National Bibliography Research Articles

The National Library of Romania's Precursors: Early Beginnings through the Communist Period

The territory of contemporary Romania consists of three main provinces: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania. The history of the National Library of Romania has generated controversy among many Romanian scholars. Some regard it as a continuation of one of the oldest libraries in Wallachia, the St Sava College Library, which from 1832 enjoyed legal deposit privileges. Others have regarded it as a Communist creation of the 1950s, with the establishment of the Central State Library of the People's Republic of Romania, which was founded in 1955 and metamorphosed into the National Library of Romania in 1990. In 1951 Communist-type institutions such as the Chamber of the Book and the State Book Collection had been established. The main mission of the former was to compile the current national bibliography based on legal deposit copies, while the latter resulted from the confiscation between 1951 and 1970 of the contents of old libraries, which were then redistributed to a small number of libraries and research institutions. In 1970 148,000 volumes from this collection were incorporated into the Central State Library.

Latvijas Nacionālā Bibliotēka: The National Library of Latvia

The National Library of Latvia (NLL) was established as the State Library of Latvia in 1919, and its history mirrors that of the country in the 20th century. During the period of independence prior to World War II, it was the official agency of the national bibliography, and created and maintained a union catalogue, both of which functions it continues today through its Bibliographic Institute of Latvia and participation in the Library Information Network Consortium. The development of the NLL and its collections was defined from 1945 until 1991 by its status as a Communist ideological institution of the Soviet Union. Since Latvia regained independence in 1991, the NLL has once more taken on the functions of a modern national library, also developing its collections and rebuilding those that were destroyed or forbidden during the Soviet occupation. While maintaining a compilation of the national literature in its Letonica Collection and having interesting collections of rare books and manuscripts, maps, prints and graphic materials, the NLL has developed special collections and services (e.g. the Children's Literature Centre) that are unusual in a national library. Through its Library Advisory Service, it aids the development of the public library network in Latvia. Conscious of the importance of ICT developments, the NLL has Internet access for its staff and users, and is also a participant in a number of initiatives, particularly digitization projects, that help it play a part in Latvia's National Programme of Informatics. A priority for the future is the construction of a new library building. Plans for this in the context of a digital library are well advanced.

Lost Books of Medieval China

For 2000 years the state-run libraries of imperial China systematically assembled standard collections of books from the past and present. Although the collections themselves were lost through warfare and fire, the classified catalogues prepared by the Privy Director of Books were often used in compiling national bibliographies for the state-sponsored dynastic histories. Through these and other catalogues we learn much about books now lost and even the contents of lost books can be sampled through quotations in medieval encyclopedias.These lectures discuss the dynamics of loss and survival; the role of the imperial state in manipulating book culture through classification and selective preservation; the significance of lost books as an index of superseded knowledge and values. An analysis of two specific cases demonstrates the insights to be gained through textual reconstruction and the inadequacies of standard classifications in times past and present. Medieval Chinese literature emerges as a richer, more problematic, less docile body of work than the orthodoxies of the last millennium would wish.

Interventions for preventing ankle ligament injuries.

