[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] LOC Z39.50 Search and ISBN numbers

[evergreen at copelan.com]

Andrea and Don,
Andrea: First, Congratulations on going live. 

Thanks for your replys. I'll have to think about how I'm going to handle these paperbacks (of 
which we have a bunch).  Since this is a home implementation it is only important that my wife and 
I understand how we cataloged them.  Thanks though for the tips on the quality of data from the 
LC.  Will keep an eye out for that.   Since at least half of our collection is European (heavy 
German) based publications my next step will be to locate and test a similar Z39.50 service over 
there. 

Since the server is humming along now with it's additional 1GB RAM it'll be a lot easier to prove 
that EG is worth the effort for just 2 users.   

Thanks again.
Robert




On Sun Jun  8 15:07 , Andrea Buntz Neiman  sent:

>Hi Robert, Don, and list,
>
>I am a cataloger that actutally worked at LC for a little while, and I can tell you affirmatively 
that LC DOES NOT have all USA published titles, not by any means -- especially later editions that 
are similar FRBR "expressions" (ie the 24 billionth paperback ed. of DVC).  But they will catalog 
varying expressions -- thus, the illustrated edition -- that are more bilbliographically "unique". 
>
>LoC also still has significant backlog, so some titles may be PHYSICALLY present at LC but not 
have a Voyager record.  Also, many LC records are flagged as the equivalent of "in house" -- I 
know that this will supress them from upload to OCLC, but I do not know if it also masks them from 
the OPAC (catalog.loc.gov) and Z39.50 or not.
>
>Also a note of caution:  Many CIP (cataloging-in-publication) records created nowadays at LC are 
created by para-professionals and the quality can vary widely.  Also most basic descriptive 
cataloging is also not done by full catalogers -- they are saved for analysis, call#s, and subject 
classification).  Be alert for minor tanscription errors, especially ...  so the moral is: always 
review your copy, even if it's from LC, and search it a few different ways if you can.
>
>And while it's not the case with this particular title (I checked) nowadays it's good practice to 
check both the 10 & 13-digit ISBNs (remember also, that what is now called the 13-digit ISBN was 
in old records called the "EAN" and indexed in MARC field 024, not 020 like ISBN -- not sure if LC 
addressed this or not -- one would hope).
>
>Hope this was at least a little helpful, and not just cataloger "plumage ruffling" as my husband 
just observed, 
>
>Best,
>Andrea Neiman
>Tech. Services Librarian
>Kent County Public Library
>(who just went live with EG last week, which is way cooler than LC, hooray!!!)
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Don McMorris" don.mcmorris at gmail.com>
>To: evergreen at copelan.com, open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org
>Sent: Sunday, June 8, 2008 2:12:29 PM (GMT-0500) America/New_York
>Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] LOC Z39.50 Search and ISBN numbers
>
>Hi RobertC,
>
>By Voyager, I assume you mean the Library of Congress Voyager database
>(one of the default targets in Evergreen).  Is this correct?
>
>Now, I did a quick search on the LC (http://catalog.loc.gov\) by that
>ISBN, and also did not get any results.  This leads me to believe that
>LC simply doesn't have a bibliographic record with this ISBN.  In this
>case, the publisher probably simply may've applied a new ISBN for the
>different format, and may not have submitted the alternate format to
>the LC.
>
>In short, the LC Voyager database does /not/ include all USA-published
>books (and may even include some non-US published titles).
>
>I'm sure there's a cataloger on-list that probably knows more than I
>about the LC process... If so, please share ;)
>
>--Don
>
>On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 1:18 PM,  evergreen at copelan.com> wrote:
>> I have been using the Z38.50 (voyager) search to import bib records into EG.  This is working 
well
>> and saving a ton of typing :-) but I have noticed one point that seems a bit strange.
>>
>> Sometimes I don't find the exact ISBN number of a book.  I know that the copy is being loaded 
has
>> been out for a while (since we acquired it several years ago).
>>
>> Example:
>> The Da Vinci Code   paperback ISBN 0-385-51322-4  Publisher: Doubleday.  The search yields 
nothing
>> for this ISBN
>>
>> When searching for Da Vinci  in the Title and Brown, Dan in the Author there are 2 found:
>> ISBN 0385513755   Special Illustrated edition (my paperback has no pictures)
>> ISBN 0385504209    This is the hardcover edition.
>>
>> Neither of these 2 seem to be correct for the paperback I have in hand.  My assumption so far 
has
>> been that the Voyager search would find at lease all USA published books.  Is this incorrect?
>>
>> Thanks for any info.
>>
>> RobertC
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>