Year: 1977
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The Library of Congress has been an enthusiastic supporter of IFLA from its very beginning in Rome in 1928, but this relationship has intensified dramatically in recent years with the arrival of the computer and the explosion in world-wide publishing.Today the Library looks to IFLA as the guiding force in developing a truly international system for the control and exchange of bibliographic information and for the promotion of interlibrary cooperation.In the following pages the hopes of the staff of the Library of Congress for the future of IFLA are briefly outlined.This is essentially a practical list.The Library looks to IFLA for pragmatic solutions to world-wide problems of librarianship.We believe this will come with IFLA's assumption of the leadership and with support from other national libraries and library associations.Our pledge of financial support for the IFLA Office of Universal Bibliographic Control is symbolic of our hopes for IFLA's future.In recent years IFLA has played a vital role in developing international agreement on the mechanics of the exchange of bibliographic information.This is only one aspect of international librarianship but an extremely important one that shows promise of bearing fruit in the near future.At the same time, we hope that IFLA will move rapidly in the areas of preservation, interlibrary lending, official publications and special library reference activities that are waiting the attention of an international forum. Exchange of Bibliographic RecordsIn May 1976 the IFLA Working Group on Content Designators completed work on the format for the international exchange of machine-readable bibliographic records (UNIMARC).It is now the task of IFLA's Office of Universal Bibliographic Control to help those national agencies with ongoing MARC programs to secure funds and begin receiving and distributing records in the UNIMARC format on a test basis.This experimentation with the new format will hasten the day when efficient international exchange of cataloging data can take place.During this test period the UBC office should monitor the implementation of UNIMARC and report the results to the Working Group for possible modification of the format based on experience.Under the auspices of the UBC office, a study of the bibliographical and technological problems of an on-line international network is also being carried out.This study takes into account the existing mechanisms for exchange via magnetic tape and addresses the long-term problem of maintaining control of the use of the records, i.e., exclusive agreements vs. non-exclusive agreements, and the requirements and the methods of extending and maintaining copyright privileges in both
Source: Saur eBooks
Author: William J. Welsh
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2502686263