New Search Features of the Network Union Catalogues

Improvement of information technologies inevitably leads to serious transformations of traditional bibliographic resources. These innovations have fully affected the organization and use of network Union catalogues (UC), the qualitative changes in which have been insufficiently studied and covered in professional publications. The article discusses the possibilities of network UC as a tool for information retrieval. The author compares printed and electronic UC, identifies the features and search potential of each of these forms; summarizes the research conducted in the Scientific Research Department of Bibliography of the Russian State Library (RSL) in the framework of RTD project “Information and bibliographic activity of the libraries in the electronic environment”. The author concludes that network UC as a tool of information retrieval have advantages over printed and local electronic catalogues, because electronic catalogues provide free access to the information placed in them from anywhere in the world. Many network catalogues provide the possibility of their independent use as a search tool, even by untrained users due to the accessible interface of the site, clear navigation and clear instructions. Basing on monitoring data of network UC, the author analyses the obstacles for wide use of network UC in information and bibliographic search, and concludes that for effective search it is required a clear and understandable navigation system on the sites with the provision of broad information on the presence of UC and the ways to search them. The article highlights the necessity to promote the capabilities of network UC and other services, including access to the sources reflected in the catalogues.

Electronic Resources of Libraries, Information and Bibliographic Search, Union Catalogues, Printed and Electronic Union Catalogues, Information Availability, Site Interface, Subject Retrieval, Regional Libraries of the Russian Federation

1. Levin G.L. Traditional Types of Bibliographic Products in the Electronic Environment: The Problems of Theory and the Practice of Russian Libraries, Bibliosfera [Bibliosphere], 2010, no. 1, pp. 7—13 (in Russ.).

2. Dvorkina M.Ya. Bibliotechnoe obsluzhivanie: novaya real’nost’: lektsii [Library Service: The New Reality: lectures]. Moscow, MGUKI Publ., 2003, 48 p.

3. Berestova T.F. Library as an Element of the Information Space (On the Concept Development), Bibliotekovedenie [Library and Information Science (Russia)], 2004, no. 6, pp. 43—51 (in Russ.).

4. Kovyazina E.V. OPAC: Union and/or Distributed Catalog? Biblioteki i informatsionnye resursy v sovremennom mire nauki, kul’tury, obrazovaniya i biznesa: materialy konf. [Proceedings of the Conference “Libraries and Information Resources in the Modern World of Science, Culture, Education and Business”]. Moscow, GPNTB Rossii Publ., 2006, 1 CD-ROM (in Russ.).

5. Moshkovskaya T.V. The System-Forming Functions of Electronic Catalogue in New Generation Library, Elektronnye resursy i elektronnye biblioteki: Ezhegod. mezhved. sb. nauch. tr. [Electronic Resources and Electronic Libraries: annual interdepartmental collection of scientific works]. Moscow, GPNTB Rossii Publ., 2006, pp. 58—63 (in Russ.).

6. Sukiasyan E.R. Progress of Computer-Aided Library Technologies in Russia: Thinking of Something Expected, though Unaccomplished, Nauchnye i tekhnicheskie biblioteki [Scientific and Technical Libraries], 2017, no. 4, pp. 34—43 (in Russ.).

7. Sokolinsky E.K. Problemy natsional’nogo repertuara pechati i svodnykh katalogov Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Problems of the National Repertoire of Press and Summary Catalogs of the Russian Federation]. St. Petersburg, RNB Publ., 2007, 400 p.

8. Sokolinsky E. The National Bibliography in Russia: Modern Technology and Bibliographic Aids of New Type, Rahvusbibliograafia uuenevas infokeskkonnas. Tallinn, 2001, pp. 108—116.

9. Cullen K. Delving into Data, Library Journal, 2005, vol. 130, no. 13, pp. 30—32.

10. Hartley R.J., Booth H. Users and Union Catalogues, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 2005, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 7—20.

11. Beaudiquez M. (ed.) Inventaire général des bibliographies nationales rétrospectives = Retrospective National Bibliographies an Internatinal Directory. München, New York, 1986, 189 p.

12. Sokolinsky E.K. Svodnye katalogi kak osnovnaya forma natsional’nogo repertuara pechati Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Union Catalogues as the Main Form of the National Repertoire of Press of the Russian Federation], Doct. ped. sci. diss. abstr. St. Petersburg, 2008, 32 p.

13. Reshetnikova O.V. Online Union Catalogues of Russian Libraries: Modern State and Development Tendencies, Bibliografiya [Bibliography], 2018, no. 1, pp. 24—34 (in Russ.).

14. Svodnye katalogi v SSSR: bibliogr. ukaz. [Union Catalogs in the USSR: bibliographical index]. Moscow, 1973, 187 p.

15. Danchenko T.N. (ed.) Svodnye pechatnye katalogi, izdannye v SSSR: bibliogr. ukazatel’ [Union Printed Catalogs Published in the USSR: bibliographical index]. Leningrad, 1971, 33 p.

16. Kasparova N.N. (ed.) Svodnye katalogi bibliotek Rossii: annot. ukaz. [Union Catalogues of Russian Libraries: annotative index]. Moscow, 1993, 83 p.

17. Sokolinsky E.K. National Union Catalogues as a Factor in Disclosure of Cultural Heritage, Vestnik SPbGUKI [Bulletin of the Saint Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts], 2017, no. 3(32), pp. 79—83 (in Russ.).

18. Borisov V.V. Measurement of the User Characteristics of the Summary Catalog of Libraries of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Vestnik MGUKI [Bulletin of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts], 2014, no. 1(57), pp. 183—186 (in Russ.).

19. Levin G.L. Union Catalogue, Bibliotechnaya entsiklopediya [Library Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Pashkov Dom Publ., 2007, pp. 936—939 (in Russ.).

20. Levin G.L. Electronic Bibliographic Resources and their Bibliographing, Bibliografiya [Bibliography], 2017, no. 4, pp. 46—54 (in Russ.).

21. Kalenov N.E. Online Library Catalogs and Users, Nauchnaya periodika: problemy i resheniya [Scientific Periodicals: Problems and Solutions], 2015, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 265—272 (in Russ.).