You can now subscribe to MarciveWeb DOCS. If you would like a demo first, just contact us, tell us whether you already subscribe to GPO CAT/PAC Plus, and we will send you what you need to get a 30-day free demonstration of our terrific new product.
While you are looking at MarciveWeb DOCS, you may want to notice a few aspects of the product which are exceptionally nice:
1. Hotlinks. When a bibliographic record contains a URL (a properly formatted address to a Web site), you can access the site with a single-click. In many instances, this takes you to a full text document. Some are rather cleverly organized, such as Al Gore's The best kept secrets in government. (Once you get to that site, you can search the full text of the 103 documents which make up the report.)
2. Indexes optimized for government document searching. Other products try to shoehorn GPO data into a one-size-fits-all software package. MARCIVE knows better: we provide accurate, clear results when you search SuDocs numbers, Item numbers and other numbers that are unique to government document cataloging. And our search engine gives you browse and keyword access to Titles and Series, Authors and Agencies, and Subjects, as well as the ability to combine indexes and search format, year, and language.
3. Integrated display of new and retrospective citations. Records that we key in from daily shipping lists are interfiled with records all the way back to 1976. This saves you searching time.
And that's just the beginning of the reasons why you should consider MarciveWeb DOCS. Call us today for the rest of the story!
MarciveWeb DOCS is a product for a library's patrons to use to find citations to government documents from 1976 to the present. For some titles, they can even go directly to the full text, using hotlinks. The patron can see which libraries select a particular title. This product is an outgrowth of our extensive work on the US Government Printing Office database (Monthly Catalog) and our shipping list service. It is primarily a reference product. There is an annual subscription fee.
By way of contrast, MarciveWeb SELECT is a cataloging tool, not limited to government document cataloging. This database also includes records from LC, NLM, A/V Access®, and other sources. It is designed for a cataloger, a paraprofessional, or a one-person-library manager to find or create cataloging and get cataloging products: MARC records, cards, barcode labels, book labels, and authorities records. A library would use this product instead of OCLC, Bibliofile, Mitinet MARC, or Alliance Plus. A library needs to have an account, a login, and a password from Customer Service, but there is no annual fee.
San Antonio TX: Region 20/District 10
Rose Marie McElfresh will explain how to get cataloging using MarciveWeb SELECT, Sept. 12-13.
St. Louis MO: MidContinental Chapter MLA
On Sept. 29 we'll show you how MarciveWeb SELECT makes cataloging easier for medical librarians.
Clearwater FL: Federal Depository Council
Both Joan Chapa and Jim Noël will be available to meet with you October 20-23.
Savannah GA: Southern Chapter MLA
Stop by our booth to learn the many advantages of cataloging using MarciveWeb SELECT (Oct. 25-26).
Monterey CA: Internet Librarian
From November 17th to the 19th, we'll be showing off MarciveWeb SELECT and MarciveWeb DOCS.
New Orleans LA: ALA MidWinter
We look forward to seeing you at our booth January 10-12. We have not decided whether to have a users' meeting (see survey to the right).
MARCIVE Newsletter
Number 28 September 1997
Editor: Janifer Meldrum
Address changes: Brenda Garza
Contributors:
Joan Chapa
Jim Noël
MARCIVE, Inc.
P.O. Box 47508
San Antonio TX 78265
1-800-531-7678
(210) 646-6161
FAX (210) 646-0167
E-mail info@marcive.com
Web Site http://www.marcive.com
All of the information in this newsletter is protected by copyright. If you would like to use any of the information, please reference the source. If you would like to republish an entire article, please let us know.
Please fax this survey back to 1-210-646-0167 or e-mail your comments to info@marcive.com .
At the last few national library conferences, we have scheduled a users' meeting with a speaker, an in-depth discussion of a service, or a demonstration of new products.
The cost of putting on these meetings has been escalating but we have not had an increase in the number of attendees. The librarians who do come say very nice things about the meetings, but we wonder why more of you don't come.
