Charting the Bibliographic Seas: Research and the Art of Navigation

Abstract

Although by the 1970s it was clear that neither funding nor available space in research libraries could cope with the increasing volume and cost of publications, subsequent developments in technology and improvements in international communication networks make access to remote databases technically possible and would seem to put the IFLA/Unesco goal of UAP within reach. But there are some problems to be solved. No existing library provides users with free and unimpeded access to bibliographical information held in remote databases. Also, printed catalogues such as that of the British Library, containing as they do important local information, serve a different purpose from collaborative databases, and both electronic and ‘eye-readable’ bibliographic resources must have a place in research libraries. Databases are much slower to search than printed catalogues, because readers find the system difficult, and enhanced keyword and subject access produces large numbers of records to be browsed; a very large number of terminals is therefore needed to meet demand. Also, records in databases lack the context they have in printed catalogues, complex headings causing particular problems; collaborative databases do not use normalized headings; and input errors can make records irretrievable. Retrospective reconciliation of differences in major catalogues is hardly conceivable. Subject indexing also leaves much to be desired, quite apart from the use of different languages for indexing non-English language books. The rules by which bibliographic files are structured need to be understood, and special expertise is likely to continue to be required for retrieval; the choice lies between educating users and providing a body of interpreters.