The focus of this research is the feasibility of websites cataloging with the use of the NLAI standard rules. For this purpose 50 websites in 20 subjects were selected at random from Parsindex Websites.The study was carried out following two different methodologies: a preliminary checklist was compiled in order to gather the necessary data and information and then descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.The findings show that the use of NLAI standards to organize and to catalog websites is both practicable and convenient.Questa ricerca si concentra sullo studio di fattibilità dei siti web di catalogazione con l'uso dello standard NLAI. A questo scopo sono stati selezionati casualmente dal sito web Parsindex 50 siti web suddivisi in 20 soggetti. Lo studio è stato condotto seguendo due differenti metodologie: un primo elenco è stato redatto al fine di raccogliere le informazioni e i dati necessari e successivamente sono state utilizzate statistiche descrittive per l'analisi dei dati. I risultati mostrano che l'uso dello standard NLAI per organizzare e catalogare i siti web è fattibile ed anche conveniente

Faal, Soheila

Ghorbani, Mahbube

Khanipour, Reza

English

The focus of this research is the feasibility of websites cataloging with the use of the NLAI standard rules. For this purpose 50 websites in 20 subjects were selected at random from Parsindex Websites.

The study was carried out following two different methodologies: a preliminary checklist was compiled in order to gather the necessary data and information and then descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.

The findings show that the use of NLAI standards to organize and to catalog websites is both practicable and convenient

Soheila Faal

Reza Khanipour

Mahbube Ghorbani

Directory of Open Access Journals

Feasibility Study of Websites Cataloging  at the National library and Archives of I.R. of Iran (NLAI)

JLIS.it (Italian Journal of Library, Archives, and Information Science / Rivista italiana di biblioteconomia, archivistica e scienza dell'informazione)

   
 
