Planning for serials retrospective conversion

Abstract

In 1981 The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) outlined a three-phase program to improve bibliographic access to its cataloged collections. In Phase I, which lasted from 1981 to 1982, The Center's card catalog was filmed and distributed on microfiche as a replacement for its outdated book catalog. This was accomplished with the help of an HEA Title II-C grant. The Center also began to enter all o f its current cataloging into the OCLC online union catalog. The Center subscribed to the OCLC MARC tapes of its records in order to make them available to any of its member libraries wishing to integrate them into their own inhouse online catalogs. It was hoped that agreements could be reached with other bibliographic utilities to load CRL's tape into their databases. Phase II, which began in 1982, involves retrospective conversion of The Center's card catalog records to machine-readable form. Current serials and newspapers were designated as top priority for conversion, followed by retrospective serials. Preliminary planning began, and a grant proposal was written and submitted to the HEA Title II-C program of the U.S. Department of Education to secure funding for the conversion of the records for currently received serials and their preceding titles. At the same time, The Center had the opportunity to apply for a grant to do retrospective conversion o f the records for its U.S. newspaper titles as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities' U.S. Newspaper Project. Both projects were subsequently funded and were scheduled to begin their actual conversion phases on February 1, 1983. Supervisors for the two projects