RETROSPECTIVE CONVERSION OF LIBRARY CATALOGUES IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM:

Retrospective Conversion of Library Catalogues in Institutions of Higher Education in the United Kingdom

A study of the justification for a national programme

Report submitted to the Follett Implementation Group on IT (FIGIT)

Philip Bryant, Ann Chapman, Bernard Naylor

University of Bath

June 1995

Contents

Acknowledgements
Preliminary notes

1.0 Executive summary

2.0 Background to the study
2.1 Wider research community
2.2 Humanities research
2.3 Chris Hunt's paper to the Libraries Review
2.4 Reasons for retrospective conversion: in-house
2.5 Reasons for retrospective conversion: resource sharing
2.6 Should all manual records be converted

3.0 International context
3.1 US experience
3.2 Title II-C Program
3.3 Europe

(i) Plan of Action for Libraries in the EC
(ii) Council of Europe Working Party

4.0 The study
4.1 General approach
4.2 Material covered by the quantitative survey
4.3 Defining what has to be counted
4.4 Overlap between stocks
4.5 Costs
4.6 Tackling retrospective conversion

5.0 A national programme

6.0 Conclusions and recommendations
6.1 Conclusions
6.2 Recommendations

7.0 References

Appendix A Findings of the Streit report
Appendix B Council of Europe Recommendation R(89)11
Appendix C Costs and methods using a retrospective conversion service

ANNEXE 1 Retrospective conversion of library catalogues in UK institutions of higher education: a quantitative analysis, by Russell Sweeney and Steven Prowse

ANNEXE 2 Report on a Focused Consultation Group and a survey of opinions, prepared by Information Management Associates

Acknowledgements

The Report of the Joint Funding Councils' Libraries Review Group (1993) chaired by Professor Sir Brian Follett, included a recommendation that a study should be commissioned to establish "whether a national retrospective catalogue conversion programme is justified and to explore the implications of much wider access both to records and to actual collections so converted".

I was asked by the Follett Implementation Group on IT(FIGIT) to submit a proposal for this study and in September 1994, following discussion and amendment, my proposal was accepted by FIGIT and preparations for the project started.

The Project Monitoring Group set up by FIGIT made a very significant contribution to the study as a whole. I would especially like to express my best thanks to Bernard Naylor (Librarian, Southampton University) for the close support I have received from him as Chair of the Group - his cooperation has been invaluable. The other members of the Group, all of whom have likewise been supportive, were: John Akeroyd (Head of Library and Learning Resources, South Bank University), Barry Bloomfield (Library Association Rare Books Group), James Elliot (Records Supply Manager, British Library NBS), Chris Hunt (Director and University Librarian, John Rylands Library), Julian Roberts (Deputy Librarian, Bodleian Library), Russell Sweeney (Library Consultant) and Alice Colban (HEFCs/JISC Secretariat).

We are grateful for information received from:

Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections

BLCMP Library Services Limited

Bodleian Library

Essex University Library

LASER

Leicester University Library

National Art Library

National Council on Orientalist Library Resources

OCLC Europe

Reading University Library

St. Andrews University Library

Saztec

SLS (Information Systems) Limited

Sussex University Library

University of Wales Aberystwyth

Warm appreciation is expressed to Russell Sweeney, David Streatfield and Graham Robertson for the considerable efforts they made to meet deadlines; to Ann Chapman and Steven Prowse for their professional and technical assistance; to Alice Colban of the JISC Secretariat and to Thay Gordon, Secretary of UKOLN. In connection with my visit to Washington in October 1994 I would especially like to thank the following for valuable information and advice: Julia Blixrud (Council on Library Resources); Paul Evan Peters (Coalition for Networked Information); Duane Webster and Jaia Barrett (Association of Research Libraries) and Sarah Thomas (Library of Congress). Last, but by no means least, grateful thanks are extended to all the librarians involved for ensuring an outstanding response rate in Part A and excellent participation in Part B! This study would have been impossible without them.

Philip Bryant

Senior Research Fellow (Bibliographic Management), University of Bath

Project Leader FIGIT Retrospective Conversion Study

Preliminary notes

· `Retroconversion' means the conversion of the existing records in manually produced catalogues into machine-readable form. The majority of the catalogues to be converted are card catalogues, but other forms include guardbook, microform, printed book and sheaf.

· The focus of this report is on the `bibliographic' items included in these catalogues and excludes non-print library material such as archives, manuscripts, illustrations, photographs and slides .

