National Bibliographic Database (NBD) SurveyJuly 1999 At the first meeting of the Australian Library Collections Task Force, in February 1999, members of the Task Force concluded that it would be valuable to collect information on participation in the NBD across the key library sectors. This study is the result. The Task Force believes that the study has produced a robust overview of the current Australian situation, which can provide a shared understanding on which future actions can be based. This document does not present any blueprints for further action, or recommendations, but has been released in order to elicit consideration and discussion of possible strategies to enhance contributions to the NBD. The Task Force invites comments upon the survey and the issues identified. Comments can be directed to: The Australian Library Collections Task Force Secretariat
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The National Bibliographic Database (NBD) is maintained by the National Library of Australia (NLA), and contains records of the material held by many Australian libraries. It is the largest database of its kind in Australia. The NBD provides the mechanism whereby Australian libraries can easily discover what other libraries hold, thus facilitating inter-library loan. The NBD also makes the cataloguing of material more efficient, as records for items can be shared, thus avoiding the expense involved in numerous libraries originally cataloguing different copies of the same item. The NBD is the fundamental tool underpinning resource sharing amongst Australian libraries.
In order to inform its future activities, the Australian Library Collections Task Force (ALCTF), decided in early 1999, that a wide-ranging study of the contributions of Australian libraries to the NBD was warranted. Inter alia, this study collected information on:
- The extent to which materials in Australian libraries are actually recorded on the NBD;
- The types of material most likely / unlikely to be recorded on the NBD;
- The nature of any records for material not recorded on the NBD;
- The possible existence of special collections of materials not recorded on the NBD, that may be of particular research value; and,
- Patterns of contribution / non-contribution to the NBD amongst particular library types.
The study has been based on a series of surveys distributed to the National, State, and Territory libraries, academic, and special libraries.
Main findings
Academic Libraries
- These libraries are the major contributors to the NBD. Most libraries record a high percentage of their collections on the NBD.
- There are, however, substantial numbers of older books and non-book material such as maps and music, held by these libraries, which are unrecorded on the NBD.
The National, State and Territory Libraries
- It is likely that there are over one million books published before 1980 in the National, State and Territory libraries that are not recorded on the NBD.
- These libraries typically have substantial collections of material such as photographs, maps, music scores, oral history recordings and other special collections that are not recorded on the NBD. Of the non-book materials, a substantial proportion is also not recorded either in card or online catalogues.
- A number of these libraries have special projects underway to ensure that these materials are eventually recorded on the NBD, but progress is often slow due to funding constraints.
Special Libraries
- While some special libraries record a large proportion of their material on the NBD, many record relatively little, and it seems that staff in many special libraries are unaware of the existence of the NBD.
- The special library sector appears to hold a large amount of material, including older books and current journal subscriptions that are not recorded on the NBD.
- The contribution to the NBD made by special libraries, in many cases, is particularly hampered by a lack of suitable expertise and facilities.
Conclusion
It is very clear from this study that there are significant amounts of material in Australian libraries not recorded on the NBD that may be uncatalogued, or recorded only on card or local online systems. As a consequence, discovering the existence of and accessing this material is often very difficult. If this material is not located, resources may be unnecessarily duplicated, as institutions may purchase material that is already held by others and available for loan. Similarly, researchers may be disadvantaged in their research, if they are unable to easily locate and access materials actually held in Australian libraries but not yet included in the NBD.
The issues raised by this study are complex, and addressing them will require a coordinated approach, supported by all stakeholders. The Task Force believes that the study has produced a robust overview of the current Australian situation, which can provide a shared understanding on which future actions can be based. This document does not present any blueprints for further action, or recommendations, but has been released in order to elicit consideration and discussion of possible strategies to enhance contributions to the NBD.
BACKGROUND
At the first meeting of the Australian Library Collections Task Force, in February 1999, it was noted that in 1995, Ray Choate from the University of Adelaide, had surveyed Australian university libraries to ascertain the extent to which their collections were included in the NBD, and was in the process of updating this survey. Members of the Task Force concluded that it would be valuable to collect information on participation in the NBD across the key library sectors. In response, Robyn Collins from the State Library of South Australia and Carol Murray from the CSIRO coordinated the survey among the National and State libraries and a sample of special libraries, respectively.
Aim
The aim of these surveys was to:
- Determine the extent to which information about the existence and location of library materials in Australia is available through the NBD;
- Discover what types of materials are most likely to be included in the NBD, and what types of materials are less likely to be included;
- Gain a detailed understanding of the amount and likely location of unrecorded monograph material in Australian libraries;
- Provide a picture of the special collections held in Australian libraries that are not included in the NBD;
- Identify any patterns across different types of libraries on contribution and non-contribution to the NBD;
- Map the extent to which material not recorded on the NBD may be recorded on local online systems, card catalogues, or other systems; and,
- Understand the nature of other practices that may impact upon the coverage of the NBD.
Methodology
Academic Libraries:
The academic libraries survey form was
distributed by Ray Choate. All university libraries were asked to complete
the survey. Responses were received from all except the Australian
Catholic University.
The National, State and Territory Libraries and Special Libraries:
The national, state, territory and
special libraries survey form was distributed by Robyn Collins and
Carol Murray. This form was modeled on Ray Choates survey form, but
includes additional questions on ABN/Kinetica membership (Question 1),
records for material not recorded on the NBD (Question 6), and frequency
of addition of material to the NBD (Question 10). All State and Territory
libraries, including the National Library were asked to complete the
survey.
Surveys were sent to approximately 250 special libraries. Libraries were chosen from a list generated from the Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG), based on how libraries had reported themselves to the Gateway. Libraries were selected based on an assessment of the uniqueness of their collections. By the end of June, responses had been received from 108 libraries listed here.
Acknowledgment
The Task Force would like to acknowledge the work of Ray Choate for his role in providing the initial idea for this activity, and for his work in updating his previous survey from 1995 on the contribution of university libraries to the NBD. Without this work, the information the Task Force has been able to collect would be far from complete.
SURVEY RESULTS
Academic Libraries
The Academic Libraries Results Table was prepared by Ray Choate.
Q1. Records on the NBD [1]
All academic libraries had contributed records or holdings to the
NBD.
