General Procedures - Collections

Collections were initially used in PANDORA to group together subject based ephemera titles, this was mainly done as an assistance to users in highlighting related content as previously there were limited ways of easily accessing grouped content. With better developed search functionality and enhanced subject browse listings, this is no longer the case and a number of older Collections have been removed leaving their titles within the general run.

Collections are now primarily (though not exclusively) used to bring together a group of titles on a particular event such as an election or other event of national or state wide significance (i.e. World Youth day, 2008). However there are still a number of Collections on a related subject (i.e. Australian Dance Videos), or used to collect together a set of titles on a related subject that were gathered within a discrete time frame (i.e. Publishers, Sept.-Dec. 2000)

Collection general guidance

When a new Collection is created, these general rules apply.

• If a Collection is created on a theme/subject, that theme/subject must be distinct and discrete
• If a Collection is created for an event, that event must be of national or state/territory wide significance
• A Collection must have a reasonable number of titles attached. If the Collection does not have more than three (3) titles attached, it should be deleted and the titles stand alone. Any theme/event which does not have more than 3 suitable titles available, should not be considered of high enough significance
• When a Collection has a large number of titles attached to it, it is preferred that a set of Collections is created (as has been done with the 2004 & 2007 federal election Collections)
• Child Collections, that is lower level subject sets within Collections, are not always required. If used, they should be clearly and precisely named.
• A single catalogue record should be produced for the entire collection and uploaded onto Libraries Australia
• Personal blogs that cover a broad range of topics and are not specifically related to the collection topic are not linked to Collections

      - if there is a reasonable amount of content (or a smaller amount if it is highly relevant) a separate Title is created using filters to archive only that which is directly relevant to the Collection. Personal blogs that contain content of relevance to the Collection, but are not created specifically on the Collection subject are not added to Collections.
      - if there is a small amount of content the Title is not added to the Collection. Users using PANDORA search or the subject listings will find the content. It is also recognised that adding a large resource which is being archived on schedule will not assist the user as they will not be able to easily find the distinct instance or relevant item of information that is associated with the Collection.

Cataloguing

• To assist users of Libraries Australia and local OPACs to retrieve Collections, if the title is not self-explanatory you may include the following phrase in titles: Australian Internet sites, for example [Sports, 2000 - Australian Internet sites].
  Note: All collective entry titles are enclosed in square brackets
• When cataloguing give a number of subject headings to adequately cover the broad nature of the collection. All individuals and organisations involved in the sites being archived will be given added entries, but not subject access. This decision has been taken to avoid records that become too lengthy and difficult to use
• If necessary, include a note to explain that new sites will be added to the collection from time to time and added entries will be given to provide access to appropriate individuals and organisations
• As new sites are added to a collection, update the record with an added entry for each relevant individual and/or organisation.

Example of a Collection catalogue record