· The study reported on here was not primarily about the justification for retrospective conversion, which is widely accepted as a necessary and good thing, but of the justification for funding a national programme for the retrospective conversion of catalogues in the libraries of UK institutions of higher education.

FIGIT Retrospective Conversion Study

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This study of the justification for a national programme of retrospective conversion of library catalogues in UK institutions of higher education was commissioned by the Follett Implementation Group on IT (FIGIT) and funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs) through their Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The study resulted from a recommendation of the Libraries Review Group chaired by Professor Sir Brian Follett and took place between October 1994 and April 1995. Led by Philip Bryant (Senior Research Fellow , University of Bath) it was in two parts. Part A gathered quantitative data and was undertaken by Russell Sweeney (Library Consultant) assisted by Steven Prowse (Technical Support Officer, UKOLN ). Part B, examined the justification for a national programme, and was carried out by means of a Focused Consultation Group led by David Streatfield of Information Management Associates. Philip Bryant was assisted with various aspects of the project, especially those relating to costs and methods, by Ann Chapman (Research Officer, UKOLN ). The study was advised by a Project Monitoring Group chaired by Bernard Naylor (Librarian, University of Southampton). The background to the study is described; the international context for any UK programme considered and initiatives are detailed such as the Title II-C Program: `Strengthening Research Library Resources' in the United States and Recommendation (R(89)11) produced by the Council of Europe Working Party on Retrospective Cataloguing.

1.1 Main quantitative results

(i) 10,500,000 records (estimated to represent 2,000,000 individual titles) have been converted in UK HE libraries to date. The number of catalogue records remaining to be converted in the libraries responding to this study total some 28,000,000 - a figure consistent with those given by Hoare (1986) and Law (1990). It is estimated that this figure represents 6,000,000 individual titles.

(ii) Of the 28,000,000 records 4,000,000 are for items to be found in `special collections' and the majority of these are in the Humanities. From information collected much can be deduced about the subject and geographic spread of this material.

(iii) The costs of converting an existing manual catalogue record to machine-readable form fall within a range of [[sterling]]1 to [[sterling]]5, with the mean within the range [[sterling]]1.50 to [[sterling]]2.

1.2 Conclusions

(i) The `justification' for retrospective catalogue conversion is accepted both nationally and internationally.

(ii) Users as well as librarians are now concerned about those records which have not been converted - not least for accessing material within the local library.

(iii) If a national programme of retrospective conversion for the HE sector were established, some librarians would be prepared to reallocate funding when participating in the programme.

(iv) It is clear that there would be a need for `machinery' to coordinate a national programme and to prevent duplication of effort.

(v) Equitable `criteria' would have to be agreed regarding access to items in collections.

(vi) There is recognition of the importance of organising efficient and fair access to the total national resource of bibliographic records.

(vii) There is concern that all converted records should meet bibliographic standards of a level which will ensure effective consultation and exchange.

(viii) The `non-HE sector' is recognised as being of vital importance to the HE sector and investigation of the need for, and problems of, retrospective conversion in this area is required.

(ix) To date libraries have met most of the costs of retrospective conversion from current expenditure. There is less likelihood of this being possible in the future. In addition, if the recent Non-Formula Funding allocations are ignored, there has been a significant reduction in external funding.

(x) The British Library must be a major player in any national programme of retrospective catalogue conversion.

1.3 Recommendations

(i) A national programme should be agreed, with due regard to the role of the non-HE sector, and especially the British Library, and consistent with Section 5 of this report.

(ii) [[sterling]]25,000,000 is required over a five-year period to enable the complete retrospective conversion of records for `bibliographic' stock.
(This figure does not take into account the impact of the Non-Formula Funding allocations already made).

(iii) As a general rule, `matching' money should be forthcoming from institutions in receipt of `special' funding.

(iv) Machinery should be established for the management of the programme i.e. to coordinate effort, set priorities and target funds.

(v) In relation to funding the following should be considered:

- `Preferential pricing agreements' to be sought from record suppliers

- `Criteria' to be produced by the library community which could inform decisions regarding possible funding allocations from other sources available nationally.

(vi) Clear guidelines should be agreed and made available on:

- `Standards' for retrospectively converted records

- `Procedures' for retrospective conversion programmes

(vii) All records created as a result of a national programme should remain in the public domain and `principle' 4 of the Recommendation R(89)11 of the Council of Europe Working Party on Retrospective Cataloguing should apply: `on the basis of reciprocity, converted catalogue records should be able to circulate unrestrictedly ((N.B. the word `freely' was not used) within and between library networks, without legal or contractual constraints on their use by other members of those networks.'

