Schools_Catalogue_Information_Service

Schools Catalogue Information Service

Schools Catalogue Information Service

Australian cataloguing service created for school libraries


Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) creates and distributes metadata for English-language resources used in K-12 schools, primarily for integration with integrated library systems. As of 2019, 93 per cent of Australian schools and 49 per cent of New Zealand schools are subscribed, with a total of 107 international schools also subscribed, across 22 countries.

Data and Standards

As well as doing original cataloguing, SCIS maintains the SCIS Subject Headings List (SCISSHL), an alternative to the Library of Congress Subject Headings suited to use in K-12 education contexts, and the SCIS Standards for Cataloguing And Data Entry (SSCDE). SSCDE reflects international standards including Resource Description and Access and International Standard Bibliographic Description with adaptations to suit the K-12 education sector.[1][2]

SCIS catalogues bibliographic and audio-visual resources, both physical and digital, including trade fiction and non-fiction and educational materials. SCIS metadata includes full and abridged Dewey Decimal Classification, subject headings from SCISSHL and the linked-data Schools Online Thesaurus, and name and series authorities maintained by SCIS. SCIS data supports MAchine-Readable Cataloguing and Metadata Object Description Schema formats and is made available to subscribing schools via the z39.50 protocol and via an online portal[3][4][5][6]

Background

SCIS is a business unit of Education Services Australia (ESA). ESA is a not-for-profit government business enterprise established from a 2009 merger of Curriculum Corporation and Education.au, with the purpose of delivering educational technology solutions.[7] Australian Schools Catalogue Information Service (ASCIS) was created in 1984 with funding from Australia’s Commonwealth Schools Commission, with the purpose of reducing the cost and duplication of effort of cataloguing resources in schools. This closely followed the 1981 creation of the Australian Bibliographic Network, set up to support shared bibliographic data for university, state, public and special libraries.[8] The newly formed Curriculum Corporation subsumed ASCIS in 1989. The name SCIS was adopted when the New Zealand government joined the board of Curriculum Corporation in 1992.[9][10]

Use

As of 2019, 93 per cent of Australian schools and 49 per cent of New Zealand schools are subscribed, with a total of 107 international schools are also subscribed, across 22 countries.[11][12]


References

  1. O'Connell, Judy (2013). "RDA for school libraries: The next generation in cataloguing". Access. 27 (4): 4.
  2. Hider, Philip (2014). "Contemporary Cataloguing Policy and Practice in Australian Libraries". Australian Academic & Research Libraries. 45 (3): 193–204. doi:10.1080/00048623.2014.920568.
  3. Chadwick, Benjamin (2017). "SCIS is more". Connections. 102: 14.
  4. Hider, Philip; Freeman, Ashley (2009). "A Comparison of ScOT and SCISSH as Subject Retrieval Aids in School Library Catalogues". Access. 23 (4): 14.
  5. Murphy, M (2007). "Library Technician Courses-Recognition". Incite. 28 (7): 8.
  6. Chadwick, Benjamin (2016). "When MARC consumed ScOT: a tale of linked educational metadata". VALA2016 - Proceedings.
  7. Standing Committee on Education and Employment. "Inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools". Australian Government. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  8. National Library Of Australia. "Our History". Libraries Australia. National Library Of Australia. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  9. Deveson, Lance (2017). "Looking back: school library catalogues and the online revolution". Connections. 100: 1–3.
  10. Spence-Richards, Pamela; Wiegand, Wayne; Dalbello, Marija (2015). A History of Modern Librarianship: Constructing the Heritage of Western Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 191–193. ISBN 9781440834738.
  11. Education Services Australia (2019). "Annual report 2018–2019" (PDF). Education Services Australia Annual Report: 18. ISSN 1839-4930. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
  12. "Annual reports". Education Services Australia. Retrieved 17 July 2020.

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