ISSN 1039-348X
No. 83
September/October 1995
ABN News with Ozline News was edited and designed by Leora Kirwan using desktop publishing software. This publication is issued bimonthly by the Services to Libraries Division of the National Library of Australia. From 1996 single subscriptions will be available gratis on application to:
Editor, ABN News with Ozline News
Network Services Marketing
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Unless otherwise specified, for further information contact the ABN/Ozline Help Desk on (1800) 026 155 or the Editor on (02) 6262 1580.
The National Library of Australia will work closely with libraries to assist their smooth migration to the new WORLD 1 service. Planning for this migration involves financial, technical, training and resource considerations. An information paper, setting out the key issues in each of these areas and identifying how the National Library will assist customers, will be sent to all ABN and Ozline users shortly. Cost estimates will be included.
The following information is a brief overview of the equipment and network requirements necessary for connecting to WORLD 1.
Phase 1: Internet
The development of WORLD 1 coincides with confirmation that the Internet is the primary communications channel of the future. As the design of WORLD 1 will take advantage of emerging technology, the means of access to the search services in Phase 1 will be via the Internet. Customers will have the option of dial-up access to an Internet node.
WORLD 1 interfaces
An exciting new graphical user interface (GUI) is being developed to provide a pictorial 'point-and-click' entry to WORLD 1. This will be based on the conventions utilised by Microsoft Windows.
The GUI software will be provided free of charge to WORLD 1 customers who choose this method of interface. It is anticipated that many of these will be high volume users of the
WORLD 1 service. The WORLD 1 GUI will be demonstrated at venues nationwide early next year.
Alternatively, WORLD 1 customers will be able to choose a Web browser. For example, Netscape could be used to access the WORLD 1 search services.
Customers with character-based workstation software (e.g. WINQVT) will be able to access WORLD 1 through a Lynx-based interface. The functionality available via this method of access will however be limited.
Equipment needs
GUI customers
PCs will be the priority platform on which all WORLD 1 software will be implemented.
The initial version of the WORLD 1 GUI will be available to customers with PC/clones.The base platform for the WORLD 1 GUI is a 486/SX 33Mhz PC with 8Mb of memory running Windows 3.1.
A version of the GUI to operate on a Macintosh has been tentatively scheduled for development after the implementation of Phase I. The base Macintosh platform is under consideration but a Mac LC 575 with 8Mb of memory is a probable choice.
Support for X-terminals is still being investigated, and X-terminal users will be contacted soon.
Controller requirements
Some WORLD 1 customers will benefit from the installation of a controller, in particular at those sites with multiple workstations running separate copies of the GUI.
In Phase I the controller will be used primarily to manage the distribution and updating of the GUI software. In later phases the distribution of some WORLD 1 functions to the controller will lead to improved performance and will allow WORLD 1 staff to offer higher levels of network and operational support. Phase I planning indicates that the controller will be based on a PC running Unix. Future phases may require a more powerful platform which can be easily integrated into the architectural building blocks of WORLD 1. Details of how the controllers will be marketed, installed and maintained are under consideration. The National Library of Australia will arrange for controller equipment to be supplied at a favourable price, with distribution, installation and maintenance most likely being handled by its staff or through an agent.
Web Browser customers
Web browsers are currently available commercially or from the public domain for PCs, Macs and X-terminals. Netscape and Mosaic are examples of Web browsers. As these operate over a TCP/IP network, TCP/IP software must be loaded on the WORLD 1 workstation. If Netscape is chosen as the Web browser, a 386/SX with 4Mb memory and Windows 3.1 is the base requirement. However, for good performance, we recommend that a PC or PC clone be a 486/DX with 8Mb of memory. The base requirement for a Macintosh is an LC II with 4 Mb of memory.
Obtaining Internet access
The National Library of Australia plans to negotiate agreements with selected Internet service providers (ISP's) to offer WORLD 1 customers discounted charges and improved technical support. Results of these negotiations will be announced as soon as they are available.
