OCLC ONLINE COMPUTER LIBRARY CENTER, INC. www.oclc.org he purpose or purposes for which this Corporation is formed are to establish, \\ Tmaintain, and operate a computerized ryi library network and to promote the evolution of library use, of libraries themselves, and of '^S^0^0r- librarianship, and to provide processes and i ^ ^ products for the benefit of library users and " V ^ ^ ^ >' • libraries, including such objectives as increasing availability of library resources to individual ' F- F ; library patrons and reducing the rate-of-rise of .V?'«< : A ^ ^ library per-unit costs, all for the fundamental > *-i t-f v" public purpose of furthering ease of access to " J^:L and use of the ever-expanding body of worldwide scientific, literary, and educational i,:C".'v-'^'!^^'j-. v-;a#V';f i.. knowledge and information. "*• ^ ANNUAL REVIEW OF OCLC RESEARCH 1996 ^^•OC H ©1997 by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. 6565 Frantz Road Dublin, Ohio 43017-3395 Printed in the United States of America ISSN 0894-198X OCLC users are hereby granted permission to reproduce this publication for their internal use. Reproductions of substantial portions of the publication must contain the OCLC copyright notice. Product and service names are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. OCLC® is a registered trademark of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. The Annual Review of OCLC Research 1996 is available on the Internet: Via the World Wide Web www.purl.org/oclc/reviewi996 Via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Logon to ftp.rsch.oclc.org with anonymous (as your username) and your E-mail address as the password. Find the Review in the /pub/documentation/review96 directory. Via Listserv Address an Internet E-mail message to: [email protected]. Type the get command in the body of your E-mail message: get review96 [file-name]. The file names are: front, parti, part2, part3, part4, part5, appendix CONTENTS LETTER OF INTRODUCTION, V FROM THE DIRECTOR, VII THE RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE, VIII THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT, X REMEMBERING MARK CROOK, XI 1 OCLC SPECIAL REPORT, 1 Four-Figure Cutter Tables, 1 Edward T. O'Neill, Brian F. Lavoie, Jeffrey A. Young, and Patrick D. McClain 2 OCLC PROJECT REPORTS, 19 Automatic Subject Assignment via the Scorpion System, 20 Keith E. Shafer Characteristics of Articles Requested through OCLC Interlibrary Loan, 21 Chandra G. Prabha Characteristics of Book Collections in Academic Research Libraries, 25 Chandra G. Prabha Classification Research at OCLC, 27 Diane Vizine-Goetz Enhancing the Indexing Vocabulary of the Dewey Decimal Classification, 30 C. Jean Godby Evaluating a Mtdtiprocessor NT Server for Z39.50 Use, 33 Thomas B. Hickey, Richard Bennett, and Thomas L. Terrall FirstSearch Next Generation: Another Look at FirstSearch, 36 Thomas B. Hickey, Jenny Colvard, and Thomas L. Terrall Image Description on the Internet: Summary of CNI/OCLC Image Metadata Workshop, 38 Stuart L. Weibel and Eric J. Miller Kilroy: An Internet Research Project, 44 Keith E. Shafer A Metalanguage for Describing Internet Resources, 45 C. Jean Godby and Eric J. Miller Mr. Dui's Topic Finder, 49 Mark W. Bendig Use of the OCLC PURL Service, 53 Keith E. Shafer Visualizing Spatial Relationships between Internet Objects, 54 Eric J. Miller iii 3 EXTERNAL AND COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH, 59 The Bosnian National Library: Building a Virtual Collection, 60 Edward T. O'Neill, Jeffrey A. Young, and Robert Bremer Feasibility of a Computer-Generated Subject Validation File Based on Frequency of Occurrence of Assigned LC Subject Headings: Phase n. Nature and Patterns of Invalid Headings, 64 Lois Mai Chan and Diane Vizine-Goetz The Monticello Project: Design Considerations for a Virtual Library, 72 Eric J. Miller, Tod Matola, Pat Stevens, and Jay Hayden The Warwick Metadata Workshop: A Framework for the Deployment of Resource Description, 77 Lorcan Dempsey and Stuart L. Weibel 4 LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM, 85 Analyzing the Viability of Using Peer Group Holdings as an Evaluation Tool for Public Library Adult Fiction, 86 James H. Sweetland and Judith J. Senkevitch An Experimental Study on Graphical Tables of Contents, 88 Xia Lin The Impact of Electronic Journals on Scholarly Communication: A Reference and Citation Study, 91 Stephen P. Harter A Relational Thesaurus: Modeling Semantic Relationships Using Frames, 94 Rebecca Green 5 DISTINGUISHED SEMINAR SERIES, 99 Cataloging Rules and Conceptual Models, 100 Barbara B. Tillett The Copyright Dilemma: Legal Tensions and Information Networks, 102 Kenneth Crews PROGRAMS, 105 OCLC STAFF, 107 PATENT, PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, 109 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS, 112 iv s an organization, OCLC has a certain character. It comes from our unique mission, governance, member services, Aand research efforts. Second only to member services, research is perhaps OCLC's most defining quality. How many times have you read, "OCLC is a nonprofit computer library service and research organization..."