Describes minimal-level, or provisional, authority records that are constructed from headings in bibliographic records as part of a computer validation process. Two types of references that can be generated automatically for authority records are explained: (1) those based on other data in the bibliographic record, and (2) those derived from the…

This experiment searches an online library catalog employing author surnames, plus one or two title words of books in citations of eight scholarly works whose authors selected the title words as being recallable. Results of searches yielded a single-screen miniature catalog (minicat) 99% of the time. (Author/LRW)

"SourceOECD," the online/print subscription service of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is examined. Solutions for providing access in library online catalogs are described, as are recent technical improvements to the online subscription service.

Research library catalogs serve as authoritative sources of access. The increasing practice of including Web sites in the catalog, resources not under the library's control, raises new issues of the catalog's accuracy and reliability. An analysis of ARL libraries' catalogs examined the persistence of cataloged URLs. Error rates ranged from a low…

Modern academic libraries have a great number of information resources available online in the form of electronic catalogs, books, journals, and subject subscription databases. To determine whether users can easily retrieve the information they are seeking, academic librarians conduct usability testing of their libraries' Web sites. There has been…

Describes OCLC's CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) that is being developed to explore the cooperative creation of a catalog of Internet resources that will support both MARC and less formal metadata. Explains the catalog design which will allow dynamic generation of Web pages with resources for integration with libraries' portal pages.…

Describes research that examined the feasibility of automatically deriving name access points from machine readable title pages of English language monographs. An algorithm for automatic derivation is presented and results using the algorithm are compared to traditionally cataloged name access points. The implications for bibliographic standards…

Analyzes four descriptive cataloging orthodoxies of the past (corporate authorship, uniform personal headings, the main entry, and the dominance of the card catalog) and contends that each has been overthrown. The influence of the MARC format on descriptive cataloging is examined and the need for the application of utilitarian principles is…

Reviews five CD-ROM catalogs: (1) Auto-Graphics Impact; (2) Brodart LePac; (3) GRC LaserGuide; (4) Library Corporation Intelligent Catalog; and (5) MARCIVE Pac. General guidelines for selecting a CD-ROM catalog are discussed, and vendor addresses and telephone numbers are listed. (MES)

Five articles provide overviews of information networking activities at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Kentucky, the University of Maryland at Baltimore Health Sciences Library, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Carnegie Mellon University. (MES)

Review of the 1987 subject access literature covers: (1) general works; (2) organization, history, theory, and method of classification; (3) classification systems; (4) subject headings and the Library of Congress; (5) subject authority control through the Library of Congress Subject Headings; (6) subject searching in online catalogs; and (7)…

Describes a study that examined the feasibility of using machine links in an online catalog based on the presence of an OCLC control number, International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), or Library of Congress control number (LCCN) to link successive-entry serial bibliographic records that result from serial title changes. (Contains nine…

Discusses MARC records and describes a HyperCard script that translates MARC records from a communications format into an easy-to-read tagged format. An appendix lists a script from a HyperCard program called "The MARC Reader," and it is suggested that it could represent the beginning of an automated catalog. (two references) (LRW)

Reports on a survey which assessed automated authority control capabilities of 18 vendors' automated library systems, software, or services. Graphs rank vendors according to overall score, authority record source, format/storage of authority records, database dynamics, matching/linking authority and bibliographic records, syndetic structure,…

Considers the value of information contained within a library's online public access catalog. Assesses the value of MARC records; authority records; indexes; location and status information; and value for an individual. (LRW)