Migration to WORLD 1
As the first step in the migration to WORLD 1, the National Library and ABN/Ozline customers will need to work closely together to ensure a smooth changeover to Internet access. The complexity and length of the task will depend on each site's requirements and existing infrastructure and could take from a few weeks to three months. Once an Internet connection has been established, customers will be able to access both ABN and WORLD 1 from the same workstation. Early connection to the Internet will assist National Library of Australia staff to provide the best possible support during customer migration to WORLD 1.
Current SNA leased-line or dial-up customers
Customers can choose whether to maintain existing NLA connections for access to ABN/Ozline until they are replaced entirely with WORLD 1 services, or to utilise the new Internet connection for all ABN/ WORLD 1 services as soon as it is installed. To enable ABN access from the WORLD 1 workstation, customers must have Tn3270 client software installed. Please be aware that accessing ABN via an Internet connection will make all SNA software currently used to access ABN obsolete. For some sites this will also mean replacing 3270, 5250 and ASCII terminals with PCs or Macs. In order to spread the expense of re-equipment over a longer period, it will be possible to make a gradual move to the Internet for ABN activity. The National Library will help all customers to finalise migration activities before the SNA network is decommissioned, probably in the second quarter of 1997.
This strategy also applies to customers who currently access ABN/Ozline via an SNI gateway e.g. the Northern Territory's NCOM or the Department of Health Network.
Current Internet customers
Customers in this category are well positioned to access WORLD 1, once the appropriate WORLD 1 GUI or Web browser interface software has been installed on their workstations.
Support for network migration
Support services from the National Library will continue to be available for ABN and WORLD 1 customers. Assistance will be provided in a number of ways:
Phase 2: Network access
Network access options for later phases of WORLD 1 will be finalised by the third quarter of 1996. At this stage the plan is to recommend the use of the Internet as the preferred option for WORLD 1 access, provided reliability, performance, and security issues are resolved.
The option of a private WORLD 1 leased-line network will be retained as a fallback position.
Further Information
Please contact Chris Ballantyne at the National Library of Australia now if you have any concerns about the equipment necessary for implementation of WORLD 1 in your institution: tel. (02) 6262 1549 or E-mail: cballant@nla.gov.au
JEDDS stands for the Joint Electronic Document Delivery Software Project. It is an international project, involving partners from four countries, which aims to improve document delivery, especially from libraries to end users.
The current aim of the project is to enhance the Ariel software which is used by many libraries to support the scanning of printed documents and the transmission of the resulting document images across the Internet. The enhancement will make the software more suitable for transmitting document images to end users such as university researchers or clients of special libraries. It will be especially useful in transmitting the documents to those library users who have access to an electronic mail service.
The current Ariel software:
The proposed new Ariel software would do all of the above AND:
If the JEDDS Project is successful, many libraries and document providers will licence the enhanced software. If this happens, end users would benefit by receiving, directly into their electronic mailbox, documents which they have ordered from their library or document provider. The end user would not need the enhanced software to do this: they would need only to use some viewer software which would be freely available as public domain software.
Unlike the current Ariel software, the enhanced software would not require the library's transmission workstation and the user's computer to be switched on and communicating with each other. This is because electronic mail operates in a 'connectionless' manner, with the data being forwarded from the transmitting site to an intermediate site, before being accessed later by the receiving site.
From the point of view of the libraries, the JEDDS Project offers a number of benefits. It would allow them to provide an improved and more flexible service to their users. It would also allow them to establish more efficient workflows, integrating the document delivery service into their document request management system by having the data about the document request transmitted from the request management system to the document delivery system, without any rekeying.
For this reason, the JEDDS Project and the WORLD 1 service would be able to complement each other nicely. As WORLD 1 will support the International Interlibrary Loan Protocol, any user of the WORLD 1 service would be able to integrate the enhanced Ariel software with their use of the WORLD 1 document request management facility.