Could you help us decide whether to continue having these meetings by filling out the following survey?
1. Do you go to conferences?
Yes No Rarely
2. Have you been to a MARCIVE Users' Meeting?
Yes No
3. If you do attend conferences at which we sponsor a meeting but haven't been coming
to the meeting, why not? Check all that apply:
I never knew you had them. Please suggest ways of getting the word out besides our
newsletter, homepage, and various listservs:
I'm spread too thin as it is. [We know the feeling!]
Your meeting time always conflicts with another meeting. When would be good?
I've been before, and there really wasn't enough information of interest to me. What would
have been of interest?
Other
4. Do you think we should continue having users' meetings at
ALA MidWinter
ALA Annual
ALA Annual but not MidWinter
Medical Library Association
Texas Library Association
Federal Depository Council
5. If we do continue having these meetings, what suggestions do you have for increasing attendance?
Our Original Cataloging Input (OCI) service (red-lined data entry forms from which we key your cataloging) will no longer be offered after December 1997.
MARCIVE originated this service in the late '70s when fewer libraries had access to computers. We now have better and less expensive options available.
If you use this service and have not received a letter explaining your options, please contact Customer Service.
"Getting audiovisual cataloging through MarciveWeb SELECT is the greatest thing since sliced bread!"
We heard from scores of librarians this spring and summer that they love the new way of getting cataloging for AV.
Contact Customer Service for information on prices, profile changes, call numbers, and ordering options. Although the best way is to use MarciveWeb SELECT, we do still accept Title Search Forms.
A new option lets you use a browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer and MarciveWeb SELECT to get your MARC records.
For former diskette customers this means saving $2 per diskette, as well as receiving the records the next day rather than waiting on UPS. Some FTP customers have also switched to this method because there are fewer steps and the process seems to be more reliable. Some BBS customers have switched to eliminate telecommunications errors and hassling with a modem.
The first screen you see after you login to MarciveWeb SELECT (the order review/title search screen) will notify you if you have one or more files of records ready to be picked up. By clicking on the name of a file, you will be able to save it to your hard disk. (If your automated system needs diskettes, save the file to your diskette drive instead.)
When you are sure you have the file, you can return to this screen and delete the file from the list.
If your library receives authorities records (Demand! Authorities service), you can specify that you wish to receive both bib and authorities files through your browser.
To begin receiving records this way, please call MARCIVE Customer Service. They may recommend that you try receiving a small trial file to see if your browser has this capability.
This method can also be used by customers who use the Cataloging Input System for some or all of their ordering. However, you will need to have a MarciveWeb SELECT login and password established to get into the system. There is no charge for changing your profile or for using this new option. (It is not yet available for GPO Subscription Customers.)
NOTE: This and other new features are announced directly to MarciveWeb SELECT customers on the order review/title search screen. Just click on "Click here to see changes since version 1.00".
Librarians require a powerful motivation to change their cataloging habits. After all, if you have a procedure in place, why change it? Here are the reasons we've heard:
1. You need to process more titles and you don't have any additional people to do the work.
2. You are looking for ways to keep cataloging costs down.
3. You are not getting a high enough hit rate from your current source.
4. Your current source lacks authority processing, and you need better quality records.
5. At the end of the month, you still have a backlog of cataloging.
MarciveWeb SELECT can help with all five of these problems. We have listed below some of the compelling reasons for you to switch to MarciveWeb SELECT.
MARCIVE customers. Even if you are already taking advantage of our low costs, switching from the Cataloging Input System (CIS) to MarciveWeb SELECT will save you money.
You will get a higher hit rate, especially for AV, thus reducing the amount of original cataloging you have to do.
And when you do have to do original cataloging, the cost on MarciveWeb SELECT is only $0.27 per record rather than $0.60 per record.