(viii) The development of a national database is of prime importance in implementing a national programme of retrospective conversion and discussions which are currently under way between the JISC, CURL and the British Library are welcome in this context.

(ix) Further studies should be carried out in the following areas:

- The scale of the problems relating to non-print library material e.g. manuscripts, photographs, slides.

- Retrospective conversion in the non-HE sector. (Discussions have started with the BLRDD regarding a possible project).

2.0 Background to the study

`Retrospective catalogue conversion is an issue which is measurable, finite and capable of resolution, if only the funds were available to libraries'(Law, 1988)

Retrospective catalogue conversion is one area where it can be said that once money has been invested in the process a permanent benefit is assured. The question is - benefit to whom? Of the 28,000,000 records which remain to be converted in the libraries covered by this study, nearly a half are accounted for by nine of the largest, older university libraries. (See Annexe 1). The libraries of the new universities, in the main, already have the catalogue records for their stocks in machine-readable form. These institutions may well have a set of priorities where a programme for the retrospective conversion of other libraries' catalogues is placed well down the list; however, a major thrust of the Libraries Review is to assist new universities to avoid the need to build new research collections.

2.1 The wider research community

There are many references in the Follett report to resource sharing and to making access to collections available to researchers `across the system as a whole'. In addition Paragraph 27 states `a more strategic approach to providing library facilities in support of research in all subjects needs to be developed involving both higher education institutions and other providers of research oriented library and information services'. Within the latter context the present study could not review retrospective conversion issues as a whole, but had to be restricted to the higher education sector. Obviously funding constraints prohibit FIGIT from funding research outside the HE sector. It is, however, recognised that academia and scholarship make heavy demands on the whole range of library provision - national, learned society, public, heritage institution and other. The report of the Group on a National/Regional Strategy for Library Provision for Researchers (1995) chaired by Professor Michael Anderson is also very relevant here.

`The Group was agreed that such a strategy should involve the active participation of the national copyright libraries, university research libraries, the libraries and resource centres of the Research Councils, the larger public libraries and, preferably, some libraries funded by learned and professional societies'

Although FIGIT was unable to finance a study to include these types of library, the importance of the non-HE sector has been noted and discussions are taking place with the British Library Research and Development Department (BLRDD) with a view to the Department funding a further study during the latter part of 1995.

2.2 Humanities research collections

The Follett report made a firm recommendation (Paragraph 25) regarding the need to preserve and maintain research collections and to provide improved access to them, which resulted in the Non-Formula Funding of Specialised Research Collections in the Humanities. This recommendation was made with the intention that such funding `should form part of the funding councils' response to the Government's decision not to create a research council for the humanities' A condition to be placed on institutions in receipt of Non-Formula Funding awards was that they would be required to provide free access to all bona fide researchers from within the UK. This was a welcome initiative but it was not coordinated with this study and the results given in Annexe 1 were unable to allow for the impact of grants made by the Panel on Non-formula Funding chaired by Professor Martin Harris. It was of some concern to the study's Project Monitoring Group that HEFCE Circular 5/95 (1995) gave a somewhat restricted definition of `bona fide researcher' i.e: ... employed in HEIs funded by the Funding Councils and DENI.

2.3 Chris Hunt's paper to the Libraries Review

The impetus for this study was provided by a paper commissioned by the Follett Sub-committee on Information Technology from Chris Hunt (1993), Director and University Librarian, John Rylands Library, University of Manchester. It was this paper which included among its recommendations the suggestions for Non-formula Funding and the need for a feasibility study of a national retrospective conversion programme. The paper was not published. The following is a selection from the points made by Chris Hunt:-

- There remain many libraries and collections within libraries whose contents can be discovered only by personal visit.

- British academic libraries continue to acquire and retain books without knowledge of other collections.

- Computer technology allows the creation of union catalogues in database form at low unit cost, giving immensely greater availability, far easier to maintain and keep up to date.

- There are large institutions ... which have carried out virtually no retrospective conversion.

- Few smaller institutions with substantial collections have carried out retrospective conversion.

- Some HE institutions have already invested heavily, others have not. Should the dilatory institutions be rewarded by some form of national subsidy at this stage.