Q2. How many records are on the NBD?
The number of records or holdings for each institution on the NBD
range from 1,024,000 for the University of Sydney to "very few"
at Griffith University.
Q3. Percentage of collections on the NBD
|
Percentage |
1-10% | 11-20% | 21-30% | 31-40% | 41-50% | 51-60% | 61-70% | 71-80% | 81-90% | 91-100% |
| No. of libraries 39/41 | - | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Percentage of respondents | - | 7.3% | 4.9% | - | 2.4% | 4.9% | 7.3% | 22% | 19.5% | 26.8 |
This table shows that academic libraries most frequently have a very high proportion of their materials recorded on the NBD. Two Libraries did not provide information on this criterion.
Q4. Library material not on the NBD
- a) Monographs pre-1980 not on the NBD
Approximately 11 of the 41 academic library respondents (26.8%) indicated that their collections of older monographs were not on the NBD.
- b) Journals (active subscriptions) not on the NBD [2]
Three of the 41 academic library respondents (7.3%) had not added all their active journal subscriptions to the NBD.
- c) Journals (closed titles) not on the NBD [3]
Two of the 41 respondents (4.9%) had not added all their closed journal titles to the NBD.
- d) Maps not on the NBD
Seven of the 41 respondents (17.1%) had not added all their map collections to the NBD.
- e) Music (scores and/or recordings) not on the NBD
Two academic libraries (4.9%) had not added all their music scores and recordings to the NBD.
- f) Other Audio/ Visual not on the NBD
Eight academic libraries (19.5%) had not added all their audio-visual materials to the NBD.
- g) Chinese Korean and Japanese material not on the NBD
Six academic libraries (14.6%) had not added material in these languages to the NBD.
- h) Other foreign language material not on the NBD
No library indicated that it had significant amounts of other foreign language materials that had not been added to the NBD.
- i) Any formed collections not on the NBD [4]
Eight libraries (19.5%) indicated that they had not added some of their formed collections to the NBD.
- h) Other types of materials not on the NBD
This material included: electronic journal and book holdings; large microform sets; on order materials; theses; and, not for loan material.
Reasons given for materials not added to the NBD were:
- Materials were awaiting batch loading;
- Catalogue records were held in an electronic form that could not easily be loaded onto the NBD; and,
- Original catalogue records are not added to the NBD holdings only are contributed, and if no record exists on the NBD, no holding statement is subsequently contributed.
Q5. Plans to add currently unrecorded material to the NBD
- 23 academic libraries (56%) indicated that they would add currently unrecorded material to the NBD.
- 13 academic libraries (31.7%) indicated that they would not add currently unrecorded material to the NBD.
- Two academic libraries (4.9%) indicated that the addition of material was unclear.
- Two academic libraries (4.9%) indicated that this question was inapplicable to them, as all their material was recorded on the NBD.
- One library did not provide data on this question.
Q6. Ongoing contribution of new library material to the NBD / other
material to be added?
All libraries indicated that they would continue to add holdings or
original catalogue records to the NBD, and some indicated that the
addition of retrospective material was a priority.
Q7. Timetable for the addition of retrospective library material to
the NBD
Very few libraries appeared to have a timetable for adding
retrospective library material to the NBD.
Q8. Provision of holdings to other union catalogues [5]
Most libraries did not add holdings to other union catalogues, some
are however considering doing so. Those that did used:
Q9. (a) Other bibliographic utilities used for cataloguing
Most libraries used additional bibliographic utilities for
cataloguing. Those most often used include:
Q9. (b) How are these records subsequently loaded onto the NBD?
The libraries that use these utilities most often use FTP to transfer
files of data for uploading to the NBD.
- The Australian academic sector is a significant contributor to the NBD, with many libraries recording a very high percentage of their materials on the NBD.
- Material not recorded on the NBD is predominantly older monographs, and non-serial items such as maps, music, etc.
- A significant amount of Chinese, Korean and Japanese library material is not recorded on the NBD.
- There is no evidence from this survey that there are significant holdings of other foreign language materials not recorded on the NBD.
- Quantities of formed collections in academic libraries are not recorded on the NBD, but the nature of these collections is unclear from this survey.
- Most libraries intend to add currently unrecorded material to the NBD, and while this is a priority, most have not developed a schedule to do this.
- The use of OCLC, RLIN, and other cataloguing services appears to be increasing among academic libraries as a secondary tool for locating catalogue records.
The National, State and Territory Libraries [12]
Q1 (a) Kinetica Membership [13]
The National and all State and Territory libraries are members of
Kinetica.
Q1 (b) Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) Membership
[14]
All responding libraries were members of ABN. Queensland was an ABN "search
and products" member.
Q 2, 3. How many records are on the NBD?
| ACT | "Virtually all"
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| NSW | 788,132 |
| NT | 361,185 |
| QLD | 370,000 |
| SA | 405,000 |
| TAS | 157,000 |
| VIC | Between 650,00-700,000 |
| WA | 333,149 |
| NLA | 2,428,349 |
Q4 Percentage of collections on the NBD
| ACT | 93% |
| NSW | 49% |
| NT | "Approximately 95%" |
| QLD | "80% (approximately) of the printed monograph collections of the State Reference Library are listed on the NBD. Large parts of our collections arent listed, eg Maps, A-V, Bureau of Statistics publications, microforms, etc. Some serials are We have reported quite a lot of Music too, but much of this is not really recorded with any detail anywhere " |
| SA | "32%. It should be noted that the total of items held, ca. 1.27m. includes 126,000 items classed as ephemera (see Formed collections (4)), not necessarily in scope for the NBD, and 222,000 items in various formats included in a number of donated collections which would not necessarily be catalogued on an item by item basis (see Other a/v)". |
| TAS | "59%. Much of the heritage collections material is outside the scope of the NBD." |
| VIC | 65% |
| WA | 42% |
| NLA | "The percentage of NLA holdings on the NBD varies
depending on the type of library material.
