ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program [ Back Issues ] -------------------------------------------------------------------- May 1, 1999 GP 3.16/3-2:20/08 (Vol. 20, no. 08) -------------------------------------------------------------------- [Handout] CATALOGING BRANCH UPDATE Spring 1999 Depository Library Council Meeting April 12 - 15, 1999 Cataloging Operations The transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program has produced a complex assortment of interrelated works in all media. During the first five months of Fiscal Year 1999, approximately 10,000 works in various media were received for cataloging. Approximately 11,000 of these works were processed, leaving a balance of approximately 10,000 works, mostly serials, to be processed. We are investigating the feasibility of a contract to procure commercial serials cataloging services to assist in reducing this backlog. Most works in paper and CD-ROM and those available via the Internet are cataloged within one or two weeks of receipt. A backlog of approximately 300 Browse Electronic Titles (BET) entries remain to be cataloged. Most of the backlog in BET and microfiche consists of serials. Recruitment of Serials Cataloger A recently advertised vacancy for a serials cataloger closed on March 19th. This position was announced on GOVDOC-L, CONSER, and SERIALs discussions lists and on Web sites maintained by the Office of Personnel Management and the Government Printing Office. When hired, the incumbent's efforts will focus on cataloging Internet related serials. Records with PURLs and URLs, and Subfield "U" of the 856 Field During March, 1999, a new policy concerning the display of PURLs and URLs in Monthly Catalog records went into effect. This policy requires use of one subfield "u" per 856 field for recording a PURL. This policy also stipulates that, when re-establishing links to records that had been accessible via a URL, the URL that was in effect at the time the PURL was assigned is to be recorded either in the 530 field (multiple format record) or the 538 field (electronic only record). As with other Internet related cataloging policies, we expect to make this policy available for review at our Web site. We have based this policy on consultation with members of the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) Cataloging Committee, members of the Cataloging and Locator Services Committee of the Depository Library Council, and with Jean Hirons, CONSER Coordinator, Library of Congress. We appreciate the advice of distinguished colleagues and expect that the application of this policy will assist people in identifying appropriate access-related data elements in GPO produced Monthly Catalog records. Cataloging Branch and OCLC's CORC Project As members of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC), we are actively involved in FLICC-sponsored efforts to investigate the potential that OCLC's CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Cataloging) project may have for providing access to works published via the Internet. At present, CORC is a research project launched by OCLC staff to investigate the feasibility of producing brief bibliographic records to provide access to Internet related titles. OCLC personnel have advised us that OCLC has extracted data from several thousand GPO produced OCLC records to "seed" the CORC database. We look forward to continued involvement with CORC, especially as it may assist us in identifying opportunities to improve the scope or timeliness of our cataloging and locator services. PURLs and URLs The Web edition of the Catalog consists of approximately 115,900 records. Approximately 8,500 of these records contain PURLS and/or URLS. At present, approximately 2,500 Monthly Catalog records contain PURLs. Approximately 6,000 additional older Monthly Catalog records contain URLs. As broken links in records with URLs are re-established, these works are made accessible via PURLs. The Library Programs Service is devoting increasing amounts of time to restoring electronic access to electronic works. When our PURLs checking routines identify a broken link in a bibliographic record with a PURL, we restore access by updating the PURL lookup table on the GPO PURL server with the active URL. Maintaining access through PURLs resolver software is intended to eliminate the need for most librarians to maintain access by updating address data in GPO produced records in their OPACs. Physical Versions of the Monthly Catalog Preliminary pages to the paper edition of the Monthly Catalog are being revised and are expected to appear in the April 1999 issue. The complete CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog, which consists of two CDs, contains approximately 55,000 records. The combined 1996 and 1997 CD-ROM (with their respective Periodicals Supplements) should be retained for the near future. We expect that the January 1999 issue of the CD-ROM Monthly Catalog edition, which will include all records for 1998 and 1999 to date, will contain the Periodicals Supplements for 1998 and 1999. A contract for producing the CD-ROM edition was recently re-awarded to American Multimedia, of Burlington, NC. New contract specifications requiring the contractor to receive information for jewel case inserts via electronic means should assist in more rapid product availability than is presently possible. We expect to have published the 1999 paper edition of the Periodicals Supplement in March 1999. Congressional Serial Set Catalog We estimate that the Congressional Serial Set Catalog for the 103d Congress will be published sometime during the summer of 1999. Approximately 1,200 records are expected to be included in the Serial Set Catalog.