Creation of a bibliography of Welsh-Celtic literature: a case study on the suitability of using online catalogues for bibliographic research by Mary L. Evans, B.A.(Hons.) A master's dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the award of the Master of Arts degree of the Loughborough University of Technology September 1994 Supervisor: Inese A. Smith, B.A, M.A. Department of Information and Library Studies ® Mary L.Evans, 1994 Abstract The dissertation discusses the creation of a bibliography of Welsh-Celtic literature and considers the usefulness of OPACs as a bibliographic information source. It asks whether OPACs can be relied upon to be the sole information source when conducting a bibliographic search. Different aspects of OPAC use are discussed in relation to the subject of Welsh-Celtic literature. These include: the search facilities that OPACs offer; aspects of searching in a bilingual subject and the development of bilingual OPACs; the subject headings required for searching in this subject. The dissertation concludes that OPACs can be useful to bibliographic research. However, the limited scope of the information they include and the poor quality and level of the information that they contain means that they cannot be relied upon to be an entirely accurate and comprehensive source. Acknowledgements I wish to express my thanks to my supervisor, Inese Smith, for guidance and encouragement. To all those who took the time to respond to my questionnaire and to m·y parents for their support. Contents Page No. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the dissertation 1 1.2 Choice of information source 2 1.3 Advantages of OPACs 3 1.4 Other sources 4 1.5 Outline of dissertation 6 Chapter 2 Definition of Celtic literature 2. 1 Who were the Celts? 8 2.2 Problems of definition 9 2.3 The range of Celtic literature included in this project 13 Chapter 3 Celtic literature and online public access catalogues 3.1 Introduction 16 3.2 Search facilities available on OPACs 17 3.3 The bilingual subject 3.3.1 Bilingual searching on OPACs 25 3.3.2 Bilingual subject searching 25 3.3.3 Bilingual keyword searching 27 3.3.4 The development of bilingual • and multilingual OPACs 31 3.3.5 Problems of bilingual searching 34 Chapter 4 Subject headings and subject searching 4.1 Subject headings 4.1.1 Subject headings for Celtic literature 42 4.1.2 Irregularities 45 4.2 Problems of subject searching 4.2.1 General problems 50 4.2.2 Inconsistent application of subject headings 51 4.2.3 Relating connected subjects 56 4.2.4 Specificity 57 i 4 0 3 Subject h·eadings v keywords 58 Chapter 5 Conclusions 50 1 OPACs and bibliographic research 63 5o2 Benefits and disadvantages of OPACs 65 5o3 Summary 67 Appendix A Questionnaire 69 Appendix B Guide to the location of collections 73 Appendix C Bibliography of Welsh-Celtic literature: The four ancient books of Wales 81 Bibliography 119 ii Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the dissertation The original impetus behind this project was to create a bibliography of Welsh-Celtic literature. Personal interest in the subject prompted the search for material that would offer a basis for study in the field, including the key texts and most authoritative studies of the subject. It is intended that the bibliography will provide a body of material that will allow students with a limited knowledge of the subject to expand their field of understanding. Items that may not appear in the bibliographies and suggestions for further reading found in standard editions of literature currently in print are also included. In addition, it was intended to assess the quality of information sources, their relative ease of use and overall value when conducting a bibliographic search of this type. In order to undertake a thorough investigation it was decided to concentrate on one main information source. The source chosen was the online public access catalogue (OPAC). The reasons for this choice are outlined below. Specific reference has been made to some of the problems associated with research in a literary subject that has some unique considerations. The dissertation discusses problems that users face in areas such as subject definition and subject heading assignment, and, since this is a bilingual subject, specific problems relating to language. While undertaking the search for material a specific user was kept in mind: a student with a limited concept of the subject and little or no knowledge of the Welsh language, but with some understanding of the use of information 1 sources and research methods. Throughout the study the problems that such a person would encounter, such as language barriers and access to information, were considered. This study isolates and discusses some of the problems that users may face when carrying out a literature search of this type. 1.2 Choice of information source When constructing a complete and authoritative bibliography on any subject, researchers must consult all possible sources of information, both printed and electronic; they must search out rare material and consult lists and catalogues of all types of libraries, both private and public. It was not the intention of this project to undertake all such procedures, or to claim that the final bibliography is the most complete that could be created. The reason for this study was to assess the feasibility of creating a list of material containing an acceptable level of subject coverage within a limited time scale and with limited access to relevant information sources. Time constraints meant that it was impossible to thoroughly search many different sources, or visit all collections of relevant material. It was, therefore, necessary to determine the most concise and relatively easily searched information source. Several sources were considered and brief searches were undertaken to assess: a)their relative value, b)the ease of locating material within them and c)the quality of the information that they offered. These sources included both printed indexes and bibliographies and electronic sources, such as CD-ROM databases and library online catalogues. It was decided that the information source that offered the best quality of information for the defined user were the 2 online catalogues of libraries that held collections of material in this subject area. Such catalogues offer a relatively large concentration of material, are easy to search once the user is familiar with the search commands, and are accessible from remote locations via electronic connections, meaning that users do not have to visit the library to identify material. 1.3 Advantages of OPACs Unlike printed sources that are time consuming to search and may offer limited results if the wrong source is chosen, online catalogues are comparatively fast and can be selected with the knowledge that they will contain at least some relevant material. Online catalogues also have the advantage over other electronic sources in that they offer a broad range of information. Providing that users know how to access them and have the relevant technology to hand, they will be able to search a wide variety of collections and catalogue types. On the other hand, CD-ROM databases may be expensive to use (if charges are made for the service) and since they are expensive to purchase the user may be limited by the range of databases available. The other main advantage that OPACs offer is in the range of material that they contain. Virtually all other information sources are published periodically and include only recent publications in each volume; to locate relevant material covering a wide time scale searches must be made in different volumes and different formats. However, any catalogue will include material that spans a greater time period than any of the other sources; providing that the catalogue of a collection has been converted to the electronic format, a single search on an OPAC will locate material regardless of its publication date. 3 1.4 Other sources Other information sources cannot be dismissed entirely. In searching for information for this dissertation many items were located that were not found in the library catalogues chosen. This is particularly true of CD-ROM databases that contain details of individual journal articles, a feature not commonly found on OPACs. In this area traditional printed indexes and modern electronic information sources continue to provide the best service. Since much of the material written on this subject, particularly concerning criticism and analysis, is presented as articles· rather than monographs, this has implications when attempting to conduct a search in a single media. It is vital that such information can be located, but at present users must consult different sources in order to trace relevant articles. It was found in this study that comparatively few monographs were found in either printed or electronic databases. This is possibly due to the fact that much of the material on this particular subject dates from the middle of the nineteenth century, predating many research publications. Users must consider searching older publications and alternative sources, one of the main alternatives being the catalogues of collections devoted to this subject. Since many collections of material in this subject have been developed from private collections which have been donated to larger institutions, catalogues will allow access to manuscript sources and old, or rare, material without recourse to older sources such as printed catalogues and publishers' lists, most of which would need to be located in the first place. Over the last century there has been a continued interest in the subject and material is published regularly, but it is on a relatively small scale compared to other subjects.