Transcript BookWhere and UseMARCON as copy cataloging tools in Voyager

BookWhere and
UseMARCON
as copy cataloguing tools
in Voyager
E-EndUser2003
Timo Mäntyvaara
Oulu University Library
17/07/2015
Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
BookWhere 4.2.0
• Z39.50-based tool for searching and copying bibliographic
records from library catalogues all over the world
• www.webclarity.info/products/bookwhere.html
(free 30-day trial)
• joint purchase by Finnish university libraries in spring 2002:
price $99/year/user
- other libraries can buy licenses for the same price
• 1521 database hosts, 1834 free databases (Library of
Congress, MELVYL, Libris etc.)
- OCLC’s WorldCat database on pay-per-record basis
• full list of database hosts:
www.webclarity.info/registry/servlet/com.seachange.gti.ListAll
• BookWhere Online: no software to install – browser-based
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Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
• database configurations are updated automatically and
maintained by WebClarity
• possible to search many databases simultaneously
• 173 search methods:
ISBN, ISSN, author, title, keyword etc.
• search results are updated in real time
• results can be sorted in different ways
• possible to copy one or more records at once
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Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
UseMARCON (User Controlled
Generic MARC Converter)
• converts records found with BookWhere
- from MARC21 into MARC21-Fin
- from ALA/MARC8 or Latin1 into the Voyager RLIN
character set
• can also be configured for other format conversions
(conversion tables)
- 50 variant MARC formats in use worldwide
• must be separately installed on every user’s PC
• batch conversion possible
• easy to use
• excellent output quality
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Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
Experiences in Oulu University
Library - advantages
• 95 % of new foreign monographs can be found with
BookWhere
• mostly American and Canadian libraries
-> Anglo-American material found best, not as good for
material in other languages
- cataloguers use mainly the default favourites + Libris
(Union catalogue of Swedish libraries)
• less original cataloguing -> time-saving
• copied records are of high quality -> improves the quality of
bibliographic description
• subject headings in other languages are helpful in indexing
and improve quality
• tables of contents and other bibliographic notes bring extra
information to the customer
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Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
Disadvantages
• searches can be slow if too many databases are
selected
• it would be simpler to use the Z39.50 module in
Voyager cataloguing, BUT:
- database configuration is difficult – each library has to
configure and maintain database information separately
- possible to search only one database at a time
- no built-in format conversion
• lack of ”real” cataloguing practice -> skills get rusty?
• are cataloguers needed?
 records are not error-free
 format conversion is not always perfect
 knowledge of the MARC format and cataloguing
rules is needed when checking and correcting copied
records
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Oulun yliopiston kirjasto
• installation and configuration guides in Finnish for
Linnea2 consortium members:
www.lib.helsinki.fi/linnea2/intra/ryhmat/luettelointi/opas
teita/bookwhere/index.htm
• conversion tables for UseMARCON:
www.lib.helsinki.fi/z3950/usemarcon/ma2mafi.exe
MARC21 -> MARC21-Fin
MARC21-Fin -> FINMARC98
FINMARC98 -> MARC21-Fin
17/07/2015
Oulun yliopiston kirjasto