88% of monographs 88% of serials 100% of manuscripts 60% of oral history recordings 75% of music scores 100% of original pictorial art works (watercolours and prints) 10% of documentary photographs 5% of posters 50% of Australian maps 40% overseas maps 100% of aerial photographs 100% of electronic media" |
Q5. Library materials not on the NBD
a) Monographs pre-1980
| NSW | 635,000 |
| QLD | "20,000 (not necessarily pre 1980), 40,000 from the John Oxley Library." |
| SA | "There is currently a project underway to add pre-1950 monographs. Apart from several thousand titles held in discrete print-based collections, and currently either not catalogued at all or with catalogue records only available in local card files (see below under Formed collections), and with one exception category, all monograph titles received or recatalogued since 1950 are recorded on the NBD. Having completed a project to convert its 1950-1980 card catalogue to computerised form, the Library is currently undertaking a further project to convert material previously recorded in its pre-1950 card catalogue to its local system and to the NBD (presently about another 40,000 items awaiting conversion). The exception: it has not proved possible to incorporate within the conversion projects addition to the NBD of records for items not found on ABN/Kinetica. These records, currently totalling about 45,000 out of 230,000 so far converted, are being keyed directly to the local system, but are being flagged for future extraction and loading to the NBD." |
| TAS | "Estimated 4,000. Most would fall outside the scope of the NBD." |
| VIC | "Approximately 200,000" |
| WA | "Ca. 240,000 titles (pre mid 1980s, but predominantly pre 1956; includes mainly printed monographs)" |
| NLA | NLA "Records for 299,000 of the National
Librarys pre-1980 monographs and microforms are not on the NBD.
This figure includes pre-1980 monographs in English, in Roman script and
non-Roman script foreign languages, in microform and in formed
collections.
For details on CJK materials see (g). For details on other foreign languages see (h). For details on formed collections see (i). A project to add many of these titles will commence in July 1999." |
b) Journals (active subscriptions) not on the NBD
| NT | Approximately 50%" |
| QLD | "All titles not listed in SSAL and SALSSAH. [15] Unable to upload from tapes to NBD." |
| SA | "4,800 titles. Many of these are received on legal deposit and would fall outside the scope of the NBD." |
| TAS | "Summary holdings only. No original records. Interim records created for significant titles for which we are adding summary holdings. No holding for ephemeral items. |
c) Journals (closed titles) not on the NBD
| NSW | 35,000 |
| NT | "Approximately 50%" |
| QLD | "All titles not listed in SSAL and SALSSAH. Unable to upload from tapes to NBD." |
| SA | "17,000 not recorded on NBD. Many would have been received on legal deposit, and be outside the scope of the NBD." |
| TAS | "Summary holdings only. No original records. Interim records created for significant titles for which we are adding summary holdings. No holding for ephemeral items." |
| VIC | "Approximately 10,000" |
| WA | "Ca. 13,000 titles." |
| NLA | "An estimated 26,390, but a number of these are isolated issues or broken runs, and will eventually be discarded. A project to add many of these titles to the NBD will commence in July 1999." |
d) Maps not on the NBD
| NSW | 22,330 |
| NT | All maps are unrecorded on the NBD. |
| QLD | "11,500 in the John Oxley Library. The State Library also has records for 6,394 map titles in the local system, which have not been contributed to the NBD. We have no immediate plans to send these records, but in the longer term will probably do so." |
| SA |
"Only about 1% of 35,000 titles and series are recorded on the NBD." |
| TAS | "Summary holdings only. No original records. Interim records created for significant titles for which we are adding summary holdings. No holding for ephemeral items or material acquired only for public lending libraries." |
| VIC | "4,000 maps acquired prior to 1995 are not on NBD, except for 4,000 Victorian sheet maps." |
| WA | "Ca. 5,500 Western Australian maps, and 3,500 Australian and overseas maps." |
| NLA |
"Ca. 165,000 Australian and overseas maps. Australian maps will be catalogued individually. Many overseas maps will be catalogued as series, with finding aids giving access to individual sheet maps within the series." |
e) Music (scores and/or recordings) not on the NBD
| NSW | 14,500 |
| NT | "All music is unrecorded on the NBD." |
| QLD | "Approximately 35 000 single sheet music songs, and 5 000 music albums (vinyl LPs), and the Palmer Collection of 5 000 music albums." |
| SA | "About 2 000 scores and sound recordings are not listed, but are being progressively added. Another 77,000 items from donated collections are not on the NBD." |
| TAS | "No original records for recent acquisitions of Tasmanian materials that were published more than 3 years ago, unless deemed to have information of current interest, or some other significant value. No holdings for ephemeral items or material acquired only for public lending libraries. Non-Tasmanian material of this kind is usually only acquired for public lending libraries." |
| VIC | "Approximately 5,000 non-Australian sheet music and sound recordings." |
| WA | "Approx. 67,000 music scores and 12,000 music sound recordings." |
| NLA | "48,000 music scores. Sound recordings are not collected." |
f) Other Audio-Visual material not on the NBD
| NSW | 13,000 |
| NT | "Approximately 50% of videos and 16 mm film is not recorded on the NBD." |
| QLD | 12,000 |
| SA | "Approximately 300 video titles, a pictorial collection of 15,000 photographs and about 222,000 slides, prints, negatives or sound recordings." |
| TAS |
"No original records for recent acquisitions of Tasmanian materials that were published more than 3 years ago, unless deemed to have information of current interest, or some other significant value. No holdings for ephemeral items or material acquired only for public lending libraries. Non-Tasmanian material of this kind is usually only acquired for public lending libraries." |
| VIC | "Oral history tapes." |
| WA | "Ca. 6,500 titles for film and video in the State Film and Video Library (lending); Ca. 2,500 titles for film and video in the State Film Archives (Western Australian material); Ca. 4,000 titles for Western Australia oral history recordings; Ca. 450,000 images in the Western Australian pictorial collection." |
| NLA | "3,500 oral history tapes. 500,000 documentary photographs. These will generally not be catalogued individually, but grouped as collections and catalogued as a lesser number of collective entries, 9,880 posters." |
g) Chinese, Japanese or Korean library materials not on the NBD
| NSW | 5,000 | ||||||
| NT | "Approximately 50% is not recorded on the NBD." | ||||||
| QLD | "Some" | ||||||
| VIC | "Very few held. Pre 1979 materials may be on local system only. | ||||||
| WA | "Some" | ||||||
| NLA | NLA "Note: These figures are included in 1
(a) and 1(c) above.
