E‐Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources Via the Catalog and the Web

Citation

du Preez, M. (2003), "E‐Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources Via the Catalog and the Web", Online Information Review, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 370-370. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520310503611

The cataloguing scene has changed over the years in the sense that more and more documents are currently being published online. This poses unique challenges to the cataloguer. E‐Serials cataloging was compiled in recognition of these challenges and contains a number of academically researched articles that examine the state of electronic serials cataloguing. The volume covers the entire landscape of e‐serials and e‐serials cataloguing through an arrangement of articles in six sections: General; Standards; Education and training; Policies and procedures; National projects and local applications; and, Books, serials, and the future.

Two articles make up the “General” section: a tribute to Crystal Graham and a review of literature on e‐serials cataloguing. The section on standards discusses the ISSN as an ongoing identifier in a changing world and looks at the role the ISBD(ER) has in the management of electronic resources. The four articles in the “Education and Training” section discuss the integration of electronic resources into cataloguing instruction in the LIS curriculum; the educational challenges in teaching seriality; the Canadian experience of the Serials Cataloguing Cooperative Training Programme; and, the Electronic Journals Tutorial at the University of Leicester.

The “Policies and procedures” section reflects on the need to create separate OPAC records for e‐journals while the second article looks at Web resources for the cataloguing of electronic serials. It then examines types of Internet resources that are being catalogued in ARL institutions, as well as the related staff and access issues. Aspects such as remote access computer file serials; using structured metadata for collocation and browsing capabilities; and, a user's perspective of OCLC's CORC Service also receives attention.

The National projects and local applications section addresses a variety of topics, such as the experimental creation of MARC records for e‐journals in the UK's National Electronic Site Licence Initiative; the linking of articles and bibliographic records with Uniform Resource Names; bibliographic protocols; the marrying of bibliographic and full‐text resources; improving access to e‐journals and databases at the MIT Libraries, a successful library service for electronic journals in Germany; and, the access to e‐serials and other continuing electronic resources at Kansas City Public Library. To conclude, the section on Books, Serials and the Future reflects on the future of e‐books and looks at the evolution of the electronic journal.

E‐serials cataloging is a great reference tool for librarians, especially cataloguers, who are confronted with the cataloguing of electronic versions of former print publications. Each article includes a summary, a bibliography and some keywords. The volume concludes with a very useful index, which has been alphabetised in word‐by‐word order.