Transcript Slide 1

A National Library System:
The goal of a single union catalog
Advantages and disadvantages
Sigrún Hauksdóttir
Back to Basics and Flying into the Future
Reykjavík, February 2007
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Some facts on Gegnir
• http://www.gegnir.is/F
• Gegnir is the union catalog for
•
•
Icelandic Libraries
All partipacing libraries
catalogue into Gegnir
One union catalog – One
library system
Gegnir – input but no output
Library
Library
Library
Gegnir
Library
Library
Statistics
• Bibliographic records:
• Items:
• Circulation / year
• Borrowers:
• Libraries:
900.000
3.700.000
2.600.000
120.000
200
System and standards
• Library system:
Aleph500 version 16.2
• MARC standard:
MARC21
• Character set:
UTF-8
• Communication protocol:
Z39.50
The situation 1997
• Two obsolete union catalogs:
• Gegnir
• National and University Library and most of the
•
other universities
National bibliography and various union catalogs
• Fengur
• Reykjavík City Library
• Hospitals and 90 other libraries in the public and
sector
Scenario
• The union catalogs, Gegnir and
•
Fengur, contained 2/3 of the
library usage
Other systems were:
o
o
o
o
MikroMarc
Metrabók
Bókver
Embla
Mission
To select a library system for all Icelandic
libraries, including university-, public-, school
and research libraries. The guideline is to
connect all Icelandic libraries so their
databases will appear uniformed or as one
database from the user’s point of view.
Goals and Objectives
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•
•
•
To increase proficiency in administration and
management of the libraries
To have one national Union catalog
To eliminate multiplications of tasks within the
libraries both regarding to cataloging and patron
information
To grant all Icelanders access to individual library
collections or all collections of Icelandic libraries as
unity
Demographics (2003)
Population
307.000
Libraries
300
Universities
8
Students in universities
17.000
Elementary schools
192
Students in elementary schools 44.000
Secondary Schools
43
Students in secondary schools
26.000
Types of libraries
• Types of libraries/library branches in
the system:
Public libraries:
Primary schools:
Universities and National Library:
Government libraries:
Research libraries:
Secondary schools:
Associations:
54
96
18
12
8
11
2
Structure – National Library System
Authority data
Bibliographic
database
Holdings data
Administrative
units
Library
Items
Items
Library
Items
Items
Library
Items
Items
ADMs
Public libraries in
greater Reykjavik
area
Elementary schools
in greater Reykjavik
area
The National and
University library
Library of
University of
Education
Other university
libraries
Govermental
libraries
Eastern part of
Iceland
Reykjanes and
southern part of
Iceland
Secondary schools
in greater Reykjavik
area
Various special
libraries
Northern part
of Iceland
Western part of Iceland
and the Vestfjords
Consortium of Icelandic
Libraries
• Responsible for managing the
•
library system
Cooperative company jointly
owned by state and
municipalities
The telephone directory
Icelandic name tradition
• Icelandic personal names are
sorted by:
• First name (given name)
• Last name (patronymic/surname)
• Middel name (second given
name)
Example
• Alexander Alfreðsson
• Alexander Jóhannesson
• Alexander A. Jónsson
• Alexander Alfreð Jónsson
• Alexander B. Jónsson
MARC?
• MARC21
• One subfield $$a is allocated to
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•
personal names
It was not possible to
accomidate the sorting
requirement within one subfield
The reasult was utilizing two
extra subfields, $$1 and $$7
Example of a record
000526788
FMT L GR
LDR L 00664nab^^2200217^^^45^^
008 L 961206s1987^^^^ic^^^^^^^^^^^^000^^^ice^^
039 L $$ac$$bxx$$c1
1004 L $$aGuðmundur$$7Andri$$1Thorsson$$d1957
24510 L $$aLífsgleðin á grunnplaninu :$$bGuðmundur Andri
Thorsson og Páll Valsson ræða við Einar Má Guðmundsson.
260 L $$c1987
300 L $$bMyndir
60044 L $$aEinar$$7Már$$1Guðmundsson$$d1954
7004 L $$aPáll$$1Valsson$$d1960
7004 L $$aEinar$$7Már$$1Guðmundsson$$d1954
79230 L $$aTeningur
A listing of Icelandic names
Six years of installation...
Installation and data conversion
• Long process - 6 years
• Three phases
• Conversion from various
formats to MARC 21
• The libraries were converted by
library systems.
• Size of bibliographic data
desided which system should
be converted first
The organizational committee as
well as three MARC specialists
Conversion challenges
• Different cataloging practice
• Old Gegnir – each volume and
•
new printings cataloged
Fengur – one bibliographic
record for each publication
• Merging the two main
•
databases
Dublicate records
A tired conversion team, Polish,
English and Icelandic members
The self destruction of the
bibliographic database
• Punctuation disappering from
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•
the bibliographic database
Malfunction in the Authority
Control
Rebuilding:
• Bibliographic database
• Authority database
The advantages is common
cataloging
Libraries with cataloging
permission or no...
Libraries without
catalogers
Cataloging libraries
The disadvantages of one
bibliographic database are:
• The problem and the challenge
•
•
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of the one bibliographic
database is quality control
Diverse libraries and patrons
Common cataloging practice
One administration
Division of responsibilities
System
Data
Consortium of Icel....
Icelandic Libraries
Management of the
bibliographic database
• Management team
• Cataloging council
• Informal specialist team
Management team
• Systems Manager
• Conversion and technical aspects
• The editor of the Gegnir
• Quality control
• Teaching catalogers
• Cataloger's Manual.
• The editor of the Authority
database
• Icelandic subject headings
• Icelandic thesaurus
Cataloging council
• The Cataloging council is the
legislative body of the bibliographic
database. It´s goal is to:
• Create or agree on cataloging rules
•
•
and desite if there is a disagrement
Create and manage Icelandic subject
headings
Assigning cataloging permissions
Withdrawing cataloging permissions
when needed
The Cataloging council,
first meeting
Cataloging permission
• To have a university degree in
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•
Librarianship.
To attend a three day course in
cataloging in Aleph.
Basic prerequisite in cataloging
terminology and the MARC
format
Why is every other librarian
cataloging?
• ½ of the librarians have
permission to catalog
• Single librarian libraries
• Status symbol
• Job opportunities
• 40.000 new records per year and
•
160 catalogers (250 records)
No cataloging service
Comparasion between British
Library and Icelandic Libraries
Libraries
Cataloged
Catalogers
records / year
British
Library
350.000
Icelandic 40.000
Libraries
170
160
Icelandic
The future
• Increase efficiency in cataloging
• Copy cataloging
• OCLC WordCat
• Z39.50 connection to other union
catalogs
• Increase quality of the database
• Authority work
• Icelandic subject headings
Sneak preview of Icelandic
Gefðu, að móðurmálið mitt,
minn Jesú, þess ég beiði,
frá allri villu klárt og kvitt,
krossins orð þitt út breiði
um landið hér, til heiðurs þér,
helzt mun það blessun valda,
meðan þín náð lætur vort láð
lýði og byggðum halda.
Hallgrímur Pétursson, 1614-1674