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h) Other foreign language library material not on the NBD
| NSW | 35,000 | ||||||
| NT | "Approximately 50% of other foreign language material is not recorded on the NBD." | ||||||
| TAS |
"Non-Tasmanian material of this kind is usually only acquired for public lending libraries and no holdings are added to the NBD. There is very little foreign language material acquired for the State Reference Service but holdings would be added if so. Foreign language material published in Tasmania would be catalogued on Kinetica by the usual criteria but this would be extremely rare." |
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| VIC | "Some pre 1979 holdings may be on local system only." | ||||||
| WA | "Some" | ||||||
| NLA | Note: These figures are included in 1(a) and 1(c) above
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h) Formed collections not on the NBD
| NSW |
"Rare Books 24 000, Joint Fiction Reserve 70,000, Donald MacPherson Collection of Art and Literature 4,629." |
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| QLD | "Cable Hymnology Collection, Palmer Collection of 5,000 music albums." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SA |
"Childrens Literature Research Collection: 56,000 published monographs, of which about 2,000 have so far been added to the NBD; and about 20,500 other items, including games and toys, none of which have been added as yet. There is a backlog of 10,000 published monograph titles in various formed collections held in the Librarys heritage published collections areas; addition of some categories of this material to the NBD is proceeding slowly. South Australian ephemera, a growing collection of currently ca. 128,000 items, including menus, wine labels, theatre and concert programs, art exhibition catalogues, fliers, election materials, business and greeting cards, etc., a small proportion of which is recorded in the Librarys online catalogue; most of the collection is recorded in card files, some is unprocessed Private SA archival records and records for the J.D. Somerville Oral History Collection, ca. 5,500 records in all. Bibliographic records for this material, accessible through the Librarys OPAC, are being contributed to RAAM. In addition there are a number of collections totalling almost 390,000 volumes, of government publications, parliamentary, Departmental, Australian, overseas, and UN, some of which are monographic and some serial in nature. Local bibliographical control over much of the older material in these collections is minimal, and future retention of some titles is currently under review. |
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| TAS | "J.W.B. Murphy collection of theatre posters and programs. Roy and Hilda Bridges collection of fiction, Mary Elizabeth Braddon collection of original manuscripts and a few published editions." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VIC | "Picture Collection 150,000 records on the local system only. Some 10,000 collection level records for manuscripts are not on the NBD. Ephemeral collections (theatre programmes, art exhibition catalogues, Riley Collection of political and social ephemera)." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WA | "Ca. 2 500 collections in the Battye Library Private Archives Collection; Battye Librarys Ephemera Collection." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NLA | "Note: These figures are included in 1(a) and 1(c)
above.
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Q6. Existing records for material not on the NBD
a) Library materials not catalogued at all
| NT | Maps, Music, Other AV, CJK material, Other foreign language material, Aboriginal language readers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SA | Music scores and recordings, Other AV, Formed collections (Childrens Literature, Research Collection), Heritage Collection, Adelaide Circulating Library, South Australia ephemera, Older government material. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TAS | Theatre programs, Ephemera, Manuscripts (Cataloguing to commence shortly). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VIC | Journals (closed titles), Sheet music and sound recordings, Ephemera collections. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WA | Some large music collections; some Battye Library Private Archives collections; most of the Battye Library Pictorial Collection. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NLA | Note: These figures are included in 1(a), (c), (d), (e)
and (f) above.
Ephemera is not catalogued by the Library, but arranged in indexed files. |
b) Library materials on card catalogues or other manual records
| NSW | Monographs pre 1980, Maps, Music, Other AV, Formed collections | ||||||||
| QLD | John Oxley Library Manuscript Collection and Photographs | ||||||||
| SA | Journals (closed titles), Maps, Music scores and or recordings, Formed collections, South Australian ephemera. | ||||||||
| VIC | "The card catalogue covering the general collections is no longer accessible. Maps, manuscripts, pictorial materials and oral history tapes are accessible through card catalogues." | ||||||||
| WA | Monographs pre mid 80s, Journals (closed titles), Maps, Other AV, CJK, Other foreign language material, Formed collections. | ||||||||
| NLA | Note: These figures are included in those given for
Question 1.
|
c) Library materials on local online systems
| NSW | CJK material, Other foreign language material. |
| NT | Journals (active subscriptions), Journals (closed titles), Other AV, Photographs. |
| QLD | Monographs pre 1980s, Journals (closed and open), Maps, Music, Other AV, CJK, Formed collections (Cable Hymnology, Australian Sheet Music, Manuscripts, and Photographs. |
| SA | Monographs awaiting conversion, Journals (open), Maps, Other AV, South Australian ephemera. |
| TAS | Monographs pre 1980s, Journals (closed and open), Maps, Music, Other AV, CJK if held, Foreign language materials, Theatre posters, Postcard collections, Scrimshaw, Original paintings, Other objects (ie porcelain, silver, glass, furniture, etc). |
| VIC |
Monographs pre 1979, Journals (closed titles), Music (especially pre 1979 sound recordings), Pictorial material and the image database. |
| WA | Monographs pre mid 80s are on local Innopac system, Journals (closed titles), Maps are being retrospectively catalogued onto Innopac, Music, Other AV, CJK, Other foreign Language material, formed collections. |
| NLA | Biographical cuttings files records (25,663) are on the
local system only.
Oral history tapes (3,500) not yet catalogued have brief records on a machine-readable oral history database. |
Q7. Plans to add these library materials to the NBD
| NSW | Yes | ||||||||||||
| NT | Yes | ||||||||||||
| QLD | "No intention to add public libraries collections. Serial holdings will be added eventually." | ||||||||||||
| SA | "Yes, in some cases, e.g. converted monograph records, and serial titles falling within scope of the NBD; legal deposit sound recordings and other a/v; heritage published collection titles; ideally the Childrens Literature Research Collection, a proportion of the map collection, at least its SA component; and perhaps collection level records at least for the formed a/v and ephemera collections. National access to material from the major pictorial collections may now be better addressed in other ways." | ||||||||||||
| TAS | "Serials will be added when possible." | ||||||||||||
| VIC | "Yes. We plan to catalogue all maps onto the NBD as funds permit, with priority given to Victorian maps. We have added 4000 records in the past 2 years. We are slowly adding collection level records for Manuscripts, and plan to continue as resources permit. Work on closed serials is continuing as part of various serials projects." | ||||||||||||
| WA | "Yes, suitable records on our local Innopac database will be batch uploaded when system changes make this possible. All titles not on the NBD can be identified by various codes. Retrospective projects are underway to convert card records to Innopac, and plans (are) in place to commence others." | ||||||||||||
| NLA | "The following projects are planned to add records
to the NBD.
