Current Trends in Electronic Resources Cataloging

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Current Trends in Electronic Resources Cataloging

• Carrie Preston
• November 1, 2004

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Practical Problems

• Time and expertise required to catalog
  e-resources
• Cataloging must be done as soon as possible for
  rented resources
• Thousands of journals and e-book titles provided
  via aggregator databases
• Not to mention free web sites

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Five Trends

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
  (FRBR)
• Aggregator-neutral records
• Integrating resources category
• Outsourced cataloging
• Non-MARC cataloging or metadata
• What are the practical implications of each trend?

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FRBR

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
• Concentrate on information that patrons need to
  find, identify, select and obtain access to the
  resource
• Defines work (intellectual content) versus
  manifestation (how that content is delivered)

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FRBR

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
• Acknowledges both old-fashioned descriptive
  information (title, author, publisher, etc.), and
  
• Newer aspects which are just as important to
  patrons (technical requirements, restrictions on
  access)

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FRBR

• Practical implications
• Acknowledged perfect cataloging isnt always
  possible
• Acknowledged limited time and resources should
  be spent on the aspects of cataloging that help
  patrons the most

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FRBR

• Practical implications
• Provides guidelines for what to include when
  creating truncated or simplified records
• Allows flexibility according to the individual
  context

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Aggregator-Neutral Records

• The same journal (work) may be available online
  through several different vendors
  (manifestations)
• Create a single descriptive record for each
  journal (work), containing information that
  applies to the work, not the manifestation
• Multiple web addresses acknowledge the different
  vendors (manifestations)

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Aggregator-Neutral Records

• Practical implications
• Endorses one record principle for multiple
  electronic versions of a journal
• OCLC chooses one record to be the master record
  for each journal
• Should a library worry about whether its record
  is the right one? Maybe

10
Integrating Resources

• AACR and OCLC acknowledge a new category of
  integrating resources
• Resources that are NOT published all at once in
  the finished state (like a book), but
• Are also NOT published in definable units (like
  journal issues)
• E.g., web sites, loose-leaf publications

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Integrating Resources

• Practical implications
• Governing bodies acknowledgement of integrating
  resources as a category may lead to more guidance
  about how to deal with web sites and other
  nebulous resources
• Will hopefully lead to more uniformity in
  treatment of these resources

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Outsourced Cataloging

• MARC records supplied by the database vendor
  (e.g., Ebsco provides MARC records for the
  full-text journals found in the Academic Search
  Premier database)
• MARC records supplied by a library services
  company (Serials Solutions)

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Outsourced Cataloging

• Practical implications
• Saves in-house time and effort, although in-house
  customization may still be necessary
• May also save in-house time spent on
  updating/maintaining records (vendor provides
  periodic updates)

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Outsourced Cataloging

• Practical implications
• Quality and accuracy of vendor-supplied records
  may be low
• Serials Solutions records may be higher in
  quality, but more expensive
• Can lead to multiple records for the same title
  (if title carried by more than one vendor)

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Non-MARC cataloging

• Describe items using metadata or markup
  languages such as XML, RDF (Resource Description
  Framework)
• Crosswalks may convert MARC records to other
  formats, and vice versa (detail may be lost when
  converting from MARC)

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Non-MARC cataloging

• Practical implications
• None immediatemost of our library software still
  requires MARC records
• Unclear what will emerge as the dominant standard
• Keep in mind that MARC may not hang around forever

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Conclusions

• Governing bodies show signs of catching up in
  terms of acknowledging the problems of electronic
  resources cataloging
• Having old-fashioned, perfect MARC records for
  everything may not be feasible

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Conclusions

• Different methods may be appropriate for
  different types of items
• What methods are best for a particular library
  depends on available resources, context and
  patron need

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Further reading

• FRBR
• IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements
  for Bibliographic Records (1998). Functional
  Requirements for Bibliographic Records final
  report. http//www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm

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Further reading

• Aggregator-neutral records
• Young, N.K. (2004). The aggregator-neutral
  record new procedures for cataloging continuing
  resources. The Serials Librarian, 454, 37-42.
• Integrating Resources
• Hirons, J. (2003). Seriality what have we
  accomplished? Whats next? Cataloging
  Classification Quarterly, 363/4.

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Further reading

• Outsourced cataloging
• McCracken, P. (2003). Beyond title lists
  incorporating ejournals into the OPAC. The
  Serials Librarian, 453, 101-108.
• Non-MARC cataloging
• Jul, E. (2003). MARC and mark-up. Cataloging
  Classification Quarterly, 363/4, 141-153.