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Chapter 1.
Pre-cataloging
decisions
Library web site & opac
What is an updating web site?
Is it a remote access electronic database?
Creation of a bibliographic
record begins with a pre-cataloging decision: a cataloger defines
what type of material is being cataloged. The first decision dictates
many following ones – choices of work form and the MARC fields,
cataloging rules and reference sources, etc. What is an updated
Website, how does it differ from database? How can we know
that the Web resource is a database, but not an electronic document,
or serial? Sometimes the question is even deeper: should we really
catalog it?
Library Web Site & OPAC
The idea to catalog Web
sites and especially databases is not fully established yet. Sometimes,
one can hear an opinion that no needs to have records for those
resources. Reference librarians do not direct patrons to use OPAC
in their guides for database users. It raises the question about
access to the Web resources and a role of OPAC in it.
Library users can
access to Web resources by three different ways:
1) Using Goggle, other
search engine or directory from library computers with the Internet
access. They can work independently, or with a reference librarian’s
help.
Note: Goggle is used
for keyword searches; it cannot provide access to the subscribed
resources
2) From the WSU Libraries
Web site. Subject specialists/reference librarians create a list
of subscribed and free Web materials and put them on a library Website.
Note: the WSU Web site
is used for access to databases and e-journals packages
3) Searching OPAC. Catalog
librarians create records for Web resources; users access a resource
directly from an OPAC display.
Note: the WSU OPAC
is used for remote access to government documents online, e-journals
and some databases; it also serves as a main source of references
and collocation of all type of resources
Some databases have records
in a catalog, and some are not. The main access point to them is
the WSU Libraries Web site, but not the OPAC. Should we routinely
catalog databases and major Web sites the same way as we catalog
e-books and e-journals? My answer is “Yes”.
I want to prove here that
cataloging of Web resources and particularly databases is a good
idea. Records for Web resources serve the same purpose as records
for any other materials. In the past, books, shelves, and cards
in the catalog were physical objects. Now all three components became
the virtual ones. However, their functional relationships remain
the same.
What is a location? A
place where something is present and can be found. By placing Web
resources on the Library Website, librarians create the virtual
(“pseudo-physical”) location for them. Users can memorize easily
that databases are located on the WSU Website (which accessible
with a simple click on the desktop shortcut). The placement on the
library Web site also emphasizes the special importance these resources.
They are separated from the other items in a collection; all other
materials are on the shelves, and only they are present on the Web
site. But all other materials in a collection have their references
--- the records in a catalog. Virtual materials also should have
their virtual references – records in an online catalog.
There are many advantages
of this decision. The first, when a record of a Web resource includes
in a library catalog, it establishes the resource as a part of a
library collection. The second, record itself serves as an additional
access point to a resource that increases its accessibility. The
third, a record collocates Web resources with other materials of
the same author, title, or subject. This is a unique advantage,
because only cataloging records let users know that library owns
the same resources in another medium (printed, microfilmed, CDs,
etc.), or has another works of the same author, or subject.
Thus, a collocation of
Web resources into a collection and improvement of their accessibility
are the reasons for cataloging of databases and Web sites.
What is an updated Web site?
After decision to
catalog electronic databases and Websites is made, this is a time
to look at them closer. There are many different resources on the
Web -- home pages, which updated frequently; documents that never
changed; large files with complex internal structures; text, numerals,
sounds, graphic, multimedia; still and animated images; schemes
and maps. There are directories, chat rooms, electronic lists and
newsgroups, governmental and corporate sites, e-mails, databases,
software, computer services, etc.
Let us look at the
ALA Web site and the
SLA 2002 Conference Home Page
and compare them with definitions of the terms “Web site” and “update”
in order to make a pre-cataloging decision.
Web site (ODLIS)
A group of
related, interlinked
Web pages
installed on a
Web server and
accessible 24 hours a day to
Internet users equipped with
browser
software. Most Web sites are created to represent the
online presence of a company, organization, or institution,
or are the work of a group or individual. The main page
or
welcome screen, called the
homepage, usually displays the
title of the site, the name of the person (or persons)
responsible for creating and maintaining it, and date of
last
update. Also spelled
Website.
A place on the World Wide Web
that's comprised of files organized into a hierarchy. Each
file or document contains text or graphics that appear as digital information
on a computer screen. A site can contain a combination of graphics,
text, audio, video, and other dynamic or static materials. As a form
of media, Web sites are similar to motion pictures, television, or print
magazines, which also create and manipulate digital pictures and text.
But a Web site is also a communications medium.
The main difference between
a Web site and traditional media is that a Web site is on a computer
network (the
Internet) and is
coded in such as way that allows
users to
interact with it. Once you're on a site, you can make purchases,
do searches, send messages, and other interactive activities.
As is the case with many
Net terms, "Web site" is often used interchangeably with other words,
such as
homepage and
Web page. For example, you may hear someone refer to their "homepage"
when in fact they are talking about an entire Web site. (A homepage
is usually a
vanity page.) Like
homepage, "Web site" is often spelled as one word and not capitalized,
as in, "website."
