General
A 1977 study comparing the use of the Blackwell North America and OCLC data bases as sources of cataloging copy for 344 English-language imprints received on the B/NA approval program during a 3-month period [library not reported] .showed that, after 2 searches about 2 months apart, 247 (72%) of the items were found in the B/NA data base and 315 (92%) were found in the OCLC data base. Further, 232 (67%) were located in both data bases, while 14 (4.1%) were located in neither data base. Neither place nor date of publication affected the hit rate. (Source)
A study reported in 1981, of 45 monographs in microform format (randomly selected from the 1979 Microforms in Print) searched in RLIN,OCLC, and the National Union Catalog, showed that:
exact copy was found for 17.7% of the microform items searched of which 4.4% was Library of Congress cataloging and 13.3% was shared cataloging;
variant copy was found for 22.3% of the microform items searched of which 6.7% was Library of Congress cataloging and 15.6% was shared cataloging;
exact copy was found for 55.5% of the hard copy editions of the items of which 31.1% was Library of Congress cataloging and 24.4% was shared cataloging;
variant copy was found for 17.7% of the hard copy editions of the 45 items of which 13.3% was Library of Congress cataloging and 4.4% was shared cataloging. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatof the exact copy that was found for 17.7% of the microforms, RLIN provided no exact matches, OCLC provided 11.1% of the matches (all shared cataloging), and the National Union Catalog provided 8.8% of the matches (evenly divided between LC and shared cataloging). (Source)
Academic
A 1977 survey of academic libraries with collections of 300,000 volumes or more that were also OCLC members concerning cataloging practices (survey size: 147 libraries; responding: 121 or 82.3%) showed thatthe following sources of cataloging copy were used in addition to OCLC (large libraries = 900,000 volumes or more; small libraries = less than 900,000 volumes):
National Union Catalog 100.0% large; 100.0% small libraries
Mansell 95.0% large; 97.0% small libraries
MCRS 13.2% large; 5.0% small libraries
MARCFICHE 8.5% large; 2.0% small libraries
other 0.0% large; 4.0% small libraries (Source)
A 1977 survey of U.S. law libraries over 10,000 volumes taken from the 1976 Directory of Law Libraries (sample size: 1,080; responding: 373 or 35%) showed that, of 123 academic law libraries and 250 other law libraries, use of a bibliographic utility was highest among academic law libraries (43 or 35% compared to 15 or 6% in all other types of law libraries combined). Of the academic law libraries using a bibliographic utility 36 used OCLC, 6 used BALLOTS, and 1 used Blackwell North America; of the remaining law libraries 13 used OCLC, and 2 used BALLOTS. (Source)
A 1978 study of RLIN cataloging at the Law School Library, UC Berkeley over a 6-month period showed that, of 2,748 titles for which no MARC or RLIN copy cataloging was found, 1,099 (40%) were published in or after 1970. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatof 1,282 records found in the RLIN data base the hit rate in each subject area was as follows:
religious law 153 (18.4%) titles found
Roman law 15 (18.8%) titles found
comparative law 102 (38.0%) titles found
foreign, civil law 332 (35.9%) titles found
Anglo-American law 548 (34.5%) titles found
international law 132 (39.2%) titles found (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of 781 full MARC records in the RLIN data base. 51% required no modification, while of 91 standard Contributed Data File records 55% required no modification. (Source)
A 1979 survey of U.S. community college libraries selected from the 1978 Community, Junior and Technical College Directory (sample size: 98; responding: 52; usable: 48 or 48.98%) showed that, of 46 respondents, 39 (84.8%) reported that they did not participate in computerized cataloging networks. Of the 39, 23 (59.0%) reported they did not plan to join such a network, while 7 (17.9%) said they did, 8 (20.5%) said they were undecided, and 3 (7.7%) did not respond. Of the 7 libraries that did participate in such networks, 6 (85.7%) used OCLC, while 1 (14.3%) used the Washington Library Network. (Source)
A 1979 survey of academic libraries listed in the 1979 edition of OCLC Participating Libraries Arranged by Network and Institution (survey size: 200 libraries; responding: 166 or 83%) showed that164 (98.8%) respondents reported using OCLC to produce catalog cards. Further, of 163 respondents, 73 (44.8%) reported use of another card production system as well. The 3 most common additional methods used were (in descending order of importance): use of a photocopier (37 libraries), typing complete card sets (17 libraries), and purchasing commercially available cards, including Library of Congress cards (15 libraries). (Source)
A 1980 survey of North American medical school libraries concerning automation of internal library operations (population: 139; responding: 93 or 69%) showed that81 (87.1%) libraries participated in 1 or more of the major bibliographic utilities (OCLC, RLIN, or UTLAS) for shared cataloging. (Source)
Special
A 1977 survey of U.S. law libraries over 10,000 volumes taken from the 1976 Directory of Law Libraries (sample size: 1,080; responding: 373 or 35%) showed that, of 123 academic law libraries and 250 other law libraries, use of a bibliographic utility was highest among academic law libraries (43 or 35% compared to 15 or 6% in all other types of law libraries combined). Of the academic law libraries using a bibliographic utility 36 used OCLC, 6 used BALLOTS, and 1 used Blackwcll North America; of the remaining law libraries 13 used OCLC, and 2 used BALLOTS. (Source)
A 1978 study of RLIN cataloging at the Law School Library, UC Berkeley over a 6-month period showed that, of 2,748 titles for which no MARC or RLIN copy cataloging was found, 1,099 (40%) were published in or after 1970. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatof 1,282 records found in the RLIN data base the hit rate in each subject area was as follows:
religious law 153 (18.4%) titles found
Roman law 15 (18.8%) titles found
comparative law 102 (38.0%) titles found
foreign, civil law 332 (35.9%) titles found
Anglo-American law 548 (34.5%) titles found
international law 132 (39.2%) titles found (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of 781 full MARC records in the RLIN data base, 51% required no modification, while of 91 standard Contributed Data File records 55% required no modification. (Source)
A 1978 study at the General Electric Research and Development Center (Schenectady, New York) comparing the availability of cataloging copy in OCLC vs. Inforonics, which involved searching 3 months of monograph acquisitions (183 titles) in both data bases, showed thatcataloging copy was found for 153 titles in the OCLC data base compared to 101 titles found in the Inforonics data base. Further, the hit rate in OCLC was better than in Inforonics regardless of country of publication, date of publication, or availability of LC card number. (Source)
A 1980 survey of North American medical school libraries concerning automation of internal library operations (population: 139; responding: 93 or 69%) showed that81 (87.1%) libraries participated in 1 or more of the major bibliographic utilities (OCLC, RLIN, or UTLAS) for shared cataloging. (Source)
