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E-gov Project

Procedures for Cataloging Government E-serials and E-journals

NOTE: These are procedures and links which Sercat used briefly in an attempt to identify and catalog depository titles requiring cataloging. We now have another method: Bob Kehner reports titles to Sercat in the course of the item review he is doing of the Dewey collection.

Basic Procedure

Catalogers should catalog government e-serials according to the general procedures for cataloging e-serials, as well as those for dealing with "comes on" situations. Note that in the case of separate records and piggybacking of any kind, this means the addition of a summary item or copyset for the e-version as appropriate, as well as ensuring that URLs and PURLs are recorded in the 856 field instead of in the 530 (as they may be on some copy).

But What About Vera?

For now, we will not be adding Vera numbers to the records. The policy on whether and how these government journals should be listed in Vera has not be finally decided yet.

Sites for Finding E-Versions

Catalogers should use their judgment as to how much time to spend searching in the following sites for the URLs and PURLs of the e-versions of the government serials. You may discover your own best sites and methods for searching, but generally speaking the first five sites below should be your first choice: resort to the fifth and sixth (searching by department, agency, etc.) only if you can't find the e-serial any other way.

Uncle Sam: Migrating Government Publications
http://www.lib.memphis.edu/gpo/mig.htm

Contains links (by title and by SuDoc number) to government publications which are available in an e-version.

Basic Depository Library Documents (Tom Tyler)
http://www.du.edu/bdld/

Contains a section on "GPO-MARC Internet Resources", which provides links to URLs and PURLs.

GPO Access: Federal Depository Library Program: Tools
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/tools.html

Contains a "PURL Search Form", which may be useful when you know the PURL of the e-serial but not the URL.

GPO Access: New Electronic Titles
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/net/

Contains a "Search" for new additions to the FDLP electronic collection during the past 4 weeks.

GPO PURL Alert (ALA/GODORT)
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/godort/cataloging/alert/

Contains individual text files for each month (starting Jan. 2000) showing which titles now have PURLs.

Federal Web Locator
http://www.infoctr.edu/fwl/

Contains links to the websites of the various federal departments, agencies, etc., which may be useful when you don't know the URL of the e-serial but you know its issuing agency, etc.

Doc-Law Web Agency Index
http://www.washlaw.edu/doclaw/executive5m.html

Contains, among other things, links to the homepages and publications of various federal agencies.