Abstract
Collaboration between Ulrich's and the National Serials Data Program began more than ten years ago. Today the names have changed but this partnership continues to benefit publishers, libraries, and vendors who provide access to electronic serials. Many challenges are presented by differences in the metadata collected. A commitment to common goals and sharing metadata has made the partnership work.
Laurie Kaplan, Director of Editorial Operations at Serials Solutions and Kara Killough, Senior Cataloger at Serials Solutions, presented this session on the ten year collaboration between Serials Solutions and the United States International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) Center at the Library of Congress (LC). In the beginning, R.R. Bowker's team responsible for the print Ulrich's Periodicals Directory (Ulrich's) collaborated with the National Serials Data Program (NSDP) to add ISSNs to new and existing periodicals. NSDP is now the U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress and Ulrich's currently is a part of Serials Solutions, a ProQuest company in the Cambridge Information Group.
The common goals of standard numbers, metadata, and managing serials information first brought the two together. The U.S. ISSN Center assigns ISSNs to serials published in this country and Ulrich's seeks and describes new serials publications. Together, they create metadata for serials. Serials Solutions uses the ISSN and machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records for link resolution for electronic serials. Cooperative Online Serials (CONSER) Program bibliographic records, Ulrich's Web records and Serials Solutions' own title authority records are created during the process.
Ulrich's began as a publication by Carolyn Ulrich, the Chief of Periodicals at the New York Public Library, in 1932. The first edition had 6,000 titles arranged by subject classification and included information on language, price and frequency. In 1967, Bowker acquired this standard reference tool. Ulrich's continued to grow in size. In 1987, the set had grown to multiple volumes and became available first in microfiche, then CD-ROM and finally as a searchable database. Ulrich's is currently owned by Serials Solutions, which is a ProQuest company, and part of the Cambridge Information Group, and is available on the Internet at Ulrichsweb.com. Ulrich's includes approximately 300,000 titles and extensive search capabilities are available to users.
The relationship began when Bowker was allocated the first block of ISSNs to assign to titles in Ulrich's. In 1972, the print version of Publishers Weekly was assigned the first ISSN. Bowker had a large list of serial titles and wanted to publish the ISSNs in Ulrich's, and the NSDP welcomed the assistance. Both were interested in maintaining accurate ISSNs and sharing metadata. Ulrich's was interested in Library of Congress metadata policies and practices as well as the CONSER database. NSDP was interested in identifying titles without ISSNs, contact with publishers and alternative ways of obtaining and creating metadata. A formal relationship was established with a contract.
In the agreement, the Library of Congress provides the workspace, tools, and access to all relevant databases and also provides training in ISSN work and other library standards. Serials Solutions provides training in Ulrich's and Serials Solutions processes and access to all Ulrich's and Serials Solutions databases, as well as human resources management. There are two supervisors, one onsite in the ISSN Center and the other remote from Ulrich's.
An employee from the Ulrich's team is located at the ISSN Center at the Library of Congress and works for both organizations. The duties of this position include assigning ISSNs before and after the publication of new serials and screening ISSN requests from publishers and libraries for titles of interest to Ulrich's. Tracking pre-publication ISSN requests involves problem solving before publication. Once published, bibliographic serial records are created using ISSN and CONSER rules. For Ulrich's, the duties include creating and editing entries for Ulrich's database. Data unique to Ulrich's, including the Ulrich's subject headings, subscription information and peer review status, are added to Ulrich's records. This metadata is available to customers using the Ulrich's Periodicals Directory from ProQuest, as well as the Ulrichsweb.com online service from Serials Solutions.
