This article was first published in:
Library Management 18 (3) 1997 pp112-123
Any citation should use the above details of the hard copy version
UKOLN has, since 1980, been carrying out a survey to monitor the availability of bibliographic records in the BNB files on Blaise. Work on the ordering stage sample is now to be extended by investigating the availability of records from other sources of bibliographic records. This article looks at the survey and the new sources to be included in the extended survey.
The introduction divides the participant sources (BNB, BDS, Book Data, J.Whitaker & Sons, BLCMP, CURL, LASER, OCLC and SLS (Information Systems) Ltd) into two groups. This is followed by a description of the survey methodology and sample structure. Next there are a set of source profiles. These have been prepared as background material to accompany the results for each source since straight comparisons would not be advisable, given the differences in objectives and set-up of the sources. Finally, there are some comparisons of the features of different sources.
UKOLN: the UK Office for Library and Information Networking continues to carry out the Currency Survey which monitors the availability of bibliographic records on the British Library National Bibliographic Service (NBS) BNBMARC files. In the initial research proposals the currency, or timeliness, of records was recognised as one of four aspects (timeliness, accuracy, consistency and functionality) of record quality. The Currency Survey was begun at the cataloguing stage in 1980 and at the ordering stage in 1988. The methodology and results have been described by Chapman(1) and(2). Until now it has only surveyed the records available on the BNBMARC files, but some commissioned work recently for Book Data and for J. Whitaker & Sons led on to the idea of looking at a number of other sources of records. Initial contacts with these sources indicated that they were sufficiently interested in the proposal that they agreed to provide free access to their databases for the survey to be carried out and were willing for the results obtained to be made public.
It was decided that it would be appropriate to divide the sources into two groups, A and B, according to the amount of original record creation undertaken. In group A are the sources who use all original record creation: the British Library National Bibliographic Service, Bibliographic Data Services (BDS) who have the new CIP contract with NBS, Book Data's BookFind CD-ROM service, and Whitaker's BookBank CD-ROM service. In group B are the sources which pool the resources of their membership to provide a database. Group B databases contain both records acquired from other sources, such as the group A sources, and records created by their own members; records on the databases often contain additional information such as holdings details. Sources in group B are BLCMP, OCLC, SLS, LASER and CURL. It was also decided that the results should not be produced as simple comparative tables. Since the sources are not designed to provide identical services and information, it was decided to include in the eventual report a series of source profiles which would give the background against which the individual source's results could be fairly judged. Information has been collected from the sources and the preliminary profiles form the main section of this article.
The samples used in the survey are provided by libraries in the UK. Each month twelve libraries (six academic and six public) send in a random sample of items they are about to order. Each library participates for six months and is then replaced by another library of the same type. Libraries participate on a rolling basis with two (one academic and one public) leaving each month, and one of each type joining the survey. In order to maintain a representative sample base each library type is subdivided into a number of subtypes, and the library leaving is replaced by a library of the same subtype. Within the academic grouping, libraries are classified as (a) old foundations (excluding the legal deposit libraries of Oxford and Cambridge), (b) 'redbrick' foundations, (c) 1960s foundations and (d) 1990s foundations - the former polytechnics. The public libraries grouping comprises (a) metropolitan authorities, (b) London borough authorities, (c) English county and new unitary authorities, (d) Scottish authorities, (e) Welsh authorities and (f) Northern Irish authorities. Random choice methods are used to select the sample date for each month and to select new libraries to join the survey.
To take the sample, libraries are issued with guidelines on how to take a random sample, and what material is eligible for inclusion in the sample. Eligibility for inclusion in the sample is governed by the BNB exclusions policy, since the original survey was designed to look only at records available on the BNBMARC files. Items are therefore only included if they have a publication date of 1974 (the date at which the British Library became responsible for the British National Bibliography) or later, they have a UK imprint or distributor, and are printed materials. Various categories of material which comply with these conditions are also excluded by BNB and therefore from the sample; for example, some HMSO publications are included and some excluded by the policy, and to avoid difficulties for the sampling libraries no HMSO publications are included in the sample.
Each month sampling libraries each supply the details of ten items they are about to order, giving a possible monthly sample of 120 items. Sometimes libraries are unable to provide details of ten items (ordering patterns and budget distribution over the year vary from institution to institution) and therefore the monthly sample can be less than 120 items. The results of a single month's sample are not used in isolation. To avoid distorting factors such as seasonal variation in ordering patterns, the results of twelve month's sample are conflated to provide the hit-rate.
