The Library of Congress has maintained a resurce file of bibliographic records from the Deutsche Bibliographie, created by the Deutsche Bibliothek, since summer 1994. This so-called "German resource file" now contains around 400,000 bibliographic records. We hope that the following information about the file will be helpful to ARL libraries that are participating in the German Demonstration Project.
Nature of the Cataloging Records in the Deutsche Bibliographie
The file includes essentially all bibliographic records created at the Deutsche Bibliothek for the last 2 plus the current year for materials in any physical format, including serials and sound recordings. It does not include any LC-created cataloging for German titles; it also excludes Deutsche Bibliothek second-level records for volumes in collected multivolume sets and records for individual issues of serials.
The records are in USMARC format. They are received from the Deutsche Bibliothek in UNIMARC and an LC conversion program converts them to USMARC before they are loaded into the file. Accessed by means of the user's Z39.50 client, the German resource record received is a standard USMARC record and it can be displayed using the same tagging conventions as other records in the user's catalog.
The records are in German, i.e. notes and cataloging indicia are in German. The LC conversion programs do not translate the German into English. The records use ISBD punctuation; however, occasionally the conversion program introduces incorrect punctuation.
The Deutsche Bibliothek's cataloging rules are the RAK (Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung). A group of LC catalogers and LC Cataloging Policy and Support Office specialists evaluated several hundred records from the resource file in 1994. For the bibliographic description part of the record, they reported that they saw "no appreciable difference" between RAK and AACR2, except that RAK permits greater use of abbreviations. The German rules for formulating access points are quite different, particularly for corporate bodies. The greatest difference, however, is in subject cataloging. The Deutsche Bibliothek does not use a controlled vocabulary like the Library of Congress Subject Headings; it uses keywords or index terms. The LC review group concluded that the German subject cataloging would be "highly useful" as a guide for cataloging and selection. The group was impressed by the quality and reliability of the German cataloging and felt that "there is a great deal to be gained from using these records."
LC staff will be happy to mail printouts of sample German resource records to any library which requests them.
Access Mechanisms
The resource file can be accessed Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 AM (EST) to 9:30 PM (EST). Users must have access to Z39.50-1992 conformant client software. There is no direct access via World Wide Web browsers, gopher, or WAIS. Using a Z39.50 client such as BookWhere?, the user establishes a connection to the host domain:
rs10.loc.gov
Specify port: port 2210
Identify the database wanted: 61
No password is required, at present, to access this database.
Users can search by keyword on most USMARC access fields, such as 1XX, 245, 246, and 6XX fields. SiteSearch (SiteSearch is OCLC's proprietary software to support files of MARC records and has a Z39.50 server interface) also supports searches of certain number fields, such as the ISBN. It is difficult to be more specific because search results depend to a great extent on the nature of the individual cataloging department's Z39.50 client.
There is only one kind of access, a Z39.50-1992 conformant client. For questions about LC's Z39.50 SiteSearch server, the contact person is Randall Barry, LC Network Development and MARC Standards Office (email ndmso@loc.gov; phone 202-707-5118). We regret that, because of the great variations among Z39.50 clients, LC is unable to offer technical advice regarding clients.
This depends on the capabilities of each library's Z39.50- conformant client and the way it is integrated with the library's online cataloging system. Clients and systems vary so much that it is difficult to be more specific. Some support downloading, while others do not. By the same token, most clients permit Boolean and keyword searching, and a very few also accommodate compression key searches. The Z39.50 protocol was designed to enable users to search various systems using the local system's search commands, but the individual client software does not always support all searching features from local systems.
Use of the Records
LC copies the German resource records into our local database to create initial bibliographic control (IBC) records. Since LC copy cataloging policy requires that records used for copy cataloging contain notes and indicia in English, LC does not use the Deutsche Bibliothek records in a copy cataloging workstream. The items with resource records are handled as original cataloging. A cataloger evaluates each field, checks access points against LC's name and subject authority files, and performs necessary authority work. The cataloger translates notes and cataloging indicia found in German on the record into English; fields containing such data include the 020, 300, 5XX, 6XX, and some 1XX and 7XX fields. The German records use abbreviations in the 245 field and other fields where AACR2 would call for transcription in full. For subject cataloging, all LC catalogers assign headings from LCSH. The LC cataloger also supplies LC classification.
The German resource records include the following fields which LC needs in its own records: 020, 1XX, 245, 260, 300, 490, 6XX, 7XX, 830. LC deletes the 886 field, but does not examine the 015 (national bibliography number).
Project Participation
The records are accessible now to libraries which have a Z39.50-1992 conformant client. At present only 20 simultaneous sign-ons are possible. Use over the past year indicates we are having 10 or fewer simultaneous users, currently.
Library of Congress