ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 56 | April 2002
Cataloguing Electronic Resources
One of the key issues in the cataloguing of electronic resources is deciding whether to use single or multiple records. This is not a new issue in cataloguing, as discussions have been going on for many years on how to handle all kinds of works issued in multiple formats in order to provide effective access for users of library catalogues. However, the increasing proliferation of electronic resources in library services has given the debate a new urgency.
The cataloguing code used by libraries, the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR), directs that separate records should be created for each manifestation, rather than adding the details for all manifestations to a single record. In practice, however, this standard is interpreted in various ways by the major organisations that issue data based on the AACR standard.
Choosing one approach over another has implications for libraries both in their presentation of information to users, and in their work practices. The two main reasons for libraries choosing the single record approach are the more user-friendly display this can give on our present generation of OPACs, and the lower costs associated with the creation and maintenance of records. In the networking and national bibliography contexts, however, it is multiple records that offer greater clarity for the copy cataloguing and use of records. Here the multiple record approach more exactly identifies which version is being described, and more accurately reflects the number of distinct publications or manifestations for purposes of recording the national bibliographical output. For collection management purposes there are advantages in recording preservation data on the record for the appropriate format rather than on a single record.
The problem of choosing one approach over another is also related to the future development of standards, and the likely paths these will follow. This is particularly difficult, and this issue has been under discussion for 15 to 20 years. At the Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium in November 2000, a major topic was multiple versions, with one of the recommendations being to separate records at the global level [and] lump display at the local level, or to merge records for the public view that are kept separate in the technical services components of our catalogs. This approach was intended to combine ease-of-use for catalogue users with ease-of-maintenance for database managers. One outcome of the Bicentennial Conference resolution has been work commissioned by the Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of AACR aimed at assessing whether the rules as they now stand allow for the explicit display of multiple record relationships assuming that systems could be programmed accordingly.
It is important that short-term, practical considerations and decisions do not prevent us from taking advantage of such future developments. For instance, the possibility of wishing to convert bibliographic records to a different structure in the future requires careful consideration of the data elements that should be recorded now and of standard practices for recording them.
To date the Librarys cataloguing experience in dealing with electronic resources has been limited to born digital electronic resources and digital reproductions of library-held collection material. The Library has not yet confronted all the issues associated with controlling commercial electronic resources that have a print equivalent, such as large aggregations of electronic periodicals and other titles available via our Indexes and Databases page at www.nla.gov.au/pathways/jnls/newsite/
The National Librarys policy on cataloguing electronic resources is:
This policy is
largely determined by the Librarys Australiana and resource sharing
responsibilities, but is also influenced by the need to be pragmatic. For
instance, separate records describe the actual versions of the work and, for
Australian publications, provide a more accurate national bibliographic record.
In a resource-sharing environment, separate records allow libraries to add
their holdings to, or to reuse the record that relates to the version of the
work they actually hold. The separate record approach allows the Library to use
bibliographic records for electronic resources that are supplied by commercial
services, thereby avoiding significant record maintenance issues and the need
to catalogue titles for which records do not already exist.
Peter
Haddad
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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au