Some sports, for example basketball and soccer, have a very high incidence of ankle injuries, mainly sprains. Consequently, ankle sprains are one of the most commonly treated injuries in acute care. To assess the effects of interventions used for the prevention of ankle ligament injuries or sprains in physically active individuals from adolescence to middle age. We searched the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Injuries Group's specialised register, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, the National Research Register and bibliographies of study reports. We also contacted colleagues and some trialists. The most recent search was conducted in July 2000. Randomised or quasi-randomised trials of interventions for the prevention of ankle sprains in physically active individuals from adolescence to middle age were included provided that ankle sprains were recorded. Interventions included use of modified footwear, external ankle supports, co-ordination training and health education. These could be applied as a supplement to treatment provided that prevention of re-injury was the primary objective. At least two reviewers independently assessed methodological quality and extracted data. Wherever possible, results of outcome measures were pooled and sub-grouped by history of previous sprain. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) are reported for individual and pooled data. In this review update, a further nine new trials were included. Overall, 14 randomised trials with data for 8279 participants were included. Twelve trials involved active, predominantly young, adults participating in organised, generally high-risk, activities. The other two trials involved injured patients who had been active in sports before their injury. The prophylactic interventions under test included the application of an external ankle support in the form of a semi-rigid orthosis (three trials), air-cast brace (one trial) or high top shoes (one trial); ankle disk training; taping; muscle stretching; boot inserts; health education programme and controlled rehabilitation. The main finding was a significant reduction in the number of ankle sprains in people allocated external ankle support (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.69). This reduction was greater for those with a previous history of ankle sprain, but still possible for those without prior sprain. There was no apparent difference in the severity of ankle sprains or any change to the incidence of other leg injuries. The protective effect of 'high-top' shoes remains to be established. There was limited evidence for reduction in ankle sprain for those with previous ankle sprains who did ankle disk training exercises. Various problems with data reporting limited the interpretation of the results for many of the other interventions. This review provides good evidence for the beneficial effect of ankle supports in the form of semi-rigid orthoses or air-cast braces to prevent ankle sprains during high-risk sporting activities (e.g. soccer, basketball). Participants with a history of previous sprain can be advised that wearing such supports may reduce the risk of incurring a future sprain. However, any potential prophylactic effect should be balanced against the baseline risk of the activity, the supply and cost of the particular device, and for some, the possible or perceived loss of performance. Further research is indicated principally to investigate other prophylactic interventions, their cost-effectiveness and general applicability.

A study on Africana collections in UK libraries: present state and future scenarios

A questionnaire survey combined with interviews involving 70 libraries and two suppliers of Africana materials in the UK was conducted in order to understand the acquisition situation with respect to the demand, acquisition policies, extent and adequacy of Africana acquisitions, sources and factors limiting acquisition of such materials. The study revealed that 41% of the surveyed academic libraries were actively acquiring Africana. It was found that limited use of relevant bibliographical tools, budgetary constraints, delays and non-response to orders, relative smallness in demand, inaccessibility to sources of the publications and the unsatisfactory state of national bibliographies for most of the African countries south of the Sahara were among the factors that limited Africana acquisitions. The cooperative venture by some of the African-based publishers in publicizing their publications abroad was considered a useful step in building Africana collections in the UK. It is suggested that wide utilization of electronic media for sources of information for such materials could be a further improvement on this matter.

The Dutch book trade, Christian Enlightenment and the national bibliography. The catalogues of Johannes van Abkoude (1703-60) and Reinier Arrenberg (1733-1812)

AbstractIn the 'genealogy' of Dutch national bibliographies there follows - after the Catalogus universalis by Broer Jansz and lists published by Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge between 1675 and 1684 - a hand-written booksellers catalogue by Pieter van der Aa in Leiden. It was copied, augmented and published in 1743 by his pupil Johannes van Abkoude. Publication was accompanied by conflicts with several rivals, like Bernardus Noordbeek in Amsterdam and Nicolaas Goetzee in Gorinchem. Van Abkoude defeated his colleagues' disputes thanks to the quality and public function of his work. It was not only intended for booksellers, but also for book lovers, especially for persons with a theological interest. Reinier Arrenberg, coming from a comparable religious lay culture, developed into a follower of the Christian but tolerant Dutch Enlightenment. Inspired by learned people and other socially involved individuals he himself promoted 'the education of the people' by composing, translating and publishing stories for young and old. His revised new edition of Van Abkoude's catalogue is characterised by the removal of all small publications, such as pamphlets, popular literature and religious or political controversial writings for the reason that they were no longer commercially important. The booksellers catalogues reflected the eighteenth-century developments of levelling up book prices and marketing copyrights. As precursors of national bibliographies the catalogues of Van Abkoude, Arrenberg and De Jong will keep their value.

The Northeast coast of Papua New Guinea: a bibliographic survey

National bibliographies for Papua-New Guinea have been compiled in the past and more may be completed in the future; there is also a need for regional or provincial bibliographies to help researchers working at these levels. This paper stems from the recent publication of bibliographies of Morobe, Madang, East and West Sepik provinces which are being combined as one regional bibliography in order to assist in the identification of sources of interest to future researchers. The series is now being expanded to include all the highland provinces.