- Pioneers suffer doubly. Libraries such as the British Library or Bodleian Library which are, or shortly will be, wholly converted are likely to face a significantly higher level of use of unique or fragile material.

- There are technical problems both in the achievement of standards and in management of the data.

- The problems can easily be used as reasons for doing nothing ... but should not be so used; the potential benefits for action are too great. These benefits are financial as well as scholarly, as library services of primarily teaching institutions could be planned around networked access to research libraries whose holdings are fully known.

The suggestion of a feasibility study was taken up and provided the impetus for the recommendation for this study given in Paragraph 364 of the Follett report.

2.4 Reasons for retrospective conversion - local benefits

Paragraph 302 of the Follett report recognised that: `Much unique material, particularly early books and books printed outside the UK, is often still accessible only through the manual catalogue systems of libraries. Both Hunt's paper and the Follett report quite properly focus on the shared benefits of retrospective conversion, but it should be stressed that it is probable that the great majority of retrospective conversion programmes have not primarily been motivated by concern for other members of the wider library community, but rather by the perceived benefit for the local library and its users. A frustration often facing users of academic and research libraries is that they cannot search in just one place - the online catalogue - to gain knowledge of what is in their own library's stock, but have to consult another form of catalogue - sometimes several. These other catalogues are not always as accessible as they should be, sometimes being housed out of the immediate public gaze.

In Russell Sweeney's study, in response to the question `What form of non-machine readable catalogue are still in use?' the results were:

Card 155

Guardbook 15

Microform 21

Printed 26

Sheaf 20

An extreme example is a major university research library where users can find themselves consulting up to eight files in all five physical forms plus the online version. It is not surprising therefore that, given the rapid development of online catalogues, users and librarians alike are wanting to have data on their own library's stock available in just one place and are becoming increasingly concerned about catalogue records which have not been converted to machine-readable form. This is a point which emerged, not only in the discussions of the Focused Consultation Group (Annex 2), but also from the experience of some members of the Project Monitoring Group. Improved awareness of the contents of the home library makes economic sense from at least three points of view:

- Integration of records for older material with current cataloguing simplifies the library's administrative work (Hoare, 1986) and makes for greater economy.

- It ensures a much better return on the capital investment made in the library's stock, usually over very long periods of time.

- The inter-library loan (ILL) system is not burdened with those requests which should be satisfied from the local stock if only the catalogue records for items which are in the library were recorded in machine-readable form.

2.5 Reasons for retrospective conversion - resource sharing

As far as resource sharing is concerned there are three main reasons for undertaking retrospective conversion:

(i) To benefit scholarship by providing locations, not previously available, for unique or unusual items.

(ii) To share the load of supplying items which are too frequently demanded from just one or two institutions because the locations of additional copies have not been known.

(iii) Regional and national cooperation is facilitated because retrospective conversion enables sensible management decisions to be made in relation to acquisition, preservation and withdrawal of stock.

With respect to these reasons it has become clear from all the discussions which have taken place in relation to this study that the British Library (BL) must be a major player in any significant national initiative taken with regard to retrospective catalogue conversion, both to ensure that effort is not duplicated and also to enable the BL to plan and develop services with more informed knowledge of resources available nationally. In addition it is important that the new Libraries Commission and the Library and Information Cooperation Council (LINC) are involved in developments.

2.6 Should all records be converted?

There are many little used items of apparently low importance in libraries' stocks and concern is expressed in some quarters that these items do not justify having money spent on the conversion of their records. This concern and the value judgements it reflects (one person's `essential research' item is another person's `ephemeral' item) lie at the very heart of any debate about the nature and purpose of libraries. It is not the role of this report to expand on this debate; however, it is perhaps worth making two points:

(i) At some time in the past these items have been considered sufficiently important to have had the manual catalogue records created for them in the first place.

(ii) The experience of members of both the Focused Consultation Group and of the Project Monitoring Group is that `use' of stock increases in relation to its `visibility'. Certainly this has been the experience of the authors of this report.

If there is a national OPAC containing catalogue records created and funded as part of a national programme of retrospective conversion then libraries must ensure that copies of the titles represented by those records are retained in stock.

