ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program Vol. 18, no. 05 GP 3.16/3-2:18/05 March 15, 1997 Cataloging Branch Operations Update Remarks by Thomas A. Downing Chief, Cataloging Branch Library Programs Service U.S. Government Printing Office GODORT Cataloging Committee American Library Association Midwinter Meeting Sunday, February 16, 1997 Washington, DC Good morning. I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide an update on Cataloging Branch operations and to be available for questions during our meeting. Thank you Dena for inviting me to provide a review of our operations. In particular, I join others in thanking you for creating an opportunity for people to hear the perspectives of Steve Uthoff, our administrative librarian for cataloging policies, and two of our catalogers, Mike Levinson and Bob Luoma, regarding our Internet cataloging initiatives. Given a full schedule and our keen interest in hearing from Erik Jul, of OCLC, and Eliot Christian of USGS, and other program participants, I will try to be brief. This overview will include remarks concerning cataloging related activities, dissemination of Monthly Catalog records, and the potential use of PURLs for maintaining online access to Internet documents. Cataloging Operations Since our fiscal year began in October, 1996, we have continued to witness and to become increasingly involved with the increased use of the Internet as a publishing medium for Federal agencies. Statistical information indicates a continuing decline in the number of physical forms with a continuing and dramatic increase in the number of titles with website locations. Overall, the number of titles to be cataloged has declined from previous years. Last year our total count for work to be cataloged was 32,102 titles. The total work processed related to 35,425 pieces of work. Of this figure, approximately 433 titles were associated with Internet sites. In the current fiscal year, from October 1996 through the end of this January, we received 9,904 pieces of work. Annualized projections for this figure suggest that we may receive approximately 29,712 pieces of work during this fiscal year. To date, we have processed 6,874 pieces. Of this number, 5,734 titles have been cataloged. Of these titles cataloged, approximately 734 titles are related to Internet titles. Internet Titles Many of these 734 Internet related titles were held in save files during FY 1996 and were produced this fiscal year (awaiting the resolution of some GPO website related problems. Nonetheless, it appears that production of Internet related Monthly Catalog records during the first four months of this fiscal year has exceeded all Internet related records produced during the previous fiscal year. As of the present time, approximately 1,200 Monthly Catalog records contain URL data. Of this number approximately 50 records do not connect to sites as of the first week in January, 1997. While this is not a major number of problem URLs, efforts to resolve these URLs, either by finding a more recent URL or by determining that the title is no longer available via the Internet, has taken considerable time and effort. I will discuss PURLs and how this technology may be used later in my remarks. A recent review of our site indicates that approximately 112 Monthly Catalog records with URLs were produced for only an Internet document and are not associated with any physical form. Approximately 1,088 records are associated with both physical forms and Internet versions. Work to be Cataloged At the present time, our cataloging backlog consists of approximately 3,238 titles. This information is based on an inventory that was conducted last Thursday, February 13th. Approximately 58 of these titles are Internet related. We currently catalog most Internet related and paper titles within approximately one week of receipt or notification. Microfiche and CD-ROMs continue to be cataloged within approximately two weeks after receipt. The backlog of Internet titles that I had reported during the fall meeting of the Depository Library Council has been cleared. We continue to focus efforts to assure that cataloging occurs soon after notification or receipt of titles and we maintain these objectives even as some catalogers leave or retire. Within the last six months, one cataloger has transferred to another organization within the Library Programs Service and one person has retired. We have recently posted a vacant cataloger position and have brought some copies of the announcement to our meeting to encourage interest. We may post yet another vacancy to preclude cataloging backlogs. With limited personnel resources, our policies for cataloging Internet related titles both conform to CONSER policies and make it possible for us to catalog titles soon after receipt or notification and to avoid major backlogs. Our policies provide electronic access via records with Internet related notes and hot linked URLs. I have been pleased to work with Jean Hirons, Acting CONSER Coordinator, and with Steve Uthoff and others in our Cataloging Branch in joint efforts to develop policies. We have brought some copies of our policies for cataloging electronic files for your review. these policies are consistent