Beginning in July 1999 a project will commence to add records for pre-1980 monographs and journals (closed titles) to the NBD. This project will extend over a number of years and should result in the addition of approximately 133,000 records for English and Roman scripts foreign language material (including many formed collections) to the NBD. The project will also result in a number of the 26,390 closed serial titles being added, with others discarded if not of research value or existing only as fragmented issues. Other cataloguing projects that are planned and scheduled involve the contract cataloguing of the following specific collections: |
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Uncatalogued CJK and Thai materials, older maps, oral history tapes, some music scores and photographs are catalogued by the Librarys staff as time permits, but time is generally limited because of the need to process current incoming material and therefore progress on arrearage cataloguing is slow. There are no plans to add local online system records for biographical cuttings or ephemera to the NBD as these materials are not considered suitable for this type of control. Preservation requirements for oral history materials preclude the addition of brief records for tapes to the NBD until preservation work is completed and the item fully catalogued." |
Q8. Ongoing contribution of new library materials to the NBD
| ACT | Yes |
| NSW | Yes |
| NT | Yes |
| QLD | "Yes, once the ability to do so is developed. Queenslandia and music collections are a high priority." |
| SA | "The Library plans to continue to contribute at least to the level that has been achieved over the last several years, with the possibility of contributing data for additional formats and collections, depending on circumstances." |
| TAS | Yes |
| VIC | Yes |
| WA | Yes |
| NLA | "Yes, records for all incoming material in all formats acquired by the Library, and considered suitable for addition to the NBD (ie excluding ephemera and biographical clippings) are added to the NBD. Brief records for incoming oral history materials are added to an in-house system because of preservation requirements." |
Q9. Schedule for adding retrospective records for library material to the NBD
| ACT | No |
| NSW | "Dixson project to catalogue remaining 10,000 monographs and serials to be completed by 2/2000. Planning is underway for Mitchell retroconversion of 225,000 monographs." |
| NT | No |
| QLD | "Batches of 50,000 - 100,000 are added as requested. No firm schedule has been developed." |
| SA | "It is hoped to complete conversion of the pre-1950 card catalogue by December 1999; this would see the majority of the Librarys print collections added to the NBD. Massaging and loading of records not added to the NBD as part of the conversion project would be the Librarys next priority, particularly as a number of the records in question relate to South Australian publications. Definite scheduling of additional retrospective conversion projects is dependent upon the outcome of funding submissions." |
| TAS | "Retrospective serials records will be added in 1999 if possible." |
| VIC | "No Records are added if we need to work on a title for any reason (monographs and serials) or as resources permit for maps and manuscripts." |
| WA | No |
| NLA | See response to Q7 above. |
Q10. Date of last batch load of catalogue records to the NBD [16]
| ACT | N/A |
| NSW | N/A ("26 Feb 1996. No longer batch load.") |
| NT | TBA |
| QLD | late 1998 |
| SA | N/A |
| TAS | N/A |
| VIC | N/A ("1989/90. Our initial retrospective conversion of the card catalogue.") |
| WA | N/A |
| NLA | N/A Records are contributed directly. Batch loading is not used. |
Q11. Provision of holdings to other union catalogues
| ACT | No |
| NSW | No |
| NT | "Not at present. Are in the process of organising OCLC membership." |
| QLD | No |
| SA | No |
| TAS | No |
| VIC | No |
| WA | No |
| NLA | No |
Q 12. Other bibliographic utilities used for cataloguing / How are your holdings for these added to the NBD?
| ACT | No |
| NSW | OCLC, RLIN |
| NT | "We have just implemented the Virtua library system. We are now originally cataloguing most records onto Virtua. Only some materials are being catalogued directly onto Kinetica. These items must fit criteria of being either of Northern Territory or Aboriginal content or by a Northern Territory or Aboriginal author. Eventually all items will be catalogued onto Virtua and records uploaded with holding to Kinetica. Again, it will only be records that fit the above criteria. Please note this criteria will be under review with the introduction of the Virtua system to the government Libraries who have recently merged into the Northern Territory Library and Information Service." |
| QLD | No |
| SA | "The Library has used RLIN for a small proportion of retrospective conversion titles. Using the Kinetica client to copy records from RLIN to the NBD has so far proved not to be very efficient, particularly within the tight confines of project deadlines and budgetary constraints, but the records copied from RLIN are being flagged, with the intention of uploading them to the NBD using Batch*Link when it becomes available." |
| TAS | No |
| VIC | RLIN through Kinetica |
| WA | No |
| NLA | "Experimenting with RLIN through Kinetica." |
Observations
- The State and Territory libraries have substantial holdings of non-book and non-serial material such as photographs, manuscripts, ephemera, etc. For the National Library, while outstanding unreported holdings include monographs, serials, and CJK/Thai materials, it is primarily documentary photographs, maps, music scores, oral history recordings and posters which have the highest percentages of records not available on the NBD. When these materials are added to these libraries print based collections, the percentage of library materials on the NBD is generally less than 50%.
- Some State libraries may only add original catalogue records for material if it comes from their State. Similarly, some libraries only routinely add original cataloguing records for recently published material.
- One State library is adding holdings to minimum level records. These records contain details of author, title, and ISBN but do not contain subject headings. This means that searches on the NBD will only find materials if they are searched by author, title, or ISBN, but will not locate material by subject.
- For this group of libraries, retrospective cataloguing appears to occur primarily through special projects and is not a part of regular library activities.