3.0 The International context

Over the past two decades there has been considerable interest internationally in retrospective conversion. Philip Bryant was invited by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to edit, with the assistance of Marcelle Beaudiquez of the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, a `special issue' of the IFLA Journal (1990) devoted to the subject. The Editorial Committee decided to commit an entire issue to retrospective catalogue conversion, retrospective cataloguing and retrospective bibliography as they considered them `topics of vital importance to the national and international library community'. The editors in their introduction quoted from a contribution written by Henriette Avram (1990) of the Library of Congress and one of the most distinguished names in the field of international bibliographic control:

`It has become clear that for all libraries, and especially for large research libraries, the integration of all records in a single catalog is the only efficient means to satisfy the needs of both technical services and reference staffs. For most large libraries, any activities that lie outside the automated procedures and depend on manual catalogs or other files, are becoming more and more difficult and expensive to maintain. Complete conversion of our retrospective catalogs has become not so much an ideal as a necessity.'

In addition to articles examining the various issues associated with retrospective conversion, a dozen overseas case studies were included . The majority of these were from Europe, but one was from Peter Haddad (1990) of the National Library of Australia (NLA). He made the point that, despite an economic climate of financial restraints, Australian library administrators had given retroconversion projects a high priority. They saw them both as `necessary prerequisites for the implementation of automated systems', and `as investments in the future'. Haddad commented that a number of factors had combined to make the process easier for Australian libraries and he referred especially to the growth of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) which had provided since 1981 a rich source of machine readable catalogue records from a variety of national agencies, supplemented by original cataloguing input by ABN participants. With this one network dominant in Australia the potential existed for the quick distribution and sharing of records.

3.1 US experience

When the proposal for the present study was being discussed it was suggested that, if possible, the US experience and the possibilities of linking a UK initiative into international programmes should be explored. As a result of participating in a conference in October 1994, Philip Bryant had the opportunity to visit Washington and meet with representatives of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), Council on Library Resources (CLR) and members of the Cataloguing Division of the Library of Congress. It was clear that the topic of retrospective conversion was a very `live' one, and in the event of a national programme being set up for the UK HE sector, trans-Atlantic discussion of possible future cooperation would be welcomed. Certainly the Libraries Review had attracted considerable attention and a measure of `envious' admiration. The problems of retrospective conversion of records for non-print library material were of particular concern.

In the US the problem `is not that libraries have not been involved in retrospective conversion, or that a large resource of retrospective records does not exist. Instead the problems seem to be threefold: (1) the lack of sharing of the existing databases of retrospectively converted records; (2) the lack of a rigorous and systematic plan for future conversion efforts, and (3) the lack of clear and rigorous standards for the creation of records...'(Avram, 1990)

In 1986 the CLR began a focused effort to promote consideration of the future form of research libraries. Page 21 of the Council's Annual Report (1990) states:

`During the past fifty years, research libraries have sought to respond to what have become essentially unconstrained interests of faculty and the ever-expanding agenda of higher education. Collections became global in coverage, the categories of publications acquired increased, and, still, user expectations have consistently kept ahead of collecting efforts.

The sheer quantity of material has made self-sufficiency an unrealistic aspiration. In both collecting and building the bibliographic base, interdependence is now an acknowledged, but not necessarily fully embraced, principle.'

3.2 Title II - C Program

It was ten years earlier that one of the most significant US initiatives in relation to research library resources occurred. Congress established the Strengthening Research Library Resources Program through Title II-C of the Education Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 94-482). Section 231 of the Act (20 USC 1041, 1965) notes that:

`the expansion in the scope of educational research programs and the rapid increase in the worldwide production of recorded knowledge have placed unprecedented demands upon major research libraries, requiring programs and services that strain the capabilities of cooperative action and are beyond the financial competence of individual or collective library budgets.'

The purpose of the Title II-C program was to promote research and education of higher quality throughout the United States by providing financial assistance to major research libraries. Two reports have been published assessing and profiling the Program's impact. The first was a `paper' commissioned from Abigail Studdiford (1982) for the US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Office of Libraries and Learning Technologies, reviewing the first four years of funded projects. The second by Samuel Streit (1991) of Brown University was published by the ARL and was a `10 year profile and an assessment of the Program's effects upon the nation's scholarship'.

The Streit publication reported that, in the twelve years since the first
Title II-C grants were awarded in 1978, $70,000,000 had been distributed to the nation's research libraries; a large number of the grants being for pilot projects to develop systems and procedures subsequently utilised by other libraries. As with the UK's Non-formula Funding the money is allocated to more than retrospective cataloguing and conversion and covers three areas: bibliographic control and access, preservation, and collection development. However, it is bibliographic control and access which, in the period reviewed by the report, had attracted 73% of the total grant funds awarded. The main focus of the Program has been on providing access to printed books but grants have covered all types of material stocked by research libraries. The institutions have also included research libraries from the non-HE sector, e.g. Boston Public Library, and have covered a range of subjects from sciences to social sciences to humanities. Streit begins his `Findings' (See Appendix A):

`The Title II-C program has provided significant benefits to scholars throughout the United States through the increased ability of the nation's research libraries to acquire, preserve and make available materials in a range of formats across a wide spectrum of subject areas'.

