BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS TO NON-ROMAN SCRIPTS IN LIBRARY OPACS: A STUDY OF SELECTED ARL ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES By Ali Kamal Shaker BA—Cairo University-Egypt, 1995 MLIS—University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Information Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2002 ii BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS TO NON-ROMAN SCRIPTS IN LIBRARY OPACS A STUDY OF SELECTED ARL ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES Ali K. Shaker, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2002 With the increasing availability of non-Roman script materials in academic/research libraries, bibliographic access to vernacular characters in library OPACs becomes one of the primary means for users of these materials to access and use them efficiently. Though Romanization, as a bibliographic control tool, has been studied extensively during the past five decades, investigations of using original (vernacular) scripts remain inadequate. The purpose of this study was to trace the transition from Romanization-based to vernacular-based bibliographic access to non-Roman script materials. Two major developments contributing to this transition were the availability of records with script characters from bibliographic utilities, and the development of a universal character set, the Unicode standard. The main data collection instrument was a self-administered mail questionnaire sent to a purposive sample of academic library members in the Association of Research Libraries with sizeable non-Roman script collections. Another data collection technique utilized was document/Web site analysis of bibliographic utilities and library automation vendors. Forty five questionnaires were obtained, which represented 65% of an actual population of 69 libraries. The major conclusions of this study are: (1) Most academic libraries catalog their non- Roman script materials using vernacular characters in bibliographic utilities, not on their OPACs; (2) Despite the advances in multilingual support capabilities in automated library systems, academic libraries are still unable to exploit these systems to their maximum benefit; iii (3) The majority of libraries surveyed performed CJK cataloging in vernacular characters, but Cyrillic cataloging is still in romanized format; (4) CJK and Arabic/Hebrew librarians showed a strong attitude toward vernacular cataloging; Cyrillic librarians showed significant opposition (42%) in their attitudes toward Cyrillic vernacular cataloging; (5) Catalogers of CJK and Arabic/Hebrew materials experienced various difficulties with Romanization; Cyrillic catalogers had the least trouble with Romanization; and (6) Among the systems librarians surveyed, 58% indicated future plans considering scripts support. In addition, the study has developed a set of functional requirements for OPAC designers and systems managers with regard to vernacular access to script characters in bibliographic records. The future research directions recommended concern the future of Romanization as a bibliographic control tool, end users’ familiarity with transliteration tables, re-cataloging romanized records to include scripts, and multilingual authority files. iv To the memory of my father, Kamal who could not wait to celebrate my success and To my newborn son, Kamal Who comes to life near the defense of this dissertation v Acknowledgement My deepest appreciation goes to Dr. Arlene Taylor, committee chair and advisor, for her generous support throughout this dissertation process. Her expertise, guidance, and understanding were of enormous help to me. It was my great fortune to work with my committee members Dr. Edie Rasmussen, Dr. Rush Miller, and Dr. Brian Butler who enthusiastically responded to the research. Each of the committee members played a special role that corresponds, in some part, to particular aspects of this study. I have total respect and admiration for the work they have done and that they continue to do. I want to thank the librarians of the University of Pittsburgh for helping with pre-testing the questionnaire. I also want to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Donald King, School of Information Sciences and Dr. Thomas Zullo, School of Education, for checking and advising on the statistical analyses in the study. Last but not least, to my large family overseas, thanks for encouraging me till the completion of this dissertation, and I am sorry that you had to survive without me. Finally, special thanks go to my wife, Eman, and lovely daughter, Sohayla. They have been so supportive and encouraging. Without them being with me here, it would be so difficult to get this done just on the right time. Thank you all for all that you have done for me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………..…................…1 1.1 Background ………………………….…………….....…….…..…………............1 1.2 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….........…....3 1.3 Need for the Study……………………………………….……..………........…....5 1.4 Purpose of the Study……………………………………………...……….............5 1.5 Definitions of Terms………………………………………………...…........….....6 1.6 Overview..................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ………..……………………………..........….........8 2.1 General Works…………………………………………………...…..…........…....9 2.2 Main Themes………………………………………….……………….........…...15 2.3 Empirical Research………………………………………………….........……...48 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY……………...................52 3.1 Research Questions…………………………………………………….........…...52 3.2 Delineation of the Problem…………………………………………….........…...52 3.3 Methodology………………………………………………………….........….....54 3.4 Data Collection Instruments……………………..…………………….........…...55 3.5 Pretesting the Questionnaire………………………………………….........…. ...56 3.6 Data Collection Procedures……………………………………………........…....57 3.7 Sample Frame…………………………………………………………................59 3.8 Data Analysis…….………………………………………………..........……......61 3.9 Scope and Limitations…………………………………………………................62 vii CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSES......................................................................................63 4.1 Bibliographic Access to Non-Roman Script Materials......................................................64 4.1.1 Non-Roman Script Materials.................................................................................64 4.1.2 Source of Bibliographic Records...........................................................................66 4.1.3 Storing Bibliographic Records...............................................................................67 4.1.4 Copy vs. Original Cataloging................................................................................67 4.1.5 Transliteration Schemes.........................................................................................71 4.1.6 Reasons for Romanizing Non-Roman Script Materials.........................................72 4.1.7 Starting Time of Vernacular Cataloging................................................................75 4.1.8 Reasons for Cataloging in Vernacular Scripts.......................................................76 4.1.9 Interface Languages of Automated Library Systems.............................................78 4.1.10 The Systems’ Capability of Typing in Vernacular................................................78 4.1.11 The Systems’ Capability of Searching/Displaying Vernacular.............................82 4.1.12 Non-Roman Characters in Bibliographic Fields....................................................86 4.1.13 Attitudes Toward Vernacular Cataloging..............................................................87 4.1.14 Future Consideration of Vernacular Cataloging....................................................93 4.1.15 Obstacles to Using Vernacular Scripts in OPACs.................................................94 4.1.16 Vernacular Scripts’ Access Devices......................................................................97 4.1.17 Availability of Vernacular Records.......................................................................99 4.1.18 Non-Roman Script Catalogers.............................................................................100 4.1.19 Cataloging Problems of Non-Roman Script Materials........................................102 4.1.20 Non-Roman Scripts in Bibliographic Utilities.....................................................106 4.2 Public Services for Non-Roman Script Materials............................................................109 4.2.1 Access to Transliteration Tables..........................................................................109 4.2.2 The Provision of Bibliographic Instruction.........................................................110 4.2.3 The Availability of Instructional Materials..........................................................111 4.2.4 The Availability of Public Service Librarians.....................................................111 4.2.5 Romanization Problems as Encountered by Public Service Librarians...............112 viii 4.3 Profiles of Automated Library Systems...........................................................................114