The partners in the JEDDS Project met at a workshop in San Francisco on 28-29 September 1995. They are the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee, the National Library of Australia, the National Library of New Zealand, the Joint Information Systems Committee (for the United Kingdom's university sector) and the Research Libraries Group. It is proposed that the Research Libraries Group undertake the enhancement of the Ariel software according to principles which were confirmed at the workshop.
More information about the JEDDS Project can be found at http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/jointdev.htm
Phase 1 of the WORLD 1 project is on track for completion in mid- 1996 after reaching the halfway point in October. Three areas of functionality have been completed: the search and browse interface, system support functions, and client services.
The search and browse interface received a successful 'usability laboratory' test at the University of Canberra during September. The interface was closely scrutinised by potential WORLD 1 clients: a cataloguer, a reference librarian, a lawyer and an undergraduate student.
The interface permits a range of search types, including easy (for novice or casual users), author/title, precise (for specific fields), command language-driven (for experienced users), and several browsable indexes.
The system support functions now developed include data descriptors which will allow the addition of a range of data in formats such as USMARC, SGML, ASCII-tagged or comma-delimited, full-text and image (JPEG standard) documents. Other important features provided are the ability to send broadcast messages in real time, and the ability to define World 1 code sets which are unique to specific databases and shared across all databases.
The functions required for client registration and the definition of a large range of products and services which will be browsable have been designed. Complex issues such as copyright and royalties have also been addressed. Underpinning this development is a range of help functions, such as context-sensitive help and cue cards.
The second set of functional components for Phase 1 are now due to start. The WORLD 1 project team, currently consisting of 40 dedicated CSC and National Library of Australia staff, are eagerly looking forward to starting the three new timeboxes which encompass document requesting and item delivery (for implementation through ABN's Interlibrary Loan Subsystem), billing, and other user-support functions such as the ability to load new data.
October will also see a start on the development of a Web browser, which will permit access to WORLD 1 functions and data that is maintained on the WORLD 1 host.
In addition to the ongoing project teamwork, two important workshops occurred in October. The first, a vision workshop to finalise the objectives and priorities for Phase 2 of the WORLD 1 project, was held in Wellington, New Zealand on 10-11 October. The second, a document delivery support workshop, will be held in Sydney in November.
Clients of both ILL and non-ABN/NZBN interlibrary loan systems in Australia and New Zealand have been invited to discuss how the WORLD 1 project can best support strategic directions for document delivery.
The Australasian Medical Index is alive and well, and like other Ozline databases, gearing up for migration to the WORLD 1 service.
Updates
AMI is updated monthly, with 400-500 new records added on each occasion. You will always find a note about the last update in the News (which you access by typing the command NEWS once you are logged on to AMI). Over 3 300 new records have been added to the AMI so far this year.
Thesaurus
Subject headings from 1993 are still being used in AMI. This is a result of technical problems encountered after the database was moved to the National Library's system and will mean an updating project after the move to WORLD 1.
Journals indexed
A list of the journals indexed for AMI is available upon request. The list carries details about the period covered, the abbreviated journal title used in the database, and the National Library's call number in most cases. Contact Sandra Henderson on tel.: (06) 262 1523 or E-mail: shenders@nla.gov.au for a copy of the list.
There have been some queries about the major Australian journals not covered by AMI. These are the journals already indexed for MEDLINE, or other NLM databases, by the National Library of Medicine. It is planned that records for these titles will be added to AMI in the WORLD 1 service. This will entail a large retrospective load, and the ongoing addition of new titles. Records for such journals as the Medical Journal of Australia entered AMI as part of major topic-based collections like the Aboriginal Health material selected by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in the 1980s.
Priority processing
During 1994, a number of key journals which now receive priority processing for AMI were identified. These are:
WORLD 1
AMI will be one of the databases available through WORLD 1 after August 1996. At the moment efforts are focussed on specifying the database and MeSH for the new service, and also undertaking a cleanup of AMI, to correct typographic errors in older records while bringing citations of monographic material into line with current ABN practice. This cleanup should be completed by about November this year.