Source profiles
This project recognised that straight comparisons between two or more of the record sources would not be possible given the variance in objectives, coverage and customer types of each source. Information was therefore collected on each source to enable the creation of a source profile. Initially a form was designed which identified the information required, and any data already known about the source was included. This was then sent to the source concerned with a request for the missing information and for any correction required of the data already included. From the information received the following source profiles have been drawn up.
The British Library currently maintains twenty-two databases accessible via the British Library Automated Information Service (Blaise) which was launched in 1977. Among these databases is the BNBMARC database. In 1974 British National Bibliography Ltd, a non-profit consortium of various bodies established in 1949, was absorbed into the new British Library, forming the nucleus of the National Bibliographic Service (NBS). The NBS continued to produce the printed British National Bibliography (BNB) which provided bibliographic access to the publishing output of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The NBS also made machine readable records available in UKMARC format on the BNBMARC database for those items which would appear in the printed BNB. There are three routes by which records are created for the BNBMARC database. Firstly Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) records are created by a contract agency, currently Bibliographic Data Services, and are upgraded to full NBS records when the British Library legal deposit copy is received. Secondly, records are created directly by NBS for items received by the British Library under the legal deposit laws. Thirdly, records may be created by the Copyright Libraries Shared Cataloguing Programme (CLSCP) partner libraries of the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Trinity College Dublin and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales. These are later augmented by British Library staff with Dewey Decimal classification and with subject headings on receipt of the BL legal deposit copy.
The BNBMARC database contains three files. BNBMARC 1950-1970 contains 366,990 records, BNBMARC 1971-1976 contains 194,083 records, while BNBMARC 1977- had 957,418 records as of February 1996 and a rate of addition currently running at more than 71,000 records per year. For the BNBMARC files, records are created for material which would be included in BNB - ie. books and first issues of serials titles published in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Certain materials are excluded, for example, local material such as voters lists, telephone directories and local government administrative publications, material in certain physical forms such as printed sheet music (listed in the British Catalogue of Music and Blaise's Music File), sheet maps and atlases (in Blaise's Maps File), official publications (access via the British Library Official Publications and Social Sciences Service), and promotional, ephemeral and non-book materials.
Cataloguing-in-Publication records appear on the BNBMARC file up to twelve weeks prior to publication. The BNBMARC 1977- file is updated weekly by the addition of CIP records created by BDS, and the records created by CLSCP libraries and by NBS staff. Also in the weekly update procedure, BDS and CLSCP records augmented by British Library staff replace the original records.
BNBMARC records are created using AACR2. From January 1988 approximately half of the records were created to level 1 and the remainder to level 2 in an attempt to increase the currency of records and to cope with the ever increasing number of titles published each year. Additionally, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) were no longer included. Items receiving only level 1 cataloguing were modern English fiction, material for children, material in Dewey classes 200, 500 and 600, and material of less than thirty-two pages. Place of publication and subtitle became required elements in level 1 cataloguing from the end of 1993 and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) were reinstated from the beginning of 1994. From January 1996, all new records are created to level 2. Access points for personal and corporate authors, title keywords, control numbers, and subject are included in records. Subject information is available as Dewey Decimal 20th edition and as subject heading or indexing entries; LCSH pre 1988 and from 1994 onwards, COMPASS from 1974 to 1990, and PRECIS from 1990 to October 1996. Records can also be searched for using qualifiers for country or date of publication, publisher, language, geographic area code and information code. Price information appears on both CIP and full records. Authority control of personal and corporate authors is maintained by use of the British Library Name Authority List.
BNBMARC records are available to subscribers, who include UK public and academic libraries and library co-operatives, other major national libraries and foreign library co-operatives. Record supply is available both on-line and off-line. On-line supply is achieved by on-line connection to the BNBMARC files and downloading of records. Off-line, subscribers can choose from BNB on CD-ROM, the Off-line Record Selection Service (ORSS), and the BNBMARC Tape Service. Retrospective conversion records are also available using any of the off-line record supply routes.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: CIP records, formerly CIP records and NBS original cataloguing records.
