Monthly Catalog Research Articles

Fugitive U.S. Government publications: Elements of procurement and bibliographic control

From 1978 to 1981 the Colorado State University Libraries received Higher Education Act Title II-C funding to catalog federal government publications in its collection that had not been indexed in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications. Techniques and sources for acquiring such materials are described. Staffing, cataloging standards, and cataloging problems are discussed and accompanied by statistics on authority record creation. Access to cataloging records through national data bases and, in particular, through a COM catalog is described.

The government printing office cataloging records: Opportunities and problems

The first part of this article describes the GPO cataloging records on the GPO MARC tapes, on OCLC, and in the monthly Catalog, and introduces a costeffective method of using these records in a library catalog. The second part of the article presents a proposal for the comprehensive correction and updating of the GPO cataloging records.

A comparison of manual and online searching of government document indexes

The online and printed equivalents of the GPO's Monthly Catalog, the National Technical Information Service's Government Reports Announcements & Index, and Congressional Information Service's CIS Index have been examined to compare the recall, precision, overlap, and cost-effectiveness of online and manual searching. The online searches were less labor intensive and retrieved more relevant citations than the manual searches. However, a large number of citations retrieved were not duplicated in equivalent printed and online indexes.

Business information sources: A comparison of the Monthly Catalog and Books in Print

The viability of the Government Printing Office as a source of business information was tested by comparing the availability of material on two business-related topics from online searches of the Monthly Catalog and Books in Print. The GPO compared favorably for the topics “trade with China” and “industrial safety” in the areas of number of titles available, price of the items, and currency of the information.

"Non-Depository" or Not: An Examination of the Designation of Non-Depository Titles in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (Research Note)

"Non-Depository" or Not: An Examination of the Designation of Non-Depository Titles in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (Research Note)

Documents Lost: Or, The “List of Special Materials”

As required by law, the U.S. Government Printing Office issues the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications to serve as the “comprehensive index of public documents.” The Monthly Catalog was for many years an indispensable, but stodgy, source of bibliographic information about publications of the federal government. Since the mid‐1970s the Monthly Catalog has undergone a number of significant changes. In July 1976 it took on a new look when it first appeared with unit card format citations. The Monthly Catalog's indexing also changed: Library of Congress subject headings were introduced, and new index sections were added. With the adoption of computer techniques, the publication has been able to become more responsive to the demands placed upon it.

Analysis of Non‐Depository Documents in the Government Publications Collection

In the past few years, as budgets have tightened and available shelving space has diminished, U.S. government documents librarians have for the first time given serious consideration to formulating collection development policies and to carefully scrutinizing their expenditures as well as their collections. In the process of evaluating its collection and in an effort to make better use of available funding, the Government Publications Department of the University of Nevada‐Reno (a regional depository with a collection exceeding one million documents) undertook a study to determine if the Department could justify canceling its subscription to the Readex Microprint collection of non‐depository titles represented in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.

The monthly catalog—July 1976–August 1977— Observations, evaluations, congratulations

The Monthly Catalog is essential for acquiring, processing, and accessing both depository and non-depository federal documents. The new Monthly Catalog was examined from its first issue in July 1976 through the August 1977 issue to determine if it is better suited to serve these needs. The use of standards cataloging and Library of Congress subject headings, the inclusion of Sudocs, LC and Dewey call numbers, and OCLC identification numbers, and the expansion of the introductory material are long needed changes which greatly increase the value of the Monthly Catalog. The main entries, added entries, and subject headings are being carried extremely accurately into the subject, author, and title indexes, resulting in an average of 5.4 access points per document. The time lag from the date a document is received to the date the respective Monthly Catalog is received is 168 days ±8 days (95% confidence). For the two years prior to the July 1976 issue there was no significant difference between the arrival dates of depository and subscription copies of the Monthly Catalog. After July 1976 the depository copy arrived an average of 11 days sooner (99% confidence) than the subscription copy. Throughout 1975, 1976, and 1977 there has been a gradual decrease in the time lag from closing date of each issue to date received. Although this decrease is also apparent with the biennial and annual indexes, there are still production problems with the cumulations. From the little data available now, it appears documents are included closer to their date of publication, the number of entries per issue is increasing, and the percentage of non-depository documents included is decreasing. Comparison of these results to studies of earlier versions of the Monthly Catalog indicates it is greatly improved. The correction of minor problems in the format and arrangement of the entries and index terms since July 1976 issue indicate it is evolving in response to user needs.

