Possibilities of a Union Catalogue in Kenya: An update

Tito WawirePeter Mwangi Gichiri

Beatrice Amollo

Presented on behalf of UN-WB-UL Union catalogue committee & Koha Kenya Community

Background• In May 2011, a presentation titled ‘Open Source Software for

implementation of Union Catalogue for Kenya ‘ was presented in a meeting sponsored by the Goethe-Institut, Nairobi on ‘Modalities of establishing a union catalogue for Kenyan libraries and the standardized integration of local content into that catalogue’ held in Nairobi for librarians from various library categories.

• One of the resolutions was that the same presentations be made at a UN-UL-WB meeting that was to be held in the same month - 19th May at KCA. The presentation titled ‘Union Catalogue for Kenya libraries’ was well received by the participants.

• From this meeting, a team was proposed to look at possibilities of implementing a UC in Kenya.– The use of an OSS was appreciated by all, however the

participants tasked the technical team to come up with a model that would incorporate all libraries regardless of the various Integrated Library systems.

• A proposal to this effect was prepared and submitted to the National Council of Science & technology through UN-UL-WB for funding consideration.

The proposal rationale• Kenya lacks a national union catalogue or integrated

national bibliographic network that links the many types of libraries that exist in the country.

• It is quite difficult to identify what has been published in Kenya and to accurately determine which publications are held in other libraries.

• There is duplication in cataloguing especially of material that is found in more than one library.

Libraries Automation Status

Library Information Management Systems in use

0 10 20 30 40

Percentage

Koha

Libsoft

Sirs Mandarin

Amlib

Inmagic

Liberty3

Weblis

ABCD

Vubis Smart

Z39.50/SRU/SRW protocols Support

• Libraries can share bibliographic data.

Yes

No

• Majority libraries(87.5%) could share their data• All systems support z39.50,SRU or SRW

• Most libraries are automated• Most libraries have catalogue data in electronic form

A research study by project team member conducted in May, 2011 revealed that……

Availability of catalogues on the web

OPAC search by library categories 44

46

48

50

52

54

Yes No

Percentage

0

20

40

60

80

100

Your OwnLibrary

OtherLibraries in

Kenya

InternationalLibraries

Other UnionCatalogues

Frequently

Occassionally

Rarely

Never

Most library users search their institutions catalogues

Cross-searching other libraries in Kenya is rare. Why? – The need for a union Catalogue

International catalogues are fairly popular. Why? Possibly MARC records download

Inclusion of a choice menu for each library in the web interface.

Include feature for parallel searching of all or selected libraries

Include international catalogues in the virtual catalogue

Different Methods of consultation

Contribution of the Virtual Union Catalogue

• Need to include features to support inter-library loans as a priority.

• It would be important to cluster libraries in geographical locations

Union catalogue will contribute to a great extent the quality of information search

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Visit the library, ifit were in the

sameneighbourhood

Visit the library,even if it were not

in theneighbourhood

Use inter-libraryloans (ILL)

Buy items ifavailable

Take action ascitation details

would be enough

Very likely

Likely

Unlikely

Not at all likely

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

1

Enormously

To a great extent

Target group for the union catalogue will comprise of libraries within:

• Academic Institutions (Tertiary level)• Research institutions• KNLS• Special collection libraries• Members of KLA and KLISC that are not covered in

the first four groups.

Why a Union Catalogue?

• Libraries today have to deal with physical, digital and licensed collections – all at the same time. – With this kind of setup, the union catalogue will help the

libraries achieve better, richer, shared collections and economies of scale in services and exposure.

• The union catalogue is becoming more closely tied with local systems– using local resolvers to connect users directly with full text,

accessing the local catalogue for circulation availability and passing users to local reference services.

Apart from resource sharing, the benefits of the UC to libraries include:

• Facilitates cataloguing and improves the speed of cataloguing amongst participating libraries.

• Result in production or supply of quality, bibliographic and authority records.

• Development and maintenance of mutually acceptable standards.• Development of a more coordinated document supply service.• Development or increase in joint collections, printed and electronic

ones.• Links to a wide range of document suppliers and electronic journals.• Ongoing discussion, planning and programming among participating

libraries.• Likely formation of a national bibliographic network • Reduction in acquisition and cataloguing expenses.

The benefits to the library users include:

• It is easier to confirm the existence of an item from a wide collection in one search or a click of a button;

• Accurate information about the item location is established from the union catalogue, since this is provided in the catalogue.

• Confirmation of the availability of required information at those known locations;

• Getting the required information at the precise time of need; and

• Ascertaining the licensing controls and authorization of the collections in the union catalogues.

