Online Public Access Catalogs and Serials

Online public access catalogs (OPACS) enable the user to search a library's holdings in ways never before possible and to know the status of the desired items before going to the shelf. Serials constitute an important part of a library's collection. Holdings information is a necessary adjunct to bibliographic information. The online catalog of the future will give access to serial literature beyond that held by a library. As users become accustomed to the OPAC's capabilities their expectations for access to information will rise. Libraries should be aware of the factors to be considered when incorporating serials information into an online catalog. They must make decisions on what information their users need and what form of access and display will best meet that need.     

AN AUTOMATED BOOK CATALOG FOR A LEARNING RESOURCES CENTER PERIODICALS COLLECTION

To permit easy user access to an uncataloged serials collection, a method was devised to produce (via computer facilities) a book catalog. This book catalog includes both an alphabetical listing by serial title and a subject section that lists titles by appropriate category. The programs necessary for this system were designed in the computer center according to specifications outlined by library personnel. The catalog can be easily reproduced from the computer printout and distributed campus-wide as well as used within the Learning Resources Center.     

Evolution of a processing system in a large biomedical library.

The processing system used in the UCLA Biomedical Library is modest in size and still under development. Its origins date back to a batch mode serials control system begun in the mid-1960s. This was converted to an on-line system which currently has modules for check-in, updating and retrieval, claims, bindery preparation, and invoice information. Titles can be retrieved at the terminal by search of any word in the title, by subject heading, language, country of publication, and type of publication. The system is adaptable to network use and at present is shared with one other library. To the serials system has been added a computer-assisted cataloging and card production system. The latter utilizes serials nucleus software as well as design for data input and data storage. In-house listings and coding procedures overlap in a general way. Work is under way on further integration of the two processing subsystems and a feasibility study has been completed for addition of a subsystem for acquisitions which will combine and adapt features of the other two; for example, information retrieval characteristics from both, catalog coding and programs for acceptance of data, serials programs for claims, and other output programs. Cost benefits of the subsystems are described and discussed.     

Resource sharing in university libraries: A tool for information interchange

Experience developed in two university libraries, Advertising and Marketing School of Rio de Janeiro library and Medicine Faculty of Petrópolis library, members of CBIES/RJ-resource sharing consortia of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with the aim of identifying benefits for both institutions through their participation in the consortia. The main results are as follows: scientific and technological knowledge sharing, cooperative acquisition of software and databases, and the development of a cooperative online serials catalog; facilities to search for and access information. This experience shows how library consortia are efficient tools to information resource sharing and can contribute to increase the quality of academic education.     

How Google Uses Metadata to Improve Search Results

This article critically examines four Google search products (Google Advanced Search, Google News Advanced Search, Google Books Advanced Search, and Google Advanced Scholar Search) and shows how each uses metadata to enhance or improve search results. In addition, the article shows how metadata can increase search precision and recall in information discovery systems. From a library perspective, this article analyzes some of the metadata-enabled features of Google's advanced search pages and compares these features to those found in a typical online library catalog. From a serials perspective, Google News Advanced Search demonstrates how Google indexes news websites, sites that are essentially continuing resources. As Google incorporates more and more metadata functionality into its advanced search pages, they increasingly begin to function more like online library catalogs and less like search pages found in a traditional Internet search engine. The simple search box has many limitations, and like libraries, Google is increasingly creating and offering metadata-enabled search features that improve search precision and recall in its products.     

Online library catalog search performance by older adult users

Previous information retrieval research has neglected examination of older adults' search behavior. The present study examined the online search performance and associated errors of 54 older adult users of a representative online library catalog system. Participants' error data were examined in the framework of Borgman's three layers of knowledge needed to perform online library catalog searching: (1) conceptual knowledge, (2) semantic knowledge, and (3) technical skills in executing the query. The results of older adults were consistent with findings of previous online library catalog studies with younger adults. Older adults experienced serious problems at all three knowledge layers but experienced their most severe difficulties with conceptual knowledge of how to search the online library catalog system (e.g., formulating queries, understanding and using keyword and Boolean searching, and understanding the contents of databases). The significance of these findings for older adults' use of online library catalogs will be discussed.     

Anatomy of a serials collection and its usage: case study of an Australian academic library

This paper reports the results of a serial usage study conducted at an Australian academic library. The study indicates what can happen to holdings if collection development staff do not have access to usage data. In this instance, 55.42% of serial holdings were closed, and 59.14% of serial holdings were unused. The study found that removing unused serials to closed access would significantly reduce the high level of congestion in the collection. It also found that the density of use of serials expressed as average uses per meter in some high-cost disciplines (e.g., mathematics, physics, and chemistry) was significantly lower than the density of use of serials in other disciplines. Possible explanations for this are examined and a number of weeding/relegation strategies are proposed.     

Risky Business: Outsourcing Serials Cataloging

In 1999, the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh began a project to outsource cataloging for both the monographs and serials that were included in a special collection known at the university as the Glidden Collection. The collection had previously been accessible only through the existence of a card catalog. The materials had originally been cataloged using a local hybrid classification system based on the Glidden classification system. In her presentation, Faye Leibowitz provides detailed information about the history of the collection and why certain factors associated with the collection made it a difficult candidate for outsourcing. Libraries should seriously consider the hidden costs of outsourcing serials cataloging. The decision to outsource serials cataloging should take into account staffing problems and training. The way in which catalogers at the selected vendor use “cataloger's judgment” can also impact consistency between existing library policy and the outsourced records.     