Some challenges of the collaboration are the differences in practices for cataloging, subject analysis, and treatment of multiple formats. Separate computers for Ulrich's and ISSN are used in the workplace because of firewall and security issues. Competing priorities make time management a challenge. Different work policies and holiday schedules have been resolved. Although the goals are the same, three different records are maintained. The ISSN records use the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second edition (AACR2), MARC21, Library of Congress Name Authority Cooperative Program of the Program of Cooperative Cataloging (NACO) headings, LC class and subject headings, and Dewey numbers. Serials Solutions' records are the same except they do not include Dewey numbers. Ulrich's databases have legacy records that use Ulrich's metadata rules, a proprietary format, Ulrich's subject heading scheme, and Dewey numbers. Ulrich's records have 93 potential data fields. Twenty of the required elements in Ulrich's data fields map to twelve MARC21 fields. Although an additional 43 Ulrich's fields could be mapped to MARC21, the match would not be a perfect alignment to what is required in either record. Ulrich's records include fields related to details about publishers, price, circulation, refereed information, review types and the presence of journal citations, fields that are not included in MARC21.
Maintaining data is a common goal and serials require high maintenance because of changes in frequencies, issuing bodies, prices, contact information, and so on. Finding a way to link between the databases would help to reduce repetitive data entry in multiple databases. The CONSER database is cooperatively maintained by participating libraries but only for the titles they hold. Niche titles are rarely held and unlikely to be maintained by CONSER libraries. The cost benefits of the position maintaining the data for these titles will have to be carefully weighed. Serials Solutions tasks include adding ISSN data to non-U.S. CONSER records, such as the eISSN for Springer titles. Work with the American Periodical Series set adds print and online records for the titles that previously had only microform records. Serials Solutions maintains its own authority file for titles, which normalizes variations. The normalization provides both access for variations in titles as well as identification for similar titles. Serials Solutions also uses CONSER records to maintain accurate holdings information for titles in its products and services.
Challenges for the future are creating linked data and the interoperability of local standards and institutional requirements. The decision whether or not the new standards proposed by Resource Description and Access (RDA) development effort will be implemented by the Library of Congress will also have an impact on metadata creation. Metadata will need to meet chosen standards.
The collaboration benefits publishers, the U.S. ISSN Center, Serials Solutions, and the serials community. U.S. publishers have the opportunity to obtain the ISSN and entry in the Ulrich's database in one application. Metadata are then recorded in the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) WorldCat/CONSER database and the International ISSN register. Some selected titles are added to the Library of Congress catalog. The U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress gains a dedicated staff person for ISSN assignment, resulting in more ISSNs added to the ISSN Register and CONSER database. It also gains firsthand perspective in working with the publishing industry and an opportunity for timely problem resolution.
Serials Solutions gains a rich source of serials information and metadata, including information about pre-publication, rare, and niche serials. Authoritative ISSNs numbers benefit the Ulrich's and Serials Solutions databases. ISSN information is kept up to date in Ulrich's and Serials Solutions databases. Serials Solutions gains expertise in Library of Congress practice, MARC, and AACR2. Serials Solutions has the opportunity for problem resolution and exposure to standard library metadata practices, including subject headings. The serials community benefits from the partnership because more ISSNs are available in the CONSER records and available worldwide. New titles with pre-publication ISSNs are followed through to publication and problems are resolved. Publisher lists are used in projects to add missing ISSNs. More problems are resolved for publishers, librarians, aggregators, and digitizers.
There were several questions from the audience. One questioner asked how to correct errors in Ulrich's database. The response was that some errors can be corrected within forty-eight hours, but pieces of information are in different legacy databases and corrections to this information could take longer. The ProQuest database has three different data sources for information needed for the Ulrich's product. New platforms are being implemented to improve functionality. Another questioner asked for more information about transfer titles. The answer provided was that Serials Solutions tracks industry newsletters to find mergers and acquisitions that will impact continued access to electronic journals with new owners. Coverage dates for electronic serials was another concern. The respondent replied that libraries are encouraged to email Serials Solutions when they find an error, since publishers do not always pass along information about changes.
The first ISSN assigned by Ulrich's appeared in the 1972 print volumes. Ulrich's has since published ISSN in microfiche, CD-ROM, and in a searchable database. Throughout changes in format, technology, personnel, and corporate affiliations, the commitment to the collaboration between the two remains strong. This ten year collaboration benefits Serials Solutions, U.S. ISSN Center, publishers, and the serials community as a whole.