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To Each Monk his Book: Providing Access through Collection Organization at Norcia’s New Library
Ethan J. Allen∗ Marguerite Wolf†
∗Florida Atlantic University, [email protected] † This paper is posted at DigitalCommons@Florida Atlantic University. http://digitalcommons.fau.edu/lib pubs/8 To Each Monk his Book: Providing Access through Collection Organization at Norcia's New Library
Ethan Allen Marguerite Wolf
In this article, the authors discuss their experience organizing a library for a community of Benedictine monks in central Italy. An initial assessment of the monastery’s resources suggested that both global and immediate access to bibliographic records was feasible and that the librarians could begin cataloging offsite. Decisions about classification schemes and software were made with sensitivity to the international makeup of the community, historical and national library practices, financial limitations, and perceived computer literacy within the community. Unanticipated problems emerged with respect to classification, human resources, time lags and distances, yet overall access to the collection has been enhanced by addressing these problems.
Keywords: monastic libraries; classification systems; copy cataloging; automation; Italian libraries; bibliographic control, Monastero di San Benedetto; Benedictines
The traditional purpose of a monastic library is to keep a collection of written sources that will serve the formative needs of its community members. At the core of monastic collections are modern editions of ancient works. The Rule of St. Benedict, ca. 530, is the text which governs the common life of monastics, even today. Chapter 48 of this work refers explicitly to hours of each day which are to be spent working, praying, and reading. Beyond required reading, the Rule also prescribes additional reading to deter idleness. In support of the monastery’s living culture, its library must contain material to which the monks will return often throughout their lives: Sacred Scripture, commentaries on Sacred Scripture, writings and commentaries on the Fathers of the Church, monastic Fathers, and of primary importance, liturgical texts for daily liturgy (Neuhofer, 1999). One such monastery made a request of the authors to advise them on how best to organize their collection. This essay is a description of their response and the decisions that were made in terms of client preferences and resources, collection organization, and challenges to access. Monastero di San Benedetto, located in Norcia, Italy, is the new home for a recently formed community of Benedictine monks, the Communità di Maria Sedes Sapientiæ.1 Norcia (Nursia), an ancient, walled city nestled in the Sybilline Mountain range, is recognized as the birthplace of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. Given this historical distinction, its Prior envisions a library which will serve not only the needs of the monks but, in time, a larger community of scholars and visitors, thus becoming a center of monastic research. The monastery complex is situated on the city’s main piazza and includes the historic Basilica of St. Benedict, the cloister and its guesthouse. It was only months prior to the monks’ arrival that both the Basilica and adjoining residential spaces were renovated. It was not known at the time of the renovation who the new occupants would be or that the residential section would serve as a cloister. A room measuring seventy-nine square meters within the cloister serves as its library. By 2003, benefactors provided funding to furnish the library along three walls with custom wooden shelving and cabinetry at an approximate height of two meters, enough to accommodate approximately three to four thousand volumes. Approximately half the funding for the shelving came from public institutions in the region, while the remainder came from private gifts. Initially, the collection consisted of about two thousand volumes scattered throughout various rooms: on tables, in boxes, and on precious little shelf space. A secondary reading room or La Sala di Consultazione is situated within the guesthouse to preserve the seclusion of the cloister. The Sala serves several functions: it is used for meetings of many kinds, guests and scholars may read or study there, and it is presently home to about one thousand uncataloged volumes and the automated catalog. A nearby classroom provides storage for additional volumes awaiting processing.
Access Problems at Monastero di San Benedetto
The primary goal in organizing this collection was to give the monks straightforward access to their books. The library space unintentionally serves as one of two routes from monastic cells to other parts of the monastery and necessarily sees much daily traffic. Knowing the general location of books on subjects of interest should be a nearly intuitive process and monks walking through the library ought to be able to select books quickly on their way to classes or other functions. Several members of this community hold advanced degrees in theology and therefore have a pre-conceived notion of the organization of religious knowledge. This turned into a minor crisis when the client objected to the location of properly classified books. An equally important long-term vision for the monastery is that its library holdings will distinguish it among the more established local centers of monastic research. While the monks are comfortable using computers for standard applications and email, none have sufficient training or time to maintain web pages, let alone to mount an OPAC. Further, there is currently no formally trained librarian within the community and physical access to books for in-hand descriptive cataloging remains an impediment to timely processing. The authors found themselves in a rather unique situation, challenged by problems of distance, conflicting notions of knowledge organization, and wavering human and financial resources.
