendors. Sacramento Public Library’s approach to the RFP process recently changed; this presentation will compare and contrast the differences between what was done in the past versus what is done now. Attendees will learn how to manage challenging relationships with vendors and how to maintain healthy relationships with long term vendors.

Opening Up ‘Vintage’ Theses and Dissertations

Anneliese Taylor – University of California, San Francisco Library

Katie Fortney, Paul Fogel, and Mahjabeen Yucekul – California Digital Library

Libraries across the University of California system have systematically worked to make student theses and dissertations submitted electronically (ETDs) freely available through eScholarship, the university’s open publishing platform. But what about older, ‘vintage’ theses and dissertations (VTDs) originally produced in print or microformat? In 2018, the University of California, San Francisco Library and the California Digital Library (CDL) embarked on a project to digitize UCSF’s older documents and make them accessible to readers around the world. This project required addressing several complexities related to rights to the digitized files, the right to publicly share student dissertations, file OCRing and converting, redaction of personally identifiable information (PII), metadata production, and catalog match points. Learn about the first phase of the public release of these documents, and how the experience with UCSF’s VTDs can inform efforts at other academic institutions.

Networking Activity

An opportunity to check in with our colleagues and peers. More information TBD.

Registration & Information

Register online to start or renew your membership and attend the Annual Meeting. In acknowledgment of economic and logistical uncertainties from COVID restrictions, NCTPG extends free membership to all interested this year.

Our 2021 meeting is virtual. Zoom information will be sent out to registered individuals closer to the event.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at nctpg1@gmail.com.

2021 NCTPG Annual Meeting

Hello NCTPG members. We thank you for your patience while we took a break from NCTPG duties to deal with the stress of the last year on our jobs and personal lives. We hope you’re all doing as well as can be expected during such a traumatic year.

As you may recall, we had to cancel last year’s in-person meeting due to the pandemic. While California is slowly reopening, another in-person meeting indoors will not be possible. However, we are so pleased to announce that we will have a free NCTPG conference over Zoom on July 30th, in the afternoon. Please save that date!

We will send out an Eventbrite invitation soon to all of our members. We are looking forward to reconnecting and learning from our technical services peers. Thank you!