Online Union Catalog Research Articles

Art librarianship in Denmark

Art libraries in Denmark mostly fall into one of two categories: art departments’ in public libraries, and research libraries attached to colleges, universities, and museums. Librarians in research libraries are in many cases scholars in their own right, while library staff at the Kunstakademiets Bibliotek are responsible for the Bibliografi over dansk kunst (sadly not published since 1981) and for Danish contributions to the BHA. The Royal Library and some art libraries hold collections of visual resources and of archival materials; in addition, there is an autonomous national archive of Danish artists, Weilbachs arkiv. An art librarians’ section of Bibliotekarforbundet (the Union of Danish Librarians), Kunstfaggruppen, was initiated by art librarians in public libraries, but is open to other art librarians too; Danish art librarians also work together within ARLIS/Norden. Professional training in Denmark is largely confined to general librarianship; art librarians in public libraries tend to be trained librarians with a personal enthusiasm for art, whereas librarians in research libraries are in some cases graduates but are not necessarily trained librarians. While the public library system took advantage of standardization, automation, and networking, the research libraries could not so readily embrace change, but two recent initiatives are beginning to bring libraries of all kinds together — DanBib, the Danish online union catalogue, formed in 1995 by merging the two separate databases for public and research libraries which both originated in the 1980s, and Kulturnet Danmark, a government-sponsored scheme involving the Internet.

From Access Points to Materials: A Transaction Log Analysis of Access Point Value for Online Catalog Users

It is possible to obtain some insights into searchers’ judgments by using transaction log analysis to associate online catalog search methods with decisions to retrieve location information, The Mainframe Interface to Libraries Online (MILO) is cm interface to the Illinois Library Computer Systems Office online union catalog for 45 academic libraries. MILO provides access to a bibliographic database and directly links to another database with circulation and location records. Because the latter database only provides location and circulation Status, searchers’ decisions to make links to such data are seen as an indication that the records being linked represent potentially useful material, Via a transaction log analysis, the linked location records were associated with the access points used to retrieve them in order to analyze the value and problems of searchers’ uses of specific access points. Transaction logs were analyzed for a 38-day sample of the 1994 logs. Counting records retrieved through the use of multiple access points (making the total greater than 100%), subject fields were used to access over 30%, author fields to access over 19%, and title fields to access over 51 % of all records linked to location information. Other fields were used to retrieve very small percentages of linked records.

Promptcat issues for acquisitions: Quality review, cost analysis and workflow implications

PromptCat is a new service offered by OCLC, in conjunction with monograph materials vendors, that provides libraries with a full bibliographic record from the OCLC Online Union Catalog (OLUC) simultaneous to the supply of materials from a vendor. The library's holdings are set automatically on the OLUC record. Because PromptCat eliminates the need for libraries to do individual title-by-title searching and record selection when materials are received, it will streamline local cataloging activities. It may also provide an impetus for libraries to reevaluate local editing practices and determine whether materials can be processed quickly upon receipt in acquisitions rather than in copy cataloging. This article addresses issues relating to PromptCat, including tests of the service conducted at The Ohio State University (OSU) and Michigan State University (MSU), an estimated cost/benefit analysis based on OSU's approval plan, and issues including coordination between OCLC, materials vendors, system vendors, and the library as well as workflow, organizational implications and staffing issues.

News

Users of electronic information came under the spotlight at the OCLC Users Council meeting in February. The council comprises librarians from networks and other partners who contribute to the OCLC Online Union Catalog, and as well as representing the interests of OCLC member libraries it advises OCLC on strategic direction. One of its resolutions was to encourage OCLC's continued contributions in support of the North American Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Project, the goals of which are to maximise access to research resources while minimising the costs associated with that access.

PromptCat

OCLC's proposed PromptCat service, targeted for release in Spring 1995, offers libraries the potential to obtain full catalog records for approval or firm order books at the same time that books are shipped by the vendor. The Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL) participated in testing and evaluation of the new service in which Baker & Taylor supplied vendor records directly to OCLC. OCLC searched the Online Union Catalog to locate matching bibliographic records and forwarded reports of search results to the library for evaluation. The results of the OSUL study show that we could expect a high degree of quality in terms of record selection and correct match to the bibliographic item when the PromptCat service is fully developed. In virtually all cases where records met match criteria, OSUL would have received the same record that was also selected by cataloging staff. The Promptcat test records reflected a good level of quality relating to accuracy of the bibliographic description, correct access points and valid call numbers. For the majority of records, OSUL did only minimal or no editing of records before accepting them for the local catalog.

Ambiguities in the Use of Certain Library of Congress Subject Headings for Form and Genre Access to Moving Image Materials

Some Library of Congress Subject Headings have the potential to be used for either subject or form/genre access. A selection of LCSH, cognates with terms from Moving image materials: Genre terms, was searched in OCLC's Online Union Catalog to determine the degrees to which they were used for each of these two types of access. It was discovered that the set of "subject headings" under study was used for form/genre access between 6% and 99% of the time, with a mean average of just over 50%. The guidance provided to catalogers by information contained in Library of Congress authority records is also discussed.

