E‐serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web

Citation

Yeates, R. (2004), "E‐serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 146-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330410532878

The relative size of the US market for professional dissemination among librarians compared with the UK market, has enabled US‐based publication of a wide range of ever more specialised monographs. This volume is one of the interesting and extensive series of Haworth Press volumes that try to extend the life and influence of high quality serials that might otherwise be missed. This collection of articles, which appeared simultaneously in The Serials Librarian, focuses not merely on the cataloguing of serials, or even the cataloguing of e‐serials, but principally the cataloguing of licensed e‐journals for provision of online access to them, as more or less indicated by the subtitle. It is clearly aimed at those involved with routine processing of e‐serials, although it does address a number of strategic issues and report on major developments.

The book opens with a tribute to Crystal Graham, a CONSER (Co‐operative Online Serials at the Library of Congress) serials cataloguing expert, providing interesting background for UK readers on the US policy development process that is further extended by a historical literature review, covering especially the volatile 1990s. This very detailed section is now relevant to UK readers who may be adopting MARC21 cataloguing, and face decisions as to whether to use integrated or separate cataloguing records for serials in different formats, or whether to create e‐serials lists in Dublin Core separately from mainstream cataloguing.

The importance of standards is made immediately clear by the inclusion of chapters on ISSN and ISBD. A major change to the definition of seriality within the AACR, ISBN and ISSN communities, and the theoretical basis for using ISSNs as persistent identifiers on the Web are presented. The way in which ISBN and FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) cataloguing standards affect the understanding of seriality, and the way serials are defined and handled, are explored in some depth here, although such discussions are only ever a snapshot of innovation activity and these are now somewhat dated.

Although the opening chapters of the book cover global issues, they are written from a US perspective. Later chapters balance this to some extent. There are results of a US survey of library school teaching coverage of e‐resources cataloguing, which includes a useful list of course titles illustrating the way in which the scope of courses is apparently broadening. Ultimately, however, recommendations merely urge training on e‐resources handling, although there is useful discussion of how to teach AACR2 and the notion of seriality. A Canadian article on the SCCTP (Serials Cataloguing Co‐operative Training Programme) reinforces this message showing the benefits of hands‐on experience and expert guidance and motivation during training. A very brief description of the University of Leicester Electronic Journals Tutorial includes too little assessment to prolong its value as evidence, although it does contribute a UK experience.

A section on policies and procedures ranges widely. A clear and pragmatic review of the University of Glamorgan's approach to providing OPAC records for e‐journals is followed by a short annotated bibliography of (all US‐based) Web sites useful for e‐serials and “continuing resources” cataloguers. The editors recognise the difficulty of categorising all the relevant articles, and this section probably presented them with the most difficulty. A look at staffing and investment issues arising from the growing importance of e‐resources in the Association of Research Libraries, ahead of many others in the world, which illustrates the clear diversity of approaches by libraries, is followed by an amazingly complete collection of notes used in cataloguing AACR2 e‐serials, which must be at once exasperating and inspiring to those trying to harmonise cataloguing and provide consistency for readers across services.

The next, sizable section on national projects and local applications starts with a piece by Ross MacIntyre on NESLI (National Site Licence Initiative) MARC record structures and feedback from users suggesting the need for simplified administration. There are pieces on the BibP (Bibliographic Protocol) open linking protocol, which has never quite taken off, plus the more significant issue of using Serial Item Contribution Identifiers (SICIs) within the Uniform Resource Name (URN) framework, and short case studies from a publisher (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts), Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries and the successful Elektronische Zeitchriftenbibliothek (EZB) managed by the University Library of Regensburg in Germany. A final case study, from Kansas City Public Library, deals more with continuing resources such as Web sites rather than e‐journals, leading neatly to consideration of e‐books. Although e‐books are often monographs, they are typically provided through libraries as large continuing Web databases of downloadable resources. They are, as pointed out, currently little more than electronic versions of printed books, despite being introduced into libraries after other forms of e‐resources. The short chapter here is little more than typical evangelism for e‐books, but it is followed by a thoughtful concluding piece by Gerry McKiernan of Iowa State University Library on the future for e‐journals, which creates a vision of “the emerging innovative and novel e‐journals as ‘object‐oriented’ journals in which component features, functionalities, and content are interconnected and cross‐referenced into an interrelated, dynamic, interactive experience”.

This is not a book to be read from start to finish, nor is it an adequate handbook. It provides a useful historical perspective and evidence of detailed current practices (as at 2001‐2002), but cannot be used as a toolkit for decision making or learning. Newer works on this area tend to fill the gap. Ultimately, this collection shows the futility of trying to understand the minutiae of cataloguing without a more general awareness of the information environment in which librarians operate and vice versa. Linking anything to anything is an, as yet, unattained technical capability, but it will not in itself replace the need to consider how linking only to relevant things can be achieved most efficiently and effectively.