At the time of migration we plan to delete the now obsolete HEAPS records still in AMI, and also the Biology of Ageing subset, which is no longer supported by the original sponsoring organisations. Any Australian material in that AG subset will be retained.
ABN News with Ozline News no. 82 carried an article about NOQ notes in cataloguing records. Unfortunately the last line, giving Angela Brown's E-mail: address for queries about the Australian National Bibliography, was missing. The address is: a.brown@nla.gov.au.
There has been considerable movement of staff in the Services to Libraries Division over the last six months, much of it into and out of the WORLD 1 team.
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Mary Gorman has worked in the National Bibliographic Database and Standards section of the ABN Office for the past year where her main briefs have been loading retrospective conversion files and undertaking file assessment. Prior to this Mary was senior indexing and selection librarian in APAIS. Mary will soon join the WORLD 1 user support team where she will be designing support functions for batch and saved searching, data loads and the copyright/royalty area.
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Cheryn McCann joined the WORLD 1 team in April. She is working with Margaret Nicholls and Colin Cooney on the migration of data from library files and databases to WORLD 1. Cheryn has helped to identify and describe data for migration and resolves problems which arise during extraction of data from existing files and the subsequent re-loading into WORLD 1. Cheryn expects to return to the ABN/Ozline Help Desk at the end of November.
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Ros McDonald rejoined the National Library in 1991 and developed technical services expertise in both serial and monograph cataloguing. Ros was recently appointed permanently to the ABN/Ozline Help Desk team.
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Leanne McKay joined the WORLD 1 task force from the Systems Branch of the National Library. Her experience and expertise lie in database management and database construction.
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Margarita Moreno will be acting as the manager of the Training and Documentation Section of the Network Services Branch for the next six months in place of Tom Ruthven. Margarita has long been associated with the ABN/Ozline Help Desk where she has worked (with a few diversions) for the past five years.
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Bemal Rajapatirana, Manager National Bibliographic Database Standards, will be part of the WORLD 1 database team for three months, from 9 October to mid-January.
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Tom Ruthven is now with the WORLD 1 user team until April 1996. He is currently investigating how to best register customers for WORLD 1, how to issue their logons, and ways in which they will be billed for use. Tom is also coordinating the library's input to Help text, the online tutorial and user manual.
A new gateway service is now available to full service members of ABN. The service offers a convenient way to search and request copy cataloguing from one of the world's largest bibliographic utilities-North America's RLIN, the Research Library and Information Network.
The huge RLIN database contains records for more than 24 million titles in something like 365 languages, so it is an excellent backup for ABN.
How it works
In future if full service members are not able to find a suitable copy catalogue record on ABN they will be able to logon and search the RLIN database. Once the required record has been called up it can be copied from the screen and rekeyed to ABN. Alternatively, the customer may arrange for the record to be sent to ABN by file transfer (ftp), for loading to the National Bibliographic Database. Holdings can then be added and records received in the usual catalogue products. Because of the processing which is needed, records requested by file transfer will not reach the NBD for two or three weeks.
Access
Access to RLIN is through the Internet. For those who don't already have an Internet connection, the ABN/Ozline Internet Gateway can be used at a connect charge of $A0.16 per minute.
The cost
All ABN full service members are invited to request a free RLIN password. ABN has negotiated a special rate of $A1.00 per RLIN search; there is no additional charge for displaying search results, off-screen capture or file transfer of records. Customers will receive the full $A7.00 original cataloguing credit for any records rekeyed to ABN but the normal ABN MARC record charges will apply to RLIN records which are delivered from ABN.
Customer support
Each RLIN gateway service user will receive a summary guide to RLIN search commands and the ABN/Ozline Help Desk will offer assistance via the toll free number. Searching charges will be conveniently included on ABN's monthly invoice.
How to join
Registration forms for the new service are available from the ABN/Ozline Help Desk. Completed forms should be mailed directly to the Help Desk or faxed to (02) 6273 1180.
