Page 57 - DLIS408_INFORMATION_TECHNOLOGY-APPLICATIONSL SCIENCES

Information Technology and Application

Notes bibliographic data. For bibliographic control, the first principle is standardisation, compatibility
and integration. Within the same principle standards may vary. Easy interchange of bibliographic
records requires agreement on standards governing the medium of exchange.
Bibliographic data are generated by bibliographers, cataloguers, abstractors and indexers, publishers
and booksellers and appear in a range of products, including but not limited to library catalogues,
online databases, publishers and booksellers lists, abstracting and indexing services and
bibliographies. The nature of bibliographic and cataloguing data appears to be identical, but
bibliographic data have an independent existence and need separate consideration. Cataloguing,
in fact, is one of the many applications of bibliographic data management. Haggler and Simmons
[1982] define bibliographic data as “elements of information, which help to identify a piece of
recorded communication as a physical object”. They identified three types of functional data
groups:
Data that uniquely identify a particular document and distinguish it from others;
Data, which reveal an association of two or more documents (e.g., common authorship,
continuation or reprint); and
Data, which describe some characteristics of the intellectual content of a document (e.g.,
statement of subject).

Bibliographic Description: An Overview
Organisation of bibliographic data elements leads to the creation of bibliographic records.
Bibliographic record has been defined as the sum of all the areas and elements, which may be used
to describe, identify or retrieve any physical item of information content. Bibliographic description
is the assemblage of data elements sufficient to identify a bibliographic item and to distinguish it
from others. In manual systems (e.g., card catalogue), a collection of bibliographip data elements
are grouped under the main access points or headings as per the cataloguing code in use. Such
record of an item in a catalogue is called an ‘Entry’. Entries are usually identified by the kind of
access they provide e.g., ‘author entry’ or ‘subject entry’. The distinction between bibliographic
record and entry is most visible in computerised environment where the master bibliographic
record is stored in the machine and computer programmes generate entries from it. Dempsey
[1989] identified three groups of bibliographic dataset-bibliographic description and control data
(data describing, identifying and providing controlled access to items), subject data and content
description. The first two groups of data generally appear in library catalogues and bibliographic
databases. They include:
data naming an item (e.g., title, alternative title);
data naming persons or bodies connected with the creation of an item (e.g., author, artist,
cartographic agency);
data describing hierarchical, lateral or lineal relationships between items (e.g., component
part, host item, numbering in series, companion item, name of earlier edition or version);
data indicating intellectual content (e.g., subject heading, abstract);
data naming persons or bodies connected with the production of an item as a physical
object (e.g., publisher, designer);
data indicating form or nature of item (e.g., bibliography, documentary, novel);
data indicating mode of expression or communication (e.g., verbal, pictorial);
data describing the physical appearance, characteristics and constituents of an item (e.g., map,
film, dimensions, number of volumes or parts, technical information needed for use); and
data assigned by a bibliographic or other agency for purpose of identification and control
(e.g., ISBN).
The above list shows that bibliographic description deals with two categories of data—data
providing access and data describing items. The level and extent of bibliographic description
depends on the application and purpose of bibliographic records. The major application domains
are the production or creation of:
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