BOOK REVIEWS
Vicki Toy-Smith, Column Editor
E-Serials Cataloging:
Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources
via the Catalog and the Web
Jim Cole, Wayne Jones, editors
Clearly, electronic access via the Internet has raised all our sights. We expect more, we anticipate more, we will have more in terms of access than we have had in the past. Library employees, and perhaps especially catalogers, need a proportionately more sophisticated knowledge of the complexities and changing nature of the electronic serial to serve a more demanding and sophisticated user base. E-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web sheds light on this important arena, featuring articles from respected librarians, administrators and vendors field-wide, world-wide.
Because I have not spent a career cataloging serials or electronic resources, understanding and learning about the history of cataloging serials is like coming in on a heated discussion that is well underway and not being entirely sure where we are in the conversation. The general section beginning the collection serves to bring me well into the fray. “E-serials Cataloging in the 1990s: a Review of the Literature” by Ann Copeland tells me that where we have been helps us understand where we are and where we are going in the burning seriality issues of our day: aggregators, multiple versions, format integration and other revisions to AACR2 to accommodate seriality more comprehensively, development of diverse metadata schemes, the CORC project, the birth of Dublin Core, and much more. The bibliography itself may be as or more useful than the text of the article in its show of players and issues. To serials catalogers there is no doubt that the bibliography and tribute to Crystal Graham is a story of serials cataloging itself at the end of the 20th century, and her impressive contribution to it.
The field of electronic serials is multi-faceted. The value of a collection of this kind is the chance to experience the perspective of some who work in and live a reality different from our own. We work in accordance with national and international standards, and yet we are not always versed in the process or rationale behind their creation. The perspective of members of those decision-making teams enriches us. Who better to account for progress of the ISSN as a persistent identifier than the director of the IIIS International Centre, Françoise Pelle? If you want some understanding of the ISBD (ER) and it relationship to AACR, read Sten Hedberg’s article, "ISBD (ER) and its Role in the Management of Electronic Resources." He’s a member of the ISBD Review Group and offers a fairly objective view and historical perspective on IFLA review function and the relationship between the ISBDs and AACR2.
Education and training in the ever-changing field of serials/continuing resources, much less e-serials are vital. I found as I read Kim Park’s article, "The Integration of Electronic Resources into Cataloging Instruction in the LIS Curriculum," that I lacked the optimism of Taemin to agree that library programs are keeping apace with catalog access to e-serials. However, her approach progressed beyond the problem of semantics in course names and examined formats addressed, metadata codes taught, teaching methods, and depth of coverage. I emerged more optimistic than I started.
When it comes right down to it, most of us are looking for systematic ways to process records in our own libraries, ways that are validated by successful configuration elsewhere. The policies and procedures section offers a wealth of practical help for cataloging and providing access to electronic resources. Particularly helpful was "Web Resources for Cataloging Electronic Serial and Continuing Resources: an Annotated Bibliography," offering a wealth of Websites for local processing from many institutions. Beatrice Caraway provides "Notes for Remote Access Computer File Serials," which might well serve as a supplement to Geer and Caraway’s book, Notes for Serials Cataloging. And though it can be regarded as a snapshot of a rapidly moving image, Michael Wright’s article on OCLC’s CORC service provides worthwhile perspective on a dynamic wave in cataloging electronic resources.
National Projects and Local Applications section exposes us to projects worldwide, such as NESLI MARC and the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek. Common themes are the issues currently in resolution for many libraries: linking bibliographic records and journal articles/full text; linking lists for managing aggregators, licenses, URLs; exploring options that are user- and staff-friendly. Hennig’s description of a local application using Filemaker Pro in "Improving Access to E-Journals and Databases at the MIT Libraries" actually gives a useful chart comparing strengths, capabilities, and weaknesses of catalog vs. Web database lists. After all, the value of this kind of collection of articles can be helping readers gain a decision-based knowledge of the field, far more valuable than merely understanding how library access is configured. Most projects represented in this section are national and university projects, yet one from Kansas City Public Library is included.
The phenomenal effort of providing access to the vast sea of electronic resources is indeed explorative and evolutionary, as exposited in Gerry McKernan’s summary article "E is for Everything: the Extra-Ordinary, Evolutionary [E-] Journal". I want to add an "f": future, because in fact he has touched on it and titillated the reader by exploring some capabilities in serials access and delivery that are envisioned and not quite realized.
The irony of trying to encapsulate the complexities of e-serials cataloging in the static medium of a monograph is inescapable, yet I fully appreciate the offering. The bibliographic references are invaluable; many of the Websites will find a home in my browser bookmarks and will be well used, given I have persistent URLs. E-Serials Cataloging is appropriate for students and practitioners of electronic resources cataloging, as well as university library collections.
Published in 2001 by: Haworth Information Press, Binghamton, NY. ISBN: 0-7890-1710-5 ($59.95) 0-7890-1711-3 ($39.95, pbk.) 329 p. Co-published simultaneously as The Serials Librarian, vol. 41, no. 3/4 (2002).
Reviewed by: Kathryn Etcheverria
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, Nevada
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Last updated: June 6, 2003
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