The Turkish National Library towards the Future

Planning for the Turkish National Library (TNL) began in 1946, and the library was opened in 1948. It outgrew its first building, and in 1983 moved to a new one which contained several new facilities. Its main functions are to collect works produced in and relating to Turkey, to record them and produce bibliographies of them, to establish an information network in Turkey, and to perform a leadership role. The collection numbers 1,500,000 items, including non-book materials; the TNL has two thirds of all Turkish books published in the old script. Last year there were 222,000 users. The library's Bibliographical Institute issues monthly the national bibliography and a bibliography of articles in Turkish periodicals, as well as other bibliographies, and constructs union catalogues. Work on automation started in 1987, and the TNL's computer-based information system, with an OPAC (containing records of a third of the library's stock), information networks and various CD-ROMs, was opened to the public in 1993. Future projects include an online union catalogue of foreign language books, digitization of manuscripts and rare books, a conservation laboratory, and an improved automatic conveyor system. Main barriers to progress are the inadequacy of the Free Copy Act and insufficient numbers and quality of staff.

The OLUC from an NACO point of View: Eliminating derived search keys

The current resurgence of cooperative cataloging initiatives requires that the Online Union Catalog (OLUC) search keys evolve to allow more precise searching. OCLC has made great strides recently in ways to search the OLUC (the scan title search being a tremendous improvement). Two recent events, combined with the cooperative cataloging activities, prompt this call for accelerated change in OLUC search mechanisms. Phrase searching, until now not available (the scan search is only partially there), must be brought into existence soon to support and promote the renewed emphasis on cooperative efforts. In doing so, we will all benefit. OCLC will get a more dynamic, cleaner database to market and, increasingly, to repackage and sell. Catalog departments worldwide will have a better source database and have an easier time making greater contributions in cooperative programs. As for the derived search keys, they don′t really need to die – withering from disuse would be fine.

The Internet and OCLC:

The Internet has provided OCLC with another delivery mechanism to support its chartered public purpose of ex- access to the world's information and reducing rising information costs. This network of networks has helped OCLC and its member libraries reach electronically a new audience of end users with new products and new technologies designed especially for them. OCLC offers three reference products via the Internet: The First - Search Catalog, the EPIC service, and The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials. All can be accessed using the Internet from an enduser's home, office, dorm room, laboratory, hotel room-or any other location with a modem nearby-as well as from a library. FirstSearch is a new online information service designed for library patrons, with an end-user interface that allows patrons to move through the online search process in just a few simple steps, without special training or online searching experience. The EPIC service is an online information service with a command interface designed for the advanced searcher. Both of these services offer access to a number of databases, including the OCLC Online Union Catalog, an electronic card catalog of 28 million records used by more than 16,000 libraries.

Cataloging Collection-Level Records for Archival Video and Audio Recordings

This article describes a project to create a bibliographic control system for archival quality video and audio recordings of political commercials. The project objectives are to (1) design a local computer-searchable database, (2) prepare item-level records for the local database, and (3) prepare collection-level records for the OCW Online Union Catalog. The collection-level records are intended to alert scholars, researchers, and other potential users to the existence of the archive and to direct them to it for more powerful item-level searching in the local database. Some of the cataloging problems discussed are: choice of cataloging tools and MARC format, organization of the collections around the political candidate, and name authority.

The Epic Struggle: Subject Retrieval from Large Bibliographic Databases

Archivists have talked at length about the virtue of contributing records to a national bibliographic utility to provide enhanced access to collections. There has been little discussion, however, of the difficulties of finding materials in such large database environments. This article discusses a retrieval study that focused on collection-level archival records in the OCLC Online Union Catalog, made accessible through the EPIC search system. Data were also collected from the local OPAC at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) in which UNC-CH-produced OCLC records are loaded. The chief objective was to explore the retrieval environments in which a random sample of USMARC AMC records produced at UNC-Chapel Hill were found—specifically, to obtain a picture of the density of these databases in regard to each subject heading applied and, more generally, for each record. Key questions were (1) how many records would be retrieved for each subject heading attached to each of the records and (2) what was the nature of these subject headings vis-à-vis the number of hits associated with them. Findings show that large retrieval sets are a potential problem with national bibliographic utilities and that the local and national retrieval environments can vary greatly. The need for specificity in indexing is emphasized. This article is based on a paper given at the Society of American Archivists' 1992 annual meeting in Montreal. OCLC supported this research. The author wishes to thank Patricia Haberkern, who did much of the searching.

