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Journal of Library Automation

ISSN 0022-2240

Volume 5, Number 4, December 1972

Feature Articles

Content Designators for Machine-Readable Records: A Working Paper
HENRIETTE D. AVRAM AND KAY D. GUILES

Regional Numerical Union Catalog on Computer Output Microfiche
WILLIAM E. MCGRATH AND DONALD SIMON

Computer-Based Subject Authority Files at the University of Minnesota Libraries
AUDREY N. GROSCH

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Content Designators for Machine-Readable Records: A Working Paper (p.207-216)
HENRIETTE D. AVRAM AND KAY D. GUILES

Under the auspices of the International Federation of Library Association's Committees on Cataloging and Mechanization, an International Working Group on Content Designators was formed to attempt to resolve the differences in the content designators assigned by national agencies to their machine-readable bibliographic records. The members of the IFLA Working Group are: Henriette D. Avram, Chairman, MARC Development Office, Library of Congress; Kay D. Guiles, Secretary, MARC Development Office, Library of Congress; Edwin Buchinski, Research and Planning Branch, National Library of Canada; Marc Chauveinc, Bibliotheque Interuniversitaire de Grenoble, Section Science, Domaine Universitaire, France; Richard Coward, British Library Planning Secretariat, Department of Education & Science, United Kingdom; R. Erezepky, Deutsche Bibliothek, German Federal Republic; J. Poncet, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; Mogens Weitemeyer, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark.All working papers emanating from the IFLA Working Group will be submitted to the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 46, Subcommittee 4, Working Group on Content Designators. Prior to any attempt to standardize the content designators for the international exchange of bibliographic data in machine-readable form, it is necessary to agree on certain basic points from which all future work will be derived. This first working paper is a statement of: 1) the obstacles that presently exist which prevent the effective international interchange of bibliographic data in machine-readable form; 2) the scope of concern for the IFLA Working Group; and 3) the definition of terms included in the broader term "content designators." If an international standard format can be derived, it would greatly facilitate the use in this country of machine-readable bibliographic records issued by other national agencies. It should also contribute significantly to the expansion of MARC to other languages by the Library of Congress. At present, the assignment of content designators of most national systems is so varied that tailor-made programs must be written to translate each agency's records into the United State MARC format. The international communications format might become the common denominator between all countries, each national system maintaining its own national version.

Regional Numerical Union Catalog on Computer Output Microfiche (p.217-229)
WILLIAM E. MCGRATH AND DONALD SIMON

A union catalog of 1,100,000 books on computer output microfiche (COM) in twenty-one Louisiana libraries is described. The catalog, called LNR for Louisiana Numerical Register, consists not of bibliographic information, but primarily of the LC card number and letter codes for the libraries holding the book. The computer programs, the data bank, and output are described. The programs provide the capability for listing over two million entries. Also described are the statistical tabulations which are a by-product of the system and which provide a rich source for analysis.

Computer-Based Subject Authority Files at the University of Minnesota Libraries (p.230-243)
AUDREY N. GROSCH

A computer-based system to produce listings of topical subject terms and geographically subdivided terms is described. The system files and their associated listings are called the Subject Authority File (SAF) and the Geographic Authority File (GAF). Conversion, operation, problems, and costs of the system are presented. Details of the optical scanning conversion, with illustrations, show the relative ease of the technique for simple upper case data files. Program and data characteristics are illustrated with record layouts and sample listings.

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