JLIS.it Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015)   
DOI: 10.4403/jlis.it-10269 
Feasibility Study of Websites 
Cataloging at the National library 
and Archives of I.R. of Iran (NLAI) 
Reza Khanipour, Soheila Faal, Mahbube Ghorbani 
Introduction 
Internet as a global network contains a tremendous variety of 
resources. The Web is getting more and more extensive and is 
seeping through the world’s remotest countries. It is beneficial in 
several ways, as it enables users to access the latest world news, to 
know every detail of an event, to be informed as regards innovation 
and culture. However, despite its advantages, one has to cope with 
some problems and challenges. Information is dispersed throughout 
thousands of pages. To access the exact information you are looking 
for, you are bound to carry out an accurate search. Under these 
circumstances the main challenge is that of recall and precision  (Ali 
Mohammadi 2002). 
In collecting, organizing and distributing information, libraries and 
information centers are confronted with the difficult task of selecting 
and organizing resources from the web. The way to do so is the real 
challenge. A variety of standards, manuals and guidelines have been 
produced in this regard (Neshat 2003). 
 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 54 
Dealing with websites  
Web materials are works which have been published in various 
formats by different individuals. They include: websites, weblogs, E-
books, E- journals articles and so on. Among these, websites are 
considered to be the most numerous. A website is a collection of 
webpages within an internet domain providing multimedia services, 
such as text, voice, static and moving images. A webpage is a 
document written in HTML format that can be reached and accessed 
using HTTP protocol. The main part of a website is its homepage. 
The website of an institution, whether or not of a commercial nature, 
is its face to the world and the starting point for most users’ visits 
(Nielsen 2002).  
In order to evaluate the usability of a website the following issues 
should be considered: contents, language, structure, design, 
navigation and accessibility. The evaluation can be carried out 
according to two methods: 
1. Evaluation with user participation  
2. Evaluation without user participation 
The first method will be especially useful for assessing whether the 
language and structure of the website is easy to understand for users 
(Poll 2007). 
Standards and metadata projects for web 
materials organization 
Various standards and metadata schemes have been developed for 
describing internet materials, among which the following should be 
mentioned: 
1. Dublin Core (DC)  
2. Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC21) 
3. Resource Description Framework (RDF) 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 55 
4. Encoded Archival Description (EAD) 
5. Global Information Locator Service (GILS) 
6. Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) 
Cataloging electronic resources at the National 
Library and Archives of the I.R. of Iran (NLAI) 
The following standards are currently in use at NLAI for cataloging 
books and no-book material: 
1. Anglo American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition (AACR2) 
2. International standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) 
3. Universal MARC 
The use of MARC dates back to 2006. IRAN MARC is a 
customization of UNIMARC. Based on this standard, specific codes 
and worksheets were defined for describing electronic resources, 
which is carried out according to Draft guidelines for cataloging 
electronic resources (2003). According to the kind of access, 
electronic resources are divided into two groups: Direct Access and 
Remote Access resources (Abdoullahi 2002). Websites fall within 
electronic resources with a remote access. As far as direct access 
electronic resources are concerned, over 3,600 items have been 
catalogued at NLAI to date. It seems that, by paying attention to the 
above mentioned issues, standards and description rules for 
electronic resources are adequate for cataloging websites. 
Definition of the problem 
Websites are information resources playing a role in knowledge and 
information cycle. Cataloguing and organizing information 
resources is the basic, technical and central function or  core element 
in regard to this. It is therefore necessary for NLAI to pay attention 
to these websites, furthermore because one of its main 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 56 
responsibilities (as well as many others), is to supervise, control and 
compile cataloging standards for other libraries and information 
centres. 
Since NLAI has entered the field of processing and cataloging books 
and non-book material consisting of electronic resources, it is quite 
obvious that it should have a clear programme and a plan for 
cataloging, updating and managing the websites. This research aims 
at exploring the feasibility of cataloguing websites as well as the 
most significant electronic resources both at a national and an 
international level by NLAI. 
The research background 
The research background in Iran is as follows: 
1. (Haji Zeinolabedini 2002) has dealt with problems regarding 
the organization and information retrieval in the internet. He 
produced a manual on cataloguing internet resources by 
using criteria based on the Anglo-American cataloguing 
rules, some rules specifically designed for internet and 
electronic resources and those used for Persian material. 
2. (Fattahi and Hasanzade 2006) have carried out an evaluation 
study on the information organizing styles in the academic 
libraries websites. 
The research background out of Iran is as follows: 
1. (Koch et al. 1997) have studied the role of classification 
schemes in describing and retrieving internet resources. 
They have recommended the use of these schemes to 
organize the contents of websites. They do not address 
issues related to the application of different styles of 
organization, nor to the point of view of librarians and users. 
2. (Williamson 1997) with emphasis on the knowledge 
structure exist in the internet resources, in relation with the 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 57 
knowledge organizing and management and information 
retrieval, has emphasized mentioned on the importance of 
the organization.  
3. (Ward 2001) has produced a list of the activities which are 
carried out in the US libraries with respect to internet 
resources organization. 
4. (Willer et al. 2008) have made an assessment of processing 
and organizing web resources, based on the costs supported 
by the Library and National University of Croatia. The 
conclusions of the research show that the processing time of 
printed and web material is the same. 
5. (Younghee 2011) has investigated the time lapse between the 
creation of a web resource and the improvement of the 
original metadata by a third party. The research findings 
show that user satisfaction is related to usability, 
information elements, effectiveness and efficiency. 
The importance of this research 
The following issues have been addressed: 
1. To establish a database of websites and enr ich the 
National Bibliography of Iran; 
2. To search websites by using the (Rasa) library software1; 
3. To establish access points or links for the end users based 
on descriptive and analytical aspects; 
4. To improve recall and precision in websites bibliographic 
records; 
5. To define standards and integration of websites cataloging 
in regard to descriptive and analytical aspects. 
                                                             
1 Rasa is the special library software that has been used in NLAI, since  10 years ago.  
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 58 
The research scope 
The main object of the present study is to carry out websites 
cataloging adopting the same standards as at NLAI. For this purpose 
the study in subdivided as follows: 
1. Techniques for gathering websites information; 
2. Bibliographic description of the websites on the basis of the 
same standards and rules as at NLAI; 
3. Recall and precision accessibility improvement by 
establishing links and carrying out topical analysis; 
4. Websites indexing based on subject systems in use at NLAI. 
The main questions 
1. How do we obtain information on/from the websites? 
2. What is the situation regarding websites bibliographic 
descriptions based upon the use of NLAI standards and 
rules? 
3. What is the situation regarding recall and precision 
accessibility to the websites links and subject analysis? 
4. How are NLAI subject systems used for indexing websites? 
The sample selection 
The sample analyzed in the present study  consists of 50 websites. 
They belong to 20 subject areas which have been selected at random 
from the Pars Index websites2.  
                                                             
2 http://www.parsindex.com. 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 59 
Methodology of the research 
The present research has been carried out through a descriptive 
survey and a library study. To collect the necessary information we 
have used check lists and descriptive statistics for data analysis.  
The research findings and answers to the main 
questions  
12.1 First question 
How do we obtain information on/from the 
websites  
In this research, for accessing the websites information, two 
approaches have been studied:  
1. Using the websites list  
Some databases and websites show a list based on 
subject classification. Thus one of the approaches for 
accessing the websites information is to use the websites 
directory. Catalogues of this kind that could be included 
in the search sample were: Iran Website3, Alexa4 and 
Parsindex.5 In the present research we chose to use the 
Pars Index. We could then access many websites and 
carry out our study. 
2. Entering data regarding websites in the NLAI Websites. 
Since internet resources are information resources, they 
should be treated by NLAI as part of its mission. The 
                                                             