Federal Information Resources Management Regulation and bulletins through transmittal (FIRMR); Federal Acquisition Regulation and circulars (FAR)

The purpose of this study was to propose a design for a Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) number search key to retrieve bibliographic records for United States Government documents from OCLC's On-Line Union Catalog. Experimentation with a test file of 25,000 records indicated that a search key derived from a maximum of the first 14 digits in the SuDocs number is sufficiently distinctive to obtain an expected average retrieval of 2.5 records per search. OCLC will implement a SuDocs number search key in the future. It is expected that this key will be a valuable tool for library catalogers and users.

United States code: Containing the general and permanent laws of the United States

The purpose of this study was to propose a design for a Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) number search key to retrieve bibliographic records for United States Government documents from OCLC's On-Line Union Catalog. Experimentation with a test file of 25,000 records indicated that a search key derived from a maximum of the first 14 digits in the SuDocs number is sufficiently distinctive to obtain an expected average retrieval of 2.5 records per search. OCLC will implement a SuDocs number search key in the future. It is expected that this key will be a valuable tool for library catalogers and users.

Campuswide access to OCLC's firstsearch: A study of use at the University of Minnesota

In October 1991, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) introduced FirstSearch, an online reference product designed for the end‐user. Through a menu interface, which features extensive online help, more than thirty databases, covering a range of subject areas, are currently available. Among these are three unique to OCLC: WorldCat (the OCLC online union catalog), Article1st, and Contents1st. The latter two offer bibliographic citations to articles in more than 11,000 journals, primarily in the English language, in the areas of science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture. Several authors have described the searching, printing, and pricing options available for the system.

OCLC's firstsearch: A reference tool still evolving

OCLC entered the 1990s with a bold marketing move, signalling its expansion beyond the traditional library world and into the competitive end‐user market, with the introduction of FirstSearch. In the spring of 1991, sixteen libraries throughout the United States, among them the University of New Mexico General Library, became test sites for FirstSearch. After numerous changes prompted by test site users, First‐Search (né Maximum Catalog) was officially released in October 1991. It is currently available to OCLC‐member libraries and to library schools. FirstSearch, the end‐user version of OCLC's earlier release, EPIC, inaugurates end‐user access to the largest book database in the world, OCLC's Online Union Catalog or “WorldCat,” as well as selected periodical indexes. On the first day of public release, six databases were available on FirstSearch; that number increased to 23 by August 1992 (see figure 1), and OCLC is negotiating with database producers to add others to the system.

OCLC News

The largest authority control corrections project in OCLC's history has begun with automated soft‐ware programs that work their way through the twenty‐eight million record Online Union Catalog, identifying and linking variant forms to the correct form of name and subject headings. At least five million corrections are anticipated. OCLC is also applying the corrections software to Harvard University's online catalog, HOLLIS.

Subject authority control in a union catalogue: Perspectives for a national co-operative project in Portugal

In 1989, the existence of an online union catalogue, the National Bibliographic Database-PORBASE, raised the urgent need for mechanisms of co-operation in the field of subject authority control. A national co-operative project called CLIP (Compatibilizacao de Linguagens de Indexacao em Portugues) was launched. With CLIP special libraries will assume responsibility for the final content of the authority file with respect to terminology for subject access in different subject areas. Reference is made to the general situation in Portuguese libraries with respect to the availability and application of subject indexing tools, and also to the work being carried out towards standardization and harmonization of procedures in such matters

Is the OLUC a catalog?

Considers the function of the OLUC (Online Union Catalog System) system as a catalogue. Argues that for now it is not, but that it is developing into one. Discusses the growth of the OLUC and what that growth means regarding its use as a cataloguing tool in reference libraries, Outlines the objectives of catalogues and the ways that OLUC will eventually fulfill them.

National Bibliographic Control of Serials in Australia, 1980–1990

There is a long history of effective co-operation and national initiatives in controlling and sharing serial data in Australia. Prior to the 1980's this largely took the form of manually produced national union catalogues such as Scientific Serials in Australian Libraries: Serials in Australian Libraries, Social Sciences and the Humanities; and Newspapers in Australian Libraries. The commencement of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) in 1980 provided the mechanism for both a national shared cataloguing venture and a truly national on-line union catalogue. The National Union Catalogue of Serials produced from ABN was dependent on the addition of holdings by ABN participating libraries. Several factors contributed to the growth of serials data on the national bibliographic database-notably the steady increase in the number of ABN participants undertaking serials cataloguing on ABN, serial conversion work on titles in the National Library card catalogues, and major serial conversion work undertaken b...

News Briefs

VTLS to Create Online Catalog for Virginia. The Virginia State Library and Archives in Richmond, which has used the VTLS integrated online library system software since 1983, has contracted with VTLS, Inc., for the CAVALIR ONLINE Database Creation Project. The goal of the project is to create an online union catalog containing holdings of all participating libraries in Virginia.