United States congressional publication indexing: Statistical comparisons between the CIS/index and the monthly catalog

What is the best reference tool for learning about the availability of current Congressional publications? This article will document that a new indexing/ abstracting tool — the CIS/Index — is superior to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications in terms of comprehensiveness and indexing speed. Such information should help library administrators reach optimal decisions about the desirability of obtaining the CIS/Index to supplement their reference collections. A random sample of 438 Congressional publications listed in the monthly abstract sections of the 1976 CIS/Index was examined to determine the mean time lag (in days) necessary for an item to be analyzed and indexed. In addition, each item was also searched in the Monthly Catalog. Only 79.7% of the Congressional publications listed in the CIS/Index appeared in the Monthly Catalog. On the average, each of these publications appeared over 100 days earlier in the CIS/Index.

The superintendent of documents' Publications Reference File (PRF): A statistical survey of PRF citations in OCLC

This paper documents a study of cataloging records describing documents available from the Superintendent of Documents which were input to the OCLC data base prior to Monthly Catalog MARC II records. The June 1977 edition of the SuDocs' Publications Reference File (PRF) was surveyed to determined (1) to what extent titles in this file with pre-1976 imprints which are available from the SuDocs were also cited in OCLC, (2) whether certain elements of their bibliographic description were included in those citations, and (3) what the source of that cataloging was. A description of the PRF and a sampling methodology for surveying a microfiche file are also presented. It is shown that while most titles are cited in OCLC, the accuracy and completeness of the cataloging is poor.

UNITED STATES DOCUMENTS IN AN ON-LINE UNION CATALOG

This paper describes use of the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) on-line union calolog and its check-in subsystem in a pilot project centering on the United States documents collection in a large university library. The project extended from the fall of 1974 through July 1976. In August 1976 it became apparent that the process and its product were no longer "experimental" or a "project" but had become part of the library's normal operation, accepted by staff and by users. Activities covered are destined to evolve with expanding capabilities of OCLC, and will certainly be dependent upon the new MARC format, Monthly Catalog. Nevertheless, at this time, a large, viable collection of depository and nondepository items, many timely, are processed and on the shelf, available immediately through the public service terminals by entry and title, and are used by patrons with no access to card files relating to these materials.

Time lag in the 1972 monthly catalog of United States government publications

A random sample of 588 entries from the 1972 Monthly Catalog was examined to determine time lag between publication date and appearance in the index. The mean time lag was 4.7 months with a range of 1 to 27 months. Publications issued by independent agencies had a time lag of 4.0 months while those from the legislative and executive were 4.2 and 5.2 months. Publications received on deposit had a time lag of 4.1 months while non-depository items had a time lag of 5.8 months. For office use only publications had a time lag of 8.0 months. It was hypothesized that time lag was a function of issuing agency, depository status, whether the item was intended for official use only and whether the item was sold by the Superintendent of Documents. Significant but low relationships were found between time lag and issuing agency, for sale by SuDocs, and depository status. A significant and moderate relationship was found between time lag and official use status.

Indexing of serial publications in the readex microprint collection of U.S. government documents

To facilitate finding individual issues of United States Government serial publications included in the Readex Microprint collection of U.S. Government Publications, a title index to the collection has been completed for the years 1956–1960. The index is only by title and includes some eighteen hundred entries, including cross references. The listing includes all serials and releases listed in the special appendices of the February and August issues of the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. Entry information includes issuing agency, frequency of publication, Superintendent of Documents classification number as well as the holdings and microcard number for the five year period.