3. http://www.iran.ir/directory. 
4. http://www.alexa.com. 
5. http://www.parsindex.  
 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 60 
NLAI Website can be a portal to access websites 
information. So by designing an “electronic worksheet 
for data entry of websites information” and locating it 
on the NLAI Website, we could obtain the websites 
addresses and their information. 
Table 1 shows the recommended fields to design the “electronic 
worksheet for websites information data entry”. 
Table 1: The recommended fields to design the “electronic worksheet for 
websites information data entry”  
 
12.2. Second question: 
What is the situation regarding websites 
bibliographic descriptions based upon the use 
of NLAI standards and rules?  
Table 2 shows the frequency of Anglo American Cataloging Rules 
and UNIMARC standard elements in the websites descriptive 
cataloguing. 
Table 2: The frequency of Anglo American Cataloging Rules and 
UNIMARC standard elements in the websites descriptive cataloging 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 61 
 
As shown in table 2, the most frequent application of standards and 
rules which have been studied for websites descriptive cataloging 
are in the title and author fields with 76 percent and the least 
frequent are related to the note field with 51,4 percent. So in relation 
with the second question, we can say that the possibility of websites 
descriptive cataloging, on the basis of the standards and rules which 
are being used at the NLAI, is approximately 60 percent. 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 62 
12.3. Third question: 
What is the situation regarding recall and 
precision accessibility to the websites links and 
subject analysis?  
The second part of AACR2 is related to subject analysis and link 
points. Table 3 shows the frequency percentage of relevant 
UNIMARC fields. 
Table 3: The frequency of UNIMARC standard application in the websites 
links and subject analysis 
 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 63 
By observing table 3, we notice that the most frequent use of 
UNIMARC standard is related to block 8, with 100%. Block 6 comes 
next with 82% and then block 5 with 61,5%. The least used is Block 7 
for which a frequency of 53,3% was recorded. So in response to the 
third question, we can state that the possibility of recall and 
precision access of websites with subject analysis and using the 
retrieval links established at NLAI is approximately 70 per cent. 
12.4. Third question: 
 What is the situation regarding recall and 
precision accessibility to the websites links and 
subject analysis?  
At NLAI the non-book resources are indexed with the use of 
controlled language.  
Table 4 shows the subject headings systems. It should be mentioned 
that other subject heading systems such as LCSH, thesauri, subject 
dictionaries, as well as encyclopedias, public databanks, special 
databanks for subject authorizing, are being used in addition to the 
subject systems listed below. 
Table 4: The frequency of subject systems used in websites indexing 
 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 64 
By observing table 4, we notice that every subject system has been 
studied. So in response to the fourth question, we come to the 
conclusion that the use of subject systems used for websites indexing 
at NLAI is possible in more than 84 per cent of cases. 
Discussion and conclusion 
By comparing the present research with other ones it can be 
mentioned that: 
1. Websites organization is very significant, for user's 
satisfaction (Willer et al. 2008; Ward 2001; Younghee 
2011). 
2. The term "websites organization" by libraries or 
librarians, have been mentioned by Willer and Ward  
researches (2008; 2001). 
3. Fattahi and Kock (2006; 1997) have emphasized on the 
websites classification and cataloging, for accessibility of 
the websites. 
4. In some researches and studies (Haji Zeinolabedini 2002; 
Williamson 1997; Koch et al. 1997), use of resources 
cataloging rules and standards, are emphasized and 
confirmed. 
The findings of this research examines that the organization of 
websites is possible at the NLAI; 
 In this regard, we can design the "websites 
registration electronic worksheet" for organizing 
the websites; 
 By accomplishment of the above step, the 
information of the websites can be seen by the 
end user. Thus we have, accessibility, usability 
and satisfaction of the users; 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 65 
 Thus the websites information, can be seen at 
NLAI website; 
 With the use of AACR2 in the UNIMARC 
metadata domain and customizing of the rules 
according to our needs, and by using the 
"websites registration electronic worksheet", the 
analysis and description of websites will be 
possible; 
 Thus, the websites accessibility, with different 
access points, will be possible; 
So that the websites indexing and subject analysis will be achievable. 
Recommendation on the basis of the research 
1. To design and create a portal for websites data entry 
(collecting and cataloging) in the NLAI Website; 
2. To carry out specialist training in the websites 
cataloging field; 
3. To program for websites information dissemination in a 
recall and precision situation. 
 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 66 
References 
 