Bibliographic Data Services (BDS) was formed in December 1994, and was established to provide bibliographic data and related support services to libraries, library booksellers and bibliographic utilities. Libraries have been increasingly requiring full bibliographic data in advance of publication, both as a selection tool and to provide an acquisitions record. While a number of other organisation do provide pre-publication data, these tend to be book sales trade orientated and in own system format. BDS creates pre-publication bibliographic records using AACR2 and UKMARC format. It is currently under contract to NBS to supply Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) records for the BNBMARC file.
The database currently holds records for printed materials published in the UK and the Republic of Ireland since 1995, and is therefore the smallest database in terms of size. BDS aims to cover the major publishing output of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, expecting to make available approximately 40,000 records per year. Within its parameters, however, it aims to be as comprehensive as possible. At present non-book materials are not routinely covered unless they form accompanying material to printed items. BDS are willing, however, to discuss provision of catalogue data for non-book formats such as talking books, videos and CD-ROM products with individual clients.
Detailed advance information sheets are received from publishers, typically three to six months prior to publication. These are used to create the pre-publication records, which include authority controlled personal and corporate names, an annotation, and subject access via Dewey Decimal classification or standard subject headings. BDS are provided with sight of new titles at the point of publication and the pre-publication record is upgraded and validated as a post-publication record. Records are added and upgraded on a daily basis.
All records are created using AACR2 (level 3), Dewey Decimal Classification (20th ed), UKMARC format and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). While records are supplied in UKMARC format as the norm, BDS can also supply data in character delimited or customer defined format. All categories of printed materials, adult and junior, fiction and non-fiction are created to the same standard. Access points are added for personal and corporate authors, series, LCSH, and keywords. Other types of information added to records are price, a short summary of contents, key promotional points, book trade extensions to the UKMARC format and fiction genre codes. Authority control for authors is via use of the BL Name Authority List, and BDS have their own authority control for publishers names and for series.
Direct access to the database is only available to clients. Clients supply BDS with a list of ISBNs for which they require records; this can be on-line or off-line via email, First EDItion, Internet, or modem links. Records found are transmitted to the client in the same way. Records for retrospective conversion projects are available in the same way, but have limited potential from the BDS database, given its start date of 1995 published material.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into two categories: pre publication records and post publication records. Only sample items published in or after 1995 will be searched for on the BDS database.
Book Data is an independent UK company which was established in 1987. It aims to meet the professional information needs of publishers, booksellers and librarians by creating a computer database of 'full' title records.
Book Data's coverage is based on English language publishers who have a UK publishing or marketing presence; this includes a growing number of European publishers. Through its marketing association with the major US wholesaler Baker & Taylor, Book Data is able to add short bibliographic records for around 1.25 million North American titles. Together with databases for Australian, New Zealand and South African publications, records are available for around 2.5 million titles.
Records are available for all published materials except serials. Records for forthcoming publications are listed on the database up to twenty-four months prior to publication; the database is updated on a continuous basis.
CD-ROM services, derived from the database, include: BookFind-CD World Edition (monitored in the survey), BookFind-CD Compact World, BookFind-CD Standard, TES BookFind, BookFind Medical & Healthcare, BookFind Business & Law, BookWISE-CD and Archive BookFind. All CD-ROM services are issued monthly except for TES BookFind (for schools and colleges of further education) which is issued termly and Archive BookFind (out of print titles) which is issued annually.
Records are not created using AACR2 but do have a considerable level of compatibility with UKMARC practice. They contain the following types of information: bibliographic detail, descriptive text, subject indicators, trade data, publisher specific information, promotional data (some permanent and some temporary) and 'housekeeping' information. Records can be accessed by author, title keywords, ISBNs and publishers. A feature of the majority of records is that they include descriptive text in the form of summary text and table of contents. Subject information is provided by the use of a 2,500 term system of subject headings developed by Book Data.
The BookFind CD-ROM service is available on subscription. It can be used on stand-alone PCs or on networked systems, in both DOS and Windows versions. Currently it is used in the UK by booksellers, publishers and wholesalers, and public, academic and school libraries. Records can be downloaded from the CD-ROM into the users' own files.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: full records, short records, and brief records.
