From lpsmail@access.digex.net Thu Nov 14 11:34:36 1996 Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 07:55:01 -0600 From: Shipment Reply-To: Discussion of Government Document Issues To: Multiple recipients of list GOVDOC-L Subject: ADNOTES: CATALOGING BRANCH UPDATE THE MESSAGE BELOW IS FROM ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES, VOL. 17, #16 (Nov. 15, 1996) Cataloging Branch Update Remarks by Thomas A. Downing Chief, Cataloging Branch Library Programs Service U.S. Government Printing Office Depository Library Council to the Public Printer Monday, October 21, 1996 Salt Lake City, Utah Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here to provide an updated account of Cataloging Branch operations. I will be discussing three topics, dissemination activities associated with the Monthly Catalog, Cataloging Branch operations, and maintenance of URLs in Monthly Catalog records. Dissemination Activities Monthly Catalog CD-ROM As of October, we have published 4 issues of the CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog. We have published January through June, July, August, and September. Development of this product challenged us in many ways and we appreciate the helpful suggestions we have received for improvements. At the present time, without a major upgrade to Dataware Technologies search software, we do not expect significant changes to this product in the foreseeable future. We trust that, although we expect to improve the product in the years ahead, our current edition functions in a satisfactory manner. We appreciate user input and maintain a file of suggested improvements for possible implementation when software is upgraded. We expect to accumulate up to several full years of data in each monthly edition and will begin to publish the first multi-year edition when we distribute a January, 1996 through January, 1997 issue early next year. Editions published during 1997 will include Periodical Supplements for 1996 and 1997. Several people have suggested that we issue a retrospective CD-ROM Monthly Catalog product for the years 1976 through 1995. We appreciate the interest in a retrospective edition but do not anticipate development of such a product. In our judgement, the time, effort, and costs associated with data conversion, enhancements to older records, and product development would divert limited resources already fully occupied with current work. Monthly Catalog WWW We note that our Web site Monthly Catalog applications located at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/adpos400.html either locate physical materials on the shelf through the "Locate Function" or provide access through "hot links" to online electronic texts. An increasing number of records provide both forms of access through the addition of URLs to 856 fields for paper or microfiche records. The value of these access related applications is enhanced by the availability of records at our Web site within two days after production in OCLC. It is our intention to build this database until it represents 5 years of cataloging data. We are pleased that people are using our Web site Monthly Catalog. Usage figures were first collected in February, 1996. Data from February, 1996, through this September, indicates that an average of 14,266 searches per month were conducted. During this time, an average of 9,480 records were downloaded. We intend to monitor future use and hope to report increased usage in the years ahead. At the present time, approximately 75,388 records are available for searching at our Web site. With the exception of records produced within approximately the most recent four to eight weeks, Web site records have been edited. Of the total Web site records, approximately 360 records represent CD-ROM products and approximately 353 records contain hot linked URLs. Three Internet related records now represent inactive Internet titles. Inactive titles are identified by the note: "No longer available via the Internet." URLs for such records are removed from the 856 field. We have not yet identified any re-activated titles but expect to do so in the near future. As such titles are identified, we will modify notes and restore URLs to records. Cataloging Branch Operations As you are aware, all of us within the Library Programs Service have been very busy. In this regard, our operations have benefitted tremendously from the work, professionalism, and dedication of our catalogers. However, during the past twelve to eighteen months, several catalogers have retired or transferred to other organizations and, even with a recent decline in receipts and the dedication of those who remain, we must carefully monitor work to assure adequate human resources. Within the last year receipts have indeed declined. In fiscal year 1996, just ended on September 30, we received approximately 32,102 pieces of work. This figure contrasts with the 49,164 pieces received in fiscal year 1995. This significant decline in workload, however, has been accompanied by a decline in the number of catalogers, from 20 in 1992 to 15 by the end of this fiscal year. A decline in traditional products cataloging work is also offset by the increasingly complex tasks associated with cataloging CD-ROM products and remotely accessible Internet titles. Such tasks constitute an increasingly large percentage of work. Although CONSER related work also has declined, we continue to be an important contributor to the CONSER program and, from July 1995 through June, 1996 (CONSER's annual accounting period) produced original CONSER level records for 360 titles and authenticated 140 existing records. This work resulted in a total of 500 records added to CONSER during our reporting year. We also produced 160 series authority records and logged 222 series maintenance authority transactions. We performed maintenance on 2,320 CONSER records and added 353 URLs to existing records. In this rapidly evolving environment we have developed policies that reflect emerging circumstances that were not anticipated when some national level standards were established. In some respects, we are a leader among national level cataloging institutions because we have developed policies that are consistent with the spirit of past policies while being relevant to circumstances associated with government publications. We expect that some of our policies may change to reflect as yet unrecognized circumstances. We appreciate your interest in our policies and are making some electronic related policies available for review at the FDLP Administration page. We expect to publish more policies and invite you to review and comment upon them. In a basic sense, as of October 18th, we have an estimated backlog of approximately 1,595 titles. Of this backlog figure, approximately 