Potential for Global Access
In 2001, a needs assessment was made at the site to determine the monastery’s goals and to propose objectives for the organization of the forthcoming library. Global access to the collection’s holdings was envisioned for the long term. An editorial on international library cooperation by Donald Riggs identified four essential components for libraries hoping to move in the direction of a global virtual library. These elements are: software, hardware, human resources, and data/information (Riggs, 2001). It was conceivable, then, that the collection at Norcia would become a part of such a global network, with its searchable catalog on the internet. At present the collection is adequate for the immediate needs of the monks, while expansion is viewed as both necessary and inevitable. As much as seventy-five percent of the now eight thousand or so monographic holdings are in English, while the remainder are in Latin, Italian, German, French, Spanish, and other European languages. It would be naive to think that the financial resources to establish Monastero di San Benedetto’s place within a global virtual library are immediately at hand, yet the existing infrastructure in Italy and the resolve to succeed are forces already at work to accomplish this. Bibliographic records for holdings in many other Italian libraries already constitute a share in the global virtual library. The Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) network is an aggregate of large and small member libraries which contribute records to a common Italian index. The SBN Index is managed by the ICCU (Central Institute for the Union Catalog of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information). Streamlined automation for library records for the whole of Italy remains problematic, however. Agreement on standard procedures, coordination, and lack of a uniform structure for a common database are cited as causes contributing to reluctance to unionize national holdings (Calabresi, 2000). If the monastery held a membership in SBN with its interlibrary loan program, it would have access only to those books belonging to member libraries and vice versa. This arrangement is comparable to those libraries in the United States which enjoy OCLC or consortial memberships. Many academic institutions in Italy, however, put their catalogs online without contributing their records to national or international utilities. Worldwide access to these records goes unhindered, but the scholar must probe individual or consortium catalogs rather than a convenient single national index. At close range, the Benedictine monks at Norcia do not fully possess the same world- class infrastructure components described by Riggs: their manpower is stretched thinly, professional librarians visit from the U.S. for brief periods once or twice a year on a pro bono basis, and financial resources in general and for the library in particular are meager. The monastery’s human resource shortfall, then, poses the greatest threat to widened access. Conversely, the monastery is strong with respect to the other criteria for access. On the initial visit, one of the librarians surveyed the following: number of PCs and software applications, workstation locations, internet connectivity, reliability of electric power and telephone service, and the computer literacy levels among the monks. Each of these indicators suggested that the community would have no difficulty transitioning into an automated library system. A visit was also made to the local public library since the monastery and the municipality enjoy a cooperative relationship and it was found that both libraries have the potential for some level of cooperation. The books in the cigarette smoke-filled rooms of the municipal library were classified according to Dewey, but the holdings were not automated. The SBN holds open an entry for Norcia, but the municipality does not yet contribute records. Next, a cursory survey of online catalogs with known comparable holdings was made with a view toward identifying usable records for copy cataloging. The predominance of classification systems either in the region or among theological collections nationally was searched, but there appeared to be no consistency or conformity to any single standard. One such example of a monograph classified in multiple systems is Adalbert de Vogüé’s The Rule of St. Benedict: a Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary (see Figure 1).
City/Institution Collection/Classification OPAC
Rome. Mon 1337 URBE Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo
Vatican Library R.G.Period.IV.5525.Suppl.(16) URBS
Bari. Università di Bari L BEN 4 7* MAI (AIB)
Florence. Biblioteca Na zionale Centrale 248.8 SBN
Figure 1. Diverse classification systems found in Italian OPACS for the same book.
The information derived from these initial observations led to more fundamental questions given the size and purpose of the monastery’s rather focused collection: Would the monks themselves use an automated catalog to find books? What line of reasoning would justify spending precious resources to mount their catalog online or to contribute to a national index? Although the technology is in place, would this be the right time to display its holdings on the internet? Despite these doubts, it was decided that the project would proceed in a manner which would provide a basis for global access to its records. Buttressing this decision was another directive from the 32nd chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict, which calls for the abbot keep an inventory of the “tools of and property of the monastery” (McCann, 1972, p. 85). Extended to books, this duty could be accomplished either by spreadsheet or database software, but given the anticipated longevity and importance of the library to the monastic community, it was determined that a more universal standard for record display should be applied from the outset. At present, there is a web site for the monastery. While basic, they have enlisted professional expertise to incorporate streamed audio and video for outreach purposes. It is entirely possible that the monastery could also mount a searchable OPAC or add a simple file to the site in which currently cataloged library holdings are listed. Additionally, the monastery could place an email contact to the person responsible for the library, should questions about the collection arise.
