Shared Cataloguing System Research Articles

A feasibility study for the retrospective conversion of the Dutch Union Catalogue

The union catalogue of monographs published before 1976 is maintained by the Dutch National Library in card form and contains five to six million records from 95 libraries. The extent to which these records need to be converted into machine‐readable form depends on several factors. Does the holding library still exist? Does the holding library participate in the Pica shared cataloguing system and has it converted its own card catalogue? Did the holding library convert its card catalogue using another library system? Are the cards in the union catalogue still reliable or did the holding library discard volumes from its collection without notifying the National Library? A feasibility study showed that the holding data of 59 libraries could be removed without any further processing; this amounts to 72.6 per cent of the cards. For the remaining 27.4 per cent of the cards from 36 libraries, priorities for the retrospective conversion of their data in the union catalogue were determined.

COBISS: National Union Catalogue Online bibliography and gateway to other resources

In 1987, a shared cataloguing system as the common basis for the library information system of the former Yugoslavia was designed. Before Yugoslavia’s disintegration in 1991, the shared cataloguing system was renamed COBISS – the Co‐operative Online Bibliographic System & Services. It later became the synonym for the library information system of Slovenia. Today it connects over 220 Slovenian libraries. It provides the libraries with conditions necessary for shared cataloguing at a national level, including bibliographies and the automation of local functions. COBISS/OPAC enables the users to access information sources in the wider Internet environment. While COBISS software is used by some of the libraries in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in Bosnia and Herzogovina too, COBISS/BIH, an independent co‐operative library system, was established in 1998. The COBISS system is an example of how to develop an efficient co‐operative library system as one of the vital segments of the information society in an environment primarily occupied with current problems of transition.

COBISS: National Union Catalogue, online bibliography and gateway to other resources

In 1987, a shared cataloguing system as the common basis for the library information system of the former Yugoslavia was designed. Before Yugoslavia’s disintegration in 1991, the shared cataloguing system was renamed COBISS – the Co‐operative Online Bibliographic System & Services. It later became the synonym for the library information system of Slovenia. Today it connects over 220 Slovenian libraries. It provides the libraries with conditions, necessary for shared cataloguing at a national level, including bibliographies and the automation of local functions. COBISS/OPAC enables the users to access information sources in the wider Internet environment. While COBISS software is used by some of the libraries in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina too, COBISS/BIH, an independent co‐operative library system, was established in 1998. The COBISS system is an example of how to develop an efficient co‐operative library system as one of the vital segments of the information society in an environment primarily occupied with current problems of transition.

Are Dutch Academic Libraries Keeping up with Research Material? The Coverage of Foreign Academic Publications in Dutch Libraries

The National Library of the Netherlands inititated a research project that aimed to assess the coverage of the aggregate collection of Dutch libraries. Their collections of foreign publications of an academic nature in some 20 subjects were compared with the collections of several authoritative German libraries. A sample of recently published monographs and current periodicals in various subjects that were owned by the German library with special collection responsibility in each subject was searched in the shared cataloguing system developed by Pica. On average, the coverage was c.50% for recently published monographs as well as current periodicals. In the second stage, two subject specialists were asked to judge the relevance for academic research in the Netherlands of the missing titles in each subject. After excluding non-relevant titles, the coverage was still rather low, on average 70%. Some disciplines in the humanities score substantially lower. As a solution for shrinking collections, coordinated collection development, international library loan and information technology, important though they are, are inadequate in the short or medium term. To break the current impasse, additional financial measures are imperative

The COBISS system: supporting interlending and document supply

Describes the Slovenian co‐operative online bibliographic system and services (COBISS), a development of a shared cataloguing system based on a network of 99 co‐operating libraries and linked with the Institute of Information Science union catalogue (COBIB). Demonstrates how this network of electronic catalogues enables effective online public access and allows co‐ordinated collection development policies and interlending based on the use of electronic mail. Anticipates further development of interlending and document supply functions in the immediate future.

