1. OCLC Global Council November 2013
NRCIG
Cendrella Habre
University Librarian, Lebanese American University
EMEARC Delegate
2. Mission
The mission of the Non-Roman Characters
Interest Group (NRCIG) is to inform the
Cooperative and OCLC’s strategic
development about the issues of making
OCLC’s products and services “work” in
languages that use non-Roman characters.
3. Charge
To provide background information to the
OCLC Board and SLT regarding the
locations, sizes and importance of major
Arabic-language collections and to
investigate and report on the status of
Arabic language in OCLC’s product
development plans.
4. Members
•
Cendrella Habre, Chair
•
Omar Farhoud, Information Management Manager, LAU (Lebanon)
•
Fares Jureidini, Logos (Distributor_Lebanon)
•
Asma Al-Kanan, Director, Library, American University of Kuwait
•
William Kopycki, Field Director, Library of Congress, Egypt
•
Magda El-Sherbini, Associate Professor and head of Cataloging Department, Ohio State University
Libraries
•
Martha Speirs, EMEARC Alternate Delegate, Dean, Library and Information Services, Azerbaijan
Diplomatic Academy
•
Rebecca Youth, Catalog Librarian, University of Iowa Libraries & MELA member
OCLC Staff
•
Janet Lees
•
Bemal Rajapatirana
•
Arthur Smith
7. Issues and Challenges
•
Transliteration/Romanization
Tools are unknown to users
•
Tools are not user-friendly
Inconsistencies (In the US for example Romanization is performed by non-Arabic speaking staff)
Subject Headings
Translation of LCSH with modifications
•
Limited LCSH
Different Arabic SH Lists
Arabic topics
Undiscoverable
Names
•
Similar to SH
Complexities in Name Structure
Users (Western vs. Arab)
•
What do they want?
Technological lags
OCLC’s Z39.50 server is not enabled to search records in Arabic
Inconsistent use of MARC fields for Romanized diacritics
UNICODE
Indexing (non-filing characters for the ) and the Hamza on the Alef ( )
8. Suggested Solutions
• Transliteration/Romanization
LINKED DATA
• Subject Headings
LINKED DATA
UNIFIED LIST OF SUBJECT HEADINGS (a project that should be
sponsored by OCLC)
• Names
VIAF
LINKED DATA
• Users (Western vs. Arab)
LINKED DATA
• Technological lags
Experts from the Arab World
Country # of InstitutionsAfghanistan1Australia12Belgium3Brazil1Canada82Colombia1Czech Republic1Egypt3France39Germany13Hong Kong3Hungary1India2Iraq4Ireland9Israel15Italy8Japan8Kuwait1Lebanon3Malaysia2Mexico1Morocco1Namibia1Netherlands6New Zealand26Poland4Qatar4Saudi Arabia1Singapore6South Africa15Spain13Sweden6Switzerland6Taiwan3Thailand1Trinidad & Tobago1Turkey5United Arab Emirates2United Kingdom58United States1307
Institutions with Holdings on Records for Arabic-language Resources Country # of InstitutionsAfghanistan2Algeria1Argentina2Armenia1Aruba1Australia267Austria1Bahrain2Bangladesh1Barbados2Belarus1Belgium3Bolivia1Bosnia & Hercegovina1Botswana3Brazil6Brunei1Bulgaria2Cameroon1Canada261Chile1China4Colombia4Costa Rica2Cyprus3Czech Republic3Denmark2Dominican Republic1Egypt7Ethiopia2Finland1France570French Guiana1Georgia1Germany231Ghana1Greece8Guadeloupe1Guatemala1Guyana1Honduras2Hong Kong10Hungary3Iceland1India6Indonesia2Iraq7Ireland16Israel33Italy28Ivory Coast1Jamaica2Japan58Jordan10Kuwait1Latvia2Lebanon7Lithuania1Malaysia6Mexico11Montenegro1Morocco3Namibia3Netherlands73New Zealand57Nigeria2Norway2Oman2Pakistan1Peru1Poland8Qatar7Romania1Russia2Saudi Arabia14Singapore22Slovenia12South Africa59South Korea7Spain19Sri Lanka1Swaziland1Sweden8Switzerland123Taiwan24Thailand6Togo1Trinidad & Tobago4Turkey33Ukraine1United Arab Emirates12United Kingdom252United States5089Uruguay1Venezuela2Zimbabwe2