ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program --------------------------------------------------------------------- May 1, 2000 GP 3.16/3-2:21/07 (Vol. 21, no. 07) --------------------------------------------------------------------- CATALOGING AND INDEXING PROGRAM UPDATE Remarks by Thomas A. Downing Chief, Cataloging Branch Before the Depository Library Council April 11, 2000 Newport, RI Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning to provide a summary of cataloging services and to present some news concerning the Cataloging and Indexing Program. This background will set the stage for the discussion of our "Cataloging and Locator Services Report" and related proposals. BIBCO As many of you know, the Library Programs Service has for many years been a member of CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials), NACO (Name Authority Cooperative), and SACO (the Subject Authority Cooperative). These are national cataloging cooperative programs that do much to assure the acceptance of quality cataloging records within your respective institutions. Several years ago, these cooperative programs and the recently formed BIBliographic COoperative program, or BIBCO, became part of the national Program for Cooperative Cataloging, or PCC. Are you with me so far? Be assured, no acronyms testing will be conducted during the course of Council. Well, it is a pleasure to announce that PCC program managers at the Library of Congress recently invited us to join the BIBCO program. We are pleased that this invitation was extended to us, have already completed BIBCO training, and have issued guidelines for catalogers. GPO Now Has OCLC National Level Enhanced Status I would also like to announce that OCLC has recently granted our catalogers National Enhanced Status. National Enhanced Status means that our catalogers are authorized to modify all OCLC records, including those produced by the Library of Congress and other national libraries. Catalogers recognize that some of the meanings and distinctions associated with these memberships or authorizations may not be obvious to everyone. However, it is important to note that our efforts take place in the context of national programs and that our national Cataloging and Indexing Program has made steady progress to achieve full membership in all components of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging and in producing records for the national databases. Many people have contributed to our efforts to produce quality cataloging records and it is gratifying to see that the Library of Congress, OCLC, and the Program for Cooperative Cataloging recognize the success of these efforts. I would like to take this opportunity to thank current and past members of Council, current and past members of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee and the many librarians within the depository community who, over the years, have been generous in their advice and their support of our efforts. GPO and OCLC's CORC Project During the past two years many of us have heard increasingly more about OCLC's CORC, or Cooperative Online Resource Catalog Project. CORC is a project that has the backing of OCLC's considerable resources and is here to stay. OCLC's development of CORC software is a creative and ongoing effort to make effective use of meta-data tagging to support harvesting of data that may be used in cataloging online resources. Cataloging Branch personnel are evaluating CORC for its potential use in cataloging online resources. Most recently, two of our Cataloging Branch catalogers have been trained in the use of CORC and are engaged in a review of the potential that CORC applications may have for GPO cataloging operations. Cataloging Branch Operations And speaking of operations, you may wish to jot down the following production and backlog statistics. During the first six months of FY 2000, from October 1999 through March 2000, we received a total of 11,558 pieces and were notified of 310 online titles on Browse Electronic Titles (BET) that required cataloging. Cataloging Branch personnel processed 14,010 pieces. Included in this processing is the cataloging of 363 electronic titles. As you can tell, thus far this fiscal year, production exceeds receipts. The backlog of physical work to be processed consists of approximately 9,300 pieces, as of March 31st. Most of this work consists of serials in microfiche from prior years. This figure represents an increase of only some 400 additional pieces since the end of FY 1999. Considering that one cataloger left early in FY 2000, this increase is by no means unreasonable. This vacancy has been posted and we hope to make a selection soon and train a new cataloger within the next eight to nine months. Looking to the future and anticipating efforts to add an increasing number of online resources to the electronic collection, we have also asked Congress for FY 2001 appropriations to fund the addition of three full time catalogers. We also expect that, as catalogers retire, we will replace them as soon as possible. Most current works identified by BET are cataloged before posting. Recently published online works are a cataloging priority and represent some of the more prominent publications that are published by agencies. Given this situation, we make concerted efforts to catalog electronic titles before or within one week of posting on BET. Many of the 98 titles in the BET backlog are serials from Fiscal Year 1999. Maintenance of PURLs One increasingly important element of operations concerns our efforts to maintain PURLs for providing continued access to an increasing number of online resources. At present, we estimate that approximately 4,300 PURLs provide access to online titles. We estimate that a combination of PURLs and active URLs that have not yet been converted to PURLs may provide access to approximately 10,000 works. PURLs provide an essential function that supports the human decision-making that is an important component of identifying, choosing, and maintaining links to online resources. We do not have sufficient personnel resources to maintain online access by continually changing URL data in bibliographic records. At present, PURLs remain the best and most efficient available resource for re-directing users to active links. PURLS software, despite some false reporting of broken links, makes it possible for us, through human efforts, to maintain access to works that remain available via the Internet. Were it not for PURLs, it would not be possible for us to maintain access to most of the approximately 4,300 more recent online works that form an important component of GPO Access. As links are broken and restored, access to older works is provided via PURLs in