Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, Vol. 8, pp. 247-248, 1984 0364-6408/84 SO3.00+.00

Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright @ 1984 Pergamon Press Ltd

ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 1984

A REPORT ON THE RTSD AUTOMATED ACQUISITIONS/ IN PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS DISCUSSION GROUP

JUNE 25,1984

TYLER MILLER

LA PT Editorial Staff

The first order of business was the election of the vice-chairperson/chairperson-elect for the group. The outgoing chairperson, Steven P. Lane, Rosenberg Library (Galveston, Texas), and the incoming chair, Jeanne Boyle, Rutgers University, conducted the election. Jane Treadwell, University of Florida at Gainesville, was elected.

Lane then introduced James Michael, Data Research Associates. Michael’s topic was authority control as it applied to automated acquisitions. After identifying himself as both a librarian and a vendor, Michael began by explaining the difficulties one faces when considering authority control as it applies to acquisitions. First, there is the complexity of authority control itself. Secondly, one must contend with those who say that authority control doesn’t apply to acquisitions, but who later find that it can’t be ignored ifan integrated system is desired. As a vendor, Michael says one must be aware of how authority control works with all aspects of an integrated system.

In general terms, authority control is necessary for providing uniformity of entries and cross- references. Whether one has a printed or on-line catalog, one wants to provide a standard vocabulary. While there is chaos without authority control, such control is costly. In a manual system one pays for human resources; in an automated system one pays for both human and computing resources. Without this control, however, one cannot fully exploit the bibliographic records in one’s data base.

Michael explained in some detail why authority control is so costly. Basically, to provide authority control, it is possible to have more authority records than bibliographic records. When one considers authority records for names, series and subjects, the implications for mass storage present a problem for librarians and vendors.

Michael cited several sources for authority records: obviously, outside sources such as the Library of Congress (whose tapes, however, are three years old) and the National Library of Medicine come to mind first. Secondly, there are the authority records of one’s own library catalog or data base.

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Michael then turned his thoughts to the design of an authority system. Desirable features include uniformity, cross-references, handling global changes, and browsing in the subject and name authority file. When Michael was first confronted with the development of an authority control system, he found there were very few who knew anything about it in relation to automation. For Michael it involved 1 l/2 years of design, and the greatest frustration came from subject searching, because of a desire for keyword and Boolean searching, and the ability to browse the subject headings. All of this required a great deal of storage space and CPU time. Since one does not need an authority record unless there are cross-references, the solution for conserving storage space appeared to be to search an index to the authority file. A library can run its “de facto authority data base” (the bibliographic utility a library uses) against the LC subject tapes and the majority of times this index will be sufficient, thus providing a reasonable and economic way of handling authority control.

Michael then discussed the specific ways authority control relates to acquisitions. In an on-line catalog, on-order records would be available to the public, so one should have the ability to quickly and easily assign correct name, series, etc. The problem is that while vendors are attempting some aspects of authority control, many have not been entirely successful. Vendors have concentrated on single systems, such as acquisitions, and integration with other systems is harder now since it wasn’t planned from the beginning. Now more and more vendors must try to provide an integrated system.

Michael closed by saying that no integrated system today has all the features a library expects. A library chooses a system according to its own priorities.

Lane then began the discussion by saying that acquisitions librarians must consider themselves as part of an integrated system. In answer, one person stated that authority control was unnecessary for acquisitions. In their library, on-order slips are tiled by title in the public catalog and their system works well. They felt that filing by main entry (with authority control) would lead to patrons “hassling” acquisitions for the books. Michael disagreed, saying that it is important to provide the patron with as much information as possible. “The object is not to automate your manual system, but to get an automated system.” While a patron may “hassle” an aquisitions librarian if a book has been on order for three years and hasn’t arrived, the situation is really no different than that of a patron who is annoyed with a circulation librarian because a book the patron requested hasn’t been returned. The important thing is that the data is available and uniform. One person added that an on-line system provides enormous flexibility, which may or may not be true with a manual system.

Another issue discussed was that of having to retrain acquisitions personnel in some cataloging procedures. In one library this retraining caused problems, while in another personnel found their new work challenging and enjoyable. No one reported the necessity of hiring more personnel.

Lane brought up the familiar point that automated systems tend to blur the lines between technical and public services. One librarian said that reference personnel can now answer some acquisitions questions since order dates are in their automated system. This has cut down on some of the questions traditionally directed only to acquisitions personnel.

Another issue concerned the amount of pre-order searching acquisitions should do to establish correct headings. One librarian stated that the sole purpose of pre-order searching is to determine whether or not the library has the item. Michael reiterated his point that the important thing is to provide uniform information to the user. At some point someone will have to deal with it, so if the correct entry is known, it should be used.

The chairperson concluded the meeting with the suggestion that funding be the topic for the next meeting of the discussion group.