COBISS: Cooperative Online Bibliographic System and Services

COBISS started in 1987 with a project on an online shared cataloguing system on a former Yugoslav federal level. It is developed and maintained by the Institute of Information Science (IZUM) in Maribor, Slovenia. Besides the online shared cataloguing system and the COBISS/OPAC network application for end‐users, the COBISS system also offers libraries and information centres services relating to the automation of local functions. More than 170 of the largest Slovene libraries of all kinds are presently participating, as well as two libraries from Macedonia and one from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Italian library network: SBN — Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale

The aim of this article is to provide a brief introduction and description of SBN (Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale), the Italian national network which has been working as a full‐scale union catalogue and shared cataloguing system since June 1992 and now connects 104 libraries. The gradual development of SBN over the past 10 years is described as well as its structure and architecture and its future possible developments.

The development of Chinese ideographic processing for a shared cataloguing system

This article describes the major aspects involved in the development, by Utlas, of a shared cataloguing system capable of handling Chinese ideographic data. Utlas has been involved in the processing of various Asian languages including Japanese and Korean for several years. An outline of the various options available for processing Chinese characters is given. Retrieval mechanisms suitable for the Chinese language are also discussed.

Cooperative Library Automation and the Pica Experience

In 1969 a number of Dutch university libraries and the Royal Library decided to cooperate in the field of library automation by creating a consortium for a Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation (Pica). In 1978 an online shared cataloguing system came into operation. About five years later the Pica system began to be used to produce the Dutch National Bibliography and the Dutch Union Catalogue, and to process all the cataloguing activities for over 900 public libraries. The Pica Online Retrieval System (ORS) enables users to consult bibliographic databases and catalogue information from the central Pica database. These central systems, together with local systems such as the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), the Acquisitions System combined with Serials Control, and the Circulation Control System, now constitute a ‘total library system’.

PICA: CENTRUM VOOR BIBLIOTHEEKAUTOMATISERING

As the various Lib‐2 studies conducted throughout the EEC are published (we hope), they should reveal how similar are the trends in automation in many European Countries. Perhaps that which is closest (geographically and metaphorically) to the U.K. scene is The Netherlands who have already published their study(1). They have features familiar to the U.K.: a centralised shared cataloguing system, promoting a local library system with the additional presence of some familiar turnkey vendors — Geac, ALS, CLSI. This brief summary of PICA is the result of a visit made by Jean Plaister to investigate, in particular, its networked messaging and ILL system — areas which the UK has not developed greatly so far. Also of interest are the developments in the implementation of OSI. Ed

The University of London shared cataloguing system

The University of London has developed a co‐operative cataloguing system which is administered through the University's Library Resources Co‐ordinating Committee and utilises the British Library's UNION LOCAS system. The file structure and updating procedures are described. Although the files are updated monthly in ‘batch mode’ the system incorporates both offline and online methods of data entry. Products of the system include a union catalogue and variety of individual library catalogues. The long term goal is of University‐wide online access to a database which forms the core of an integrated system of automated library activities.

COMPUTER NETWORK SYSTEMS: THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CO‐OPERATIVE INTERLENDING IN THE USA

Recent developments in the USA have favoured decentralized networks rather than centralized resource libraries. US libraries have virtually no central planning or funding and the main drive towards progress is the initiative of individual libraries. This has created in the last ten years three major computer utilities — OCLC, RLG, WLN — and some twenty regional networks. OCLC is now in effect a commercial enterprise. Its shared cataloguing system can serve as an on‐line union catalogue; this has led to the development of an interlibrary loan subsystem which has increased the volume and changed the pattern of interlending. RLG and WLN have highly developed computer systems, but it is too early to assess their impact on inter/ending. These computer networks would be complemented, not duplicated by central resource libraries; with the National Periodicals Center effectively shelved, the Center for Research Libraries could take on a more dynamic role. Commercial vendors are often overlooked, but are an important element in document delivery systems. They are completely outside conventional library systems and might cream off the profitable end of the document supply market.