A New Frame of Reference: National Bibliographies in Southern Africa and the ICNBS Recommendations

In November 1998 an International Conference on National Bibliographic Services (ICNBS) agreed recommendations that took into account changes in format, technology and communications since 1977. The current national bibliographies of 11 southern African countries adhere to these recommendations to varying degrees. National Bibliographic Agencies, mostly located in national libraries or national archives, with different parent bodies, are responsible for the bibliographies, except for Lesotho and Swaziland. Nine of the countries have legal deposit; four of them have revised the relevant law since 1990. All the bibliographies are produced as print on paper, only Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland offering alternatives. DDC is used by seven countries. The lag between dates of publication of works and publication of the national bibliography is between three and six years for six of the countries; South Africa and Swaziland are the most effective in timeliness of publication and distribution. Three countries have not automated their national bibliographies. Those bibliographies that are regularly published meet many of the ICNBS recommendations.

The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence: Tradition and Innovation in Support of the Information Society

The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence (BNCF) is the older, larger and richer of Italy's two national central libraries, the other being in Rome (that there are two is due to Italy's history). Its holdings include S.36 million printed books, 25,000 manuscripts, and 3,800 incunabula. Its origins date back to 1714, when Antonio Magliabechi donated his magnificent collection to Florence in his will. It was opened to the public in 1747. Over the years it accreted other fine collections of manuscripts and printed books, most notably the Medici-Palatine-Lothingarian library, which was united with it in 1861, the year of Italy's unification, when the BNCF was also designated ‘Nazionale’. In 1736 it was granted legal deposit of all works printed in Tuscany, and in 1885 of all works publications produced in Italy. It began to produce the forerunner of the national bibliography in the 1880s; this is a task it still fulfils as the national bibliographic agency. The present purpose-designed building was opened, after long delays, in 1935. Storage of many early books in underground stacks proved disastrous when the Arno flooded in 1966, causing enormous damage to books, catalogues and the building itself, and leading to a huge international rescue effort, as well as to the development of expertise within the library on conservation. The BNCF strives to maintain its status as the collector of documents of national interest and importance and also as a universal library. It has pioneered bibliographic services and automation in Italy, is continuing to carry out major retrospective conversion projects, and has an advanced OP AC. In 1999 a new Reference Room was inaugurated, offering a range of bibliographic searching facilities. It has an intensive programme of cultural activities, and takes part in various EC and other international projects and activities. It is currently involved, together with the other BNC in Rome, in the Quality System project, aimed at developing staff skills and improving management. Future challenges include organizing the information available in the library to serve the Information Society and realizing the Digital Library.

Book Review: Outsourcing book selection: supplier selection in public libraries A report to the British National Bibliography Research Fund by CPI Limited

Book Review: Outsourcing book selection: supplier selection in public libraries A report to the British National Bibliography Research Fund by CPI Limited

The National Library of Canada: Organizing Information for the New Millennium

SUMMARY The authors outline the role played by the National Library of Canada in realizing bibliographic control of Canadian publications, and recount the Library's current and future bibliographic programs at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The historical context is summarized, including the legislative underpinnings of the national bibliography Canadiana, and the development of cataloguing policy and practice traced. The National Library's tradition of bilingual (English/French) cataloguing in accord with Canadian law and culture is explained. The organization of the cataloguing function and programs at the National Library of Canada is elaborated, and the importance of staff and their evolving skills highlighted. The article concludes with an overview of the challenges facing the National Library of Canada at the conclusion of the twentieth century, and its plans to recast the bibliographic dream of former times in the light of technological, cultural and social forces of today and tomorrow.

Why should public libraries use electronic data interchange?

This article demonstrates the savings that could be made by UK public libraries through the use of electronic data interchange (EDI). The findings stem from a one‐year research project funded by the British National Bibliographic Research Fund during the period December 1998 through to the end of August 1999. The author of this article (who comes from a business/economics background) worked with a prominent academic (in the field of economics, particularly in the book trade) Dr Frank Fishwick, to investigate where cost savings could be made in elements of the library supply chain. The results suggest that wider adoption of EDI could potentially save the sector somewhere in the region of £2 million per annum. Cultural barriers, however, and lack of resources present two major barriers to these savings being achieved. The author acknowledges that further research is needed to qualify such estimates. However, the research does demonstrate that, for those authorities examined, cost savings have been achieved.

The Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem

The origins of the Jewish National and University Library go back to 1892, more than 50 years before the State of Israel was born. It survived as a small public library in Jerusalem with national pretensions until 1920, when it was taken over by the Zionist Organization and assumed a further role as the library of the newly founded Hebrew University. In 1930 it moved to its new building in the HU campus on Mount Scopus, and in 1960, after 12 years of exile, it settled down in its present building in Giv'at Ram. Its function as a central library for the university has changed following automation and networking of the HU library system. The library collects all publications printed in Israel or about it; all works related to history and culture of the Jewish people as well as all works in Jewish languages or Hebrew script; and works in other fields, mainly the humanities, for general research. It is entitled by law to two depository copies of all Israeli printed publications, while obligation to deliver non-print material still awaits enactment. Its holdings of some 3,000,000 volumes of printed material (i.e. excluding maps, manuscripts, archives, sound recordings and more) include 500,000 bibliographical units of Hebrew/Israeli/Jewish works. Current and retrospective microfilming projects comprise Israeli and Jewish press, Hebrew manuscripts, and more. Digitization of special items has started. Cataloguing was automated in the early 1980s, but retrospective conversion is still going on. Publications include the current national bibliography and a current index to articles in Jewish studies.

What in the World … Cataloging on an International Scale

Introduction Two important events in the field of cataloging occurred in the fall of 1997: the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR, which was held in Toronto in October, and the completion of the IFLA Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. The final report of the IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records was approved by the Standing Committee of the IFLA Section on Cataloguing in September. These events and the focus on international librarianship that was planned for the 1998 ALA Conference gave impetus to the preconference What in the World... Cataloging on an International Scale. Dorothy McGarry, who was then chair-elect of the Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS) of ALCTS, suggested the theme of the preconference. The original intent was for CCS and the CCS Cataloging Committee: Description and Access (CC:DA) to present a program that featured presentations on the Toronto Conference and the IFLA Functional Requirements. At the 1997 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington, D.C., CC:DA agreed to sponsor the program with CCS, and Joan Swanekamp, chair of CC:DA, appointed the following committee members to the task force: Daniel W Kinney, State University of New York at Stony Brook (chair); Brad L. Eden, North Harris Montgomery Community College District; Lynne Howarth, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto; Laurel Jizba, Portland State University; Glenn Patton, OCLC; Cecilia Sercan, Cornell University; Barbara Tillett, Library of Congress; Patricia Vanderberg, University of California, Berkeley; and Martha Yee, University of California, Los Angeles. So much was happening in cataloging at the international level that the CC:DA task force members found that they needed a large block of time to cover the essential aspects of the topic. When the program was proposed to the ALCTS Program Committee, the committee asked CC:DA to develop a pre-conference instead of a program. The CCS Executive Committee agreed to the preconference, but requested a summary program so that ALA members who were unable to attend the preconference would be able to hear brief reports on the Toronto conference and other international cataloging issues. The summary program was presented the day after the preconference during the ALA Annual Conference. What in the World... Cataloging on an International Scale was held at the Washington Hilton, Washington, D.C., on June 26, 1998, from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. CC:DA chair Daniel W Kinney was the moderator. The preconference consisted of nine formal papers and a panel discussion with questions from the audience. Barbara Tillett moderated the panel. The preconference was a joint presentation of CCS and CC:DA. It was cosponsored by the ALA International Relations Roundtable, the ACRL Western European Specialists Germanists Discussion Group, the ALCTS/CCS Committee on Cataloging Asian and African Materials, ALCTS/LITA/RUSA MARBI, and the LITA/ALCTS/CCS Authority in the Online Environment Interest Group. ALA president Barbara Ford's theme for the 1998 Annual Conference was Global Reach, Local Touch. A global perspective is familiar to catalogers, as they have long thought in terms of the global library. More than a quarter of a century ago, the theme of the IFLA 1973 conference was Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC). It is an ideal that Jewett put forth almost a century and a half ago in his Smithsonian Catalogue System. Jewett proposed to stereotype the titles of books separately and preserve the plates in alphabetical order. New titles could then be inserted in the proper place and the catalog reprinted. Other libraries could participate in this system by submitting their cataloging records to the Smithsonian to be stereotyped, thus making it possible to publish a general, or union, catalog, which would form a national bibliography. Jewett realized that uniformity was crucial, and that it would be necessary for all libraries cooperating in the program to use the same cataloging rules. …