To make a news story,
data
file,
reference work, or other
information source
current, usually by revising existing
content or substituting new material.
As easy to see, both ALA and SLA 2002 Conference are Web
sites: they include related, interlinked Web pages,
available 24 hours a day via the Internet, represent
organizations and/or work of a group of individuals, have
the main page (welcome screen), title. ALA Web site has a
copyright statement and the data of revision (‘Last Revised:
July 8, 2003 “) SLA conference homepage does not have a
copyright statement, but SLA Logo at the upper left corner
is a link to the SLA home page, where one can see a
copyright statement.
But they are different in one important way: the ALA Web
site continually updated; the SLA 2002 conference Web site
is not. The latter documents the past event, and can be
removed entirely, but its update is highly unlikely.
Conclusion: only ALA page can be cataloged as an
updated Website.
Is it
a remote access electronic database?
What is a remote access electronic database?
The shortest definition can be found in The Chicago
Manual of Style:
Database is “a discrete body
of structured information in computer storage.”
AACR-2 2002 rev. defines remote access
as:
“The use of electronic resources via computer networks”
The most detailed
definition is at the ODLIS (Librarian’s view).
Database
A
large, regularly
updated
file of
digitized
information
(bibliographic references,
abstracts,
full-text
documents,
directory
entries, images,
statistics, etc.) related to a specific
subject or
field, consisting
of
records of uniform
format organized
for ease and speed of
search and
retrieval, and
managed with the aid of
database management system
(DBMS)
software.
Content
is created by the database producer (example:
American Psychological Association) which usually
publishes a
print version
(Psychological
Abstracts) and
leases the content to a database
vendor (example:
EBSCO or
OCLC) that
provides electronic
access to the
data after it
has been
converted to
machine-readable
form (PsycINFO),
usually on
CD-ROM or
online via the
Internet using
proprietary search software
One more definition (Internet expert’s view).
Database :
also seen as DB -or- dB
An
organized collection of information, characterized by
the use of data fields, it provides a foundation for
procedures such as retrieving information, drawing
conclusions, and making decisions. In other words, it is
an electronic filing system. A database does not have to
be
digital; a collection of recipes written on index
cards and stored in a filing box also counts as a
database. Traditional, computerized databases are
organized by fields, records, and files. A field is a
single piece of information; a record is a complete set
of fields; and a file is a collection of records.
Hypertext is a modern concept in database design,
where any object, whether it is a piece of text, an
image, or some kind of sound clip, can be linked to any
other object. Hypertext databases are helpful for
organizing large amounts of disparate information, such
as the content in large
portals. To access information from a database, you
need a database management system(DBMS),
which is a collection of programs that enable you to
enter, organize, and select data in a database.
The most authoritative definition of a database one can find
in LCSH H 1520:
A database
is a collection of logically interrelated data stored
together in one or more computerized files, usually
created and managed by a database management system. The
data are encoded, and each file is designed with a
high-level structure for accepting, storing, and
providing information on demand. Typically, there is a
set of definitions for the database that describe its
various data elements and a set of codes to identify
each element. The database may include the database
management software
that created the file, or it may include only the data.
As one can see, regular updates as well as a uniform
format and search capabilities are typical
characteristics of a database.
Any database is a
collection of data organized for an easy access.
Similar to printed resources, databases have a publisher
and distributor (vendor). Database’s important features
are the relative stability of its title and internal
structure, but the permanent changes, addition and/or
removal of information inside this structure. For
example, the new information adds to LexisNexis Academic
Universe every day, but the search screen’s structure
and topical divisions (general, business news, legal
research, medical information and reference) remain the
same. JSTOR adds new articles everyday, but it still has
the same title and internal structure. First Search
extends its content, ads new journals each month,
but readers recognize First Search anyway. This relative
stability of databases makes them look like “dynamic
monographs”.
There are
bibliographic and non-bibliographic databases, and both
are used in libraries. They consist of records
and usually retrievable by keyword, author, title,
subject, or descriptor. Some of them are also searchable
by special numbers such as ISSN or others. If a database
refers users to information stored somewhere else, this
is a reference database (includes bibliographic
records, citations, indexes, abstracts). If it provides
access to an entire text of a single work, or to an
entire text of many indexed works, this is a
non-bibliographic full text database. Library Online
Catalog, Sociological Abstracts, Music Index
are examples of reference databases. Example of a full
text single work database is Britannica Online.
Jstor, Project Muse and other collections of journal
articles are examples of full text databases provided
access to many indexed works.
Bibliographic databases differ of data banks, a
collection of non-bibliographic data such as data about
individuals (social security, financial, health, or
criminal records, fingerprints), products (description,
price, etc.), or anything else.
Some more terms are needed for description of elements
of databases and Web sites. The useful source is the
final report of OLAC Subcommittee on Source of title
note for Internet resources by Marcia Barrett.
The group used some terms for page description, such as
home page, login screen, menu, splash screen, title page
of source code document. They also offered several terms
to describe a specific place on Web page, such as
banner, logo, graphic, caption, and source code.
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