Long -- Cataloging Internet Resources: the Library Approach Vianne Sha 21 Sep 1995 18:39 UTC
This message is cross-posted to several lists. Please excuse the duplicates. The following message is related to the paper requested by many of you since April 1995. If you are not interested in this topic, please ignore the message. ===================================================================== I have made a request on the electronic locations of Web-interfaced OPACs in April 1995 to prepare for my presentation at the 5th Annual Conference for Law School Computing Professionals (CALI/LEAP) on June 10, 1995 at Chicago. Many of you replied to me and expressed an interest to receive my paper after the presentation. I have done more research and prepared the enhanced version of my presentation. It is accepted for publication in the issue of Vol. 13, no. 5 (October 1995) of "The Electronic Library" journal. Thanks to the Learned Information Ltd. (Europe) <http://www.learned.co.uk/li/>, who owns the copyright of my paper, for allowing me to include the abstract and table of contents of my paper "Cataloging Internet Resources: the Library Approach" below. I would appreciate receiving your comments after you read the paper. Further research may be done on this issue. Thank you. ====================================================================== CATALOGING INTERNET RESOURCES: THE LIBRARY APPROACH by Vianne T. Sha ABSTRACT -- Many approaches have been taken by different groups to collect, organize, archive, disseminate, and preserve electronic resources on Internet. Some projects, such as WebCrawler, Lycos, etc., purport to index or organize the electronic resources automatically. Another approach, led by the Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides, involves human intelligence to identify and compile Internet resources by subjects for public access. The third category is the traditional library cataloging approach. This paper demonstrates the benefits of the MARC formats, the importance of the integration of information resources, and the guarantee of public access as the major reasons for using the traditional cataloging approach to organize Internet resources. Since cataloging the Internet is a huge project, and various groups are involved in this process, the roles of each related group are discussed. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION WHY SHOULD LIBRARIES CATALOG THE INTERNET RESOURCES IN MARC FORMAT? 1. Standard Communication Format 2. Simple Record Structure for All Levels of Description 3. Flexible Display Formats 4. Multiple Access Points 5. Full Bibliographic Description 6. Integration of All Kinds of Information Resources into the Library Catalogs 7. Guaranteed Public Access ISSUES INVOLVED IN CATALOGING THE INTERNET: 1. Overview of the OCLC Internet Cataloging Project 2. Team Work 3. Roles of Various Groups in Building the Local Catalogs of Internet Resources:- Administration Collection Development Cataloging Team Public Services Local Computer Support Personnel (Library/Local Site) Authors/Publishers of the Internet Resources Library System Vendors CONCLUSION Vianne Sha sha@law.missouri.edu University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law Library