ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program Vol. 18, no. 08 GP 3.16/3-2:18/08 May 15, 1997 Cataloging Branch Update Remarks by Thomas A. Downing Chief, Cataloging Branch Library Programs Service U.S. Government Printing Office Depository Library Council Federal Depository Conference Monday, April 14, 1997 Arlington, VA Introduction Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning to update you on recent Cataloging Branch operations. I look forward to our meetings during Council and Conference. Those of you with interests in cataloging may wish to attend the program on "Bibliographic Access to Electronic Sources: National Standards" and the Regional program on "Bibliographic Control in an Electronic FDLP: Problems, Practices, and Policies" to be held this Wednesday from 8:30 to 10:00 and from 10:30 to 12:00 respectively. During the 8:30 program we will present detailed information associated with cataloging Internet-related titles. Personnel At the present time, our branch consists of 21 people, including 15 catalogers. We hope to fill two vacancies within the next two months. Two vacancies have been announced, one announcement has closed and another remains open until Wednesday, April 23rd. Copies of this announcement are available in the back of the room. If you are interested, please apply. Cataloging Related Work During the first six months of this fiscal year, from October 1996 through the end of March, 1997, we received 15,573 pieces of work. We processed 13,412 pieces of work and, as of Wednesday, April 9, our backlog of work to be processed consisted of 3,327 pieces. We continue to estimate that more than 90% of our cataloging is original. At the present time most materials published in paper and as electronic titles available via GPO Access are cataloged within one week of receipt or notification. Most materials published in microfiche and CD-ROM are cataloged within approximately two to three weeks after receipt in the Cataloging Branch. Internet Related Cataloging As of Thursday, April 10, approximately 1,700 Monthly Catalog records contain URLs. OCLC tells us that we are the number two producer of OCLC records with URLs. Most of the records with URLs are serials. Monthly Catalog Records and URLs URLs within most Monthly Catalog records work effectively. If a URL does not connect to an electronic text, we encourage people to try again at another time because some agency servers may be unable to provide an adequate number of simultaneous connections. We recognize, however, that some URLs no longer point to any content and, when this is known to be the case, we modify records with a 500 field note to indicate that a text is no longer available via the Internet and delete the URL from the 856 field. To date, approximately 9 Monthly Catalog records have been modified with such notes. Two Cataloging Branch personnel have begun a long range effort to systematically test URLs. When a URL is no longer viable, we attempt to locate the most current URL and will change the URL in the 856 field of Monthly Catalog records. When efforts to locate a viable URL fail, LPS staff will contact agency personnel to determine if a title continues to be available via the Internet. Potential Use PURLs for Monthly Catalog and Other GPO Applications We have spoken in the past about the potential that PURL software may have for GPO applications. Until recently, GPO Production Services staff had been reviewing OCLC PURL software for use or adaption to Monthly Catalog hot link applications and other GPO Web site applications. This situation has changed. Production Services personnel continue to work to improve response times for GPO Access applications and are unable to continue their work on PURLs. When they have completed their work to improve response times, we expect that they will resume consideration of PURLs software. We hope to provide more details concerning potential use of OCLC PURLs for GPO applications during the fall Depository Library Council meeting. Corrections to SuDocs Class Numbers Recently, a number of people have noted that some SuDocs class number changes have not been reflected in Monthly Catalog records. We have reviewed internal procedures in response to these concerns and have determined that this problem began in January, 1996. We very much regret that not all records were corrected during this period and have taken measures to correct these problems. I am pleased to report that 254, or 47% of the 544 SuDocs class numbers that may require correction in Monthly Catalog records have been corrected. We expect to complete corrections in the near future. In addition to retrospective corrections, we immediately initiated internal procedures to assure that corrections will be processed in Monthly Catalog records on a monthly basis. Corrections to class numbers now appear in our records in OCLC and will later appear in records at our Web site, in the CD-ROM edition, and in the corrections pages of the paper edition of the Monthly Catalog. Corrections have not yet appeared in the Web site edition of the Monthly Catalog because software used to produce the Web edition must be modified to permit overlay of data within existing records. At the present time, when records are corrected, these corrections show up as duplicate records and remain at the Web site until an end of month purge of duplicates is accomplished. When software has been modified, corrections will be overlaid onto existing records and the temporary problem of duplicate records at the Web site should be eliminated. Given the volume of class numbers needing correction, class number changes will not be reflected at our Web site until after Monthly Catalog related software has been modified. We expect that software will be modified within approximately six weeks. GPO Web Site Availability of Monthly Catalog Records Now Within 24 Hours After Production in OCLC We are pleased to announce that records produced within OCLC now appear at our Web site within 24 hours after production. This is the most rapid dissemination that is feasible and meets our objective of making our Web site Monthly Catalog a "Daily Catalog." Other Monthly Catalog Editions Our Monthly Catalog CD-ROM edition is now in its second year. Each 1997 issue will contain all of 1996, the Periodical Supplements for 1996 and 1997, and current year to date monthly issues. The Congressional Serial Set Catalog for the 102nd Congress should be shipped to depositories in late April. Temporary Move to the 5th Floor Next week we will be packing and preparing to move from current work areas into workstations on the 5th floor. We expect to move during the week of April 28th. This is a temporary move and we expect to work on the 5th floor for some four to six weeks while new carpeting is laid and a local area network (LAN) is installed in our branch. While on the 5th floor, we will use the Internet to connect to OCLC rather than direct connections. It is also possible that phone numbers will change. E-mail addresses should remain the same. When we resume operations on the 6th floor we should again be reached on current phone numbers and will resume using direct connections to OCLC for producing records. Thank you. I hope this update has been of interest and look forward to meeting with you during our programs.