The Diocesan Library of Bilbao, in the Basque Country, holds an old collection of sound recordings: vinyl records of religious music —parish choirs, liturgical music— in Spanish, Basque and Latin.
It is valuable material that captures the rich tradition of religious, folk and classical music that, in the 1970s through the 1990s, became widespread both in its publication and in its use. As a special collection, it has its own particularities when it comes to description: these are holdings that are not usually found described in the catalogs of Church libraries in Spain, and which the Diocesan Library of Bilbao wanted to describe as part of its mission to care for the heritage in its collections. The library solved it by photographing and scanning each record and cataloging it with JaniumCollect through artificial intelligence.
From two photos to one record
The library photographs or scans each record on both sides: the front sleeve and the back, where the track listing is. Collect pairs the two photos and produces a MARC21 sound recording record: the title and the performers, the label and the issue number, the track listing read from the back, a summary of the content, the subjects, the genre and the item record. What comes in as two images comes out as a catalogable record in the correct format for the catalog.
Collect does not work with a single artificial intelligence model, but with a main one and a backup one for the few cases the first cannot process. In this collection, a record that the main model rejected was cataloged with the alternative model, without manual intervention.
Quality is not taken on faith: each record is scored according to its complexity and how well it can be backed up, and those that fall below the threshold are flagged for review. This makes it possible to review by exception: the cataloger attends to what the system flags, not to each record one by one.
Results
The project began in July 2026, so it is in an early stage. In the first batch, 58 vinyl records were cataloged: 57 reached the maximum score, and the only one the main model could not process was resolved with the backup model, with a complete record.
The records were delivered in standard MARC21 and loaded into the library management system the library was already using. One thing to note about that: Collect does not force a change of library management system. By producing MARC21 files that any library system can import, the library contracted the cataloging and kept operating its own system.
Cataloging a collection like this with JaniumCollect represents an innovation for the Diocesan Library of Bilbao in its commitment to caring for its heritage holdings of varied kinds. Janium aims to offer this technology at very low cost, as part of its commitment to collaboration with the Association of Church Librarians in Spain (ABIE), of which the Diocesan Library of Bilbao is a member, so that this kind of collection —not commonly found in catalogs— can be described.
Once the project is further along, the records for these vinyl albums will also be available in the ABIE union catalog.
What this case leaves us
This case shows that the description of special collections can be integrated into the ordinary work of a heritage library through the use of quality-controlled photographs, which make it possible to document the material condition of the object, reduce the handling of fragile pieces and apply consistent descriptive criteria to formats that have traditionally been difficult to address. This is what the Diocesan Library of Bilbao has begun to do.