J. Whitaker & Sons have been publishing bibliographic information since the introduction in 1874 of the Reference Catalogue of Current Literature, which later became British Books in Print. Today Whitaker Bibliographic Services main database, containing more than 1.8 million records, lists titles of publishers based in, or exporting into, the UK, and English language publications produced by publishers from twenty-six continental European countries. On its CD-ROM products it also provides access to a further one million plus records from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands via D.W.Thorpe, and titles published in the USA via R.R. Bowker. Records from the database are available on CD-ROM and tape.
Whitaker provide the following CD-ROM services using information from the main database. Whitaker BookBank contains Whitaker's Books in Print records for titles of publishers based in Europe and the UK (over sixty countries), plus recently out of print books and all forthcoming titles. Issued monthly, this is the product which will be monitored in the currency survey. Other CD-ROMs are (a) BookBank OP which lists all out of print items which were in print in 1970 (when Whitaker first computerized) or later, (b) the Whitaker/Bowker Global BookBank which combines the US database of R.R. Bowker, D.W. Thorpe Australasian database and Whitaker's own database, (c) BookBank with Thorpe ROM, which combines the D.W. Thorpe Australasian database and Whitaker's own database, (d) Bookbank with South African Books in Print, and (e) WhitakerROM which is a CD-ROM version of the TFPL database of 10,000 CD-ROM and multimedia titles.
In BookBank CD-ROM, the disc issued for June 1996 contained 825,388 records, of which 11,877 were records for audio books. Whitaker policy for listing items in addition to books includes maps, serials issued at annual or greater intervals, spoken word cassettes, and government and local publications of general interest. Sheet music, scores and songbooks which include music are not included. Computer software, CD-ROMs and videos are only included when forming part of a mixed media product whose major component is an eligible form.
Records in the CD-ROM service are not available in AACR2 or in the MARC format. Records give author, title, place of publication, publisher, date or expected date of publication, series, ISBN, price, DDC20 classification, and distribution details indicating wholesalers and library suppliers for the item, and whether it is in print, out of print or forthcoming. Full text searching is provided, and includes access by author, title keyword, ISBN and publisher. Authority control is maintained on personal and corporate authors through use of the BL Name Authority List. Records for forthcoming items, which appear up to eighteen months prior to publication, are updated constantly to reflect any changes in price, publication date and bibliographic details.
The BookBank CD-ROM service is available on subscription. It can be used on stand-alone PCs or on networked systems, in both DOS and Windows versions. It is used in the UK by booksellers, publishers and wholesalers, and public, academic and school libraries; also by UK and overseas library co-operatives and national libraries. Records can be downloaded from the CD-ROM into the users own files. Around one million records are available for out of print items.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: in print, out of print and forthcoming.
BLCMP, the largest library co-operative, was founded in 1969 as a joint venture between the public and university libraries in Birmingham and became a fully independent company in 1977. The main services offered are the library management system Talis with on-line access to the BLCMP database, a community wide information system CWIS and an EDI clearinghouse between libraries and book suppliers. Currently, it has seventy clients in the UK, including both academic and public libraries, with twenty using the older BLS system and fifty using the new Talis system.
The BLCMP database contains over fourteen million records from a number of sources. The Union file contains records for items held by member libraries, with locations for twenty million items. Other files in the database are known as Potential Requirements files and comprise the British Library British National Bibliography, British Catalogue of Music and Document Supply Centre files, Library of Congress file, HMSO file, Whitaker file, BDS file, CILLA file, Askews file and JMLS file. The Union file is added to on-line, and Potential Requirements files are updated weekly or monthly. Printed promotional and ephemeral literature is excluded from the database. Non-book materials are included on the database, with 107,000 records for printed music, 185,000 records for sound recordings(music), 31,000 records for sound recordings (not music), 14,500 records for maps and atlases, 102,000 records for films and videorecordings, 34,500 records for other audio visual materials, 11,000 records for microforms and 4,500 records for computer files.
Records are created by member libraries to AACR2 1988 revision level 2, with BLCMP Interpretation notes and are in BLCMP MARC format (a system variant of UKMARC). Access points are added for personal and corporate authors, and titles. LCSH, DDC20 and LC classification are on LC records and LCSH, DDC20 and COMPASS entries on BNB records, while LCSH and DDC20 are on BDS records. Records in Potential Requirements files may be at levels 1, 2 or 3 depending on the source. Price is included on records originating from Whitaker, Askews, JMLS, BDS and BNB, and holdings information is held on records in the Union file. Authority control is maintained on personal and corporate authors by member libraries use of the British Library Name Authority List.