Automating Records
Bibliographic records had to be created, but the monastery wanted to keep expenses to a bare minimum. This requirement led to a consideration of spreadsheets, free catalog software, and “original” programming2, any of which could be hosted online and linked to the monastery’s web site. It was recognized that spreadsheet programs, while good for retrieval of basic data, were limited insofar as searching would become time-consuming and cumbersome. This solution could have been acceptable, but it would be passing by an opportunity to import more complete MARC records directly into cataloging software. The authors were compelled to find software that would allow import of records, yielding substantial savings in time and labor. Libraries worldwide, particularly in developing regions, are using free catalog software, namely CDS/ISIS, available through UNESCO. The Italian adaptation of this automation software goes by the name EasyWeb or EasyCat (http://www.easyweb.firenze.it/). In North America, as around the globe, the software is free, but a nominal licensing fee must be paid. While this system was appealing, it is essentially a do-it-yourself product that comes without online help or a detailed reference manual (Osborne, 1999) and as infrequent visitors to Italy, the authors simply could not afford the time to pursue the free software options satisfactorily. The decision was then made that it would be more sensible to consider reasonably-priced commercial products (under $300). Affordable systems offered features packaged either as modular components or as fully integrated systems. Some vendors offered free downloadable demos. Several of these were tested using various record samples. From these tests, it was determined which features were essential to the project’s goals, namely that the product had to have blank editing templates for full MARC entries, record import and export features, printing options for labels and cards, technical support, modular expansion for circulation and online searching, and user friendliness, for both front and back ends. These essentials substantially reduced the number of competing products to consider. All these features were found in LexWin. The product’s modular flexibility, affordability, and technical support made it the most suitable software for the project.
Local Access and Classification
Where local access to an item is concerned, its call number can mean a great deal to users of the collection. The classification system is at the service of human access; it cannot be decided whimsically or necessarily be based upon a system that has worked well elsewhere. Some library collections in Europe are arranged according to physical height, while there are also historical precedents for organizing monastic collections according to the relative importance of an author (Leclercq, 1982). The Benedictine nuns of Norcia reported to the authors that an ambitious novice, assigned at one time to care of their library, decided to rearrange their collections by spine color. Amusing as this seems in retrospect, the impulse to systematize for the sake of establishing accessibility contains a kernel of merit. For immediate utility, the monks at Norcia might have been satisfied with a simple listing of title, author, and call number; but for long range possibilities, such as record-sharing or searching for specific editions, additional information is required for mining the details within more advanced bibliographic records. Catalogers who advocate fully descriptive records are the unsung champions of access. Wherever possible, records should include the details for which someone might be searching, for example: additional authors, uniform title information, physical descriptions, tables of content, translations and illustrations. USMARC or UNIMARC would be suitable formats to accommodate full bibliographic entries. For the sake of the client, it was determined that the classification system selected should be one that is widely used within Italy, one that Americans and non-Americans would find easy to use, and that it be both hospitable and suited to smaller collections. In the U.S., there are various classification systems in use which have stood the test of time, most notably Dewey followed by Library of Congress. The Lynn-Petersen Alternate Catholic Book System was popular for Catholic academic libraries in the 1950s and 1960s, but was discarded by most libraries by the 1970s. Some Italian OPACs display shelf addresses according to classification number or collection name with accession number. The drop-down menu found at “SBN On-Line”(http://sbnonline.sbn.it), gives the following among its advanced search options: Dewey Classification (DDC), Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), Local Classification, and National Bibliography Number. One presumes that these represent the range of widely used Italian classification systems. It followed, then, that the monastery’s collection should be organized according to one of these systems. At the time of this writing, most members of the community are from the United States and have probably used the Library of Congress classification system in their college libraries, but not all members have come from the U.S. Over time it is hoped that native Italians will populate this monastery, but with an international mix, a system easy to use and perhaps more universally familiar should be selected. Consideration must also be given to the project’s successors who will maintain catalog records. The community’s librarian will need to work in whichever system is initially set up, or prepare for a burdensome conversion later. It has been an aim in this project to minimize the necessity to duplicate effort. The system selected must be hospitable enough to accommodate the subdivisions of monastic studies and have adequate flexibility for future unforeseen avenues of expansion. While the bulk of the collection consists of primarily religious works, the monastery also owns titles in literature, biography, materials of local interest, and may soon be acquiring a liturgical music collection. Crowding in any one area of the collection is not desirable, but it seems inevitable to some degree. Deciding upon a system which allowed the monks to find titles quickly or intuitively thereby became a high priority.