REUSE or Rule Harmonization

German academic libraries acquire a large number of books from British and American publishers. The bibliographic records of the Library of Congress and the British National Bibliography are offered in most German library networks. Thus, projects REUSE and REUSE+ were undertaken when there was a demand for harmonization of Germany cataloging rules with AACR2. Experts in the United States and Germany systematically analyzed, bibliographic data and compared the codes on which the data were based. Major and minor differences in cataloging rules were identified. The REUSE group proposed German participation in international authority files and changes in RAK, the German cataloging rules. In REUSE+ the different types of hierarchical bibliographic structures in USMARC and MAB2 and other German formats were analyzed. The German project group made suggestions concerning both the German formats and the USMARC format. Steps toward rule alignment and harmonization of online requirements were made when the German Cataloging Rules Conference made decisions on resolutions prepared by the Working Groups on Descriptive Cataloging that dealt with titles, encoding of form titles and conference terms, prefixes in names, hierarchies, entries under persons and corporate bodies, and the conceptual basis of RAK2 in the context of harmonization. Although problems remain, German rule makers have made progress toward internationality.

The National Bibliography in the Future: New Recommendations

The outcome of the International Conference on National Bibliographic Services held in November 1998 was a set of revised recommendations for the national bibliography, its basis, scope and production. The recognition of the national bibliography as a bibliographic system or as a national bibliographic service (NBS) listing all the different types of document published in a country is fairly recent, being based primarily on the recommendations from two conferences on bibliographic services in 1950 and in 1977, which have had a strong influence on the development of NBSs around the world. Major changes were introduced by the new recommendations, which emphasize the importance of legal deposit regulations as the basis for NBSs, and take into account today's new technologies and media with respect to coverage as well as to production and publication of the national bibliography.

African-American newspapers and periodicals: a national bibliography

Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Brief History of the Project Acknowledgments How to Use the Bibliography Guide to Indexes Guide to Libraries Microfilm Sources Data Listings Introduction by James P. Danky Bibliography Subject and Feature Index Editors Index Publishers Index Geographic Index

The Irishness of Irish architectural information provision: the PADDI database

Interest in, and information on, Irish architecture has increased greatly in recent years. Information providers are faced with the problem of tracking down relevant material, much of it grey literature, and then making it widely available. The problem is exacerbated since such material rarely appears in national and international bibliographies and databases. The solution described here has been to establish a joint database (PADDI: Planning Architecture Design Database Ireland), produced collaboratively by Queen’s University Belfast and University College Dublin.

Publishers’ relationships on the web: An examination of how publishers’ websites are causing changes in relations in the book industry

This research, funded by the British National Bibliography Research Fund, examined how publishers’ websites are causing changes in relations in the book industry in order to gain further understanding of the implications of the impact of the Internet on the publishing chain. The paper is set within the context of the development of electronic commerce and how business to consumer commerce is now being overtaken by the activity in business to business trading. Publishers have followed the main business trends in using their websites to develop relationships directly with the consumer, but have been rather slower in developing their business to business activity through the Internet. This study investigated what changes were taking place as a result of current publisher activity on the Web and how these changes were affecting the traditional lines of communication in the book industry. An analysis of a range of consumer publishers’ websites was carried out to see what facilities they were offering both to the general public and to business partners within the industry. Questionnaires and interviews were then conducted to establish how publishers, booksellers and wholesalers were using publishers’ websites and whether these sites were beneficial to the industry as a whole. Facilities found on the websites were examined and analysed in order to determine their usefulness and how they might be developed to aid business to business commerce. Additionally, several issues relating to online sales, changes in sales patterns and changes in working methods were discussed. Although an amount of quantitative data is included in the report, many of the issues raised relied on the perceptions and opinions of practitioners in the book trade.

The Standardisation of Names to Improve Quality and Co-operation in the Development of Bibliographic Databases

The need for an authority list of South African names to ensure standardisation of these names on a national level has been expressed on various occasions. This paper investigates the need to standardise South African names to eliminate one of the main obstacles to co-operation and to the delivery of quality products and services in South Africa. Problems experienced with the standardisation of South African names were identified by means of a sample of names obtained from the South African National Bibliography (SANB) database. These problems can be categorised as variations in the presentation of the same name, identical names for different authors and the changing of personal and corporate names. The implications these hold for standardisation of South African names are also discussed.