LC Cataloging Newsline

Online Newsletter of the Cataloging Directorate

Library of Congress Volume 8, no. 11, ISSN 1066-8829, December 2000

Contents

Use of BIBCO Records at the Library of Congress
Cataloging Forum Cybercast
New on the PCC Home Page
Program for Cooperative Cataloging Annual Report

Use of BIBCO Records At the Library of Congress

Director for Cataloging Beacher J. Wiggins has issued the following summary:

The Cataloging Directorate of the Library of Congress takes great pride in its role as secretariat to the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). The staff of the Cooperative Cataloging Team in the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, and the CONSER coordinator are to be commended for helping to develop the ten PCC core-level standards approved to date; for developing and coordinating training for NACO, SACO, BIBCO, and CONSER; and for tending to the myriad administrative details that support the participation of some 340 PCC member institutions. In fiscal year 2000 the PCC member libraries created 128,160 name authority records, 8,914 series authority record, 2,791 subject authority records, 979 LC Classification proposals, 19,744 CONSER records, and 62,423 bibliographic records for monographs. Statistics for Library of Congress cataloging production in fiscal year 2000 are 86,992 new name authority records, 6,772 new series authority records, 7,494 new subject authority records, 1,558 new LC Classification proposals, and 224,544 bibliographic volumes cataloged on 200,657 bibliographic records. The benefit to the Library of Congress of NACO and SACO authority records is clearly tremendous, since PCC contributions of name and series authority records now far outnumber those created by LC staff, and about one quarter of the new additions to the _Library of Congress Subject Headings_ in fiscal year 2000 were submitted by SACO members. The Cataloging Directorate is intent on gaining comparable benefits from the growing number of bibliographic records for monographs produced by BIBCO members. To this end, we have implemented the core-level standard - in a local version called "LC core" - as the base level of cataloging in the directorate's thirty-eight cataloging teams, and we have designed a workflow to ensure that BIBCO records are identified and used to catalog additions to the Library of Congress collections whenever possible, with minimal intervention by LC staff. We are now at the stage of assessing the benefits the Library has gained from using BIBCO records and considering how to fine-tune our procedures to ensure that we take optimal advantage of this rich source of cataloging that is produced to a national standard, with all access points supported by authority control.

An essential first step in positioning LC to make optimal use of BIBCO records was for the Library to adopt core-level as the default level of LC cataloging, because this ensured that BIBCO core-level records could be added to the LC catalog without extensive alterations or review. The Cataloging Management Team reached consensus in May 1997 to adopt core-level cataloging as the base or default level of cataloging throughout the directorate and the Serial Record Division. The decision was based on the results of a six-month experiment with core-level cataloging that involved about thirty cataloging staff members from May through October 1996; this experiment was designed by the Core Cataloging Task Group, which included members from cataloging teams, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, and LC reference librarians. The Cataloging Management Team also accepted the Core Cataloging Task Group's recommendation that all core-level records created at LC include the following data elements which are additional to the core standards approved by the PCC:

008 For music and sound recordings, all fixed fields are coded;
024 0 (International Standard Recording Code), if present on item;
041 (Language code);
043 (Geographic area code);
050 (Library of Congress call number) alternate number;
082 (Dewey Decimal call number);
240 (Uniform title) in all cases as applicable;
504 (Bibliography note);
5XX Notes to support completeness.

In addition, in 6XX (subject access) fields, multiple headings may be applied when needed to represent a compound or multi-element topic, when reciprocal headings are used, or when a standard array is prescribed, as is the case, for instance, with biographies. For JACKPHY materials, all data occurring in other title information and statements of responsibility are included in full romanization. In fields 100-130, 600-651, and 700-730, paired nonroman script fields are assigned only in cases of problematic romanization or in cases in which such fields support ready identification of a person or entity.

The addition of these data elements rendered "LC core" acceptable to the Library's public service divisions as the default level of cataloging and also ensured that bibliographic records created at LC would continue to be useful to the widest possible variety of other libraries. By January 1999, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office had completed the massive task of revising the relevant cataloging documentation, and all cataloging teams had implemented core-level cataloging by the end of fiscal year 1999.

In preparation for the implementation of the Library's first integrated library system (ILS) in 1999, the office documented the separate workflows for adapting various types of BIBCO records to catalog LC materials, called "PCC adapts" and "GPOCOOP adapts" (records created in OCLC by the U.S. Government Printing Office) in LC parlance.