The BLCMP database is normally only available to users of Talis and BLS library management systems. Access to the database is via BLCMP's own dedicated network, which is also used for electronic transmission of orders from libraries to book suppliers. Record supply is available on-line via BLS or Talis, and off-line by Selective Record Service. Retrospective conversion records are available to customer requirements for member libraries.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: BNB records, non BNB records which are at AACR2 level 2, and non BNB records below AACR2 level 2.
The Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) was established in 1983 as an informal group of seven of the largest university libraries in the United Kingdom: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester and Oxford. New members have recently brought the membership group up to thirteen: Trinity College Dublin, University College London, Imperial College London, London School of Economics, and the Universities of Birmingham and Sheffield.
CURL has established a database for bibliographic records which is based at Manchester Computing. The database (at May 1996) contains the holdings of six of the original group of libraries and there are plans to load the holdings of the remaining libraries over the coming year. It is further enhanced by the addition of records from the following non-CURL sources: British National Bibliography (1985 to date), Library of Congress (Roman script monographs file, 1968 to date), OCLC records taken by CURL/OCLC users, and RLG records taken by member libraries.
This resource was intended to serve both as a finding list and as a source of bibliographic records. The database provides access to approximately nine million records, with over 600,000 new records being added annually. It is difficult to estimate the number of titles this might represent since duplicate records are not eliminated in order to allow users the option to choose records which best suit their particular needs.
There are no printed material exclusions, but very few serials records are held on the database (around 2% of the database). At present there are few records for non-book materials. The database is updated weekly.
All records conform to AACR2, at the level used by the original record provider, and are in the UKMARC format. Records in USMARC format are converted to UKMARC format using CURL's own conversion program. There are access points for personal and corporate authors, title acronyms, subject, date, person as subject, corporate body as subject, keywords in title, library identifier, ISBN, and LC number. While there is no authority control by CURL, member libraries are likely to use some form of authority control themselves when creating/acquiring a record. Matching records are displayed first in a one line format to allow efficient selection. Selected records can then be displayed in a full UKMARC tagged format. All records are held in their fullest form.
The CURL database is accessible by all libraries connected to JANET. At present, in addition to its thirteen members, it has three associate members, one co-operating member, eleven record retrieval customers and twenty-nine reference service customers. The Reference Service is free but all other services are charged for. On-line record supply is available via ftp files over JANET. Off-line record supply is not available; nor is record supply for batch retrospective conversion, though customers using CURL for current cataloguing could search for records on an item by item basis.
COPAC, the CURL OPAC, was launched at the end of April 1996. Its development as a national academic OPAC, with the objective of providing universal access to the important research collections held by CURL libraries, was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). It can be accessed over the Internet or by using a Telnet connection.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into two categories: a single record found, and more than one record found.
The London and South Eastern Library region, LASER, was formed in 1969 from the London Union Catalogue, founded in 1928, and the South East Regional Library System, founded in 1934. LASER pioneered the automation of library holdings, or locations, to aid inter-lending, first converting BNB 1950-1968 into machine readable form in conjunction with the British National Bibliography, and then converting the LASER union catalogue 1901- to date. That initial automated catalogue was then developed into the Viscount database and network to try and optimise library co-operation and resource sharing. After the research phase, LASER members were brought on-line to Viscount in 1988, other regions becoming members in the following years. Viscount now provides a large bibliographic database (used by around 80 library services) which supports an electronic inter-library loan system.
The Viscount database contains almost four million bibliographic records with associated holdings information. Records are generated from a number of source files: British Library UKMARC files 1950 to date, BLDSC Current Serials Holdings file, BLDSC Bookstock file 1980 to date, LASER Extra-MARC file 1901 to date, CILLA database (catalogue for Indic language material), SEALS database of European fiction, Whitaker (partial file), LASER's file of records for material published prior to 1901, and member library records which may originate from LC and OCLC records. UKMARC records are updated weekly, DSC book records monthly and serials records quarterly, while Extra-MARC records are added daily by LASER. In addition, records are now being loaded from Askews, and from Peters, and further files are being planned for loading in 1997. Holdings and location information is constantly updated.