Considering Various Systems
Classification by Collection
Keeping books in shelf order according to collection name and accession number is one way of simplifying the classification process. Many of the Italian theology collections surveyed online use this system, but there is no uniform pattern to follow; each library is free to create its own system. Using a standardized system requires professional expertise. Where call numbers are a combination of letters and numbers, it may be easier for monks to remember the location of a book once leaving the catalog for the shelves. Remembering a string of numbers before and after a decimal point, for instance, may “tax one’s memory”, according to Robert L. Hadden in response to a question put to the Philosophy, Religion & Theology Librarians List (R.L. Hadden, personal communication, January 2, 2002). In the absence of a professional librarian, classification by collection could be a desirable option. The monastery would not have to purchase expensive classification schedules under such a simple system. However, identifying appropriate subject headings for the catalog would become problematic without someone trained in this area of librarianship.
Library of Congress (LC)
A study sampling three classification systems for their comparative effectiveness in a single theological collection was undertaken at New York’s Union Theological Seminary. Enduring criteria for evaluating classification systems were enumerated. These were: ample notation, hospitality, specificity, directions for use, indexing and updating (Deffenbaugh, 1975). This study concluded that LC was the most useful scheme for their collection.2 The Library of Congress Classification System is the American standard for academic libraries, and as such, is familiar to members of the Benedictine community under consideration. Technically, it allows for great specificity within its call numbers. Building call numbers is a simple process, but at times, it is difficult to choose from among several possibilities. The schedules are well indexed and are designed to dovetail with the companion subject heading books, though schedule editions are updated less frequently than Dewey Decimal Classification. However, no use of LC classification in Italian OPACs was found by the authors in their search.
Dewey Decimal System (DDC)
The literature treating monastic libraries within the last fifteen years has addressed classification schemes. DDC is used globally and has often been applied to monastic collections, but has not been without problems. The Carmelite library at Aylesford, England, was classified according to DDC 18. Its librarian at the time nearly despaired before adapting what he perceived as an absurd placement of topics within Class 200 (Religion). He noted that DDC was selected “on the assumption that this was the scheme most users would likely to have encountered elsewhere” (Turp, 1987, p.7). In California, when the Abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux appointed a newly professed monk to catalog its library and make it usable, one of his first decisions was to abandon Dewey after seeking the advice of professionals (Porter, 1990). The lessons learned by the library at New Norcia Abbey in Western Australia also have relevance to the selection of a classification scheme. When they considered long range planning for their 160-year-old collection, they fully realized that it had been cataloged by a series of volunteers, Benedictine brothers and professional librarians. They inherited records which reflected “a mixture of standards, levels, competence, and even classification schemes” (Lawton, 1993, p.252). At present, the library uses two systems for cataloging: DDC 19 for the more important books and sequential accession numbers for the less important ones. The part-time professional librarian onsite would prefer the full implementation of Dewey classification and cataloging, but this is not possible, due to “temporal and professional limitations” (S. Johnson, personal communication, March 6, 2002). Despite these documented problems, it was concluded that DDC is the most suitable classification scheme for San Benedetto’s library. The SBN began using it after the first full Italian edition (DDC 20) was published in 1993 (Giunti, 2001). Editions have been updated with some regularity. The Religion Class for DDC 21 (1996) was revised with a view toward reducing religious biases. In doing so, it eliminated some subdivisions while broadening others (Scott, 1998). In the authors’ own analysis, it was concluded that the differences between DDC 20 and DDC 21 do not impact monastic topics significantly and that DDC 21 is highly desirable for this project. Technically, while DDC allows for missing topic Cutters to be individualized by each library, LC tends to suggest one. Building call numbers in DDC can be a complicated maze to maneuver, whereas in LC it is a simpler process since more individual numbers are defined. A potential problem with DDC is that call numbers can become unmanageably long and it requires some expertise to know where to truncate them. The overriding advantage of using DDC for this project is that it satisfies the selection criteria. Given its international acceptance, both Americans and non-Americans, whether monks or prospective visitors to the Sala di Consultazione, should recognize the numbering system. That it is used widely in Italy and is suited to small collections are also reasonable arguments for choosing it. There was a strong temptation to use LC, particularly since it offers great specificity, but the principle of universality and the onerous costs of purchasing the LC tools overrode this consideration. Following the selection of classification scheme was the question of which sources for subject headings would be used.
