Cataloguing e‐books in UK higher education libraries: report of a survey

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a 2006 survey of UK Higher Education OPACs in order to provide a snapshot of cataloguing practices for e‐books.Design/methodology/approachThe OPACs of 30 UK HE libraries were examined in July/August 2006 to determine which e‐books were catalogued, and the level of cataloguing treatment e‐books received. Interviews were conducted by e‐mail with representatives of eight of these libraries.FindingsA total of 28 universities surveyed provided some OPAC records for e‐books; most of these were for subscription collections from suppliers such as ebrary and netLibrary. Five universities included records in their OPACs for individual e‐book titles from collections such as Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO); four OPACs included records for free e‐books. There are wide variations between institutions in terms of which e‐books are selected for cataloguing.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was undertaken at a particular point in time (summer 2006) and was not exhaustive of all UK HE OPACs.Practical implicationsThis research suggests that it should be made easier for users to search OPACs for e‐books, and that libraries should provide more information on their websites about which e‐books are catalogued.Originality/valueThis paper addresses a gap in the UK literature on cataloguing e‐books.

The e-book management framework: The management of e-books in academic libraries and its challenges

“…These findings concur with those of Belanger (2007) with regard to the variations in practice between different academic libraries in terms of cataloging large collections. Also in line with most of the participants in Belanger's study (2007), all the participant libraries generated separate records for print and e-books.…”

“…McKiel (2007) undertook a global survey of librarians in order to better understand the digital content needs of the library community, and several other studies have explored librarians' current use of and experience with e-books (Anson & Connell, 2009;Information Automation Limited, 2009;Newman, 2010;Primary Research Group, 2009;Publishers Communication Group, 2008). In addition, other researchers have conducted studies on specific aspects of e-book management, such as cataloging practices (Belanger, 2007) and attitudes to budgets and purchasing (Eduserv, 2010). All except the Information Automation Limited study are large questionnaire-based surveys; very few qualitative studies have provided the opportunity for deeper insights.…”

E‐books in Spanish academic libraries

“…Several universities are proceeding along these lines, with their catalogues having the possibility of delimiting searches to e-books specifically. Nevertheless the results of a 2006 survey of UK Higher Education OPACs point out that despite the recommendations, only a minority of the OPACs examined allow users to restrict their searches to electronic resources generally, or e-books in particular (Belanger, 2007).…”

Mass Management of E-Book Catalog Records

“…11 Belanger's 2006 survey examined the cataloging practices of thirty higher education libraries in the United Kingdom. 12 The analysis of the survey results shows that most of the libraries cataloged e-books from large subscription collections. Five libraries cataloged individual e-books while only four libraries cataloged free e-books.…”

“…A 2007 literature survey by Belanger indicated a widespread consensus in favor of integrating e-book records into the library catalog. 2 According to a recent National Information Standards Organization white paper on book metadata workflow, many libraries rely on vendor-supplied cataloging for their e-book collections. 3 Despite this widespread practice, cataloging guidance has continued to focus on the content of individual fields and records rather than the logistics of large-scale record handling.…”