Issue 109

Welcome to issue 109 of Connections!

Have you caught up with all of the new features that we added to the SCIS service in 2018? It was a busy year.

Diacritics in SCIS records

Last year, SCIS began including diacritics in new catalogue records. Diacritics are marks above or below a letter that show the way it is pronounced.

With 2019 being the International Year of Indigenous Languages, SCIS is very pleased to now be able to accurately record names and terms with diacritics in SCIS Data. You can read more about diacritics and SCIS records in the SCIS blog post by SCIS cataloguing team leader Renate Beilharz.

Series authorities

Another big improvement, which came out towards the end of last year, was the SCIS Series Authority Files. This allows for titles that are part of a series to be grouped together consistently, so that students can easily find them all and read them in the correct order. If your library has a subscription to the Series Authority Files, you can download them at the authorities page on the SCIS website. Any new records that you download, which are part of a series, will then be linked with these authority files.

Searching SCIS Subject Headings

Some libraries catalogue local material using SCIS Subject Headings. In 2018, the SCIS Subject Heading List was added to the SCIS Data website where it can be searched in full. You can also use this page to see any new subject headings that have been added.

SCIS professional learning

In Term 1, SCIS dived into 2019 with a series of professional learning webinars and workshops, including a re-run of the popular digital content webinar. We also enjoyed catching up with lots of you at the SLAV and ASLA conferences. Term 2 looks like being just as busy, with SCIS workshops planned for Perth and Sydney. SCIS regularly schedules both online webinars and onsite workshops. Keep an eye on our professional learning page to see what events are scheduled. We’d love to catch up with you!

SCIS surveys

Finally, a big thank you to everybody who responded to our subscriber surveys in Term 1. It’s great to have so many responses and we love hearing all of your feedback.