ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES NEWSLETTER OF THE FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Vol. 19, no. 07 GP 3.16/3-2:19/07 May 15, 1998 [HANDOUT] CATALOGING BRANCH UPDATE Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting April 20-23, 1998 PURLS LPS has established Persistent Uniform Resource Locators (PURLs) as a service to help assure permanent access to the electronic resources listed in Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) posted by the Depository Administration Branch via cataloging records produced by the Cataloging Branch. Our use of PURLs is made possible by OCLC's recent release of enhanced PURL software that includes an integrated URL checker application, the ability to machine generate unique, consecutively assigned accession numbers, and a basic exceptions report module that identifies broken links. Working with OCLC, we have participated in the development of a freely available new release of OCLC's PURL software that contains features that are essential for large scale use of PURLs. PURLs provides an effective environment for updating broken URLs by providing a seamless interface between the user, via a PURL, and the most recent URL. PURLs are of critical importance to our efforts to provide continued access to electronic titles. The 856 field of most Web site records of the Catalog of United States Government Publications (Catalog) for BETs posted from January 1998 through the present now contain PURLs rather than URLs. PURLs embedded in BET entries provide the redirect function for this application. LPS' PURLs application is significant for the many library catalogs that contain URLs. With LPS PURLs, libraries will not need to update records locally when URLs change. PURLs are an essential component of our efforts to bring bibliographic control to products in the FDLP Electronic Collection. COLLECTION LEVEL CATALOGING POLICY We have established a collection level records cataloging policy to provide access to resources through the Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) Web site application. This policy has been approved by the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is consistent with AACR2 practice, and is consistent with the realities that face users when they encounter multiple resources accessible via one BET. With this policy, we now have a one-to-one correspondence between a BET and a catalog record and now have a single PURL associated with both applications. This policy is the most recent of our Internet-related cataloging policies and will soon be posted at the Publications portion of the FDLP Administration page on GPO Access. Other cataloging policies available at this site include policies on computer files and linking fields. PARTICIPATION IN REVISING THE CATALOGING MANUAL We are involved in the effort to revise ALA's 1984 edition of Cataloging Government Documents: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2. Rhonda Marker, Head, Cataloging Department, Rutgers University, and a member of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is editing the manual and has welcomed our interest in participating in the revision process. We look forward, in particular, to working with people on chapters associated with maps and electronic resources. CATALOGING OF BROWSE ELECTRONIC TITLES As of March 30, 1998, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,728 BET entries. As of the week of March 30, all but 192 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 192 BETs in the backlog, 67 were monographs and 125 were serials. With our new collection level record policy, we expect that, as of April 20th, all of the monographs in the backlog will have been cataloged and that many, but not all, of the serials will have been cataloged. BETs are currently cataloged within one week after posting. CATALOG OF UNITED STATE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS The Web edition of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications now contains more than 98,027 records produced from 1994 through the present. More than 3,833 of these records contain URL data. When broken links are detected, we convert URL data to PURLs. When links cannot be re-established, we delete URL/PURL data from records and add a note advising users that the resource is no longer available via the Internet. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise us using . "USER-FRIENDLY" WEB SITE DISPLAY OF CATALOG RECORDS We appreciate Council's recommendation that we establish a default user-friendly display for our Web application. Handouts showing our proposed labelled display are available for review and comment. The MARC tagged display will remain an option for selection.