Why do I get these old records?

If your library receives GPO records from us via one of our subscription services or the Catalog Record Distribution Project (CRDP), you may have wondered from time to time why examples of cataloging for fairly old titles arrive in what would seem to be a current cataloging service. The reason is that, in addition to creating new catalog records, GPO also often has occasion to update older records. One thing we see quite often is new cataloging for old titles that have become available online. When these new records are created for the online version, GPO staff normally updates existing records for tangible versions of the titles to include fields that link the tangible version records to the new online version records. The files Marcive receives each month as the source for our GPO cataloging services include records that have been created by GPO in the previous month as well as records that have been updated. When the time comes to select a library’s records, we choose all of the records that match your criteria; age is not normally a concern.

If you get only new records from us, there usually won’t be too many of these, but if you get changed records as well there could be quite a few at times.

Sometimes these older records are useful and may fill gaps in your catalog, but often they are a distraction. Perhaps you already have cataloged the titles in question, or have withdrawn them from your collection. Either way, the arrival of these records can cause some extra work.

If older records are causing problems for you, it is possible for us to filter them out for you. Simply contact us and ask that records for older tangible titles be excluded from your files in the future, and let us know how old is too old. Most libraries requesting this exclusion have us exclude records for titles from five or more years ago, but the choice is yours.

Do you wonder about some of the records you get or don’t get through your Marcive GPO cataloging service? Whether you get our profiled record services or Documents Without Shelves, or participate in the CRDP, don’t hesitate to ask us about it. We’ll be glad to look into what you are getting and make adjustments that should help, or explain what is happening so that you can decide how you want to handle it.

Written by Jim Noël, MLS
2/9/2016

Converting legacy data to RDA is a challenging idea to take hold in public libraries because of a school of thought regarding the short-lived nature of the collection. If your collection flips over every 15 years, why do anything with the legacy data?

Converting to RDA preps your data for the next generation systems and organizes your records in a layout that is easier for patrons to understand. Public libraries, in particular, have more formats than many other types of libraries, so the blanket term “electronic resource” is no longer relevant in today’s information environment. But don’t take our word for it, here is why some of our happy customers converted to RDA:

Cuyahoga County Public Library
Lori Ann Thorrat, Catalog Department Manager

“Cuyahoga County Public Library chose to convert our data to RDA for simplicity. Having our data in RDA format created a level of consistency that simplifies the configuration of the public catalog, improving our customer’s ability to find and retrieve materials. Dates are very important both for searching and sorting data.  Just having all of our publication dates in a single MARC field allows us to streamline how records display and sort in the public catalog. Because RDA is an internationally recognized standard, having our data already in RDA format will facilitate the conversion of our legacy data to Bibframe, the next generation schema for bibliographic data.”

Somerset County Library System
Adele Thoma Barree, Head of Technical Services

“We know that we will not have our current ILS forever, and that RDA is designed to handle links and connections among all types of data.  Getting our database in the best possible shape for the future is something MARCIVE can help us with by modifying our bibs to reflect basic RDA format.  We are very glad you offer this service!”

Thousand Oaks Public Library
Stacy Gordon, Cataloging Librarian

“Legacy data is worth converting so that older materials become as discoverable as new materials, especially as library management systems and other discovery layers begin to take more advantage of the new fields for content, media, and carrier type.  Since these fields (336, 337, and 338) have controlled vocabularies, greater consistency will be achieved between older and newer records.  As well, when BibFrame is ready to replace MARC, more of your records will be ready to be crosswalked to the new metadata standard that will be more compatible with other information systems in the greater linked data world.

Library catalogs have gone through many changes, and a recent change is to the new cataloging standard,  RDA.  Among the benefits of RDA are fewer abbreviations (no more “ill.” for illustrations or  the Latin “s.l.” for “Place of publication not identified,” and many others), more relationships identified between works, entities, manifestations, and items, as well as between persons, families, and corporate bodies and these FRBR requirements, and a catalog that’s data conform better to what’s being seen in the wider world outside of libraries.  Conversion would provide for greater consistency within your catalog, and will allow users to find information more easily, with RDA’s allowance for a greater number of access points, increasing discoverability.

We had no trouble deciding to go with MARCIVE for performing the retrospective conversion of our database to RDA.  We have had MARCIVE do our authority control for 12 years, and they have been extremely fast, reliable, and with gracious customer service.”

 –written by Ligia Groff, MLS