D-Lib Magazine
December 1995

Project Briefings and Updates

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OCLC Internet Cataloging Project

Contributed by:

Erik Jul
OCLC
jul@oclc.org

With $62,000 grant funding from the US Department of Education, OCLC is conducting the project, "Building a Catalog of Internet Resources," from October 1, 1994, through March 31, 1996.

The project initiates a coordinated effort among libraries and information centers worldwide to create, implement, test and evaluate a searchable database of USMARC format bibliographic records, complete with electronic location and access information, for Internet-accessible resources.

In a volunteer effort, libraries participating in this project, in cooperation with representatives from their host institutions, identify, select and catalog computer files available via the Internet and contribute the resulting records to OCLC. The project tests the suitability and applicability of cataloging standards and practices, including the MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) communications format and Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2d., revised. All records include one or more 856 fields, "Electronic Location and Access," which is used to provide access to the described resources, and are suitable for inclusion in local, regional, or national library catalogs.

The project has 209 participants from 43 US states, the District of Columbia, and 11 other countries. Some 2,500 records for Internet resources are available via the InterCat Catalog, a Web-searchable, Z39.60-compliant, experimental database built using OCLC SiteSearch and WebZ software (http://www.oclc.org:6990). The InterCat Catalog joins the capabilities of fielded searching with bibliographic description and remote access to Internet resources. The database is publicly available at no cost.

In support of the cataloging activity, OCLC published "Cataloging Internet Resources: A Manual and Practical Guide," which is available at the project's home page at the address listed below, and established the INTERCAT listserv (listserv@oclc.org sub intercat [your name]).

Analyses of bibliographic and access data contained in the bibliographic records are ongoing, and a Project Colloquium is planned for mid-January in conjunction with the American Library Association Mid-Winter meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The Colloquium is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required; seating is limited. OCLC will publish proceedings and a final project report. For more information or to register for the project or the Colloquium, see the project's home page (http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/catproj/catcall.htm) or contact Erik Jul, Project Manager, at jul@oclc.org.

hdl://cnri.dlib/december95-briefings.5