Staff at the Help Desk will answer any further questions about the new service. They can be contacted on 1 800 026 155 or (06) 273 1180 and through E-mail: networks@nla.gov.au
The ABN Standards Committee met at the National Library on 13-14 September, and standards for WORLD 1 featured significantly on the agenda.
WORLD 1 issues
The minimum standard for bibliographic records in WORLD 1 was revised, and a simpler minimum standard was recommended, based on AACR2 level 1 description, with the addition of at least a name heading or a uniform title heading if applicable. The standard will apply to all formats. The purpose of the minimum record standard remains unchanged: it defines the minimum data required to uniquely identify a work, for the purpose of accurately linking a holdings statement. The standard is typically lower than most libraries choose to create for information retrieval and is designed to enable all libraries to contribute location data to the NBD. The minimum standard for MARC coding will be considered at the next meeting.
The Standards Committee considered the question of standards for summary holdings statements in
WORLD 1, and signalled an intention to develop a minimum standard for holdings of serials and multipart works. Until now the content of holdings statements has been left to the discretion of the holding library, but the advent of WORLD 1 will allow the system to read holdings statements and accurately direct document requests to libraries most likely to hold the specific issues required.
The Standards Committee also considered the fate of summary holdings statements which have been input to ABN in unform-atted fields over the last 13 years. The committee asked the National Library to investigate the feasibility of reformatting these holdings as part of the migration of holdings data to WORLD 1.
In WORLD 1, incoming bibliographic records will be merged with existing database records. This will require the development of a complex matching and merging algorithm, and the Standards Committee considered what would be the most desirable features of such an algorithm. Further work will be needed on this in 1996.
Following the Director-General's address to the Annual Users Meeting, which foreshadowed a review of governance and advisory mechanisms in WORLD 1, the Standards Committee considered alternative mechanisms for delivering advice on network standards in WORLD 1. Generally, the committee took stock of what would be desirable features of any future standards advisory mechanism, and suggested a need for improved national advisory mechanisms for policy and practice in document delivery.
ABN standards
While planning for WORLD 1 now occupies more than half of the Standards Committee's time, the business of ABN continues to require standards development. The committee made a recommendation to ensure that Australian Cataloguing-in-Publication records are included in the Australian National Bibliography. By allowing CiP records to be flagged as high level, they will be protected from replacement by overseas records which are not selected for ANB.
The standard for cataloguing preservation microform masters was further refined to simplify access to serials which are microfilmed in more than one sequence.
The committee also considered the problems of cataloguing CD-ROM publications which are issued in successive versions, and advised cataloguers not to create multiple records for all the versions. This issue is common to the cataloguing of electronic resources generally, including Internet resources.
The Subject Headings Review Panel continued its work on improving subject access for Australians. A good number of Australian subject headings were recommended, including Australian football injuries, Order of Australia, and Flystrike.
The resolutions of the meeting are available on the National Library's Information server at http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/scres952.html. The resolutions will also be distributed with the Summary of Changes to Manuals, to be issued after the Network Committee meeting in November.
Don't miss your last two chances in 1995 to visit a National Library of Australia trade stand. Network Services Branch marketing staff will be attending two conferences in Sydney during November.
The first conference is the National Public Libraries Conference, 12-15 November at the ANA Hotel in Sydney. The conference aims to position the local public library as an area link to international and government information services, to demonstrate how public libraries are responding to the demand for high quality information services, and to address the question of value to the local community.
The second conference is the inaugural Information Superhighway Access Exhibition, 16-18 November in Hall 5 at the Sydney Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre. The event will highlight the products and services of information carriers and the technology that is required to access the systems. More than 100 new technology companies will be exhibiting their particular products and networks while the National Library demonstrates Internet-accessible databases.
Contact Caroline Scharrer to receive a FREE pass to the Information Superhighway Access Exhibition on: tel.: (02) 6262 1164; E-mail: c.scharrer@nla.gov.au
The Gleeson Library is located within St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Adelaide and serves the students and faculty of the seminary as well as the students of the Adelaide College of Divinity. The college provides a variety of tertiary courses in theology through its component bodies, the Parkin-Wesley College (Uniting Church), St Barnabas College (Anglican) and the St. Francis Xaviour Seminary (Catholic).