For most BIBCO records, LC staff search OCLC and RLIN through a Z39.50 connection for a BIBCO or copy record and import the records into the LC ILS. Normally the searching and import are the responsibility of searchers in the Cataloging in Publication Division of the Cataloging Directorate (for United States imprints) or of staff in the Acquisitions Directorate (for foreign imprints); however, many cataloging teams search for BIBCO or copy records again when items are received in the teams, following their hunches about titles that are likely to be represented in OCLC or RLIN.

The Cataloging Directorate is now measuring the extent to which BIBCO records are adapted for LC use. In the five fiscal years from October 1995 through September 2000, PCC member libraries created a total of 202,910 monograph bibliographic records in the program. The Library of Congress has adapted 13,647 - slightly less than seven percent - of these records to catalog its own holdings. This rate is comparable to the percentage of bibliographic records that LC used in the first years of the former National Coordinated Cataloging Program (NCCP), but it is far lower than the cumulative adapt rate of about thirty-five percent that we reported at the height of that program. Based on our preliminary findings, we are focusing on our various workflow streams to ensure that our staff take the greatest advantage possible of BIBCO records so that we more nearly match the highest rate of use during NCCP.

Of the 13,647 "PCC adapts" and "GPOCOOP adapts" in the Library of Congress catalog at the end of September 2000, more than forty percent, or 5,585 records, had been added to the Catalog since Oct. 1, 1999. Even this relatively small number of adapted BIBCO records represents a large savings for the Library of Congress and therefore the nation's taxpayers: since the Cataloging Directorate's full cost to catalog a title at full- or core-level in-house, exclusive of Dewey classification, was $137.84 in fiscal year 2000, the cost to the Library of creating 5,585 full- or core- level original bibliographic records, with associated authority work, in-house would have been $769,836.40 in fiscal 2000. We do not claim that adapting 5,585 BIBCO records saved the Library this entire amount, since the Library incurred some costs for series handling and shelflisting. The Library does not calculate the cost of shelflisting as a separate activity, but estimates that about one-quarter of the cost of producing its core-level original records is due to shelflisting and creating holdings and item records. Thus we can conclude that the 5,585 BIBCO records adapted in fiscal 2000 saved the Library as much as $577,377.30.

Furthermore, the addition of 5,585 BIBCO records to the LC database in the past twelve months indicates an upward trend in our use of these records, particularly when one considers that production in fiscal year 2000 was atypically low for both the Acquisitions and the Cataloging Directorates because it was the first full year of operation under the Library's new integrated library system. We are therefore hopeful that the Library is beginning to adapt more of the BIBCO records that we know are available on the utilities.

It seems likely that use of BIBCO records has already freed up some LC cataloging resources to create more full- or core-level original cataloging, and our cataloging teams have had less need to resort to minimal-level cataloging in order to meet their arrearage reduction targets. The BIBCO core-level records are superior to MLC because they include a classification number, and, as needed, at least one subject heading at the appropriate level of specificity, and because all access points are supported by authority records. The existence of authority records enriches the entire catalog, not only the bibliographic record for which the authority work was originally done.


Cataloging Forum Cybercast

A Cataloging Directorate, Cataloging Forum recording of a presentation given to LC staff on CORC, the BEOnline+ and BECites+ projects, and CORC pathfinders at LC is now available at URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/catforum.html. This is a test cybercast--one of the first in the Library- to prepare for providing delayed cybercast coverage of the Cataloging Directorate's Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium.

In order to view this cybercast, you will need either Netscape 4.x or higher or Internet Explorer 5. You will also need Real Player version 7 or higher. You will also need to have a good internet connection for proper viewing, such as an institutional internet connection. Dial-up connections with a 56.6K modem will prove unsatisfactory.

Please see the above URL for more information.


New On the PCC Home Page

A link from the SACO home page (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/saco.html) to the recently announced "Canadian Subject Headings on the Web" is now available.

Also new on the PCC Web site since September:

The PCC annual report which recounts the accomplishments of the program and its component entities (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/annualrpt00.html).

BIBCO annual report of this programs fiscal year 2000 activities and accomplishments(URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/bibco/bibcofy00.html).

Guidelines for BIBCO Libraries Contributing Bibliographic Records for Chinese Language Materials (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/bibco/pinyinrules.html).

The annual reports of the PCC standing committees have been posted to their respective home pages. These contain the summary of the fiscal year 2000 activities, accomplishments, thoughts on future issues, as well as links to the interim and final reports of the task groups working under each committee.

Standing Committee on Standards (SCS)

Final report of the PCC SCS Working Group on the PCC AV Core Task Group (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/scsavtgrept.html).