Records are created to AACR2 at levels 1, 2 or 3 depending on the source of the record. Records on the Viscount database are in UKMARC format. The quality of information on the database is ensured by full authority control on all access points except title and subject. Access points include title, author, keyword, subject, and language. Contributing libraries also add holdings information to records, and some 30 million locations are held on the database. Some records may contain information such as price where this has been provided by the original source.
Access to the Viscount database is limited to member institutions which can be any type of library. It requires a communications package supplied by LASER, and access can be via GNS DialPlus, public X.25, or kilostream dedicated lines. Record supply is available on-line, and off-line via the Selective Record Service. Retrospective conversion of records is available through on-line searching of the Viscount database, by searching the Viscount CD-ROM or off-line using floppy discs as the search and transfer medium.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: records with no holdings information, records which have library holdings locations attached, and records for ISBNs with holdings but which at the time include no bibliographic data.
In 1967, the Ohio College Library Center was founded to develop a computerised system in which the academic libraries of Ohio could share resources and cut costs. Over the years OCLC developed from the fifty-four Ohio colleges to an international network. In 1981, its name was changed to OCLC Online Computer Library Center and it now serves more than 21,100 libraries of all types in sixty-one countries and territories, covering the USA and Canada, Europe, the Middle East. Africa, Asia. the Pacific, and Latin America. Its objectives are to increase the availability of library resources and to reduce the rate-of-rise of library costs.
The OCLC Online Union Catalogue is a merged electronic catalogue of libraries around the world. The database grows by around 2 million records per year, and at the end of 1995 held 31,126,380 records (total unique records after duplicate detection resolution) with 562 million location listings for those items. While more than two thirds of the records are for items published this century there are substantial numbers of records for material from 1700-1900 plus around 300,000 records for material from 1450-1699, nearly 2,000 records for material from 1AD-1449, and 603 records for material 2000BC-1BC. The majority of records are for printed materials, but records also exist for items in non-book formats. There are 1,711,386 serials records, 868,617 records for audiovisual materials, 375,853 map records, 250,063 manuscript records, 1,044,118 records for sound recordings, 784,795 printed music records, and 68,499 records for computer files. The database is continually updated with new records and holdings information online.
Records are created to AACR2 levels 1, 2 or 3, and the level is encoded in the entry. Records are in the OCLC MARC format which is basically LC MARC format. Access points are added to records for personal and corporate authors; while libraries are not specifically required to add LCSH, DDC20 and LC classification numbers, they must code them correctly when used, and most libraries do add this data. Authority control is by required use of LC Name Authority and LC Subject Authority for member library input cataloguing. Holdings information is added to records.
The OCLC database can only be accessed by full members and partial users of OCLC. Access to the database is via OCLC Passport software over X.25 or the Internet. Record supply is available on-line via Passport; and if required the records can be supplied off-line after on-line searching to locate them. Retrospective conversion records are available to OCLC member libraries on-line, while any library can buy such records via the Retrocon service (complete conversion by OCLC), the Microcon service (batch conversion using ISBNs and diskettes) or the Tapecon service (batch conversion using ISBNs and tapes).
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into three categories: full MARC records from national library, full MARC records from member library, and CIP records.
SLS was originally the South West Academic Libraries Co-operative Automation Project (SWALCAP), formed in 1969 with three founder members (the university libraries of Bristol and Exeter and Cardiff). It became a private company, SLS, limited by shares in January 1986. It currently has a membership base in academic, public, special and corporate sectors. Existing users of SLS overseas include academic libraries in Sweden, Spain and Portugal, and public libraries in Sweden. Currently, the main services offered by SLS are the LIBERTAS system (launched in 1986) for library management activities, and the SLS Database.
The SLS database contains over eleven million records from a number of sources. The LIBERTAS UK Union Catalogue file contains the records and holdings of contributing LIBERTAS institutions. Updated daily, it has more than 3,800,000 records from 1976 to the present. In addition, the database holds the Library of Congress Monographs file (1968 to present, updated weekly), British National Bibliography (BNB) file (1989 to present, updated weekly), Library of Congress Serials file (1973 to present, updated monthly), Whitaker In Print file (updated monthly), HMSO publications (updated monthly), and Biblioteca Nationale (updated monthly) and the Spanish Union Catalogue file (updated weekly). The BNB file contains CIP records which appear up to twelve weeks prior to publication, and the Whitaker file contains pre-publication records up to eighteen months before publication. SLS has no exclusions policy on materials; however, while there are some records for non-book materials in the union catalogues, exact figures are not known.