The Gleeson Library works closely with the libraries of the other ACD colleges in order to provide the widest possible range of theological material. In the future the libraries will amalgamate to offer a centralised service from a single campus facility.
Although Gleeson's holdings cover many subject areas associated with religion and theology (Dewey 200s), its strengths lie in Catholicism, systematic theology and church history. There is a special collection of works by and about John Henry Newman.
With the amalgamation of all Adelaide College of Divinity libraries 'in the wind', the Gleeson Library decided to become a full member of ABN in order to catalogue a very large collection of more than 10 000 items of pre-1965 Catholic doctrinal material. This will make a unique collection available to the wider community through interlibrary loans and will constitute a vital step towards creating an inhouse machine-readable catalogue in the future.
All new acquisitions are being added to ABN, so hopefully, one day soon, the two ends will meet in the middle!
As the Federal Government's principal arts funding and advisory body, the Australia Council provides assistance for professional development and support in the form of grants for individual artists and art organisations.
The Australia Council Library is therefore a specialist library focussing on arts management, sponsorship, marketing, government funding for the arts and cultural policy-both Australian and overseas.
The library provides information and research services for its staff and internal clients such as board members; and to those people working in the arts. External clients are not able to borrow directly but may access material through interlibrary loan arrangements.
Approximately 9 000 monographs, 380 periodical titles and 650 videos are held in the collection. The library also has an extensive pamphlet run and receives reports from major Australian arts organisations.
ABN is used for online referencing and cataloguing by library staff who are preparing for a new library management system later this year. The system will automate and integrate all library functions except reference work.
As well as ABN, the Australia Council Library subscribes to Dialog, Wilson Online, UnCover Australia, Ilanet and-via CD-ROM-to AUSTROM, AUSLIT, Thorpe ROM and AVAD. Internet access for the council is also available through the library.
Free bibliographies are compiled on a regular basis, the most recent being 'Audience Research and Marketing'.
The University of Sydney's Cumberland campus maintains its own library to provide resources and support to students, staff and researchers.
The Library's collection of over 80 000 volumes and 2 000 serial titles is particularly oriented towards the health and social sciences. The library aims to support the undergraduate, graduate and research programs by providing service and assistance to users, as well as contributing general and recreational materials in a pleasant environment for study and research.
The college library has been a user of Virginia Tech Library System (VTLS) which has provided an automated, integrated, inhouse library system since the early 1980s.
This year, 1995, the Cumberland College Library formally becomes a part of the University of Sydney Library, and will be participating in the installation and use of the university library's new automated system. Future years will see the creation of a single database for all sections of the University of Sydney Library.
The college library, which is in the process of adding serial holdings to ABN, has derived its copy catalogue records from the network for some time. The library has now upgraded to full membership and expects to utilise this membership gradually in association with the installation of a new system.
The following glossary lists technical terms used in ABN News with Ozline News.
3270 an IBM terminal, or an emulation, which operates as a
LU2 device on an SNA network. These terminals operate as
block mode devices and support forms mode applications
3GL Third Generation [programming] Language
AACR Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules
AARNet Australian Academic Research Network.
