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SUNCAT: an introduction for the MRC libraries

SUNCAT: the Serials Union Catalogue for the UK

www.edina.ac.uk/suncat

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Background• UKNUC Feasibility Study - 2001

– Serials Report: Tony Kidd, Rob Bull• SUNCAT Scoping Study - 2002

– Information Power Ltd.• JISC & RSLP funded• Purpose - to develop a UK Serials Union Catalogue• Phase 1 – February 2003-December 2004• Phase 2 – January 2005-December 2006• Partnership between the University of Edinburgh,

through EDINA, & Ex Libris• Associate Partners - Cambridge, Glasgow, National

Library of Scotland, Oxford

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Project Management• EDINA

Co-directors of SUNCAT ProjectPeter BurnhillChristine Rees

• Ex LibrisJulie BoothDominic Nast

• Steering Group (Chair Derek Law)

• Advisory Group (Chair Peter Burnett)

• Bibliographic Quality Advisory Group (BQAG)

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Work Packages– Systems librarian:

• Morag Macgregor (EDINA)

– Bibliographic Work Package: • Natasha Aburrow-Jones (EDINA)• Moira Whitson (EDINA)

– User Requirements Work Package• Zena Mulligan (EDINA)• Liz Stevenson (Edinburgh University Library)

• Advisor: Tony Kidd (Glasgow University Library)

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SUNCAT aims

• SUNCAT: primary aims– Location of serials, including information about

access– Source of high quality bibliographic records for

downloading to local catalogues

• Additionally - to raise consciousness of the importance of quality serials information among UK researchers and librarians

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Contributing Libraries: Phase 1British LibraryNational Library of Scotland National Library of Wales

Imperial College, LondonLondon School of EconomicsManchester Metropolitan

UniversityQueens University, BelfastUniversity of BirminghamUniversity of BristolUniversity of Cambridge University College, London

University of DurhamUniversity of EdinburghUniversity of GlasgowUniversity of LeedsUniversity of ManchesterUniversity of NewcastleUniversity of NottinghamUniversity of OxfordUniversity of SouthamptonUniversity of Wales, CardiffUniversity of Warwick

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User requirements - interface

• User requirements – display and functionality• Accessibility and Usability

• Aleph 500 already deployed for other union catalogues

• Dialogue with California Digital Library, and review of other Union Catalogue OPACs

• User testing – Focus group - Librarians– Individual sessions - Researchers & Academic

staff– Extended testing – Phase 1 Libraries

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Electronic journals• Increasing proportion of holdings are electronic

• Growing archives of back files

• Preliminary survey of current practice

• Single or separate records

• Access and holdings: subscription information

• Research undertaken

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SUNCAT Phase 2

– Pilot service launched January 2005

– Coverage extended to include a further 60 libraries

– Range of library types extended to include special libraries, research collections

– Research and development work: ejournals

– Testing and development of interface

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SUNCAT: How does it work?

• Centralised union catalogue

• Records stored in one large database

• Records deduplicated to view using Aleph functionality

• Records merged “on the fly”

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How does SUNCAT obtain records?• Dialogue between library and SUNCAT project team

• Contributing library ftps a file to SUNCAT

• Data specification is drawn up by the team, and approved by the contributing library

• Data is converted according to data specification

• Data is loaded into SUNCAT

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SUNCAT: Phase 1 contributing libraries’ LMS• Aleph

• Endeavor Voyager

• GEAC Advance

• Innopac

• Innovative

• Talis

• Unicorn

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SUNCAT: what is the matching process?• Deduplicated union catalogue

• Complex matching algorithm

• Preferred record display

• 3 stage selection process for matching

• List of Common Titles (LOCT)

• Matching above format

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How does SUNCAT work?Matching1. Matching algorithm

– identification of candidate pool– algorithm applied, with points threshold for a

match

2. Selection of preferred record for display– different points system determines which record

is preferred

3. Composition of display record– the preferred record has holdings elements from

non-preferred records added for display

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SUNCAT: The Librarian’s Interface• Download

• Assisted matching

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SUNCAT: Other developments

• Updates

• Notifications

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SUNCAT standards• Entry standard

• Upgrading standard

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SUNCAT: Entry Standard

• From all data specifications:Reject records which do not contain the following:Leader cp 7 =s 008245$a852Reject records which do contain the following:Leader cp 5=d (initial load only)

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SUNCAT: Conclusions• “One-stop shop” for researchers and librarians

• Researchers – single tool for location of serials

• Librarians – central source of high-quality bibliographic records available for download; locate function for ILL

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SUNCATSUNCAT pilot servicewww.edina.ac.uk/suncat

SUNCAT Project www.suncat.ac.uk

Natasha Aburrow-Jonesnatasha.aburrow-jones@ed.ac.uk

Zena Mulliganzena.mulligan@ed.ac.uk