Linking Publishers and National Bibliographic Services
Factsheet 3 - May 1997
Telematics for Libraries
|
Linking Publishers and National Bibliographic Services Factsheet 3 - May 1997 |
Telematics for Libraries |
The BIBLINK project, which is co-funded by the European Commission, aims to establish an electronic link between national bibliographic agencies and publishers of electronic material, in order to create authoritative bibliographic information that will benefit both sectors. It was launched on 1st April 1996 with funding from the Telematics Applications Programme.
BIBLINK is being led by The British Library; its partners include:
Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag, Netherlands
Nasjonalbiblioteket, Rana, Norway
UKOLN, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Two sponsors advise the project:
Book Industry Communication (BIC), London, United Kingdom
CD-ROM SPAG, London, United Kingdom
BIBLINK has been divided into
two distinct phases, each expected to last about eighteen months:
Phase 1, April 1996-September
1997: Information
is being collected in the following work packages:
WP0: scoping the project - in terms of both electronic material and publishers
WP1: study of metadata formats
WP2: unique identification of publications
WP4: conversion to MARC formats within library systems
WP5: transmission of data between libraries and publishers
WP6: authentication of publications and corresponding metadata
WP7: consolidation and reviewWP3: consensus building. This will extend over several months and will result in agreement on the above matters and the production of a high level design requirements document for phase 2.
Phase 2:
The prototype demonstration system will be developed and installed
at the sites of the project partners and the participating publishers
for trials.
WP0
- The scoping document has been produced. It has been agreed
that the scope of the publications for BIBLINK are all those publications
that would normally be selected for the National Bibliography
- recognising that the countries involved vary in their selection
criteria and in their deposit laws. Selection will therefore
be on the basis of content rather than medium. Both on-line and
off-line documents will be included whether produced by established
publishers or bodies whose core business is not publishing.
WP1
- the metadata study. A number of metadata formats currently
exist, influenced by the needs of the communities in which they
emerged. The report delivered by this work package has identified
and analysed these. It recommends that the BIC non-serial SGML
DTD, the SSSH DTD and Dublin Core should be considered for use
in BIBLINK
WP2
- methods of uniquely identifying electronic publications. Taking
account of numbering schemes in use or under development in the
library, book trade, publishing and Internet communities, this
work package has recommended five identification schemes that
could be used in the BIBLINK demonstrator. These are ISBN, ISSN,
SICI, DOI and URN.
WP5
- data transmission. The technical and operational characteristics
of four data transport options have been summarised and recommendations
made. It is recommended that BIBLINK use Internet and its related
protocols to transport data as either a simple formatted text
file, an EDIFACT message or an implementation of the Warwick Framework.
WP6 -
authentication of publications and corresponding metadata. There
are both technical and procedural aspects to authentication of
documents delivered electronically. Current developments may
be driven by concerns about significant issues in the publishing
sector such as Intellectual Property Rights and version control.
The report will examine these discussions and views and highlight
the issue of differentiating between electronic and paper publications
and suggest an appropriate level of security measures for the
library sector.
WP3 -
consensus building. The specific objective of the project has
now been defined as the establishment of an 'electronic CIP' operation.
The project has started the process of building consensus with
the publishing communities. Having identified a range of formats,
schemes and methods that could be implemented in BIBLINK, partners
will be holding a series of meetings with a representative selection
of publishers. This will establish which of the factors the
partners would like to implement are desirable and feasible from
the perspective of the publishers.
WP 4
- Format Conversion Feasibility. The metadata formats identified
in other work packages will be examined to determine the feasibility
of producing MARC records from them.
Further factsheets will be issued
as the project progresses, both on paper and on the BIBLINK WWW
page. For further information contact:
Ross Bourne
Project Co-ordinator BIBLINK
The British Library
Boston Spa
Wetherby
West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ
United KingdomTel.: +44 1937 546591
Fax: + 44 1937 546586
E-mail: ross.bourne@bl.uk
http://hosted.ukoln.ac.uk/biblink/