Some Examples:

• OCLC's WorldCat• Research Libraries UK's Copac• Library and Archives Canada's Amicus• South Africa's SaCat

Project Objectives

Main objective• To design and implement a suitable union catalogue that will

facilitate resource sharing and promote uniformity or conformity within a national bibliographic network of libraries in Kenya.

Specific objectives

• To set and implement standards for authority control and assignment of mutually accepted descriptors for the national bibliographic network.

• To develop system for document supply and resource sharing in order to provide library users from all participating institutions with appropriate information

• To promote consistent indexing of information that will enable

users to perform consistent searching of records from multiple libraries, at any given time.

Expected Outputs

1. An open source software based national union catalogue/portal that links libraries at all levels in Kenya.

– The OSS option will be particularly helpful to upcoming libraries.

– Libraries that do not wish to migrate or use the proposed OSS will be able to link to the union catalogue virtually using SRU & Z39.50 protocol.

Expected Outputs

The union catalogue will possess features of a next generation catalog

• Single point of entry for all library information. • Web interface. • Enriched content. • Categorized searching. • Relevancy. • Recommendations/related materials. • User contribution. • RSS feeds. • Integration with social network sites. • Persistent links.

Expected Outputs2. National bibliographic standards manual

– It is essential that every member library provides accurate and standard data by using agreed upon bibliographic standards.

– Local standards to suit the specific needs and requirements of

database containing locally produced information material will have to be agreed upon.

More about the Proposed Union Catalogue

Why Open Source?

Disillusionment with current vendorsOpen source is seen as a solution to:

◦ Allow libraries to have more flexible systems◦ Lower costs

Not be vulnerable to disruptions that come with mergers and acquisitions

Open source is beginning to emerge as a mainstream option.No vendor lock in.

Protocols for the union catalogue• Z39.50 also known as ISO23950 is a protocol that enables

search of and retrieval from remote databases. – Z39.50 applications search remote databases that are connected to

internet using the TCP/IP transportation protocol. – This protocol has been widely used in library systems and it has greatly

impacted on the way library systems interact.

Protocols for the union catalogue• Search and retrieve web service (SRW) and search and

retrieve URL service (SRU) are web services-based protocols, an improvement of Z39.50 that are built for querying internet indexes or databases and returning search results.

Standards to be considered for the Union Catalogue • Standards for Exchanging Catalogue Records

– MARC21

• Describing library resources and access standards – Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR), Resource Description and

Access (RDA)

• Controlled Vocabularies – LCSH, MeSH

• Classification Schemes – LC, DDC, Sears, UDC, NLM

• Holdings– MARC21 Format for Holdings Data, ANSI/NISO Z39.71 Holdings

Statements for Bibliographic Items

Project Methodology

• The project will be conducted in phases.– The number of phases will be determined by the number and types of

participating libraries. – These phases will be precluded with data collection to establish status

of the libraries. • Questionnaires will be distributed through online means and o personal

contact where necessary.

Phase One• Hold workshop or meeting to sensitize libraries about the

project.– Agree on standards & protocols

• Conduct training of cataloguers

• Set up union catalogue of 1st group of libraries

Phase Two• Demonstrate union catalogue and discuss challenges if any, in

preparation for expansion (Workshop)

• Expand union catalog to second group of libraries. • Set mutually accepted standards for publishing of a National

Bibliographic Manual – (One day seminar – one physical and follow up virtual discussions)

Phase Three

• Union catalogue to include all the other participating library clusters

• Subsequent phases of the project will focus on publications from public and middle level colleges’ libraries; with an object of forming a comprehensive Bibliographic Centre.

Schedule of Activities for one yearACTIVITY ONE YEAR

M1-M2 M3-M4 M5-M6 M7-M8

M9-M10

M11-M12

Needs analysis Collect information about existing library

databases Cluster interested libraries into groups e.g.

academic, special, public and research Analyze metadata formats and standards adapted

by the participating libraries

Develop/Agree on mutually accepted standards (Workshop)

Install and set up union catalogue hardware and software (phase one)

Print and circulate manual Upload UC/ Host for Internet DemonstrationTraining of cataloguers workshop Launch union catalogue

Receive bibliographic data from libraries Submission of membership fees from participating institutions

• Funding requested will be used for training, UC web hosting and purchase of physical requirements.

• The team proposes to host the project in one of the participating libraries’ premises for the initial one year.

Finally……• There is great potential to share more data within

consortia.– This necessitates a new layer of standards.– The participating institutions must accept to adapt certain

common standards and norms to ensure professionalism and conformity.

• The libraries that decide to merge their records or decide to use a single point for access to all their collections will be forced to compromise to ensure that standards are set and implemented to ensure uniformity and ease of access for the final users.

• Exposing library data collectively on a national or international scale will require the participating libraries’ commitment to provide a cohesive delivery and reference service to the target users.

Thank you