Record re-use includes the downloading or export of records (single or batches) into bibliographic databases, library management systems, or other applications (e.g. Heritage of the Printed Book Database, Index Translationum) or a direct use of information from national bibliographies through web-services. The use of metadata from national bibliographies to describe current library holdings is a common use case together with the harvesting of large batches of older records for retrospective conversion projects.

In addition to in-library use, commercial agencies e.g. distributors of publications, metadata aggregators and publishers may also benefit from using high quality catalogue records derived from the national bibliography.

Information requirements from the national bibliography

  • Complete and accurate records for published items
  • Descriptive metadata compliant with recognized international standards (e.g. RDA)
  • Data delivered in standard formats for use in library management systems (e.g. MARC 21) or other bibliographic data management systems (e.g. Pro-Cite, Dublin Core etc).
  • Ability to batch search online national bibliographies (e.g. via Z39.50) for retrospective conversion projects

Descriptive metadata requirements (for offline files or printed national bibliographies):

Specific access points are defined by material type (e.g. book, printed music etc) however to enable swift identification of records, unique identifiers such as ISBN or ISMN are commonly used either singly or via batch upload.

Search requirements (for online national bibliographies):

Requirements are similar to those of end-users i.e.:

  • Author name
  • Ttle words
  • Language/country of publication
  • Publisher
  • Publication year
  • Standard identifiers (e.g. ISBN, ISSN, ISMN)