Searching and Browsing the Dewey Decimal Classification in an Online Catalog

In the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Online Project, subject searching and browsing of DDC Schedules and Relative Index were featured in an experimental online catalog. The effectiveness of this DDC in an online catalog was tested in online retrieval experiments at four participating libraries. These experiments provided data for analyses of subject searchers' use of a library classification in the information retrieval environment of an online catalog. Recommendations were provided for the enhancement of bibliographic records, online catalogs, and online cataloging systems with a library classification. In this paper, subject searchers' use of the subject outline search capability of the experimental online catalog is described. This capability was unique to the experimental online catalog and all other online catalogs, because it referred searchers to online displays of the classification schedules based on their entry of subject terms. Failure analyses of subject outline searches demonstrated its specific strengths and weaknesses. Users' postsearch interview comments highlighted their experiences and their satisfaction with this search. Based on the failure analyses and users' interview comments, recommendations are provided for the improvement of the subject outline search in online catalogs.     

Systems used to automate medical libraries—analysis by type of library

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Managing Serials in a Large Digital Library: Case Study of the UNT Libraries Digital Collections

The Portal to Texas History (http://texashistory.unt.edu) and the University of North Texas (UNT) Digital Library (http://digital.library.unt.edu) contain more than 445,000 items collectively, hosted by the UNT Libraries. These collections include a variety of serial publications such as newsletters, magazines, scholarly journals, annual reports, and yearbooks. Many of these serials are key resources for the user groups of both repositories. In this article, we discuss the importance of serials within our collections, some of the challenges, the standards we use, and how we leverage metadata to facilitate access to serials for diverse global users.     

Document Delivery at a Veterinary Medical Library

The purpose of this study is to assess the use of document delivery services provided for primary clientele of the Veterinary Medical Library at Auburn University. This study describes and quantifies external library use patterns of the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, staff and students, for a twelve-month period, though an analysis of the library's courier and interlibrary loan services. Three hypotheses are tested: (1) the majority of courier and interlibrary loan requests are for serials; (2) most serial requests are for nonveterinary journals; and (3) the demand for interlibrary loan and courier services follows a non-random pattern of distribution, i.e., the numbers of requests per month are unequal. The first two hypotheses are confirmed. Of the 2,376 requests for library materials external to VML, 2,197 (92%) are for serials; of the serials requests 1,608 (73%) are for nonveterinary journals. The third hypothesis is also confirmed. The chi square predicates a nonrandom distribution of requests by month. This study defines the nature of veterinary research as interdisciplinary. Findings identify collection weaknesses and requirements for new acquisitions.     

TO CLASSIFY OR NOT TO CLASSIFY. . .

Serials have been treated variously in libraries with regard to classification. The general feeling is that classification is a waste of time and a problem for the patron. The author disagrees and advocates full classification of serials because: (a) materials on the same subject are kept together, expanding subject access and facilitating browsing; (b) fuller use of the serials collection is ensured; (c) reference work with serials is enhanced; (d) aids can be produced for periodical selection and deselection; (e) reshelving is facilitated; (f) title changes can be shelved together; and (g) overcrowding in the subject catalog can be alleviated. Classification gives serials the place of importance they deserve.     

Serials management: integration and enhancement through reorganization

It is broadly acknowledged that effective serials management supports and requires a close link between the staff in technical and public services. More recently, new technological opportunities combined with changes in library organization and administration have greatly facilitated this linkage. The nature and structure of a library’s organization can aid in and benefit from this connectedness. Departments in the University of Louisville’s public and technical services areas began a cooperative effort to maintain serials records in the online catalog in the early 1990s. With reorganization in the late 1990s, a new team structure emerged which further facilitated this effort. In return, this cooperation and the tools that it has created support the teams in a new user-centered approach to serials management.     

Cataloging Matters for Digital Preservation

A serials cataloger reflects on the challenges posed by digital preservation and the availability of bibliographic metadata outside of the traditional library catalog.     

Convergence toward common standards in machine-readable cataloging

The adoption of the MARC II format for the communication of bibliographic information by the three National Libraries of the U.S.A. makes it possible for those libraries to converge on the remaining necessary common standards for machine-readable cataloging.THREE LEVELS OF STANDARDS ARE IDENTIFIED: fundamental, the character set; intermediate, MARC II; and detailed, the codes for identifying data elements.The convergence on these standards implies that the National Libraries can create and operate a Joint Bibliographic Data Bank requiring standard book numbers and universal serial numbers for identifying monographs and serials and that the system will thoroughly process contributed catalog entries before adding them to the Data Bank. There is reason to hope that the use of the MARC II format will facilitate catalogers' decision processes.     

我国期刊联合目录发展状况调查与展望

论文根据对我国现阶段图书馆期刊联合目录发展状况的调查，提出我国已经初步建立了较为完备的期刊联合目录三级保障体系，分析了目前期刊联合目录建设中存在的问题和今后的发展方向。     

Do Serials Have a Place in the Institutional Digital Repository?

ABSTRACT

The institutional repository (IR) can provide a system for digitizing print serials for online delivery and a way to archive and preserve serial content already available online. Organizing serial content in IRs varies based on the architecture of each repository. In this presentation, Kay Teel of the Metadata Department at Stanford University Libraries discussed different approaches IRs use to manage serial content. She gave examples illustrating the inconsistent treatment of serials in the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) and described a conceptual model for serials in the SDR to provide an improved user experience finding and accessing digital serial content.     

The Relationship of Metadata to Item Circulation

This study analyzes the relationship between online public access catalog (OPAC) searches entered in a small academic library's catalog and the circulation of items during the same time period. Rather than identifying all searches resulting in a reasonable number of retrievals as successful, searches in this study were determined most useful if items on the results list were subsequently borrowed from the library. This comparison of search results with subsequent material checkouts indicates which metadata elements seem most useful to searchers, and suggests ways libraries might use this knowledge to enhance their users’ search experiences.