3.3 Europe

There has been considerable activity in Europe regarding retrospective conversion, but just two initiatives are detailed here.

(i) `Plan of Action for Libraries in the EC' (1987)

When the Plan was published it represented Europe's most significant initiative in relation to libraries to that date. Of the five Action Lines included in the Plan, Action Line 1: `Library source data projects' had as its objectives:

- To accelerate the computerisation of catalogues by encouraging the provision, enhancement and dissemination of basic bibliographic products using new information technologies.

- To have a standardising effect in the area of machine-readable catalogues.

- To contribute to reducing disparities between Member States in the field of library automation.

- To take account of national priorities.

- To improve access to collections of international interest.

Provision of funds for retrospective conversion of catalogues in individual libraries falls outside the terms of the Commission's remit, unless such projects help to address problems in special areas, the results of which can subsequently be used by other libraries.

(ii) Council of Europe Working Party

During 1988/1989 the Council of Europe Working Party on Retrospective Cataloguing was established and included as its UK representatives Philip Bryant, Derek Law and Peter Lewis (then Director General, British Library Bibliographic Services). Discussion centred primarily on retrospective conversion. This Working Party formulated a Recommendation - R(89)11 which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 19 September 1989. There was also a Technical Report which defined and expanded on the aims of retroconversion and discussed such matters as priorities, rights in records and standards. Although no money could be made available from the Council of Europe, the Recommendation was widely welcomed as providing valuable guidance for the `national authorities' which it addresses. The full text is given as Appendix B.

4.0 The study

4.1 General approach

The objectives of the project were as stated in Paragraph 303 of the Follett report and were to establish the following:

(i) How much retrospective conversion of research collections has been undertaken.

(ii) What remains to be done.

(iii) The benefits that would accrue to users from national investment in this activity.

(iv) Evidence of demand for access to such material which is not being met at present.

(v) Identification of:

a) costs

b) methods of assisting the process

c) sources of funding that might be drawn upon for such activities.

It was agreed that the project should be in two parts. The first part would gather quantitative data relating specifically to Objectives (i) and (ii) and would also address some aspects of (v). The second part, addressing Objectives (iii) and (iv) would examine the justification for national funding for retrospective conversion and, as value judgements would be involved, a qualitative research approach was required.

Part A: Establishment of quantitative data relating to retrospective
conversion in the UK HE sector was undertaken as a questionnaire survey by Russell Sweeney, a Library consultant, and Steven Prowse of the UKOLN staff. The report of that survey is appended as Annexe 1.

Part B: A qualitative study examining the justification for a national programme for retrospective conversion was undertaken as a Focused Consultation Group led by David Streatfield and Graham Robertson of Information Management Associates. The report of that exercise is appended as Annexe 2.

The objectives as identified by the Libraries Review picked up a number of the issues given in Chris Hunt's (1993) paper; nevertheless, although the aim and objectives of the project as proposed in the Follett report were succinctly stated, a number of relevant matters were either not mentioned, or else were not made explicit. A few examples taken from those given in the project proposal were:

- International aspects - particularly the European context

- Bibliographic standards (What does constitute an acceptable retrospectively converted catalogue record?)

- Impact of retrospective conversion on the management of libraries e.g. how are stock management (preservation, selection, withdrawal) policies and processes affected?

- Advantages/disadvantages of a centralised versus a distributed national bibliographic database.

4.2 Material covered by the quantitative survey

As with the previous studies by Peter Hoare (1986) and Derek Law (1988) the focus of this study has been on bibliographic material because the scale of the retrospective conversion task is definable in broad terms and can be seen as finite. The problem of covering material in all formats, however, is a huge one. Although the Title II-C Program in the US has funded work on material in all formats, it is not clear how much of the money spent on this other material has been actually dedicated to improving bibliographic access compared to preservation and collection development. From discussions Philip Bryant had on his 1994 visit to Washington it was apparent that the aspect of retrospective conversion now of most concern to the US academic/research community is non-print library material. Positive interest was expressed in discussing mutual problems in this area with the UK.

