The OCLC Internet Cataloging project, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education, coordinates a worldwide volunteer effort among participating libraries and information enterprises to identify, select, and catalog Internet resources. Records created in conjunction with this project conform to USMARC standards and the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), 2d ed. (1988). In addition, each record contains one or more fields for electronic location and access (MARC field 856). The resulting records are contributed to the OCLC Online Union Catalog and make up the experimental database, InterCat, which combines the efficiency and power of fielded searching with the ease of point-and-click access to the remote resources through a Web interface.
Undertaken as an effort to test rigorously the suitability and applicability of both the MARC communications format and the cataloguing rules, the project also calls upon participants to exercise other aspects of librarianship, including selection policies and practices, staff training and cataloging work flows, integration of records for Internet resources into the local catalog, interaction with reference and public services functions, and issues of resource and catalog maintenance. From the outset, the narrow focus on cataloging Internet resources was cast within the broader scope of library standards, practices, and both local and national operations.
On January 19, 1996, in conjunction with the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, the OCLC Internet Cataloging project hosted a colloquium for project participants and interested others. A prior call for field reports and position papers solicited contributions for presentation or publication. The resulting papers presented herein reflect a range of views, experiences, and recommendations, and it is my hope that they stir continued discussion as well as new and continued initiatives toward providing improved description and access for Internet resources.
Erik Jul
Project Manager