- Of material not recorded on the NBD:
- It is likely that there are over 1 million pre-1980 monographs in the National and State libraries that are not recorded either through records or holdings on the NBD.
- Most active journals appear to be recorded in some way on the NBD, but closed journals are less comprehensively covered.
- The existence and location of approximately 225,000 maps are not recorded on the NBD.
- The existence and location of approximately 163,000 music scores and/or sound recordings are not recorded on the NBD.
- Very little Chinese Japanese and Korean material is held in State libraries. What is held is generally not recorded on the NBD. The National Library, however, has considerable unreported materials in this category.
- A substantial number of formed collections are not recorded. These collections largely consist of non-book materials.
- Items received through legal deposit arrangements may by unrecorded on the NBD.
- Catalogue records for material not on the NBD:
- Non-book materials are the most likely types of material to be uncatalogued by the National, State or Territory libraries.
- Early monographs, closed journals, maps and other non-book materials are the most likely types of material to be only recorded in card catalogues.
- Wide ranges of library material types are recorded only on local online systems.
- Most libraries in this group have plans to add library material to the NBD that may currently be only recorded on local systems or in card catalogues. Serials are seen as a priority.
- All libraries in this group intend to continue to add material to the NBD, and two indicated their intention of enhancing their level of contribution.
- Approximately half of the libraries in this group had plans underway to add retrospective material to the NBD. The other half indicated that while they were supportive, this would depend upon the availability of resources.
- Queensland and the Northern Territory are the only libraries in this sector that do not contribute catalogue data online.
Q1. (a) Kinetica Membership
56/94 (60%) of the respondents are members of Kinetica.
Q1. (b) ABN Membership
59/84 (63%) of the respondents were members of the Australian
Bibliographic Network (ABN).
Q2, 3. Records on the NBD
48 (51%) special libraries in the sample contributed records and/or
holdings to the NBD
41 (44%) special libraries do not contribute records and/or holdings
to the NBD
Five (5%) special libraries do not know if their records are on the
NBD
| Special libraries that add material to the
NBD 48
Percentage 51% |
Dont know how many items are on NBD | Less than 10,000 items | 10,000-20,000 items | 20,001 + items | All |
| Libraries | 23 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 4 |
| Percentage of all respondents | 24.5% | 7.4% | 10.6% | 3.3% | 4.3% |
Q4. Percentage of collections recorded on the NBD
| Percent | 1-10% | 11-20% | 21-30% | 31-40% | 41-50% | 51-60% | 61-70% | 71-80% | 81-90% | 91-100% |
| No. of Libraries 37* | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| % of all respondents | 2.1 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 8.5 |
*Fewer libraries provided an approximate figure on the percentage of materials on the NBD than a number as required in Question 3.
Q5. Library material not on the NBD
a) Monographs pre-1980 not on the NBD
34 of the 48 (70.8%) special libraries in the sample had not added
all their older monographs. The books not added commonly comprise rare
books and books that require original cataloguing.
b) Journals (active subscriptions) not on the NBD
32 of the 48 (66.6%) special libraries that do put material on the
NBD, have not added all their active subscriptions. The material not added
varies in quantity from only a few titles to over 2000 titles. Ephemeral
titles and those that are not paid for might also not be added, as well as
those that require original cataloguing.
c) Journals (closed titles) not on the NBD
31 of the 48 (64.6%) libraries that do add material to the NBD have
not added all their closed journal titles. 10% to 100% of closed journals
have not have been added. It would appear that titles requiring original
cataloguing are less likely to be added.
d) Maps not on the NBD
19 special libraries (39.6%) indicated that they had not added their
map collections to the NBD.
e) Music (scores and/or recordings) not on the NBD
Seven libraries (14.6%) responded that they had not added their
music collections to the NBD.
f) Other Audio-Visual (AV) not on the NBD
27 (56.2%) had not put AV material on the NBD. Videos were the
predominant format not added.
g) Chinese, Japanese or Korean material not on the NBD
Very few special libraries held this material. Lack of language
expertise was mentioned as a barrier to this being added if held.
h) Other foreign language material not on the NBD
10 special libraries (20.8%) do not put their foreign language
material on the NBD.
i) Any formed collections not on the NBD
24 special libraries (58.5%) indicated that they had not added some
formed collections to the NBD. Respondents provided information on their
formed collections, which included:
| Sudden Infant Death Research Foundation | The Australian SIDS Online Catalogue of 2 100 research papers, reports, etc. |
| Sydney Conservatorium of Music | The Raymond Hanson Collection (Australian Composer) |
|
Art Gallery of South Australia |
Sales catalogues from auction houses, art dealers. Catalogues of exhibitions, ephemera. |
|
CSIRO Plant Industry, Horticulture Unit, Merbein Lab |
A collection of 22,000 slides |
|
Melbourne Cricket Club Library |
Cricket collection of Pat Mullins, Football collection of Norm Snowdon, Sporting collection of Rvd. Dean Frank Chamberlain |
| CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology libraries |
Serventy Collection of Monographs and Serials |
| Australian Antarctic Division |
Davis Collection and special collection of old and rare books |
|
Australian Childrens Television Foundation |
Complete collection of videos/ productions and publications |
|
Australian War Memorial |
Postcards and other paper-based ephemera and newspaper clippings |
| Slovenian Association, Melbourne |
Rare books, prints, manuscripts |
|
DST0 Marbyrnong |
5 000 technical reports |
|
Australian Jewish Historical Society |
Jill Balking Collection (US Judaica) |
| National Trust of Australia | Ken Tutty Collection on microfiche (Federal Capital Buildings), oral history collections including Lindsay Pryor, David Shoobridge, Ken Eldridge, Vince Oldfield, and Dick Clough |
|
Presbyterian Theological Center Library |
Graham Miller papers (mission collection, mainly Vanuatu) |
j) Other types of material not added to NBD
- Those that do not have records on the NBD ie require original cataloguing
- Holdings for items for which there are already a large number of holdings
- Internal / divisional publications
- Ephemera
- Standards / reports
- Government publications
- Annual reports
- Parliamentary papers and Hansards
Q6. Existing records for library material not on the NBD
- Not catalogued at all
26 special libraries had not catalogued the following types of library materials.- Monographs pre 1980 seven libraries
- Active Journals eight libraries
- Closed Journals twelve libraries
- Maps eight libraries
- Foreign language collections three libraries
- Chinese, Japanese or Korean one library
- Rare Books one library
- Special collections five libraries
- Other AV three libraries
- Minor materials and ephemera one library
- Entire collection one library
- Card Catalogues
35 special libraries had card catalogue records for the following types of library material.- Monographs pre early 1980s 24 libraries
- Post 1980s monos one library
- Active Journals nine libraries
- Closed Journals 11 libraries
- Maps two libraries
- Foreign language collections four libraries
- Other AV five libraries
- Films one library
- Formed collections two libraries
- Technical Reports two libraries
- Minor and Ephemera two libraries
- Music two libraries
- Entire collection two libraries
- Local online systems
66 special libraries had local online catalogue records for the following types of library materials.- Monographs pre 1980 43 libraries
- Other monographs one library
- Active Journals 39 libraries
- Closed Journals 35 libraries
- Maps 11 libraries
- Foreign language collections 11 libraries
- Formed collections 14 libraries
- Technical Reports two libraries
- Minor and Ephemera three libraries
- Chinese Japanese or Korean - two libraries
- Music four libraries
- Classified / internal documents - two libraries
- Other AV 19 libraries
- Specialist Fiction one library
- Reference collection two libraries
- Parliamentary Papers and Hansards one library
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Publications one library
Q7. Plans to add these library materials to the NBD
25 (26.6%) special libraries have plans to add the material in question
6 to the NBD
58 (61.7%) special libraries do not have plans to add this material
to the NBD
Four (4.3%) special libraries were undecided.