All records in the database are created to AACR2, though they can be at levels 1, 2, or 3 depending on their source. Records are in SLSMARC, a system variant of UKMARC. Access points are added for personal and corporate authors, title words, and control numbers. Users of the Z39.50 interface can also access records using the BIB1 attribute set. Records supplied by sources can include additional information such as price, but this is not added by union catalogue contributors. UK and Spanish Union catalogue files include holdings information. Within LIBERTAS, MARC fields 100, 110, 111, 600, 650, 700, 900 and 240 are subject to authority control.
Access to the SLS database is not restricted to SLS systems users, and is achieved via LIBERTAS and the LIBERTAS Z39.50 client (LIBERTAS customers), the eXplore access software (non LIBERTAS customers),and the PC Z39.50 client (anyone). Internet connections are required for all access routes, though LIBERTAS can also use X.25 connections. Record supply is available on-line via the routes outlined above. Retrospective conversion records are available on-line via any of the routes, and off-line via tape services.
Within the currency survey, records found for sample items are divided into two categories: records with holdings information attached, and records with no holdings information.
In Conclusion
Bibliographic records in some form are required for selection/order/sales processes as well as for catalogue provision. The above profiles provide some interesting comparisons between the various record providers which are discussed briefly below. They are also compared in table form; figure 1 on databases, figure 2 on records and figure 3 on access.
Group A. The British Library, Whitaker, Book Data and BDS all aim to cover the major publishing output of the UK. On the question of format, while the British Library and BDS use UKMARC format for their records, Whitaker and Book Data use in-house formats. As regards frequency of update, the CD-ROM services are issued monthly, the British Library files are updated weekly, while BDS clients would obtain records from a continuously updated database. Whitaker and Book Data's CD-ROM services are both focused towards order and sales transactions and both have links with similar organisations in other countries. Book Data and BDS both provide extra stock selection information. BDS is providing records to bibliographic standards at the pre publication stage.
Group B. All sources from this group hold records in variants of MARC format. The BLCMP and SLS databases are used in their respective library management systems, while LASER's Viscount database supports an electronic inter-library loan system. The CURL database contains only holdings of member libraries, while the other four contain union files with a number of additional files of records from other sources which can be used as the basis for new records for the union file. All the databases, except CURL which is updated weekly, are continually updated or updated daily. Holdings information is contained on records in all the databases in this group.
Libraries require bibliographic records for at all stages from selection, through acquisition, to cataloguing. The type of material they acquire, and the nature of their user base, will determine the most appropriate library management systems and sources of bibliographic records for their needs. While there are differences between the sources which will be surveyed, there is a substantial amount of common coverage of bibliographic records required by libraries in the UK. It will therefore be interesting to see how the databases fare within the currency survey. As noted in the section on the sample, the hit-rate is calculated by taking the results of twelve months worth of samples. Therefore, no publishable results can be expected from the survey until twelve months after its first sample.
In addition, the current basis for the samples excludes material not published or distributed in the UK. This necessarily only looks at the currency of a subset of records in some of the databases. While not practicable at present, it might be possible in the future to look at how well sources cover publications from wider range of countries.
Further information on the above services can be obtained from:
National Bibliographic Service, British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ
Bibliographic Data Services Ltd, 24 Nith Place, Dumfries, DG1 2PN
Book Data, Northumberland House, Twickenham, TW1 3RZ
J. Whitaker & Sons, 12 Dyott Street, London, WC1A 1DF
BLCMP Library Services Ltd., Institute of Research and Development, Birmingham Research Park, Vincent Drive, Birmingham, B15 2SQ
CURL Database, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DR
LASER, Fourth Floor, Gun Court, 70 Wapping Lane, London, E1 9RL
OCLC 7th Floor, Tricorn House, 51-53 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B16 8TP
SLS (Information Systems) Ltd., 4 York Court, Upper York Street, Bristol, BS2 8QF
I would like to acknowledge the help of the following people in providing information for the above profiles, and to Lorcan Dempsey, Director of UKOLN, for comments on the draft version.