the 856 field. The most recently active URL is then recorded, for information,not access, in the 530 field for works also available via the Internet, or in the 538 field for works available only via the Internet. And on this note of converting old URLs to PURLs, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tim Byrne and his colleagues on the Government Documents Round Table Cataloging Committee for development of the "PURL Alert Service" on GOVDOC-L. This announcement service informs people of titles that have recently been converted from URL access to access via PURLs and meets a need that has been expressed for some time. We appreciate this initiative and the effort that was required to establish this service and know that it is appreciated by many readers of GOVDOC-L. In recent months we have had discussions with senior OCLC personnel concerning PURLs. As a result of these discussions, OCLC has asked us to provide them with suggestions for improving PURLs software. Several years ago OCLC personnel upgraded PURLs software, per our request, to make a new release available that would check and report broken links. We look forward to working with OCLC on improving PURLs software. Notify Us if "Better" Links Are Now Available Much of our PURLs related effort depends, in part, on the many of you who report broken or inappropriate links to us. In recent months, a number of people have notified us that better links are now available to resources. The issue here is not that links are inactive, or that they lead to the wrong resource, rather that "better," more direct links have become available since the publication was cataloged. In some instances, when we cataloged a resource, the best, most stable link at the time of cataloging was through a search screen or clickable index. After works are cataloged, better, more suitable direct and stable links may become available. If you know of a better, more direct link to a title, please let us know about it. We are as eager to make these corrections as we are to restore broken links. Maintenance of the Web Edition of the Catalog of Government Publications Our staff are now making corrections to records, eliminating duplicate records, and updating records in the Catalog of United States Government Publications on the web. Working with GPO production personnel, we have developed effective procedures that result in appropriate de-duplication and improvement of records. At present two people spend approximately two hours each day in maintaining the website. We are able to identify most of the records that need to be corrected or that need to be eliminated because they are duplicates. However, as with PURLs, we would appreciate hearing from you if you have identified records that require correction or if you have discovered duplicate records for the same title. As time permits, we will improve the Catalog on a daily basis and, as with PURLs, we expect this effort to be an ongoing task. Catalog of Government Publications And, speaking of the Catalog I would like to take a moment to provide some statistical information concerning this resource. At the present time, the web edition of the Monthly Catalog contains 142,210 records produced since 1994. Approximately 10,000 records provide online access via PURLs or URLs. Distribution of Monthly Catalog Related Products I would like to provide information concerning the distribution status of Monthly Catalog related products. First, the good news is that Monthly Catalog records are consistently available for the use of the Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress, and other institutions, in accordance with monthly schedules. The availability of these records at the Federal Bulletin Board application means that most libraries with commercial tape services are receiving records in a timely manner. The less positive news relates to the distribution of the Monthly Catalog and its related products. We estimate that the Year 2000 paper edition of the Periodicals Supplement should be distributed to depository libraries late this month. We estimate that the Congressional Serial Set Catalog for the 103rd Congress also should be distributed to depository libraries by the end of April. The January 2000 CD-ROM issue of the Monthly Catalog is expected to be distributed late this month. This issue, and all subsequent monthly issues, will contain the Periodicals Supplement for 2000. The delay in distribution is due, in part, to the recent award of a contract to L&M Optical of Brooklyn, New York. Please be advised that Monthly Catalog CD-ROM editions for 2000 are a new cumulation. Consequently, please retain the January 1998 through December 1999 CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog. The December 1999 issue of the Monthly Catalog in paper was distributed in March. The CD-ROM edition of the December 1999 issue should be distributed to depositories later this month. Those who receive the December 1999 CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog should retain this issue because it includes both the 1998 and 1999 Periodicals Supplements as well as two years of Monthly Catalog issues for 1998 and 1999. Conclusion In concluding this presentation I would like to note that we have achieved much in terms of membership in national cooperative cataloging programs and that we meet or exceed national cataloging standards. We also work as productively as possible to provide timely cataloging of recently published online and paper publications. We are consistently making cataloging data available on a timely basis from the Federal Bulletin Board application and are now able to maintain the Catalog of Government Publications application on the web. We are not dependent upon an integrated library system and are maintaining our own catalog, which is current to within 24 hours of producing records in OCLC. However, the paper and CD-ROM editions of the Monthly Catalog are consistently late and the software limitations on publishing the CD-ROM edition make it impossible for us to publish a disc that contains more than twenty-four months of data. Although libraries select both products, the actual frequency of using these products is not clear. We are also concerned about the costs and utility of the continued publication of a new Serials Supplement and the current Congressional Serials Set Catalog in paper editions. Laurie, who is next on this morning's program, will present some ideas and proposals concerning the future scope of products and services. I believe that Laurie's presentation will stimulate some thinking and discussion and look forward to hearing your thoughts on these matters. I thank you for your time and look forward to meeting with you today and tomorrow. Thank you.