State of the Art Survey of Documents Reference Sources

For documents specialists it was a schizophrenic year. On the one hand we waded through a Bicentennial flood of historical publications extoling the significance of the past two hundred years of federal existence. On the other we faced future shock as the Monthly Catalog was wedded to OCLC while the GPO moved further into micropublishing.

The Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications; An Introduction to Its Use (Book Review)

The Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications; An Introduction to Its Use (Book Review)

Bibliography of U.S. Government bibliographies‐1973

This annotated listing of 131 United States Government bibliographies with 1973 imprints partially represents the broad scope of Federal interest. THE MONTHLY CATALOG OF U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS was the primary index searched in locating these documents, though other conventional and unconventional methods were used. Since the search cut‐off date was the February 1974 MONTHLY CATALOG, a number of 1973 bibliographies may not be listed here. However, it is the compiler's objective to include all 1973 bibliographies in a forthcoming Pierian Press publication, BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1968–1973.

The characteristics of state government publications, 1910– 1969

State government publications make up an important information resource, with over 20,000 publications listed annually in the Library of Congress Monthly Checklist of State Publications. As with federal government publications appearing in the Monthly Catalog, state publications listed in the Monthly Checklist reflect only about 60% of the total. Because of the diverse deposit and distribution policies in the states and the limited amount of subject access and bibliographic control, state government publications are probably among the least utilized of available information resources. Part of the lack of utilization may well be related to their lack of visibility and the limited access potential users have. In the course of research to meet the requirements for a doctorate in library science, this author examined some of the characteristics of state publications. 1 The results of this examination are herein presented together with an explanation of the method used to gather data for the examination. References to LeRoy Merritt's study of United States government publications will be noted throughout the discussion of state publications since his procedure was used as a model for the current investigation. 2 By basing the analysis of state publications on procedures similar to Merritt's analysis of federal publications, a later comparison of the characteristics of state and federal publications was facilitated. 3 Before considering the procedures and results of the analysis of the characteristics of state government publications, a brief review of state publications bibliography in the United States is in order.

The government printing office and non-GPO publications

Discusses the interpretation and implementation to date of the so-called “non-GPO” clause in the 1962 Depository Library Act. The implications of this provision to include non-GPO documents in the Monthly Catalog and make them available to depository libraries are examined and the reactions of the Superintendent of Documents are reported. Funding and other problems inherent in carrying out this provision of the 1962 Act are cited in terms of testimony by the Superintendent in the published Hearings before the Appropriations Subcommittee of Congress. The author contends that the GPO is doing less than it can to get the program into high gear.

The Historians' Rites of Passage

HISTORY faculties often assume that graduate students have been initiated into the historian's craft during the undergraduate years, even though their own department does not explicitly instruct students in the tools and literature of history. Perhaps every history student should take a course in library science, but hardly any do. Such tools as Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, World Bibliography of Bibliographies (Bestermann, ed.), Monthly Catalogue to U.S. Government Publications, and the myriad other awesome tomes in this field can open up all sorts of terra incognita to the student of history who is acquainted with them. What the students need is, first of all, to become aware of the bibliographic tools at the disposal of the historical profession, and then to follow a systematic program through which they gain proficiency in using those tools. What follows is an introduction to the resources with which they should be familiar, and the details of the course which constitutes the history student's professional rite of passage at Utah State University.

A selected bibliography of works on the federal communications commission, 1967–1969 supplement

In the Winter 1967–68 issue of the Journal of Broadcasting Mr. Sperry published a highly selective bibliography of works on the FCC prepared following a search of the various periodical indices, lists of theses and dissertations, the Monthly Catalog of U. S. Government Publications, the Library of Congress Catalog and similar sources. The following supplement to that bibliography, extending through 1969, is provided as a somewhat less exclusive guide to more recent materials on the Commission. Mr. Sperry is Librarian in Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, Vermont.