BL: Ross Bourne, Brian Kefford and Simon Matty
BDS: Lesley Whyte
BD: David Martin, Francis Bennett
WH: Rosemary Bell, Alan Mollison, Martin Whitaker
BLCMP: Terry Willan
CURL: Anne Mealia
LASER: Peter Smith
OCLC: Janet Mitchell
SLS: Petros Demetriou
|
Database coverage |
Date limit on items included |
Update frequency |
Materials covered |
|
|
BL NBS |
UK publishing output |
BNB files back to 1950 |
Weekly |
Printed monographs & first issue serials |
|
BDS |
UK publishing output |
Files back to 1995 |
Continuous |
Printed materials |
|
Book Data |
UK publishing output & coverage of US, NZ, South African & Austral'n |
In print and recently out of print item |
CD-ROM issued monthly |
All published products except serials |
|
Whitaker |
UK publishing output & coverage of US, Australasian, South African |
In print and recently out of print item |
CD-ROM issued monthly |
Books, maps, audio books, annual publs |
|
BLCMP |
Member library stocks and access to other files |
No limit |
Continuous |
Printed materials incl. music, sound recordings, videos, maps, microforms, computer files |
|
CURL |
Member library stocks |
No limit |
Weekly |
Printed materials, few serials, few non-book materials |
|
LASER |
Member library stocks and access to other files |
No limit |
Continuous |
Printed materials |
|
OCLC |
Member library stocks |
No limit |
Continuous |
Printed materials incl. music, sound recordings, maps, audiovisual items, computer files, manuscripts |
|
SLS |
Member library stocks and access to other files |
No limit |
Continuous |
Printed materials, some non-book items |
Figure 1. Database summary
|
|
Record format |
Use of AACR2, LCSH, DDC20 |
Access points |
Additional information |
|
BL NBS |
UKMARC |
AACR2, LCSH, DDC20 Authority control |
Authors, titles, subject, control numbers |
Price information at time of publication |
|
BDS |
UKMARC |
AACR2, LCSH, DDC20 Authority control |
Authors, keywords, series |
Price, contents summary, genre codes |
|
Book Data |
Own format |
Authors, titles, publishers, ISBNs |
Price, summary, contents tables |
|
|
Whitaker |
BRS format |
DDC20 Authority control |
Authors, titles, publishers, ISBNs |
Price, in or out of print, suppliers |
|
BLCMP |
BLCMP UKMARC |
AACR2, LCSH, DDC20, LC class Authority control |
Authors, titles, ISBNs |
Holdings on union file records |
|
CURL |
UKMARC |
AACR2 |
Authors, titles, subject, ISBNs |
Holdings |
|
LASER |
UKMARC |
AACR2 |
Authors, titles, subject, language |
Holdings on union file records |
|
OCLC |
UKMARC |
AACR2, LCSH, DDC20, LC class Authority control |
Authors, titles, ISBNs |
Holdings |
|
SLS |
SLS UKMARC |
AACR2 Authority control |
Authors, titles, control numbers |
Holdings on union file records |
Figure 2. Record detail summary
|
Access limitations |
Access method |
Record supply |
Retrospective conversion records available? |
|
|
BL NBS |
Subscribers |
Telnet, DIALPLUS, IPSS, Janet X.28 Dial PSTN |
On-line or off-line |
Yes |
|
BDS |
Clients |
Email, Internet, First EDItion, |
On-line or off-line |
Yes, but limited |
|
Book Data |
Subscribers |
CD-ROM stand alone PC or networked |
Off-line |
No |
|
Whitaker |
Subscribers |
CD-ROM stand alone PC or networked |
Off-line |
No |
|
BLCMP |
Talis and BLS users |
BLCMP dedicated network |
On-line or off-line |
Yes to member libraries |
|
CURL |
Reference service (free): anyone Other services (charged): members |
Telnet, Janet |
On-line |
Only item by item searching |
|
LASER |
Member libraries |
GNS DialPlus, X.25, dedicated lines |
On-line or off-line |
Yes |
|
OCLC |
Member libraries and partial users |
Internet, X.25 |
On-line or off-line |
Yes |
|
SLS |
LIBERTAS users Others |
Internet X.25 also for LIBERTAS |
On-line |
Yes |
Figure 3. Access summary
UKOLN Papers and Reports | Bibliographic Management Research Group
web page by Isobel Stark
Last Revised 25-Feb-1998