Cataloging Internet Resources (Willy Cromwell) Birdie MacLennan 11 Dec 1993 21:59 UTC
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1993 10:39:52 PST From: Willy Cromwell <CN.WIC@STANFORD.BITNET> RE: RESPONSES TO QUERY CONCERNING CATALOGING INTERNET RESOURCES I recently posted a sent a posting to AUTOCAT and Emedia asking for responses from institutions that are cataloging internet resources. I want to thank all those who responded. What I learned is Stanford is not alone as we begin to think about what will be involved in providing access to these materials. Please find below an attempt to summarize the responses I have received to date. I apologize if I have done violence to any response throuugh my paraphrases. This summary will be posted to AUTOCAT and Emedia and will also be posted to SERIALST in response to a request to do so. Of the 15 responses I received, 10 were requests that I summarize the responses I received for the lists. Many of these requests came from people who indicated that their institutions were just beginning to think about the issues involved in cataloging this sort of item although they had not yet started to so so. A respondent from Columbia University indicated that their Electronic Text Center and Academic Computing division had lists of materials that they would like to have cataloged. 4 responses indicated indicated early stges of experimentation with handling such materials: 1) A respondent from Rice University indicated that they have started to identify issues and problems involved in cataloging internet resources and have cataloged 2 locally created resources and 10 Project Gutenberg files. They hope to have worked out the "kinks" before their collection develoment librarians begin to routinely request that they add records for such electronic resources to their catalog. The respondent questioned the use of the MARC format as the most appropriate vehicle for providing description and access to these resources and mentioned the Bunyip project to provide more adequate description to the Archie. 2) California Polytechnic has created five records associated with the Synthesis Coalition NEEDS database, a database "the purpose of which to provide access to engineering courseware modules, files, texts, etc." Prior to the creation of the NEEDS database, Cal Poly cataloged five modules created by their engineering faculty. They have not yet decided whether or not to continue to put individual records into their online catalog for local campus-created courseware. My respondent stated that she would prefer that their system provide gopher access to NEEDS for access to such files. 3) A respondent from Blacksburg Virginia reports that they have cataloged all the electronic journals published by their Scholarly Communications Project and those from other sources to which they provide local access. 4) A respondent from Grinnell College said that they are considering creating or downloading bibliographic records for e-journals and adding a note telling patrons how to access it, e.g. how to "telnet to such and such a gopher, etc." The 15th respondent merely asked if I would mind if he posted my query on SERIALST. Finally, my own institution, Stanford University Libraries, has cataloged three e-journals for which we provide access to our patrons. We are also working with our Academic Data Center to catalog selected internet resources, most probably creating records that will be maintained in a separate database within the umbrella FOLIO database that also contains our main bibliographic catalog. Willy Cromwell Catalog Dept. Stanford University Libraries cn.wic@stanford.bitnet cn.wic@forsythe.stanford.edu