Cartographic Materials Core Record Task Group: members and charge (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/mapscoretg.html).

Response of the SCS on the final report of the Cross Reference Task Group (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/xreftgscsresp.html).

Standing Committee on Training (SCT)

Interim reports from the following SCT task groups have been received and linked to their respective home pages:

PCC Participant and Training Documentation (URL http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/katmandu/sgman/jim/doctg_functio nal.html) and the Web-Based Training and Distance Education (URL http://www.wam.umd.edu/~schalow/pcc/pccsctrpt.html).

Updated on the PCC web site:

The PCC committee rosters have been updated to reflect the changes in membership, including Ann Caldwell as new SCS Chair, the rotation of five new BIBCO Operations Committee members and the addition of newly elected and/or appointed members to the Policy Committee.

Web Resources for SACO proposals has been updated to include new resources and is available at URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/saco/resources.html.


Program For Cooperative Cataloging Annual Report

Under successive chairs Michael Kaplan and Marjorie Bloss, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) continued to increase its membership in existing component programs, while expanding into both new activities and new continents. Fiscal year 2000 was particularly noteworthy for the increased level of international activities. Eighteen libraries in the Union of South Africa formed two NACO funnels. The National Library of New Zealand joined the PCC and began NACO activity. The Universidade San Andres, Argentina, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology completed NACO training. Hong Kong University participated in the pinyin conversion project and completed CONSER training.

The BIBCO program welcomed five new members over the past year. This brought total membership to forty-two participating libraries. In fiscal year 2000 BIBCO libraries contributed 62,423 new bibliographic records, of which 21,156 were core-level records, to the pool of shared cataloging available for use by the global library community. One new trend was the growing acceptance of core-level cataloging, which amounted to nearly thirty-five percent of the total output.

CONSER and its affiliate programs continued to flourish. The success of the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP) and the initiative to add publication patterns to CONSER records raised awareness of and interest in CONSER both at home and abroad. Membership grew to thirty-eight members with the addition of five institutions. The CONSER database reached 904,198 records with the addition of 17,736 new records. Highlights of the year included the completion of rule revisions for AACR2, chapter 12, and associated efforts towards international MARC harmonization, the start of the initiative to input publication patterns into CONSER records, and the development of new courses for SCCTP.

NACO was expanded both nationally and internationally with thirty-five new libraries joining individually or as members of funnel projects. One by-product of international NACO training was the translation of NACO materials into Spanish to complement the Portuguese version. Authority record contribution totaled 128,160 new name authorities, 36,426 revisions to existing records, and 8,914 new series authorities records.

SACO was also expanded to include an African American funnel project. Several proposals for new headings, have gone into _Library of Congress Subject Headings_; revisions to existing headings have been incorporated, including the change from "Afro- American" to "African American." SACO production totaled 2,791 new subject headings and 621 revisions to existing headings from one hundred twenty-two contributing libraries. There were also 979 new LC classification numbers and fifty-five changes to existing LC classification numbers proposed.

The PCC standing committees completed ongoing projects and initiated new work. Under chair Karen Calhoun (Cornell University), the Standing Committee on Automation renewed earlier work on aggregator databases and appointed a task group on automated classification tools. The Standing Committee on Standards, under chair Joan Schuitema (Loyola University, Chicago), continued its work on core-level record standards and the evaluation of PCC bibliographic records. Under chair Carol Hixson (University of Oregon), the Standing Committee on Training charged four task groups to investigate several training issues: educational needs, NACO continuing education, distance education, and PCC participant and training documentation.

The complete PCC annual report, and those for its component programs, may be found on the PCC homepage at URL http://lcweb.catdir/pcc.


LC CATALOGING NEWSLINE (ISSN 1066-8829) is published irregularly by the Cataloging Directorate, Library Services, Library of Congress, and contains news of cataloging activities throughout the Library of Congress. Editorial Office: Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4305. Editor, Robert M. Hiatt; Editorial Advisory Group: Victoria Behrens, John Byrum, Roselyne Chang, Jurij Dobczansky, Anthony Franks, Less Hawkins, Albert Kohlmeier, Susan Morris, Geraldine Ostrove, David Smith, David Williamson, and Roman Worobec. Address editorial inquiries to the editor at the above address or [email protected] (email), (202) 707-5831 (voice), or (202) 707-6629 (fax). Listowner: David Williamson. Address subscription inquiries to the listowner at [email protected].

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Comments : [email protected] 03/14/01