Cataloguing Internet Resources:
"Don't Worry.  It's Easier than Rocket Science."

Published on Internet at www.llrx.com, May 1998

By Joni Lynn Cassidy
President, Cassidy Cataloguing Services, Inc.

While I readily agree that there are many, many subtle nuances and finer points to cataloguing Internet resources, I think the basic process can be summarized. My goal is to provide you with a quick-guide, or cheat-sheet, for adding these resources to your online catalog in a timely manner. I do this with the warning that you may want to do additional research or take a continuing education course on this subject before feeling totally confident with the process.

Here's the nuts and bolts.

The chief source of information can be the title screen or a similar display, the "Readme file," the "About" screen, the TEI (text encoding initiative) header, a separate documentation file, or internal menus, labels, subject line, or program statement.

Unique MARC fields you'll probably use include:

007 position 00 use "c" for computer file.

007 position 01 use "r" for remote.

245 $h use [computer file]

256 FILE CHARACTERISTICS - Required for remote access files. AACR2Rev. term choices are "computer program(s)," "computer data," "computer data and program(s)." ISBD(ER) term choices are more specific and include "computer text and image data," "computer online service(s)," and "computer journal(s)."

There is NO 300 FIELD (physical description) in a remote access record.

500 NOTE - The source of the title is always given in a note.

506 RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS NOTE.

516 TYPE OF REMOTE ACCESS FILE NOTE - This field contains information that characterizes the computer file. Examples are "electronic journal" or "computer programs" or "text (law reports and digests)."

530 ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL FORM AVAILABLE NOTE.

538 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS NOTE - Could include information about programs needed for access.

538 MODE OF ACCESS NOTE - Examples are "Mode of access: World wide web" or "Mode of access: Internet."

556 INFORMATION ABOUT DOCUMENTATION NOTE - Record documentation available in a separate file here.

856 ELECTRONIC LOCATION AND ACCESS - This field is defined to contain all the information required to locate and use an electronic item. Some online catalog software now contains a "hot link" from the 856 field in the bibliographic record to the actual electronic item.

MARBI recently approved changes to the indicator values as follows:

Ind 1 (Access method) [blank]
No information provided

0 E-mail

2 Telnet

3 Dial-up

4 HTTP

 

Ind 2 (Relationship) [blank]
No information provided

0 Resource

1 Version of resource

2 Related resource

8 No display constant generated

 

Subfields

 

 

a
b 
c
d
f 
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n 
o
q
r
s
t
u
v
x
z
3

Host name
Access number
Compression information (i.e. use PKZIP)
Path
Electronic name of file
URN
Username
Instruction or command
Bits per second
Password
Logon
Contact for assistance
Name of location of host in subfield a
Operating system
Electronic format type
Settings
File size
Terminal emulation
URL
Hours of access
Nonpublic note
Public note
Part of the bib item to which the 856 field applies

Sample Record

007

crocnu

090

QE521 $b.B65

245

00

VolcanoWorld $h [computer file] : $b the web's premier source of volcano info.

246

3

Volcano world

256

Computer text and image data

260

[North Dakota]: $b University of North Dakota, $c1995-

500

Updated frequently

500

Title from home page.

500

"Supported by NASA."

538

MODE OF ACCESS:  World Wide Web  via Internet

538

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:  Web browser, color monitor, color printer.

650

0

Volcanoes $x Databases

650

0

Volcanoes $x Research $x Databases

710

2

University of North Dakota

710

1

United States. %b National Aeronautics and Space Administration

856

4

$ n University of North Dakota, Aerospace $ u http://volcano.und.edu

997

 

(c) 1998 Cassidy Cataloguing Services, Inc.

The most useful resource I've found for this kind of cataloguing is Nancy Olson's Cataloguing Internet resources: a manual and a practical guide, 2nd ed. It is accessible through the Interactive Electronic Serials Cataloguing Aid (IESCA) at http://www.library.nwu.edu/iesca/ and at http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/9256cat/toc.htm.

To discuss this, or any other cataloguing issues, please feel free to e-mail me at joni@cassidycat.com.