Step 1.  Initial Considerations:

A.  Technology: Does your library catalog system have a web-based interface with the ability to “hotlink” to web resources?  Or, do you plan to have a hotlinked system soon?

B.   Is there administrative support for cataloging Internet resources at your library?

C.   Resources:  What resources are available to apply to Internet resources?

* How much staff can you commit?
* How much time can you dedicate to this?
* Is there sufficient staff time for maintenance?  (PURLS will not eliminate this need)

A.  Scope: Determine the scope of the commitment and set goals.

* Who will be involved?  Will this be a library-wide effort, a special team effort, a Documents Department effort, one individual’s effort?
* Will we primarily just retain the URL information we receive in records, or will we be actively evaluating and selecting web sites?

B.  Tag All the Players:

* Will evaluation of resources involve Collection Development staff (subject selectors)?  Will you need the cooperation of Systems?

C.  Standards: Review available standards and determine which ones you will follow.

* For example, will you use a single or a multiple record approach for Internet resources with print equivalents?  (CONSER Interim Standard is single record)
Or, will you use both, depending on the discretion of the cataloger/selector?
* Will you accept the GPO PURL protocol or set other guidelines?

D.  Organization of the workload:

*   How will be workload be organized?
* Who will manage the work?  One department?  Team?  Individual?
* Who will do the work?  What level of staff do we intend to commit:
Professionals? Paraprofessionals? Students?  A combination?

E.  Consider beginning with a pilot project:

 * If you or your administration are uncertain about the level of resource commitment to this effort, start small.  You can then evaluate the time and talent required, as well as discover problems and rewrite procedures.

F.  Write a mission statement: articulate your vision.

G.  Prepare for change and be flexible.

A.  What will be the source of the records?

*  Tapeloads, Bibliographic Utility, Combination?
* What expectations do you have of your vendor?
* How will updates be received?
* Is there a concern for overlay of local information?

B.  What are the Cataloging issues for us?

* Will we accept records as received or enhance them?
* Will we add fields or notes?
* Are we concerned about any inconsistencies in GPO records?
* Will we change or amend URL addresses if necessary?

A.  Will we evaluate the point of entry for a URL/PURL?

B.  How much evaluation will be required and who will do this work?

C.  Will we accept URLS/PURLS as they appear in records, or actively seek out sites of value to our patrons?

A.  Display of Field 856

* Study how your system displays this field.
* If there are insufficiencies, work with systems staff to possibly correct them.

B.  If difficulties remain, devise a strategy:

* For example, Innovative (III) currently will only display one subfield u in an 856 field.  If the PURL is in the second subfield, will you manually amend the 856 field?

A.  How important is it to have absolutely accurate URL information in the catalog?

B.  If accuracy is a priority, how will records be kept up to date?  Will you systematically check URL/PURL links for validity?

D.  How?  System-generated or link-checking software?  Manually?

E.  How often?

F.  What staff will be involved?

G.  What will you do with the data you collect?  Will you have staff/time to correct?

A.  Develop written policies and procedures.

B.  Report regularly to your staff and administration on your progress.

C.  Take advantage of your system’s reporting capabilities, especially for tracking the 856 fields available in the catalog’s records.

D.  Report broken links you discover to GPO.

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