Abdoullahi, Maryam. 2002. “Evaluating of Electronic  Resources 
Cataloging Situation on the Basis of AACR2 in Tehran 
Academic Libraries and Archives.” MA Thesis, Islamic Azad 
University, North Tehran Branch. 
Ali Mohammadi, Dariush. 2002. “Meta Database in Wide World 
Web.” Faslname-Ketab. 
Fattahi, Rahmatollah, and Mohammad Hasanzade. 2006. “A Survey 
of the Experts Libraians about the Information Organizing 
Methods in Academic Libraries Websites.” Faslname-Ketab. 
Haji Zeinolabedini, Mohsen. 2002. “A Survey on the Internet 
Resources Cataloging Problems and to Present a Manual for 
Iranian Libraries.” MA Thesis, Medical Science University of 
Iran. School of Medical Management and Information. 
Koch, Traugott, Anna Brümmer, Debra Hiom, Marianne Peereboom, 
Alan Poulter, and Emma Worsfold. 1997. “The Role of 
Classification Schemes in Internet Resource Description and 
Discovery.” 
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/desire/classification/classi
fication.pdf. 
Neshat, Narges. 2003. “The Challenges of Subject Organizing of Web 
Resources.” Ettlaa-Shenasi. 
Nielsen, Jakob. 2002. “Top 10 Guidelines for Homepage Usability.” 
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-ten-guidelines-for-
homepage-usability/. 
Poll, Roswitha. 2007. “Evaluating the Library Website: Statistics and 
Quality Measures.” In Libraries for the Future: Progress, 
Development and Partnerships. Den Haag: IFLA. 
http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla73/papers/074-Poll-en.pdf. 
Ward, Diane. 2001. “Internet Resource Cataloging: The SUNY 
Buffalo Libraries’ Response.” OCLC Systems & Services. 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015) 
 JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 67 
Willer, Mirna, Tanja Buzina, Karolina Holub, Jasenka Zajec, Miroslav 
Milinovic, and Nebojsa Topolscak. 2008. “Selective 
Archiving of Web Resources: A Study of Processing Costs.” 
Program: Electronic Library and Information Systems. 
Williamson, Nancy. 1997. “Knowledge Structures and the Internet.” 
In , Knowledge organization for information retrieval: 
proceedings of the sixth international study conference on 
classification research:23–27. University College London. 
Younghee, Noh. 2011. “A Study on Metadata Elements for Web -
Based Reference Resources System Developed through 
Usability Testing.” Library Hi Tech. 
 
 
 
Faal,S., R. Khanipour, M. Ghorbani, Website cataloguing 
JLIS.it. Vol. 6, n. 1 (January 2015). Art. #10269 p. 68 
 
REZA KHANIPOUR, PhD in LIS. Faculty member of NLAI.  
R-Khanipour@nlai.ir  
SOHEILA FAAL, MA of LIS. Head of Non-book Resources Section of 
NLAI. s-faal@nlai.ir 
MAHBUBE GHORBANI, PhD student of LIS. Deputy of Director of 
Processing Department of NLAI. m-ghorbani@nlai.ir  
Khanipour, R., Faal, S., Ghorbani, M. "Feasibility Study of Websites 
Cataloging at the National library and Archives of I.R. of Iran 
(NLAI)". JLIS.it 6, 1 (January) 2015: Art. 10269. doi: 10.4403/jlis.it-
10269. 
ABSTRACT: The focus of this research is the feasibility of websites 
cataloging with the use of the NLAI standard rules. For this purpose 
50 websites in 20 subjects were selected at random from Parsindex 
Websites. The study was carried out following two different 
methodologies: a preliminary checklist was compiled in order to 
gather the necessary data and information and then descriptive 
statistics were used for data analysis. The findings show that the use 
of NLAI standards to organize and to catalog websites is both 
practicable and convenient. 
KEYWORDS: Websites, electronic resources, cataloguing, National 
Library & Archives of I.R. of Iran (NLAI) 
Submitted: 2014-08-16 
Accepted: 2014-10-19  
Published: 2015-01-15 
 
 


Studio di fattibilità sulla catalogazione di siti web presso la Biblioteca e gli Archivi Nazioneali dell'I.R. dell'Iran (NLAI)

https://www.jlis.it/article/download/10269/10270

Studio di fattibilità sulla catalogazione di siti web presso la Biblioteca e gli Archivi Nazioneali dell'I.R. dell'Iran (NLAI)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Directory of Open Access Journals

JLIS.it (Italian Journal of Library, Archives, and Information Science / Rivista italiana di biblioteconomia, archivistica e scienza dell'informazione)