Bibliographic record
{{Short description|Metadata describing a particular resource}}
A bibliographic record is an entry in a bibliographic index (or a library catalog) which represents and describes a specific resource. A bibliographic record contains the data elements necessary to help users identify and retrieve that resource, as well as additional supporting information, presented in a formalized bibliographic format. Additional information may support particular database functions such as search, or browse (e.g., by keywords), or may provide fuller presentation of the content item (e.g., the article's abstract).
Bibliographic records are usually retrievable from bibliographic indexes (e.g., contemporary bibliographic databases) by author, title, index term, or keyword.{{cite book| chapter=bibliographic database | page=70 | title=Dictionary for Library and Information Science |last=Reitz |first= Joan M. |publisher= Libraries Unlimited | location= Westport, Connecticut | year= 2004| isbn=1-59158-075-7}} Bibliographic records can also be referred to as surrogate records or metadata.{{cite book|last=Joudrey|first=Daniel N., and Arlene G. Taylor|title=The Organization of Information|date=2018|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|location=Santa Barbara, CT|isbn=9781598848588|page=7}} Bibliographic records can represent a wide variety of published contents, including traditional paper, digitized, or born-digital publications. The process of creation, exchange, and preservation of bibliographic records are parts of a larger process, called bibliographic control.
History
The earliest known bibliographic records come from the catalogues (written in cuneiform script on clay tablets) of religious texts from 2000 B.C., that were identified by what appear to be key words in Sumerian.{{cite book|chapter=Catalogs and Cataloging |last=Carpenter |first=Michael |title=Encyclopedia of Library History| editor1-last=Wiegand |editor1-first=Wayne A. |editor2-last=Davis |editor2-first=Donald G. Jr.|publisher=Garland |location=New York |year=1994 |pages=107–108 |isbn=0-8240-5787-2}} In ancient Greece, Callimachus of Cyrene{{cite journal|last1=Cowell|first1=Stephanie|title=The legendary library at Alexandria|journal=Biblio|date=May 1998|volume=16}} recorded bibliographic records on 120 scrolls using a system called pinakes.
Early American library catalogs in the colonial period were typically made available in book form, either manuscript or printed.Rachel Ivy Clarke (2014) Breaking Records: The History of Bibliographic Records and Their Influence in Conceptualizing Bibliographic Data, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 53:3-4, 286-302, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2014.960988 In modern America, the title and author of a work were enough to distinguish it among others and order its record within a collection. However, as more and different kinds of resources arose, it became necessary to collect more information to distinguish them from one another. This conceptual framework of the bibliographic record as a collection of data elements served American librarianship well in its first one-hundred years. Challenges to the current method have arisen in the form of new and different distribution methods, especially of the digital variety, and raise questions about whether the traditional conceptual model is still relevant and applicable.
Formats
{{Main|MARC standards|BIBFRAME}}
Today's bibliographic record formats originate from the times of the traditional paper-based isolated libraries, their self-contained collections and their corresponding library cataloguing systems.{{cite book | page=[https://archive.org/details/bibliographicrec00hagl_0/page/17 17] | title=The Bibliographic Record and Information Technology | last=Hagler | first=Ronald | edition=Third | year=1997 | isbn=0-8389-0707-5 | publisher=American Library Association | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/bibliographicrec00hagl_0/page/17 }} The modern formats, while reflecting this heritage in their structure, are machine-readable and most commonly conform to the MARC standards.{{cite book| chapter=bibliographic record| page= 71 | title=Dictionary for Library and Information Science |last=Reitz |first= Joan M. |publisher= Libraries Unlimited | location= Westport, Connecticut | year= 2004| isbn=1-59158-075-7}}
The subject bibliography databases (such as Chemical Abstracts, Medline, PsycInfo, or Web of Science) do not use the same kinds of bibliographical standards as does the library community. In this context, the Common Communication Format is the best known standard.
In 2011, the Library of Congress began development of BIBFRAME, a RDF schema for expressing bibliographic data as a successor to MARC 21.{{cite AV media |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/2021692490 |title=BIBFRAME 2.0, the Library of Congress Pilot & Next Steps |publisher=Library of Congress |date=June 12, 2018 |access-date=June 10, 2025}}{{cite report|last=Miller|first=Eric|title=Bibliographic Framework as a Web of Data: Linked Data Model and Supporting Services|url=https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/pdf/marcld-report-11-21-2012.pdf|publisher=Library of Congress|accessdate=28 May 2014|author2=Uche Ogbuji |author3=Victoria Mueller |author4=Kathy MacDougall |date=21 November 2012}} BIBFRAME matured to version 2.0 in 2016, and will serve as the basis of cataloging in the Library of Congress' transition from its Voyager ILS to FOLIO.{{cite web |url=https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2023/05/01/2023-library-systems-report/ |title=2023 Library Systems Report |author=Breeding, Marshall |publisher=American Libraries |date=May 1, 2023 |access-date=June 10, 2025}} The system is expected to be live in Summer 2025.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/aba/news/#2025 | title=Cataloging, Acquisitions News: April 2025 |publisher=Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate of the Library of Congress |date=April 7, 2025 |access-date=June 10, 2025}} Following suit, BIBFRAME is being adopted by many other library systems such as Columbia University Libraries, Stanford University Libraries, Cornell University Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University Library, National Széchényi Library, and the Engineer Research and Development Center Library.{{cite web |url=https://blogs.library.columbia.edu/spotlights/2024/06/17/folio-new-library-services-platform/ |title=Columbia University Libraries Selects FOLIO as New Library Services Platform (LSP) |author=Lovell, Abbey |publisher=Columbia University Libraries |date=June 17, 2024 |access-date=June 10, 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://catablogweb.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/a-day-in-the-life-of-the-transition-to-bibframe-2-0-and-linked-data/ |title=A Day in the Life of the Transition to BIBFRAME 2.0 and Linked Data |author=Teel, Kay |publisher=Art Libraries Society of North America |date=February 5, 2018 |access-date=June 10, 2025}}
BIBFRAME is particularly noteworthy because it describes resources using a number of different entities and relationships, unlike standard library records, which aggregate many types of information into a single independently understandable record.
The digital catalog of the National Library of France has the peculiarity to report notes about access and restrictions as well as the physical collocation of any single paper copy of each title, that exists in one of the libraries associated to their keeping system.{{cite web | url = http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/xslt/CMD?DB=2.1&ACT=SRCHA&PRS=HOL&HLIB=543952102&IKT=8910&TRM=492153664&COOKIE=U10178,Klecteurweb,I250,B341720009+,SY,NLECTEUR+WEBOPC,D2.1,E6db3d40f-0,A,H,R94.38.238.36,FY | title = Example of bibliographic record of the National Library of France}} This set of metadata allows to enforce the long-term digital preservation and content availability.{{cite book | author = Nancy Mackay | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-89mDAAAQBAJ&q=physical+location&pg=PT42 | title = Curating Oral Histories: From Interview to Archive | publisher = Routledge | date = June 16, 2016 | isbn = 9781315430799 | series = Practicing Oral History | oclc = 994229515 | page = 42 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190824160831/https://books.google.it/books?id=-89mDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT42&lpg=PT42&dq=%22physical+location+of+copies%22&source=bl&ots=vxdDi4uYhv&sig=ACfU3U0ghA3-QkaD_BksBBaYUtV-GNkzOQ&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy94m375vkAhXLyKQKHZIdC34Q6AEwA3oECAkQAQ%23v=onepage&q=physical%20location&f=false#v=onepage&q=physical%20location&f=false | archive-date = August 24, 2019 | url-status = live | access-date = August 24, 2019 }}
References
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