4.3 Defining what has to be counted

The library community has long had problems with the production of consistent and comparable statistics. The production of a comprehensive list of consistent and internationally accepted terms would be of immense value. Statistics are only useful when there is agreement about what is being counted and costed. Nowhere has the problem been greater than in the areas of cataloguing and the quantifying of stock. Three terms especially cause difficulties; title - record - item. For the purpose of Part A of this study the following was agreed for inclusion in the `Notes for completion' of the questionnaire:

Title. A named bibliographic entity which is catalogued as a unit, forming the basis for a single catalogue record. A title will be represented in a collection by one or more title occurrences, called items.

(Example. Shirer's The rise and fall of the Third Reich is one title represented by one record although a library holding it may stock ten copies (items). If 100 libraries stock this title they will each create/acquire a record resulting in 100 records for the one title and they may stock 200 copies (items) between them. Considerable economies would be achievable if 99 of the libraries could derive their records from one `source' record.)

4.4 Overlap between stocks

It is recognised that if items are unique or unusual the conversion of the records for those titles benefits scholarship, but questions are sometimes asked about the degree of overlap between stocks. Hoare (1986) wrote `the question of overlap in holdings is clearly important, since a low level of common stock reduces the economic attraction of cooperation. More overlap between stocks means that more libraries have the opportunity to save money on the acquisition/creation of catalogue records. If the catalogues of the larger libraries are converted first then the smaller libraries can benefit. In addition, the greater number of known locations for the titles held should ensure that demand on individual libraries and wear and tear on the stocks involved are more equitably shared.

There has been very little study of overlap in the UK since that undertaken by the University of Lancaster's Library Research Unit in 1971 on behalf of the National ADP Study (1972). The Project Monitoring Group asked that a major UK database be approached to see if the system could generate information to show:

- how many locations were on the database;

- how many separate titles did these locations represent;

- how many of these were `unique' i.e. had only one location?

The current study was pleased to receive cooperation from LASER who kindly agreed to analyse their files. The analysis showed that, excluding the BLDSC files held by LASER, 18,000,000 locations represented 2,400,000 titles of which 900,000 were `unique'. In the unlikely circumstance of there being a direct correlation between the LASER figures and those of the pool of records awaiting conversion in UK HE library catalogues, the 28,000,000 records would represent 3,700,000 titles of which 1,400,000 would be unique. However, the fact that the LASER database contains locations for many public and other libraries as well as for academic libraries means that the degree of overlap is certainly higher. In addition, 4,000,000 of the records to be converted relate to `special collections' where the degree of overlap will be significantly less. It seems reasonable to assume therefore that the 28,000,000 records probably represents 6,000,000 individual titles, with a greater proportion of these being unique than in the case of LASER.

4.5 Costs

It was recognised from the beginning that the establishment of precise costs by use of a self-completed questionnaire was not possible. It was for this reason that the original project proposal suggested that the costs element of Part A of the study should be treated as a separate exercise. However, a decision was taken not to proceed with this idea at present as it was anticipated that the BLRDD might be prepared to support a broader based cost study of bibliographic record creation and management in due course. It was hoped that libraries responding to the questionnaire survey would be able to provide sufficiently accurate figures from their management systems, but when Russell Sweeney `piloted' the questionnaire and followed it up with a number of face to face interviews he found that the questions which posed the greatest problems were those relating to costs. Libraries were often unable to separate the costs of any retrospective conversion from those for their current cataloguing. Analysis of questionnaires in the full survey demonstrated this fact further; nevertheless the libraries' excellent response rate in Part A of the study allows the assumption to be made that the mean unit cost figures arrived at can be accepted as generally satisfactory for the purpose of estimating funding needs. In addition to the survey data, information was sought from the principal bibliographic record suppliers and an invitation was also extended over LIS-SCONUL to librarians who had relevant costs data to provide it. Half a dozen libraries responded most helpfully.

The conclusion was that there was a broad range of costs due to a variety of factors, such as the characteristics of the material for which the records were being converted; the availability of machine-readable records from external sources; the quality of the original catalogue records. It was calculated that the cost of converting any particular record lies within the range of [[sterling]]1 to [[sterling]]5 with the `mean' being within the range [[sterling]]1.50 to [[sterling]]2. This information was given in a letter sent as an `interim report' to the JISC Secretariat in November 1994.