40 titles represent CD-ROM products, and at least 382 titles represent remotely accessible Internet titles. We should understand, however, that the figure of 382 Internet titles is a conservative approximation because many of these 382 titles are collective titles that represent additional electronic works to be cataloged. We must assume that this figure is at least 1,000 titles. Given this assumption, we should estimate that our total backlog may approximate 3,000 titles. Of this number, only 1,213 titles are physical forms. It appears that most of our work to be cataloged now consists of Internet titles. We are taking actions to reduce our backlog as we continue to catalog titles soon after receipt or, in the case of remotely accessible electronic texts, soon after notification. We now have Internet connections for 11 of 15 catalogers and, given this expanded number of Internet connections, we expect to make substantial progress with cataloging Internet titles in our backlog. In the near future, we expect that the 4 unconnected catalogers will have Internet access. We also recognize that, to keep up with workloads, we must prepare for potential retirements of one, two, or three catalogers. In this regard, we hope to hire one cataloger in 1997. Requests to hire additional catalogers may be submitted in accordance with developing circumstances. Branch Operations and Maintenance of Monthly Catalog URLs I would like to conclude by describing the status of URLs in Monthly Catalog records and by noting several initiatives to improve their maintenance. All of us are frustrated by links that do not work. To reduce this frustration, some of our increasingly important tasks are to accurately transcribe and maintain URLs in Monthly Catalog records. Our record to date is mixed. We recognize that not all of the approximately 353 Monthly Catalog records with URLs are hot linked. Any one of several factors may account for access problems. At the present time, these factors include the following: 1. Information relating to the URL was incorrect. 2. Correct URL information was incorrectly transcribed. 3. Correct URL information was correctly transcribed but software at our site or other sites may have altered data and rendered the URL ineffective. 4. Everything about a URL and site software is correct but the server was down or peak usage time would temporarily not permit a connection. 5. The URL was changed after a Monthly Catalog record was produced and we were not notified. 6. The agency deleted the product from its Web site. These problems are not going to be eliminated soon, but some problems can be minimized through daily efforts and special initiatives. Personnel within the Depository Administration Branch (DAB) work hard to assure that URLs lead directly to the texts of publications, a clickable title list, or search window. They also work hard to provide us with verified, accurate URL data. For our part, catalogers, whether by copying and pasting URLs or by transcribing them to records, do their best to assure that URLs are accurate as of the time a record has been produced. The combined efforts of DAB and Cataloging Branch personnel help to minimize the first two of these six problems. Problem 3 relates to internal software associated with our Web site. Some records, particularly Census, do not hot link to sites. The source of this problem is our Web site software. At present, software at our site drops one or two elements from long URL data strings. GPO's Graphic Systems Development Division has been a major contributor to our Web site initiatives and is working to correct this problem. For now, if you discover that a record with a very long data string is not hot linked from our Monthly Catalog applications, you may wish to obtain the correct URL from our OCLC record and to open the URL by other than our Web site. We expect to report progress with correcting these problems in the near future. Problem 4, time out problems at agency servers, will require our continued patience. Problem 5, changed URLs, and problem 6, deletion of electronic publications from agency Web sites, are significant problems and require concerted long range efforts to remedy. Initiatives to reduce these problems are being undertaken jointly by several components of GPO and the Library Programs Service. At the present time, personnel of GPO's Graphic Systems Development Division are providing ad hoc support for occasional checking of URLs in Monthly Catalog records. Commercial checker software is designed to check URLs at home page sites and is not able to check URLs embedded within bibliographic data elements of Monthly Catalog records in a subsidiary application. For the present, Graphic Systems personnel download selected Monthly Catalog data elements and run brief records against checker software to test links. We recognize that this method is not a suitable long range solution. Using a proactive long range approach, Electronic Transition Staff expect to acquire PURL software and have created an electronic form with PURL applications for use among Federal publishers. In addition to making it more convenient for publishers to notify us of impending publications, this form will include a request that agencies notify us whenever a URL has been changed at an agency site. Such information is useful for our maintenance of PURL applications. PURLs, or persistent uniform resource locators, allow servers to associate a changed URL at a publisher's site with a persistent URL for access at that or other sites. PURL software checks URLs, is transparent to users, and will eliminate the need for us to change URLs in Monthly Catalog records. Instead of changing URLs in Monthly Catalog records, we expect to change them in a PURL server, an environment that is more adaptable to URL maintenance than Monthly Catalog records. Depository Administration Branch personnel are encouraging publishers to communicate with us to assure that remotely accessible titles are identified, cataloged, and made accessible through reliable hot links in Monthly Catalog records. By encouraging agencies to provide notice of Internet titles, current URLs, and advance notice before titles are removed from Web sites, DAB personnel will help assure that many Monthly Catalog hot links remain hot. Electronic Transition Staff personnel are working to obtain PURL software from OCLC and to establish PURL applications within the Library Programs Service. Although additional planning and work are required to address these problems, we are working to assure continued electronic access. We anticipate measurable success in meeting these challenges and hope to report progress at future Council meetings. Thank you for your time. I look forward to consulting and working with you during our sessions.