Coverage of Print Monographs at the Swiss National Library: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

This paper reports on the study conducted by the Swiss National Library (NL) in 2012 on its coverage of the acquisition of printed monographs published in Switzerland in 2010. Since the NL had never conducted a study of its acquisition coverage, a pilot project was set up to evaluate list checking techniques that would be the most appropriate in the context of the bibliographic tools available in Switzerland. After considering the methods proposed in ISO/TR 28118:2009, the study tested the list checking method developed at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) in the Netherlands to evaluate the results of the list produced by Swissbib, the Swiss union catalogue. The study found that the rate of coverage for commercial publications (with an ISBN) was 97.05% and that of grey literature (without an ISBN) was 93.96%. These results are discussed in the context of an analysis of a random sample of the Swissbib list which resulted in a high rate of rejection of records. It found that the search query used did not appropriately and efficiently select records that corresponded to the collection criteria of the NL. The relevance of valid records used in the study to establish the rate of coverage is discussed and arguments are put forward to support the validity of the results. The methodological findings of the pilot project will be integrated in the planning of an official study to be conducted later in 2014. Patrice Landry: Management Support Officer, Swiss National Library, Berne, Switzerland, and DInfSc candidate,