OCLC customers. Searching is easier. Type as much of the title as you know. If it's a common title, refine the search with author, date, and/or publisher.
The original cataloging template gives a clearer display of your options in such complicated fields as the 007.
Costs are much lower, as you only pay for what you get. No per search fee, no annual fee, no telecommunications charges.
If interlibrary loan is more important to you than costs, you can continue your membership in OCLC. Once a year, have us output your cataloging database to load into OCLC to satisfy your OCLC contractual requirements.
Bibliofile customers. Our database is updated every day--no waiting for the next CD to arrive. All the titles are interfiled, so there's no need to mount separate CD's to look for audiovisual titles.
Our array of automatically generated products (including cards, book labels, smart barcode labels and holdings fields) saves you time.
No subscription or license fee.
Alliance Plus or Precision One customers. Since there are no license fees, every school can have access to the cataloging database simultaneously--no waiting for the disk to make it to your school.
We have a lot of audiovisual titles, thanks to the A/V Access® database, and the highest quality US government document database.
No need to waste time doing standard modifications. Your MARCIVE profile can be set up to automatically delete "--Juvenile [genre]" in subject subdivisions or change all LC subject headings to Sears.
Mitinet MARC customers. There is no software charge with MarciveWeb SELECT, you just pay for the cataloging you find or create.
If you can find appropriate cataloging, you can use it or modify it, rather than always creating a record from scratch.
The best way to compare MarciveWeb SELECT to your current method is to see it for yourself. Call Customer Service for a 30-day free trial today.
A librarian asked why he couldn't just pluck a record off the MarciveWeb SELECT database, and download it immediately into his local system, instead of waiting until the next day. It seems reasonable--getting the record faster would mean your work gets done faster, right?
Probably not. The reason is that at MARCIVE we do so much more with the record for you, so you do not have to waste time. We archive the record in case you need your database output. We pass the record through your profile to perform automatic deletions and item record creation. If you opt for Demand! Authorities, we check your headings against our authority file, upgrade them, and output just the appropriate authorities records. We create products automatically, rather than you having to fool around with printing catalog cards and book labels, and locating or typing authorities records. The professional look of those products, including smart barcode labels, is hard to produce locally.
We do a number of things which reduce your workload so that at the end of the month more titles were processed and, we like to think, processed better than you could achieve on your own.
Ninety days? Six months? The answer depends on your project.
Once you have the funding in place to automate your library, you and your administration will probably be eager to develop a timeline for the retrospective conversion portion of the project.
Please call Rose Marie McElfresh for help in establishing a timeline for your project or email info@marcive.com .
1. Characteristics of your shelflist. Number of titles. Percentage of hits. Foreign language. Your knowledge: Do you know the marks and codes used by previous librarians so you can answer our questions as we go through the shelflist?
2. Amount & clarity of local data (e.g., copy, volume, acquisition data)
3. Target system. Do you have a contract with your automation system vendor? Does your vendor have a knowledgeable person we can talk to about your specs?
4. Quality control procedures. Do you have your system? Can a test batch be loaded and evaluated quickly? We require approval of the test batch before proceeding. Also, MARCIVE's quality checks may mean our turnaround is a little longer than other companies, but the length of the time you spend cleaning up is less.