Note: This question was not completed by, or not applicable to six libraries.
Q8. Ongoing contribution of new library material to the NBD
29 (32.9%) special libraries would continue to add new material to the
NBD.
Three (3.2%) special libraries did not intend to continue to add new
material to the NBD.
Two (2.1 %) special libraries were unsure.
Note: This question was not completed by, or not applicable to 59 (62.8%) libraries.
Q9. Schedule for retrospectively recording library material to the NBD
13 (13.8 %) libraries have plans to retrospectively add material to the
NBD.
49 (52.1%) libraries do not have plans to retrospectively add
material to the NBD.
Two (2.1 %) libraries were unsure.
Note: This question was not completed by, or not applicable to 29 (30.9%) libraries.
Q10. Date of last batch load of records to the NBD
| Total number of Respondents to this question | 1997 or earlier | 1998 | Jan March 1999 | April June 1999 |
| 11 (11.7% of all respondents) | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Q11. Provision of holdings to other union catalogues
Total number of respondents that contributed to other union catalogues -
19
Catalogues used:
- CSIRO Catalogue 13
- ODIN Defence Catalogue - three
- DHAC Horizon - one
- Online Defence Info Catalogue - one
- Gratis - three
Q12. (a) Other bibliographic utilities used for cataloguing
Number of respondents that use other bibliographic utilities - 14
Other utilities used:
- Library of Congress - two
- Australian library catalogues - three
- OCLC - three
- Overseas libraries - three
- CSIRO - two
- CISTI one
- RLIN via Kinetica two
- Sport Database - one
Q12. (b) How are your holdings for records obtained from these bibliographic utilities added to the NBD?
Approximately half of the respondents to this question noted that they would manually add holdings. The remaining half noted that holdings would be uploaded electronically.
Observations
- A number of respondents in the special libraries sample did not
appear to be aware of the NBD, ABN or Kinetica, and requested that
relevant information be sent to them. Given the wide publicity about
these services in the Australian library professional literature, one
could assume that many special libraries are not staffed by professional
librarians and that additional marketing strategies are required to
ensure the special library sector is aware of these services.
- Some special libraries could not tell if they contributed catalogue
records or holdings to the NBD or not, and how many they might have
contributed.
- A large amount of library materials not recorded on the NBD are
recorded on local online systems possibly due to export problems to the
NBD.
- Pre-1980 monographs are the most likely type of library material not
added to the NBD by special libraries.
- Special libraries do not record holdings for a significant number of
current subscriptions for journals on the NBD possibly because they will
not support any requests for interlibrary loan that might result.
- A number of special libraries indicated that they would not put
original catalogue records on the NBD.
- Libraries that batch load, tend to do so regularly.
- Many special libraries do not use additional bibliographic utilities
for cataloguing.
- Most special libraries indicated that they would not be
retrospectively adding material to the NBD, although they will continue
to add new material to the NBD.
- 14 special libraries sent back the survey form without completing it. The reasons given for this were generally that the library was too small, it had moved, or staff were unavailable, etc.
OVERVIEW OF ALL THE SURVEY RESULTS
1. Membership of ABN and Kinetica
While State, Territory and academic libraries are generally full members, significant proportions of special libraries are not members of Kinetica at all.
2,3. Records on the NBD
The academic library sector provides the greatest number of records and holdings to the NBD, with a number of individual academic libraries contributing more catalogue records and holdings statements than individual State libraries. Special library contributions, when known, are most often in the range of 10,000 20,000 catalogue records and holdings statements.
4. Percentage of material on the NBD
Most academic libraries tend to place a high percentage of their material on the NBD. The percentage of material contributed by the National and State libraries is less than that of academic libraries, primarily because some of their collections of non-book and journal materials are not recorded on the NBD. Special library contributions to the NBD are mixed, with some libraries contributing almost all their material to the NBD with others contributing very little.
5. Library Material not recorded on the NBD
a) Monographs pre-1980 not on the NBD
In all library sectors, there are significant collections of older
monographs that are not recorded on the NBD.
b) Journals (active subscriptions) not on the NBD
Most academic and the National and State libraries have added
records or holdings for their active journals. Special libraries however
frequently do not contribute records or information about active journal
titles.
c) Journals (closed titles) not on the NBD
A substantial number of closed titles held by the National and State
libraries are not recorded on the NBD. Special libraries also tend not to
have added records or holdings for closed journals. In both sectors, some
libraries will not undertake original cataloguing for this material.
d) Maps not on the NBD
Libraries in all sectors have significant map collections that are
largely unrecorded on the NBD.
e) Music (scores and/or recordings) not on the NBD
The majority of music materials not recorded on the NBD appear to be
held in State or special libraries.
f) Other Audio-Visual material not on the NBD
Libraries in all sectors indicated that a significant portion of
their audio-visual material was not recorded on the NBD.
g) Chinese, Japanese and Korean library materials not on the NBD
The academic sector may hold the largest amount of this material
that is unrecorded in the NBD.
h) Other foreign language library material not on the NBD
The National and some State libraries, and a few special libraries,
hold collections of unrecorded foreign language library materials.
i) Any formed collections not on the NBD
All sectors reported that they held significant special collections.