If, as is recommended, all 28,000,000 records are converted and libraries receiving grants contribute 50% of the cost (except in special cases) [[sterling]]25,000,000 of special funding would be required. This should constitute a five-year programme, the aim being to complete the retroconversion of all `bibliographic' records by the end of the millennium. This sum, which does not take into account allocations already made under Non-Formula Funding, represents less than half of the money spent on UK university recurrent expenditure on books and periodicals during 1993-94 (Universities Statistical Record, 1995).

4.6 Tackling retrospective conversion

The first of the priority issues identified by the Focused Consultation Group was resources; this heading covered both `overt' and `covert' costs. In relation to `covert' costs matters were raised such as space for extra staff employed and the capacity of the library's IT infrastructure to cope. In addition, other factors influence how many records a library can buy with its money. A major consideration is whether a library is going to carry out retrospective conversion with the `book in hand' and undertake so much editing that the process becomes one of retrospective cataloguing rather than retrospective conversion. The `technical report' published with the Council of Europe's Recommendation (R(89)11) stated that:

`In order to minimise project costs of retroconversion the catalogue records should not be edited ... before or during the conversion ... Editing should be less expensive when carried out after standard retroconversion because it can be expected that a growing supply of machine-readable records from other sources can be used for improving one's own records'

Russell Sweeney, in eleven follow-up interviews undertaken after his survey, found that in all cases except one new records are created from existing records with recourse to the item itself only occurring in cases of difficulty.

Many librarians are daunted by the prospect of having to cope with the extra work posed by undertaking a program of retrospective conversion and integrating that programme with the current flow of their library's routine activities. There are a number of sets of guidelines to help librarians define the precise aims of their projects; to identify the problems; to consider the range of options open to them. The major bibliographic record supply agencies will give good advice and in at least one instance a clear set of guidelines is published.

Two sets of guidelines independent of any commercial interest have also been produced. The first is LITC Report No. 4, originally published in 1992 and updated and reissued by the Library and Information Technology Centre (1994) at South Bank University. This set is in two parts. Part 1 gives a review of the options and Part 2 gives details of specific record suppliers and services. The second set prepared by Anton Bossers and Derek Law on behalf of the LIBER Library Automation Group (1990) was published as an annex to the Council of Europe's Recommendation (R(89)11).

These latter guidelines make the important point that a realistic timetable should be set and that there should be regular monitoring of progress during the course of any programme to ensure `timely adjustment if necessary'.

5.0 A national programme

Within the higher education community there is ample empirical evidence that, if retrospective conversion is left to the decisions of individual institutions, its achievement will be haphazard and long-drawn out. Since the achievement of `universal' retrospective conversion will benefit the whole of the centrally funded HE community, it seems essential to promote a co-ordinated national effort. Furthermore the HE community is both the major provider and the major user of the scholarly library resources of the UK . It is therefore a responsibility for the HE sector to make its own major contribution towards unlocking the nation's total resource of scholarly library material.

Since the Sweeney study has defined the scale and scope of the task, it is possible to envisage a systematic attack on it, amounting to a `national programme'. The national programme should have the following features:

(i) An organising and monitoring group should be established to be responsible for allocating funds and monitoring the progress of individual institutions. This group would be responsible for:

a) vetting applications and for ensuring that the pattern of allocating funds for retro-conversion can be accommodated within the budgetary constraints;

b) taking decisions to ensure that the greatest benefits from the programme are derived at the earliest possible date, and also for promoting the optimum availability of good quality records, for the benefit of all libraries engaged in the programme;

c) giving recipient libraries reasonably long-term security of funding, to help with the hiring of appropriate staff, and inserting periodic checks to ensure that the funds disbursed are producing the promised benefits;

d) ensuring that the arrangements for access to and re-use of records created are compatible with the concept of a national programme;

e) rendering an annual report to the Funding Councils of the monies disbursed and the progress made towards the goal of `universal' retro-conversion.

(ii) Institutions should be invited to bid for funds by submitting applications which take due note of the main relevant points covered by this report.

(iii) Applications should state the nature and scale of the task, the preferred method of approach, and the timetable it is intended to follow. Specific reference ought to be made to any particular priorities to be followed in the programme and to any local constraints or other factors, helping to shape the particular project.

(iv) The availability to other parties of the records produced, both for consultation and for re-use, should be stated. The amount of money requested and the amount of local resource to be contributed should also be stated.

6.0 Conclusions and recommendations

6.1 Conclusions