with both national policies and traditional practices associated with the GPO Cataloging Guidelines. Although a number of people have contributed to developing our policies, these policies would not exist without Steve Uthoff's knowledge, experience, and exceptional and committed efforts. These policies are important documents that will guide our work for many years. Thank you Steve for your excellent work in this regard. In the near future, we expect to publish an electronic version of these policies to add to several other cataloging policies now available at the FDLP Administrative page. Given the interest in Internet publishing, I would like to take a moment and summarize our approach to cataloging Internet titles. First, we catalog Internet related titles as personnel of the Depository Administration Branch (DAB) notify us of titles. We do not devote valuable resources to surfing the net and rely on DAB personnel to validate electronic titles and notify us of their location, class number, and other essential information. We produce records at the full level for serials and maps and at the abridged or "K" level for non-serials. Records include class numbers, item numbers, and SuDocs numbers. If a physical form record is already available when we are notified of an Internet version, we update the physical form record with a note regarding Internet availability in the 530 note field and with a URL in the 856 field. URLs are hot-linked from our website edition of the Monthly Catalog. (If the physical form record is full level, we conform to OCLC instructions and do not remove existing information to make the record conform to "K" level specifications). If a physical form record is not available, we create a record for the electronic Internet title at "I" (full) or "K" level (abridged) depending upon whether or not the title is a serial. If a record for an electronic-only Internet title record is available and physical forms are issued after an electronic title has been cataloged, we update the existing record with an 074 field (item number reflecting the format), and a 530 "other formats available note" and produce the record again. Such records will have multiple item numbers. In some instances, as in the case of a title that is very well known and of major importance, we may, based upon a subjective evaluation, create separate records that reflect such versions. We do not have adequate personnel resources to consistently produce separate records for each format of every title. We hope that people understand these limitations and find this approach to be suitable. In important respects, our policies for using a single record to reflect Internet and physical form versions of a title is similar to our long-standing policy of using a single record to reflect paper and microfiche versions of the same title. Monthly Catalog Dissemination Before moving on to a brief statement concerning PURLs, I would like to provide some information regarding the website and CD-ROM editions of the Monthly Catalog. Our CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog has entered its second year with a cumulation of approximately 21,672 records. Approximately 19,382 records reflect 1996 cataloging production and 2,290 records reflect production in January of 1997. This is our first combined year edition. Each issue includes Periodical Supplements for 1996 and 1997. We expect to publish monthly editions of several complete years of accumulated records as we move towards the next century. Also, we have another first. We now have an opportunity to include the Congressional Serial Set Catalog (102nd Congress) as a searchable file as part of the CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog. If we publish the Congressional Serial Set Catalog in CD-ROM only, we should save approximately $30,000 to $35,000 by eliminating the paper edition. This is not a great sum of money, but elimination of a paper edition would help to further reduce program costs. We would be pleased to hear your advice with regard to this opportunity. Our Monthly Catalog website edition, (located at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/adpos400.html), contains approximately 80,665 records. Approximately 1,200 of these records contain hot-linked URLs. PURLs No description of current operations would be complete without some mention of PURLs, or Persistent Uniform Resource Locators. With the significant number of Monthly Catalog records with URLs, PURLs are of interest to us because use of OCLC's PURLs software would provide us with an alternative to replacing records each time a URL within records changes. However, although PURLs may seem to be magic because they provide users with a seamless redirection to a current address, PURLs are not. We all know that, to be of value, a PURL server must be maintained through the efforts of those who keep URLs current. Not wishing to undertake a project without a thorough review of its implications for our limited number of staff, we are carefully reviewing how this project should be undertaken within the Library Programs Service. We appreciate Erik Jul's assistance and advice with regard to PURLs and look forward to continued discussions as we move in this direction.