Bibliographic record

A bibliographic record is an entry in a bibliographic database (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 databases by author, title, index term, or keyword.[1] Bibliographic records can also be referred to as surrogate records or metadata [2] 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.[3] In ancient Greece, bibliographic records were recorded on 120 scrolls in a system called pinakes.[4]

Formats

Main articles: MARC standards and 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.[5] The modern formats, while reflecting this heritage in their structure, are machine-readable and most commonly conform to the MARC standards.[6] 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.

The Library of Congress is currently developing BIBFRAME, a new RDF schema for expressing bibliographic data.[7] BIBFRAME is still in draft form, but several libraries are already testing cataloging under the new format.[8] 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.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Reitz, Joan M. (2004). "bibliographic database". Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. p. 70. ISBN 1-59158-075-7.
  2. ↑ Taylor, Arlene G (2009). The Organization of Information. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 446. ISBN 9781591587002.
  3. ↑ Carpenter, Michael (1994). "Catalogs and Cataloging". In Wiegand, Wayne A.; Davis, Jr., Donald G. Encyclopedia of Library History. New York: Garland. pp. 107–108. ISBN 0-8240-5787-2.
  4. ↑ Cowell, Stephanie (May 1998). "The legendary library at Alexandria". Biblio 16.
  5. ↑ Hagler, Ronald (1997). The Bibliographic Record and Information Technology (Third ed.). American Library Association. p. 17. ISBN 0-8389-0707-5.
  6. ↑ Reitz, Joan M. (2004). "bibliographic record". Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. p. 71. ISBN 1-59158-075-7.
  7. 1 2 Miller, Eric; Uche Ogbuji; Victoria Mueller; Kathy MacDougall (21 November 2012). Bibliographic Framework as a Web of Data: Linked Data Model and Supporting Services (PDF) (Report). Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "BIBFRAME Implementation Register". Retrieved 30 May 2014.
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