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Programa de Comutação Bibliográfica -
Comut
Ricardo Rodrigues
Abstract | Paper in
Portable Document Format (PDF) Presentation in Microsoft® PowerPoint®
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Established in 1980 by the
Ministries of Education and of Science and Technology, the Programa de
Comutação Bibliográfica-Comut [Bibliographic Delivery]
allows the acquisition of copies of technico-scientific documents (article of
journals, theses, annals of congress and so forth) acquired and stored in a
cooperative and consortium way at 218 libraries (called Base-Libraries)
belonging to university and research Brazilian institutions. It also allows the
acquisition of copies of documents which are available at overseas libraries
(with which the Program signs contract of services) and of full text documents
(as online journals) available through Internet, the access of which is only
possible by use of a password or payment.
About 1,500 Brazilian teaching and
research institutions request copies of documents by means of Comut. The
potential public in Brazil is estimated to be 3,800,000 people (university
students, researchers, teachers, and other professionals). Soon the number of
users will be greater, because Comut is expanding its services to other
countries, mainly to Iberoamerican and Portuguese speaking countries.
Comut charges from the users only
the costs of production of copies (photocopies or digitization) and shipment
(by mail, fax or electronic mail). The requesters acquire at the Program Office
"Comut Electronic Bonus" and automatically transfer them to the Base-Libraries,
as a way of payment, at the moment they request copies. Later on the
Base-Libraries change these Comut Electronic Bonuses for money at the Program
Management Office. This procedure helps to keep payment concentrated on one
only institution (Comut Management) which receives the money from all
requesters and then transfer it to the suppliers of copies. This procedure
simplifies and lower the accounting and financial process. The "Comut
Electronic Bonuses" can be acquired by different ways, including by credit
cards and other service cards similar to telephone cards.
The operations of requesting
copies are entirely automated through Internet and can be also done directly by
the users without assistance from a library. In order to find the
Base-Libraries which have the documents requested, Comut utilizes collective
catalogues of documents. The main catalogue is the Collective Catalogue of
Serial Publications which indicates collections of 531 Brazilian libraries,
including Comut's 218 Base-Libraries. Another is the catalogue of Digital
Library of Theses and Dissertations which allows to localize, at the main
libraries of the Country, about 190,000 theses submitted.
All the operations of the Program
are monitored by Management of Comut, assuring good quality of services
offered. Annual plans are also included for training of participants in
addition to programs of marketing and publicising of services.
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