USBC (Universal Standard Bibliographic Code): its origin and evolution

Abstract

Ayres has hc'e'll part-tulle Selllor Resl't1rch Fellozt ill tlle Department of Computillg, University of Bradford, since his retiremellt as Librarian at tlzat utliuersity. Lnrs Nielseii is a Rest'l1rcll Assistant in the Departmellt of Compllting, U111Z~t'1'Sltt/ of Bradforc~; lie was tlle maill programmer o f rhe Bradford OPAC. Mick Rlcllc~t~ is a Sc'llior Compllter Ofticc'r iii the Departmellt of Complltillg, Ulliuerslty of Bradford; lie was s co-ordillator of Projc'et Hc'Ic'lt lIllder the EU Llhrctrle~ Pro~'ralltlllc'. Illlc~cl Torsll Is Professor alld Head of tlrc' Department of Computing, University of Bradford; he has bccll ill(Jolved with the EXLIB allct CANTATE projects of the EU Lihrc~rle~ Pro ylrnnlltle.Reviews the 20 years' evolution and development of the Universal Standard Bibliographic Code (USBC), as a means of overcoming the weaknesses inherent in the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), from its first proposal in 1974. Briefly describes the various phases of USBC's development, including : first extensive testing (1977)(1978)(1979); first research project (1980)(1981)(1982); work performed on USBC as part of proposals for the setting up of the United Kingdom Library Database System (UKLDS) (1982)(1983)(1984), in which USBC was to be used to create a merged retrospective database of MARC and non MARC cataloguing records; the DOCMATCH Projects, using the USBC with periodical articles (1987)(1988)(1989); refining of USBC by means of expert systems (1986)(1987); use of USBC to clean up the BLCMP database (1989)(1990)(1991); and the QUALCAT Project, to set up a large bibliographic database integrating records from different databases and using USBC for merging, cleaning and control and to develop an expert system to select the best record from a number of duplicates (1989)(1990)(1991). Reports briefly on the project, undertaken by Bradford University, Department of Computing, UK, to explore the application of USBC technology to the British Library Document Supply Centre's computerized interloans system. Concludes that, although the USBC has never achieved the status of an accepted standard, it has more than made up for this by demonstrating its adaptability and power in a range of situations requiring an ability to detect duplicate records and to merge and combine files.

Systemy ekspertowe w działalności bibliotecznej i informacyjnej: stan badań, problemy badawcze, przykłady zastosowań

“…Universal Standard Bibliographic Code), w połączeniu z projektem DOCMATCH, przewidywał tworzenie dużych bibliograficznych baz danych, integrujących rekordy z różnych baz oraz opracowanie systemu ekspertowego do wyszukiwania duplikatów rekordów. Jak stwierdzono w raporcie z realizacji projektu, przygotowanym przez pracowników Wydziału Informatyki Uniwersytetu w Bradford w Wielkiej Brytanii, USBC nigdy nie osiągnął statusu standardu (Ayres et al, 1996), toteż opracowany system ekspertowy do wykrywania duplikatów rekordów opracowanych w tym standardzie ma niewielka wartość użytkową…”

The UNIverse Project: state‐of‐the‐art of the standards, softwares and systems which will underpin the development. Part 2: record syntax conversion, result set de‐duplication, and multilingual thesauri

“…The above needs prompted IFLA to derive the UNIMARC standard[1, 2] which is aimed at unifying the bibliographic record keeping, encouraging all national libraries (and subsequently all libraries) to adhere to this standard. However, in the EC alone, there are about ten standards of variations of the MARC format with the number rising to about 50 worldwide.…”