Subject Headings and Classification Schedules
The subject heading authority used in Italy is the Soggettario per i cataloghi della biblioteche Italiane. Use of the Soggettario, however, was not considered an appropriate tool for this project since the authors are not fluent in Italian. Therefore, more familiar American authorities were considered. The problem this poses for future cataloging is that the initial records created by Americans will not necessarily be consistent with the headings created by subsequent catalogers, unless they continue to use the same English-language authorities. If the monastery’s future catalogers use the Soggettario, a dual set of subject headings is likely to result. As with the New Norcia library, the records may reflect a mix of standards, unless the library’s records are reconciled at a later time. SBN membership, with its shared cataloging, permits records to be reconciled if an exact match for an item already exists in the national index (ICCU, 2003). This is a possibility that should be considered if subject authorities are ever switched. The English-language subject heading tools selected for the collection were the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), 24th edition, and Kapsner’s Catholic Subject Headings, 1953 and 1981 editions. LCSH is highly suitable for current theological, religious, and generally all subjects. Transporting this weighty five-volume set or shipping it overseas were not desirable options, but the shipping costs were offset when a giveaway set of a recent edition was accepted. A donor was located by posting a request to a cataloging listserv. Kapsner has been a relatively static source with its last revision in 1981. It was entirely appropriate to the uniquely monastic titles in the collection. Further, given the liturgical studies concentration within the collection, the detailed breakdown for this subject area makes it a valuable tool for customized subject headings. For the purposes of assigning call numbers, Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index (Edition 13) and 200 Religion Class (DDC 21) were purchased. A more recent donation to the library included a full set of DDC 21. Call number stems and subject headings from copy cataloging sources (OCLC’s WorldCat and The Library of Congress Online Catalog) were used to create local records.
Implementation
When several hundred books had been processed and placed on the library shelves, concerns were voiced by the client that the placement of various volumes did not seem logical. Upon examination, the books were exactly where the recognized authorities determined they should be. The logical flow of 200 Class Religion (DDC 21) was consulted, then shared with the client with special attention to its general-to-specific progression. Both client and cataloger remained unmoved in their positions. At issue was classification integrity against user access. How was this to be resolved while preserving both values? It seemed that the project was at an impasse and that values were in conflict. Fortunately, Italy is a country which calls work to a halt at midday and the populace breaks for its main meal, followed by a siesta. It was during this break that the cataloger proposed that sub-collections be carefully created for the subjects most used within the collection, namely, liturgy, patristic writings, and monastic monographs. At this point, there were sub-collection for periodicals (PER) and oversize materials (OVSZ). With this solution agreed to, hand-picked volumes have been grouped together, while preserving their proper call numbers. Both access and bibliographic control are simultaneously preserved. This has proved to be a satisfactory solution for the monks. Re-shelving into the main collection has not been a problem; each sub-collection volume has a spine label prefix of PER, OVSZ, LIT, PAT, or MON.
Figure 2. Catalog entries for items within Monastic sub-collection.
