CFLA-FCAB Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee, 2017-2025
The CFLA-FCAB Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee was inaugurated in 2017 and ceased in 2025 when the CFLA board decided to move away from the standing committee model. The mandate of the committee was to advise the CFLA Board when CFLA needed to develop and promote its library communities’ positions on cataloguing and metadata standards and issues, and to select members to represent CFLA on the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing (CCC) and the Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange (CCM). In 2024-2025, Co-Chairs were Emma Cross, Carleton University and Ryan Vernon, Langara College. From 2017-2024, the Chair was Christopher Carr, Concordia University and the Secretary was Emma Cross, Carleton University.
The responsibilities of the committee were to:
- Engage with existing communities within CFLA to foster collaboration and maximize the impact of advocacy on cataloguing and metadata issues.
- Advise CFLA on appropriate representatives to national, regional, or international meetings where a Canadian voice on cataloguing and metadata issues is required
- Advise CFLA as appropriate on issues relating to RDA Toolkit and the RDA Copyright Holders group.
- Engage with existing communities within CFLA to promote cataloguing and metadata training and professional development.
- Engage with existing communities within CFLA to ensure regional representation and acceptable level of technical knowledge when selecting and appointing members for the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing (CCC) and the Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange (CCM).
History of Cataloguing and Metadata Projects and Activities
The Cataloguing Code of Ethics Review Working Group (2022-2024) surveyed the Canadian cataloguing community’s support for the Cataloguing Code of Ethics. The report was completed in 2023. Chair, Christine Smith, Concordia University
CFLA representatives worked with international partners to develop the international Cataloguing Code of Ethics, which was endorsed by the CFLA Board in 2024, and CFLA maintains responsibility for the French translation. CFLA is represented on the Cataloguing Code of Ethics Steering Committee by May Chan, University of Toronto.
The BIBFRAME Readiness Task Force (2019-2021) was charged with investigating the level of understanding of BIBFRAME, the linked data model for bibliographic description developed by the Library of Congress as a possible replacement for MARC amongst librarians and library workers, as well as to measure the level of preparedness of Canadian libraries to navigate a potential shift to BIBFRAME. The Task Force’s Report was completed in 2020. Chair, Heather Pretty, Memorial University
Canadian Libraries after the Implementation of Voilà: A survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (March 2019) uses data collected from a survey distributed by CFLA on both AMICUS and the new National Union Catalogue, Voilà. CFLA asked libraries to review how they used AMICUS, and how they responded to the movement of the National Union Catalogue to an OCLC platform.