EUCAT: A Pan-European Index of Union Catalogs

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants.The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants

Contributors

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants.The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants

Accessing library materials via Google and Other Web Sites

Han passat dos anys d'ençà que les biblioteques van començar a fer accessibles els continguts dels seus catàlegs a través dels motors de cerca principals d'Internet: Google, Yahoo i MSN (Microsoft Network), coneguts com a GYM. L'article analitza aquesta iniciativa des del punt de vista de l'èxit i d'aspectes tan diversos com ara les polítiques de selecció de cercadors, els rànquings, l'evolució del servei i les estadístiques, en termes d'índexs de clics i d'intercanvis. S'estudien, també, els beneficis que obtenen les biblioteques per exposar àmpliament els seus fons, els altres llocs que existeixen a banda dels GYM i diversos mètodes d'exposició possibles. D'altra banda, s'apunta el discovery to delivery gap preocupant que s'està detectant: és necessari enllaçar amb sistemes de lliurament si les biblioteques volen aparèixer en els webs de les llibreries electròniques i utilitzar-los per la facilitat de consulta de materials que comporten. Alhora es presenten les novetats recents pel que fa als estàndards i al WorldCat, de l'OCLC, com a millores evidents en l'àmbit del lliurament. | Two and a half years have passed since libraries first started to make available the contents of their catalogues to the major Internet search engines, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Network (MSN). The paper examines the success of this initiative and various aspects including search engine selection policies, ranking, service evolution and statistics in terms of âclick throughsâ and âconversionsâ. The benefits to libraries of exposing their collections as broadly as possible, additional sites to GYM and methods of exposure are examined. But there is becoming a serious âdiscovery to delivery gapâ; linking seamlessly to delivery systems is a necessity if libraries are to sit proudly alongside web sites like online book stores and match them for ease of requesting materials. Recent developments in standards and in OCLCâs worldcat.org are presented as steps towards improvement in the delivery area

Collected Work Clustering in WorldCat

WorldCat records are clustered into works, and within works, into content and manifestation clusters. A recent project revisited the clustering of collected works that had been previously sidelined because of the challenges posed by their complexity. Attention was given to both the identification of collected works and to the determination of the component works within them. By extensively analysing cast-list information, performance notes, contents notes, titles, uniform titles and added entries, the contents of collected works could be identified and differentiated so that correct clustering was achieved. Further work is envisaged in the form of refining the tests and weights and also in the creation and use of name/title authority records and other knowledge cards in clustering. There is a requirement to link collected works with their component works for use in search and retrieval

GLIMIR: Manifestation and Content Clustering within WorldCat

The GLIMIR project at OCLC clusters and assigns an identifier to WorldCat records representing the same manifestation. These include parallel records in different languages (e.g., a record with English descriptive notes and subject headings and one for the same book with French equivalents). It also clusters records that probably represent the same manifestation, but which could not be safely merged by OCLC's Duplicate Detection and Resolution (DDR) program for various reasons. As the project progressed, it became clear that it would also be useful to create content-based clusters for groups of manifestations that are generally equivalent from the end user perspective (e.g., the original print text with its microform, ebook and reprint versions, but not new editions). Lessons from the GLIMIR project have improved OCLC's duplicate detection program through the introduction of new matching techniques. GLIMIR has also had unexpected benefits for OCLC's FRBR algorithm by providing new methods for identifying outliers thus enabling more records to be included in the correct work cluster