As more and more of Library resources are now available electronically, Patricia has noted that some of the categories that are used to sort items in the New Titles list are rather outdated. Of particular concern are theses and e-books.
1) Theses currently display on the New Titles List under “Storage”, because that is where the print copy goes. However, most theses are also available electronically, so “Storage” is not a useful or intuitive place to display them.
2) E-books display under the heading “Web Resources”. E-books are not “Web resources” in the usual sense of the words and don’t really fit in this category so this has led to considering other ways of structuring the list. The distinction between print and electronic is becoming more and more artificial and outdated, and it might be better if these could be interfiled with print books.
Suggested modifications to the New Titles List
1) Create a new category “Theses” and have all theses display under this.
2) Remove the category “Web Resources” and interfile e-books with print books. However to achieve this, it would be necessary to list all new titles in call number order across all branches, and no longer sort them by branch. It could still be possible to offer a different sort option by branch, but any such list would NOT include e-books, which would have to be a separate list. Interfiling print and e-books is possible because e-books are assigned a classification in the 050 tag, though not a full call number (see definition below regarding the difference between classification and call number). However e-books are not assigned to any branch so can’t be interfiled if we continue to sort by branch. As items on the New Titles list are not exactly the same as items on branch new titles displays, and now that we offer an interbranch delivery service, we suggest that sorting by branch, as a default, is probably no longer relevant.
Definitions:
Classification: assigns a resource to an LC division, defining the subject area.
Call number: adds a cutter number to the classification, which assigns the resource to a position on a shelf (therefore not needed for e-books). At UC every resource on the shelf has a unique call number.
We are looking for feedback about these suggestions, and welcome any comments, suggestions etc. Please add a comment to this posting and get some debate going.
Patricia and Catherine.
I think both suggestions would improve the NTL. I agree that "web resources" is not a good label nowadays for e-books, if it ever was, and it would be more intuitive for our users to find them in the NTL interfiled with print books.
A while back I asked if e-books could be given full call nos. so they would appear with print books in the Call No. (LC) catalogue index, but it seems that isn’t feasible, and maybe not even desirable (not that I think users would be any more confused than they are at the moment). Obviously it would be out of the question with all the temporary e-resources we’re getting, even if it could be done with the permanent ones.
However I am a little concerned that library resources are increasingly splitting into two camps, print and electronic, with the latter getting all the attention and the former gradually disappearing from view (aided and abetted by the earthquakes!). I favour integration between them as much as we can, within the obvious constraints we’re working under.
Max