Because information for this question was not collected for the academic
sector the nature of the collections held by academic libraries is
unknown.
j) Other library material in other formats not on the NBD
Several academic libraries indicated that electronic resources were
unlikely to be recorded on the NBD.
6. Existing records for material not on the NBD
- Not Catalogued at all
In the National and State libraries, this material tends to be non-book or non-journal material such as ephemera, special collections, maps, music, etc. In special libraries this material tends to be closed journals, maps, active journals and older monographs.
- Card Catalogues
In the National, State and special libraries, this material tends to be older monographs, closed journals and non-book materials.
- Local online systems
The National, State and special libraries indicated that wide ranges of materials were recorded in local online systems only.
Note: This question was not included in the academic libraries survey.
7. Plans to add this material to the NBD
The National, State and academic libraries generally indicated that they intended to add this material to the NBD at some time in the future. The majority of special libraries however did not have plans to add this material.
8. Ongoing contribution of new library material to the NBD
The National, State, Territory, academic libraries, and a number of special libraries, indicated that they would continue to add new library material to the NBD.
9. Schedule for adding retrospective material to the NBD
Very few academic libraries have schedules for the addition of retrospective material to the NBD. The National and State libraries, but not either of the Territory libraries, appear to have a number of special projects underway through which material is being added. The majority of special libraries do not have plans to add retrospective material to the NBD.
10. Date of last batch load of records to the NBD
Queensland and the Northern Territory are the only State or Territory libraries that do not contribute catalogue data online. A few special libraries batch load, and seem to do so regularly.
Note: This question was not asked in the academic libraries survey.
11. Provision of holdings to other union catalogues
A minority of academic and special libraries contribute their holdings to union catalogues other than Kinetica. No State or Territory library appears to do so.
12. (a) Other bibliographic utilities used for cataloguing
Academic libraries are the most likely type of library to use other bibliographic utilities for cataloguing. Academic libraries most often use RLIN through Kinetica, OCLC, Library of Congress, Melvyl and UNILINC. The National and State libraries seem to use RLIN, and special libraries are most likely to use other Australian or overseas library catalogues that they access through the Internet.
12. (b) How are your holdings for these added to the NBD?
State and academic libraries batch load records and holdings from other cataloguing utilities to the NBD. Special libraries batch load about 50% of the time, and manually add holdings the other 50% of the time.
Overall observations
- Significant portions of Australias information resources are
not recorded on the NBD either through catalogue records or holdings
statements. These may be held in the National, State, Territory,
academic or special libraries.
- There are substantial collections of older monographs that are not
recorded on the NBD. However, holdings of newer monographs tend to be
recorded on the NBD.
- There are substantial numbers of discontinued and current serials
that are not recorded on the NBD.
- Non-book and non-serial type library materials are often not recorded
on the NBD.
- A significant amount of material is recorded in local online systems,
and has not been loaded onto the NBD.
- There is a substantial commitment to the NBD across library all sectors, and a desire to continue and in many cases enhance contributions to the NBD, contingent on additional funding.
| [1] | This includes original catalogue records and holdings statements. |
| [2] | "Active subscriptions" refers to journals that are currently being purchased by the library. |
| [3] | "Closed titles" refers to journals that are no longer being received by the library. |
| [4] | "Formed collection" refers to discrete collections that may concern a discrete subject, or consist of a particular format. These collections are frequently donated to libraries, or bought as formed or complete collections by the library. |
| [5] | "Union" catalogues are those that contain the collective catalogue records and holdings of a number of libraries. |
| [6] | OCLC is a non-profit computer service and research organisation whose network and services link more than 30,000 libraries in 65 countries and territories. OCLC services help libraries locate, acquire, catalogue, access, and lend library materials. |
| [7] | UNILINC is a not-for-profit organisation originally formed in 1978 to co-ordinate the cost-effective provision of library technologies in the higher education sector with the aim of saving costs and facilitating resource sharing. Since then the membership has expanded to include a number of other libraries within a variety of specialised organisations. |
| [8] | COOL-CAT is a combined catalogue of Victorian academic, research and special libraries, including the State Library, and is operated by CAVAL (Co-operative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries). |
| [9] | RLIN, the Research Libraries Information Network, is a US based information management and retrieval system used by hundreds of research libraries, archival repositories, museums, academic, public, law, technical, and corporate libraries for cataloguing, interlibrary loan, and archives and manuscripts control. |
| [10] | DRA or Data Research Associates is a provider of web based information services. |
| [11] | The MELVYL system allows users to search a variety of library catalogues and databases. |
| [12] | Note: The responses given to this survey are as much as possible, reported as provided. This was considered necessary in order to enable fair comparisons to be made, and in avoid misinterpreting responses. However, in a small number of cases, some rewording has been undertaken in order to clarify responses. |
| [13] | Kinetica is a system provided by the NLA that provides access to the national database of material held in Australian libraries. Kinetica can be used to search for any item and locate which library in Australia holds the item. Gateways to other major library databases are also provided. |
| [14] | ABN was the predecessor of Kinetica. ABN became operational in 1980, and was replaced by Kinetica in 1999. |
| [15] | SSAL and SALSSAH were printed lists of serial holdings in Australian Libraries. These were superseded by the NBD. |
| [16] | "Batch Loading" is a process whereby a number
of records from a local system are uploaded to the NBD at once.
Libraries that do not have online access to Kinetica are more likely to
use "Batch Loading". Frequent "Batch Loading" is
desirable so that the NBD reflects, as accurately as possible, the
holdings of libraries.
|