Issues in developing a cooperative cataloging program in Malaysia: An analysis of MARC records in three university libraries' OPAC databases.

摘要

The success of many cooperative cataloging programs in North America and Europe has prompted the development of similar programs in other parts of the world. This study investigates the potential of developing a cooperative cataloging program in Malaysia. One factor that determines the success of such a program is the compatibility in the way MARC records are prepared by the participating libraries. The purpose of this study was to examine the variant cataloging practices that could affect the compatibility of MARC records among libraries in Malaysia.; Four hundred and ten (410) MARC records were sampled from the OPAC databases of three university libraries in Malaysia, namely, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM), and Universiti Malaya (UM). Each record was analyzed for any differences found in name headings, title headings, and subject headings. The differences were further categorized into Format Differences, Content Differences, and Editing and Inputting Differences.; Results of this study indicated the existence of variant cataloging practices in Malaysia. A majority of the differences was found in the format and content of the MARC records. These findings suggest the lack of familiarity and poor conformance by the Malaysian catalogers to existing standards such as the MARC format, AACR2, ISBD, and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Appropriate measures must be taken both at the national and local levels in order to streamline and standardize the different cataloging practices and successfully merge the records from the different databases into a single file. In addition, quality control must be exercised to maintain a shared database that is of high quality.