Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc., otherwise known as OLAC, was founded in 1980 as a group of library catalogers involved in the

cataloging In library and information science, cataloging ( US) or cataloguing ( UK) is the process of creating metadata representing information resources, such as books, sound recordings, moving images, etc. Cataloging provides information such as auth ...

of audiovisual materials, but now supports the work of catalogers working on all nonprint resources. OLAC provides a way for catalogers to have a method of communication among themselves as well as with the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

. The first official meeting of the group happened on July 1, 1980 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with Nancy B. Olson chairing the group of catalogers.

Activities

Cataloging Policy Committee (CAPC)

OLAC's Cataloging Policy Committee (CAPC) represents audiovisual catalogers in national and international cataloging communities to help with the development of cataloging standards and rules, especially with

MARC standards MARC (machine-readable cataloging) standards are a set of digital formats for the description of items catalogued by libraries, such as books, DVDs, and digital resources. Computerized library catalogs and library management software need to str ...

. OLAC has established liaison relationships wit
Subcommittee on Genre/Form Implementation (SAC-SGFI)MARBI
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OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

A significant contribution to audiovisual cataloging in the new RDA standard was that of assigning

uniform title A uniform title in library cataloging is a distinctive title assigned to a work which either has no title or has appeared under more than one title. Establishing a uniform title is an aspect of authority control. The phrases conventional title and ...

s for motion pictures, which OLAC produced along with the

Music Library Association The Music Library Association (MLA) of the United States is the main professional organization for music libraries and librarians (including those whose music materials form only part of their responsibilities and collections). It also serves corp ...

. Another significant contribution to the library community has been OLAC's collaborative work, through its liaison relationships such as the SAC-SGFI, and its own internal efforts on the Library of Congress Genre-Form Term (LCGFT) projects. Once LCGFT was officially adopted, OLAC produced a best practices guide for their usage and application by catalogers which is widely used by many colleges universities to establish their own internal practices, such as

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all 5 ...

and BYU. The Federal Depository Library Program also refers catalogers to OLAC produced documents regarding cataloging motion pictures, streaming media, and more on it
Bibliographic Cataloging: Audiovisual Resources page.

OLAC Conferences

OLAC hosts a biennial conference for catalogers to come together and discuss topics related to cataloging, and has held a joint conference at least four times with the Music OCLC Users Group organization over the years.

Nancy B. Olson Award

The Nancy B. Olson award, formerly the OLAC Award, is named for the group's founder. It is awarded to individuals who have made "significant contributions to the advancement and understanding of audiovisual cataloging."

Publications

OLAC has published many reports, thought papers, and training materials over the years to support and advance the work of cataloging audiovisual materials. Currently, OLAC's work has focused on a series of 'best practices' guides for cataloging nonprint materials based on national and international standards. According to a 2007 study with 354 respondents, special format catalogers (i.e., non-print materials) report spending the majority of their time cataloging electronic resources, sound recordings (both audio and music), and video resources, and of these special formats catalogers 31% were members of OLAC. Bothmann also found that more than half of the respondents said that OLAC provided the most support for special formats cataloging. * Best Practices for Cataloging DVD-Video and Blu-ray Discs Using RDA and MARC21 * Best Practices for Cataloging Streaming Media Using RDA and MARC21 * Best Practices for Cataloging Video Games Using RDA and MARC21 * Library of Congress Genre-Form Thesaurus (LCGFT) for Moving Images: Best Practices Previous publications included similar best practices guides, but in older standards like

AACR2 AACR may refer to: * ''Across a Crowded Room'', an album by Richard Thompson released in 1985 * American Association for Cancer Research, an organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * American Cable and Radio Corporation, a former communic ...

Membership

As of May 2004, there were 379 personal members in OLAC.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1980 establishments in New York City Non-profit organizations based in the United States Library associations in the United States