A high-speed network linking tertiary and research institutions in
Australia to each other and the Internet
ACLIS Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services
ACOC Australian Committee on Cataloguing
AMI Australasian Medical Index
ANB Australian National Bibliography
ANSI American National Standards Institute
ANSI Z39.63 An ANSI/NISO standard for interlibrary loan data elements
ANSI Z39.50 ANSI/NISO standard for information retrieval service
definition and protocol specification. It allows an
application on one host to query and retrieve data from
databases on another host
ANSI Z39.58 ANSI/NISO standard for a common command language for
online interactive information retrieval
APAIS Australian Public Affairs Information Service (available
online through both Ozline and Ausinet)
APSIG Asia Pacific Special Interest Group
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ISO
646). Also used in relation to terminals that use this
standard
Austpac Telecom Australia's nationwide packet-switched network
BLDSC British Library Document Supply Centre
CASL Council of Australian State Libraries, (formerly State Libraries Council)
CARL Colorado Alliance and Research Libraries
CAUL Council of Australian University Librarians
CAVAL Co-operative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries
CiP Cataloguing-in-Publication
CJK Australian shared Chinese, Japanese and Korean Languages automated library system project
CONSER Cooperative Online Serials
Conspectus an internationally established methodology for
collecting data describing the strengths of library
collections in specific subject fields. The resulting
data forms the Conspectus database in each country
CSC (Computer Science Corporation) NDIS Contractor
DBMS database management system. A collection of software
programs designed to manage and maintain a collection of
records by providing facilities for storing, organising,
and retrieving related information as required
DDC Dewey decimal classification
DNC Distributed National Collection
EDI electronic data interchange
EDIFACT EDI standard for administration, commerce and transport
Elhill database management and information retrieval software supported by the US National Library of Medicine
FLIN Federal Libraries Information Network
HEAPS Health Education and Promotion System
IDP International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges
IFLA International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
ILMS Integrated Library Management System (Australian usage)
ILRS Directory Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory (produced by the National Library of Australia)
INTERNET International Online (Public Access) Communications Network
ISBD International Standard Bibliographic Description
JANUS National Library of Australia online public access catalogue
Kiwinet online information network run by the National Library of New Zealand
LCSH Library of Congress Subject Headings
MEDLARS Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System
MEDLINE online system of MEDLARS
NAL Newspapers in Australian Libraries
NBD National Bibliographic Database
NDIS National Document Information Service (NLA/NLNZ joint systems redevelopment project)
NLM National Library of Medicine
NPG National Portrait Gallery
NPO National Preservation Office
NUC:D National Union Catalogue of Library Materials for People with Disabilities
NUCOM National Union Catalogue of Monographs
NUCOS National Union Catalogue of Serials
NZBN New Zealand Bibliographic Network
OCLC Online Computer Library Centre (US bibliographic network)
RLG Research Libraries Group
RLIN Research Libraries Information Network (USA)
SILAS Singapore Integrated Library Automation Service
SOFI Supersearch/Ozline Friendly Interface
STAIRS IBM's Storage and Information Retrieval System
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (network protocol developed by the US Department of Defence)
UNILINC Sydney-based cooperative supporting services to educational institutions
VALA Victorian Association for Library Automation
WLN Western Library Network (software base for ABN)
Dial-up access to ABN/Ozline / 21 September 1995
Telstra has announced that it will be upgrading its AUSTPAC services between August 1995 and June 1996. The expected impact of these changes will include:
The major impact on the 1200 bps (01922) service will be that AUSTPAC will no longer accept the question mark in front of the 262652003 number to access the National Library. In fact, errors will occur if the ? is entered.
SimPC users will need to modify the nla.sim script to remove the ? in front of the 26252003 number when the service is introduced.
'Dup' rid prefix: adding holdings and changing bibs / 22 September 1995
Deliberate duplicate bibliographic records are added to the NBD to accommodate those records that have reached their holdings limit. The 'dup' rid prefix allows easy identification of records that have reached their maximum number of holdings and their deliberate duplicates. Holdings cannot be added to a record which has reached its holdings limit, so it is important to check its linking notes before attempting the task.
Linking notes appear as the first holdings statement, are preceded by three asterisk symbols (***), and only occur for records with the 'dup' rid prefix. There are two types of linking notes:
Type 1 appears as the first holdings statement in the parent record
dup98-000064
*** Number of holdings has exceeded maximum. See dup94-000089
for other holdings and to add holdings.
Type 2 appears as the first holdings statement in the deliberate dup
record dup94-000089
*** Duplicate record to accommodate surplus holdings.
See dup98- 000064 for other holdings
Holdings can only be added to the deliberate duplicate record dup94-000089 and amendments to holdings can be done by deleting the old holding from the parent record dup 98-000064 and adding a new holding to the deliberate duplicate record dup94-000089.