? It is more than just a tag line; it is who we are. This Annual Review spells out who we are by describing the many and varied research projects that have been conducted on behalf of, and often in conjunction with, OCLC member libraries and the information management community generally. Much has been written recently about the "virtual library." OCLC is working to make the virtual real. And we are having a real effect. At OCLC, we work to see that our research is focused, timely, relevant, and useful in the near term. Not every research project results directly in a new or enhanced product or service. It does not need to. But every research project contributes significantly to making a real difference in library operations and member services. It has to. The rapidly changing environment in which OCLC, libraries, and users operate demands that much of us. Once, shared cataloging, interlibrary loan, and online reference service were just ideas. Today, they are the bases of library operations for thousands of libraries worldwide. We expect that the "next great idea" will be shaped by the work of the OCLC Office of Research. When you read the reports that follow, we think you will agree. K. Wayne Smith Donald J. Muccino President and Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Chief Operating Officer FROM THE DIRECTOR apid, technology-driven change in the library field continues to provide the Office of Research with a wealth of topics worthy of study. The Rchallenge is not finding projects that will yield value for OCLC members, but selecting from the broad range of opportunities. Our priority in selecting projects focuses on areas at the intersection of information technology and libraries. We believe that OCLC's research into these areas will continue to inform libraries on how to best use this technology in providing services. In keeping with that mission, a significant amount of our effort has focused on the description of electronic information. This can be seen in the continuing series of workshops on metadata which OCLC has sponsored: the fourth will be held in Australia, March 3-5, 1997. We have also been working with the World Wide Web Consortium to include the necessary capabilities in the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) standard to support encoding metadata. These efforts can assist libraries in describing electronic information and can promote development of standard protocols that support this information. The Office of Research has also been exploring the automatic creation of metadata. The first step has been to automatically generate subject classification of electronic resources collected from the Internet. Multiple scientists are approaching this project from several directions. The ultimate goal is to provide a tool that can be used to bring order (i.e., authority control, vocabulary control, subject classification) to electronic resources. In simple terms the project aims to bring discipline to the Internet. We are also exploring how the delivery of information to patrons is being affected by the electronic age. The availability of full text online is beginning to have a significant effect on the traditional sources of supply, library ownership, and interlibrary loan. Finally, but certainly of vital importance to OCLC members, we continue to enhance WorldCat (the OCLC Online Union Catalog). Projects to correct uniform titles and add Dewey Decimal Classification to WorldCat records will improve their quality. In fact this edition of the Review features a special report about expanded cutter tables and their versatility. These efforts are important to protect and enhance the value of this database that has been cooperatively developed by the OCLC membership. It is indeed an interesting time to be working in the library field. We hope that the information in this document will help you chart your library's path into the electronic future. Terry R. Noreault, Director Office of Research THE RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE Edward Emil David, Jr. Clifford A. Lynch Carol A. Mandel Joseph Hardin he Research Advisory Committee guides and evaluates the activities of the OCLC Office of Research. Twice each year committee members come to Dublin, Ohio, to engage in extended Tdialogues with staff, to learn about current projects, and sometimes to suggest entirely new avenues of inquiry. They frequently affirm the value of what we are doing and often suggest improvements and changes in direction. This open interaction with leaders in the fields of library and computer science directly supports the OCLC mission of service to libraries. Committee members are appointed to a three-year term; those who served during 1996 appear above. viii THE RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE Edward Emil David, Jr., Sc.D., is an industrial consultant, Carol A. Mandel, M.S.L.S., M.A., is Deputy University with a research specialty in electrical engineering. He Librarian for Columbia University, New York, NY. The previously served as president, Exxon Research and Deputy's office has leadership and direction Engineering Company, vice president of Exxon responsibilities for the 11 divisions of the University Corporation, and executive vice president of Gould, Inc.