Common Practices for National Bibliographies in the Electronic Age

Common Practices for National Bibliographies in the Electronic Age A project of the IFLA Bibliography Standing Committee 2021 Revision This work would not have been possible without the participation and support of the following librarians: Mathilde Koskas, Rebecca L. Lubas. Pat Riva, Eva-Maria Häusner. Kazue Maurkami, Anke Meyer-Heß, Miriam Nauri. Ylva Sommerland, Monika Szunejko, and Miyuki Tsuda. The Bibliothèque nationale de France and Biblioteques de Barcelona generously provided meeting space for the Standing Committee to meet and work on this revision. 2 Chapter 1: Background and History The dramatic growth of digital media over the past twenty years have called into question many key assumptions on which national bibliography was founded. Accurate guidance on current common practice is therefore needed to assist those seeking information for creating and maintaining national bibliography. This web resource builds on the original printed Guidelines for National Bibliographies in the Electronic Age (2009) created by the IFLA Working Group on Guidelines for National Bibliographies. The Working Group was originally established in 2002 to develop guidelines: To help national bibliographic agencies start or improve bibliographic services For publishing bibliographies in electronic form On the inclusion and presentation of electronic resources in national bibliographies. Following publication of the printed text in 2009, work began on a new edition. However due to the rapidly changing nature of the subject matter and the information landscape the decision was subsequently made to channel future efforts into the creation of a new web based resource and this was announced at the Standing Committee's Warsaw satellite meeting to the IFLA 2012 World Congress. Recognising that the need to update the resource would continue, and websites would continue to evolve, the Standing Committee decided to create a single-document version for ease of use. Project meetings were held in Paris in 2017 and Barcelona in 2018. The name was changed to Common Practices for National Bibliographies in the Electronic Age to reflect that bibliographies must serve the needs of the audience and therefore be flexible. The intended audience for this resource includes: Those managing existing national bibliographic services Those implementing new national bibliographies Staff of national bibliographic agencies (NBAs) wishing to respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by new technologies and media Purpose This resource is not intended to be prescriptive since bibliographic control varies widely from country to country and local requirements may be influenced by financial, legal or practical constraints. A number of potential options are presented to enable their application to be tailored according to circumstances, with examples and use cases given to illustrate the possible range of approaches. 3 The site consists of five sections addressing the different issues facing NBAs. Considering that the environment continues to evolve, this resource will be updated regularly by the Bibliography Section to reflect changes in common practice. Chapter 2: Organisation Introduction The purpose of this section is to introduce the key issues and decisions required when establishing or restructuring an agency with responsibility for exercising national bibliographic control. The key issues are described in general terms and illustrated with examples from real life national bibliographic agencies. Every context is unique and the intention is not to present an inflexible list of instructions. Instead, the emphasis is on offering options and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Every country has some unique requirements for which provision has to be made and these should be the focus of local activity. However, countries without current experience of national bibliographic work should actively seek advice from existing practitioners since many useful lessons can be learned from their experience. Attending or hosting a regional workshop bringing together expert practitioners and providing a context for local knowledge can be a good starting point. If possible, select an experienced partner for long-term cooperation. The choice of partner should reflect the specific requirements and national context of the agency. Hiring or requesting technical assistance from a local, regional or international community may be a good way of advancing rapidly from planning to implementation. This conforms with ICNBS recommendation 19, "Where needed, IFLA should assist national bibliographic agencies to develop their national bibliographic activities - for example: establishing pilot schemes to develop national bibliographies, establishing guidelines for producing national bibliographies, and organizing national, regional or international seminars and training workshops." Responsibilities of a national bibliographic agency The national bibliographic agency (NBA) is: "the organizational unit established within a country's library system, which undertakes responsibility for the preparation of the authoritative and comprehensive bibliographic records for each new publication issued in the country, making the records in accordance with accepted international bibliographic standards and publishing them with the shortest possible delay in a national bibliography, which appears on a regular basis" (International Federation of Library Associations, IFLA International Office for UBC, & UNESCO, 1979) 4 It should be stressed that there is no single "correct" administrative model for an NBA. However it is important that the agency: Possesses the authority required to establish and maintain national bibliographic control Is suitably resourced at a level reflecting its responsibility for national bibliographic control. In practice, agencies undertaking the national bibliographic control function may be designated by a variety of names and organized in accordance within a range of administrative structures, e.g.: A department, division or section of a national library A processing centre serviced by multiple specialist national libraries A national bibliographic centre (or institute) National responsibility for application and maintenance of bibliographic standards is often assigned to the national bibliographic agency due to its expertise and authority. Workflows for assigning identifiers such as ISSN or ISBN also overlap with national bibliographic control. NBAs should therefore take a lead in this area but seek cooperation with other bibliographic communities and make use of national expertise. For newly established national bibliographies the priority should be to record as much as possible of the current national output before, as resources allow, moving on to record older publications. Even for established national bibliographies retrospective coverage can be a challenge. Since the extension of legal deposit lags behind the expansion of media, there will always be carriers of information that have not been collected because they were produced prior to the legal deposit legislation coming into effect. Location of the national bibliographic agency While there is agreement that national bibliographic control is the responsibility of the National Bibliographic Agency there is no consensus on where the agency should be located. The functions of the NBA are often undertaken by the national library. However, administrative practices may vary considerably between countries with either individual activities (e.g. Cataloguing in Publication) being outsourced on a contract basis or the entire function being undertaken by a private company (e.g. Dansk Biblioteks Center in Denmark, Bibliographic Data Services Limited (BDS) in the United Kingdom ). The National Library as National Bibliographic Agency The IFLA Section on National Libraries defines the tasks of a national library in the following manner: "National libraries have special responsibilities, often defined in law, within a nation's library and information system. These responsibilities vary from country to country but are likely to include: the collection via legal deposit of the national imprint (both print and electronic) and 5 its cataloguing and preservation; the provision of central services (e.g., reference, bibliography, preservation, lending) to users both directly and through other library and information centres; the preservation and promotion of the national cultural heritage; acquisition of at least a representative collection of foreign publications; the promotion of national cultural policy; and leadership in national literacy campaigns. National libraries often serve as a national forum for international programmes and projects. They may have a close relationship with national governments, may be concerned with the development of national information policies, and may act as a conduit for the views of other sectors of the profession. Occasionally they also serve the information needs of the legislature directly." The defining characteristics of a national library therefore make it the most appropriate choice to host the national bibliographic agency. National libraries have national responsibility, often enshrined in law. This gives them the authority to negotiate with publishers and trade representatives on legal deposit, digital rights managements and other issues of national significance. This role affords national libraries the security to plan for the long term. The national library

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