When changing bibliographic records with a 'dup' rid prefix, libraries are encouraged to change both the parent and any other duplicate records. For example, if a closing date is added to a duplicate serial record, then make the same change in other rids listed in the linking note in the holdings record. In this way all libraries will benefit from a single, simple effort.
ABN data preparation manuals project underway / 5 October 1995
In response to the concerns raised at the Annual Users Meeting about the current form of the data preparation manuals and the time-consuming tasks associated with updating them, it has been decided to try to meet the needs of ABN users by:
A project to integrate the manuals is currently underway and it is estimated that it will take about three months to complete. The new manual will be issued in looseleaf format for easy updating. All full service customers will receive one copy free of charge. The price of the manual will be determined and publicised as soon as possible.
Please note that Parts 2-4 in the present format will only be available until existing stocks run out.
USMARC format integration -Phase 2 / 10 October 1995
ABN is preparing to implement the second phase of the USMARC format integration process. Phase 2 is intended to be in place by 1 January 1996, in time to receive records in this format from Library of Congress in the new year.
Phase 2 consists of changes to the Leader, fields 001 to 008, eight new fields, and some indicator values and subfield codes. These changes are summarised in the USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data Update No. 1 Appendix F: Format Change List. This document is available from the Library of Congress Marvel Internet site: gopher://marvel.loc.gov/00/listarch/usmarc/ufbdfi95.cha
These changes are being assessed for their impact on the ABN system and ABN customers will be kept up to date with progress on format integration implementation.
If you have any queries on implementation of format integration please contact Ian Dunn at the ABN Office via the Help Desk 1800 026155 or by E-mail: idunn@nla.gov.au
Availability Addresses in Records
It is often difficult to locate small publishers whose addresses are not widely known. The ISBN Agency includes these addresses in their own interim records when they allocate an ISBN.
Acquisition staff often find address information included in interim records useful. Cataloguers are therefore encouraged to UPGRADE rather than replace interim records which contain this information, so that the availability details will transfer automatically to the full record. The coding on the full record should be changed so that the address of the small publisher appears in the 'b' subfield of the STK field.
If a cataloguer needs to replace an interim containing address information, it is mandatory that this information be transferred to the full record (see Part 2 E of the ABN Cataloguing Manual).
National Bibliographic Database size, September 1995
Bibliographic File: 11 401 831
Holdings statements: 22 740 578
Authority File: 1 414 884
Original cataloguing: 1 709 274
MARC record tape loads
ANB 1972-present LC BOOKS 1968-21 Aug 1995 LC SERIALS 1973-9 Aug 1995 LC FILMS 1972-9 Aug 1995 LC MUSIC 1984-9 Aug 1995 LC MAPS 1973-9 Aug 1995 LC CJK BOOKS 1988-9 Aug 1995 LC CJK SERIALS 1991-9 Aug 1995 TOC 1994-4 Sep 1995 USGPO 1976-31 Aug 1995 USNLM BOOKS 1984-7 Dec 1993 USNLM SERIALS 1984-7 Dec 1993 BNB 1971-22 Aug 1995 CANADIANA 1974-14 June 1995 NZNB 1982-27 June 1995 NZNB orig cat 1982-18 Aug 1995 SNB 1967-30 June 1995
Categories of bibliographic records on 7 October 1995
Total Bibliographic Records: 11 404 901
Interims: 526 243
Full
Bibliographic Records: 10 878 658
Books: 9 342 500
Serials: 1 057 603
Nonbooks: 1 004 798
Some nonbook categories on 7 October
Cartographic materials: 232 047
Sound recordings: 254 774
Motion pictures & videos: 170 234
Music scores: 172 183
Filmstrips: 25 524
Pictorial materials: 36 432
Slides: 16 838
ManuscriptsS 24 533
Kits: 6 443
Transparencies: 2 833
Charts: 1
701
Games: 1 579
Other: 5 931
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