| Bernarda Jaime Jr High School, San Diego Indep. School District, TX, SIRSI Unicorn |
| Ducks Unlimited Canada, Inmagic |
| Galloway School, GA, Columbia |
| Jones Public Library, TX |
| Kelloggsville Public Schools, MI, Caspr Inc. Libraryworks |
| Lake County Library Services, FL, Dynix |
| Laurel Elementary School, NE, Chancery MacSchool Library Pro |
| Lincoln Elementary School, Unified School District #428, KS, Columbia |
| Mallinckrodt Medical Inc. MO |
| Mickey Reily Public Library, TX, ATHENA |
| Misawa Base Library FL 5205, Japan, SIRSI STILAS |
| Quarles and Brady, WI, Inmagic |
| Redland Oaks Elementary School, TX, ATHENA |
| Rusk Independent School District, TX, Library Resource Man. Sys. |
| Saguache County Public Library, CO, Winnebago Circ/Cat |
| Scarborough Public Library, ME |
| Spence School Library, NY, Data Trek Professional Series |
| St. Mary's Prep School and St. Mary's College, MI, DRA Atlas |
| Sulphur Springs School, TN, Columbia |
| Capital Univ. Law Library, OH, III |
| Dallas Christian College, TX, Library Resource Man. Sys. |
| Derby Academy, MA, ATHENA |
| Edwards AFB, CA, Geac |
| Franklin Medical Center, MA, SIRSI Unicorn |
| Gateway Software Corp for Chinle (AZ) School Dist, MT, Gateway |
| Greenville Technical College Library, SC, DRA Atlas |
| Greenwich Academy, CT, SIRSI Unicorn |
| Greenwich Academy: Upper School, CT, SIRSI Unicorn |
| Henry Ford Medical Center, MI, Georgetown LIS |
| Hurst Jr. High School, TX, Follett Unison |
| Jefferson County Public Library, CO, III |
| Jones Public Library, TX, Library Resource Man. Sys. |
| Kuwait Medical Library, Faculty of Medicine, Jabriyah, Kuwait, VTLS |
| Newark Public Library, NJ, Dynix |
| Orme School, AZ, Follett Unison |
| Pacific University Library, OR, Dynix |
| Portland State Univ. Library, OR, SIRSI Unicorn |
| Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, OK, Endeavor |
| South Arkansas Community College, AR, Dynix |
| St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Bizware |
| State Library of Iowa, IA, Ameritech Horizon (Marquis) |
| Texas A & M Univ. at Commerce, TX, DRA Atlas |
| Texas Southern Univ. Law Library, TX, III |
| Tinker AFB, OK, Geac |
| Western Washington University, WA, III |
| Wyoming State Library, WY, DRA Atlas |
Libraries choosing to subscribe to the MARCIVE Enhanced GPO Database Service without getting a retrospective file often face the question of how they will handle their serial records, since the serial records are primarily in the retrospective database file. For many the solution has been to purchase a copy of the Periodicals Supplement File, but this file contains only current titles issued three or more times a year. As a result, all annuals and other less frequent titles are not included, which can amount to a substantial portion of a library's serial selections.
A more comprehensive option would be to order the GPO Serials Backfile, an option introduced in the last couple of years. Essentially it is a small retrospective GPO project, covering only serial titles.
Whether the library elects to get just the Periodicals Supplement or the GPO Serials Backfile, the options and setup are much like a regular GPO retro in that a library can
| profile by item number and/or SuDoc stem, |
| apply holdings codes, |
| restrict to just microfiche format, and |
| obtain matching authorities records. |
The Periodicals Supplement file, corresponding to the print edition of the Monthly Catalog, has been available for some time. Libraries not desiring to perform a retrospective conversion and just wanting to receive current cataloging through our Ongoing GPO Database Service opt to obtain these "core" titles of current periodicals only.
MARCIVE does not choose the titles which appear in this file. GPO identifies which titles are part of the Periodical Supplement File. All of these titles are active.
Some libraries which chose this option were disappointed at the absence of annual reports and other titles not included by GPO. To provide an alternative to this file, MARCIVE developed the GPO Serials Backfile.
The GPO Serials Backfile (GSB) option includes records from the Periodical Supplement and any other serial records in the MARCIVE Enhanced GPO Database. This broadens the coverage to include
| annual reports |
| continued titles |
| other titles cataloged as serials but not covered in the Periodicals Supplement File. |
This ensures that the library will receive all of the serial records they would have received had they done a retrospective conversion, even inactive titles.