Cataloger’s Access
In advance of the first working trip (July 2002), assistance from the monks was sought in order to prepare for the cataloging process. Books needed to be gathered from disparate locations and sorted into two categories: those with ISBNs and those without. Assistance from the community came by way of a monk who coordinated a small support team of summer guests (ragazzi) who worked in exchange for room and board. Three spreadsheet files containing author, title, and ISBN for 312 volumes were produced and emailed from Italy to the librarians in Florida one week before onsite cataloging began. From this initial list, 94 MARC records were obtained through the Library of Congress Online Catalog. This file containing MARC code was then emailed back to Norcia as backup. These records were then ready for immediate downloading and editing once the cataloger arrived. When the first librarian arrived onsite, the catalog software was loaded and registered on a designated PC. Once the software was operational, the existing MARC records were imported into the catalog. When the second librarian arrived, the first batch of records was immediately edited and, by the second day, nearly 100 volumes were processed and shelf-ready. The ragazzi played an important teamwork role. They performed many of the necessary and tedious tasks that made the “assembly line” run efficiently. Cataloging for the remaining books, however, moved at a much slower rate, given that record tags had to be populated manually. Using MARC records based upon ISBN matches helped to make good use of limited time. Many of the Library of Congress records offered Dewey classification numbers, which was especially advantageous. After the Library of Congress, the next best source for expeditious cataloging was OCLC’s WorldCat. The first librarian to arrive could only commit one week to the project onsite and arranged to continue his participation remotely. Another spreadsheet, containing titles, authors and dates for 178 books without ISBNs was emailed to Florida for an exchange of usable copy catalog records. Of these, 61 OCLC matches or closely matching records, 38 MARC records from the Library of Congress and 10 records from the SBN Index4 were emailed back to the work site. One of the drawbacks of this system, however, was the problem of incomplete or inaccurate information having been transcribed to the spreadsheets by the ragazzi in Italy. The reliability of information varied from worker to worker and consequently, it was recognized that there was bound to be some margin of error in each exchange. In searching books with foreign titles, it was found that the OCLC utility held more German and French-language titles, whereas the Library of Congress held more Italian titles. Here OCLC and Library of Congress records dovetailed in a way that was rather useful. All records returned electronically to the site were considered usable by the cataloging librarian. These were edited where necessary. In instances where no records were found through the primary utilities, other online library catalogs with religious collections known to the librarians were searched for identical matches. This, too, proved to be a successful strategy. At the end of the cataloger’s initial visit, nearly 700 titles were cataloged and processed. The remainder of the collection remained to be cataloged, but work has continued sporadically through an east-west electronic exchange of information and data as new acquisitions arrive. A mirror catalog has been set up in the U.S. where provisional records are created and stored. If the monastery were currently in a position to put the catalog online, updated files could be loaded directly to the hosting server. The working philosophy has been to locate usable MARC records wherever possible and to leave items requiring original cataloging for last. It became more and more evident that there is no substitute for item-in hand cataloging. For both copy and original cataloging, ongoing travel is necessary if a high standard of bibliographic control is to be maintained. This will be necessary until the community has its own professionally trained librarian.
Not All Access Problems Solved
The initial phase of the project, from proposal to implementation, took a period of eight months. Much of the time was spent on the learning curve, having had no prior experience organizing a library from the ground up. The authors worked closely with the client and believe the classification system and software decisions were justified in light of the immediate access to the books and the potential for global access to bibliographic records. It was discovered, however, that 200 Class Religion was not fully compatible with client expectations, but integrity of all interests were preserved by establishing three new sub-collections. At the present time, with a collection of approximately eight thousand volumes, there have been no additional reports of unsatisfactory placement or further criticism of the location of books within the library. While the monastery has the capability of opening its holdings to researchers worldwide by contributing records to a national index or by mounting an OPAC, its library holdings at this time are modest and appropriate for its own members and visiting scholars. While a project of this kind would probably have been impossible as little as fifteen years ago, a foundation for future expansion has been built, using current standards. Electronic and software technologies have decreased the need for extended work abroad, yet physical distance between librarians and the books and adequate library personnel in Italy remain the greatest obstacles now separating each monk from his book.
NOTES
1 Earlier generations of Benedictine monks maintained a presence at Norcia up to the time the monastery was suppressed by Napoleonic law in the 19th century. The return of the monks in 2000 drew to a close an absence of nearly two hundred years.
2 We learned that we could build a catalog database using extensible markup language (XML) and apply the Library of Congress document type definition (DTD) for MARC records. Once constructed, this database could be populated with bibliographic entries and serve as a searchable catalog file.
3 Dewey Decimal Classification was not among the evaluated schemes.
4 Records found in this utility allowed for searching in English. The records themselves were not necessarily consistent; some provided subject headings while others did not. Dewey call numbers appeared with some, but not all records. The system also displayed options for USMARC and UNIMARC, but none for MARC coding for direct export.
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