However, for Ongoing GPO Database Service customers, the cost for obtaining the GSB file is significantly less than if the records had been extracted as a standalone retro project.--JN, JM
For pricing on either of these options, please contact Joan Chapa.
For the past several years, MARCIVE has offered the Shipping List Service, in which brief-level bibliographic records, SuDoc labels, and shelflist cards are provided. These products are produced from the Daily Depository Shipping Lists, which we receive from GPO via a courier daily.
Several months ago, GPO made the shipping list database available in electronic format on their Web page. At first, this seemed a boon: we imagined that we would no longer have to key the lists! But at the same time we wondered if our customers and prospects would continue to need us since the data was available for "free." We heard reports of libraries downloading the data to their PC's and producing call number labels, shelflist cards and possibly barcode labels in-house.
As we soon found out, there is a high price for "free." The posting of the data continues after all these months to lag behind our receipt of the shipping lists in many cases. Often the data provided on the GPO Web is missing fields, titles, or is completely corrupt. And the biggest disappointment? Entire lists fail to show up, with microfiche being the biggest culprit. We keep track daily of when we believe the lists are supposed to be released and claim them in advance through GPO's Fax Watch. It is only through this constant vigilance that we are able to keep abreast of the distribution of the lists in order to be able to distribute our SLS products in a timely manner.
While it's difficult to sell against "free", we strongly believe that the best savings in staff time and effort is in value-added services which include: customization of the records to meet system needs, correction of corrupt or incorrect data, addition of missing data, and finally--customer support.
If you have discovered as many libraries have that "free" services don't provide the best solution, please call MARCIVE for more information or email info@marcive.com .--JC
Profiling for both retrospective and ongoing conversion is La Crosse (WI) Public Library, a Dynix site.
Profiling for retro only is Northwestern University Law Library, a NOTIS library.
Customers subscribing to Ongoing GPO Database Service as well as Shipping List Service include:
| Case Western Reserve University, OH (Innovative Interfaces) |
| Henry Ford Community College, MI (Dynix) |
| Mercer University, GA (Innovative Interfaces) |
| Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women (joint project: DRA system) |
| Southeast Missouri State University (NOTIS) |
| University of Hawaii (CARL) |
| Wheaton College, IL (Dynix) |
Customers subscribing to Ongoing GPO Database Service only are
| Ashland University, OH (Innovative Interfaces) |
| Cornell College, IA (Endeavor) |
Shipping List Service only:
| Hazard Community College, KY, recently started a subscription to SLS SuDoc Labels |
| Anaheim Public Library, CA, has started getting SLS electronic records. |
Reed College (Oregon) heads the list of the growing number of depository libraries that are subscribing to MarciveWeb DOCS, our Enhanced GPO Database on the Internet.
Reed had previously evaluated GPO CAT PAC Plus, the CD-ROM version of our database, but was unable to use it on their local area network. Subscribing to a Web product overcomes the hassles of dealing with networks and maintaining a large number of CD's.
Customers of CAT/PAC can switch over to the Web version at any time. If you'd like information on how to do this or would like a demo of the product, please contact Joan Chapa.
Are you interested in attending a workshop on profiling for extraction of records from the MARCIVE Enhanced GPO Database? The two workshops we gave at the FDC in the spring filled rapidly. Please contact Joan Chapa if you would like us to repeat the sessions at the meeting in Clearwater, Florida, in October.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the UPS strike which started August 3. As this newsletter was being written, we were scrambling to find alternative ways to get products to you.
If you receive your data on diskette or magnetic tape, you may wish to consider switching to FTP (sending data over the Internet).
As we've mentioned before, we love to get correspondence via email but we MUST know who you are! We often receive messages asking for invoices, profile updates, regeneration of data, etc., but with no name or institution. If you are going to the trouble to send us a message that requires immediate attention--for example, a list of item numbers to delete from your profile, please include your name, institution, phone number, e-mail address, and MARCIVE ID code.