There has been long standing interest between GPO and depository library community to engage in cooperative cataloging and metadata exchange in order to build the national bibliography of U.S. Government documents in support of the Cataloging and Indexing Program, U.S.C. Title 44, Section 1910. The 2005 launch of the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications has given GPO a platform to exchange cataloging/metadata with libraries and the GPO partnership program has enabled interested libraries to propose cataloging and metadata exchanges.

In addition to the goal of creating a national bibliography, there are many advantages to establishing partnerships for cooperative cataloging. Cooperative cataloging:

• increases access to tangible, historic FDLP collections;
• enables FDLP libraries to have access to cataloging records so they may complete retrospective cataloging projects;
• increases access to content digitized by partner libraries; and
• shares the cataloging cost burden among libraries.

Developing guidelines for the establishment of formal cooperative cataloging partnerships with depository libraries and content partnerships that require cataloging will ensure the continued quality of metadata records in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and the maintenance of standards required by GPO as a Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) member.

This document is intended to provide general guidance for the evaluation, acceptance and implementation of GPO partnerships in which the exchange of cataloging and metadata is a key component.

Cataloging/Metadata Cooperative Partnership Options

Currently, there are four options for cataloging/metadata exchange with depository libraries. GPO can:

1. Accept records from partner libraries, and/or
2. Create cataloging records in the CGP for documents in partner library digital collections covered by a formal partnership agreement, and/or
3. Conduct research and create Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) classification numbers for historic U.S. Government publications in exchange for cataloging records for these documents, or
4. Other options may be discussed.

GPO may consider other cataloging/metadata exchange options based on partnership proposals received.

Evaluation of Cataloging Requirements in Partnership Proposals

When a depository library submits a partnership proposal, the Director of Library Technical Information Service, or a designated representative, will serve on the partnership evaluation team to assess any bibliographic/metadata requirements being proposed.

Detailed discussions between the depository library staff and LSCM concerning bibliographic record exchange, record creation or other cooperative cataloging projects or tasks related to the partnership proposal may be required. Based on these discussions, a final determination as to the feasibility of LTIS entering into cooperative cataloging agreements will be made. LTIS will work with the LSCM Partnership Coordinator to document the cataloging requirements that will be included in draft and final partnership agreement. After a partnership agreement is signed, LTIS staff will develop an implementation plan for the cataloging aspects of the agreement.

Applicable Cataloging Standards

The goal of cooperative cataloging partnerships is to create high quality cataloging/metadata records that meet national standards so that the records can be freely exchanged through library networks and easily loaded to local integrated library systems.

GPO working with FDLP partner libraries will strive to create or enhance existing cataloging records that meet established cataloging standards.

GPO is a member the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), BibCo and CONSER and follows all applicable cataloging standards required of participation in these programs. In addition, GPO has developed its own guidelines, the GPO Cataloging Guidelines, to handle the unique bibliographic requirements posed by U.S. Government information products. All modifications made to partner records by GPO will follow these standards of practice

Currently, GPO utilizes a separate cataloging record approach. Every format of an information product receives a unique catalog record. Each catalog record for the various formats of an information product will cross-link to the alternate format catalog records.

GPO also utilizes various levels of cataloging effort based on the type of information product and the staffing resources available to perform cataloging work. Records may be created at the full-level, abridged level or the GPO brief level. Information about these methods of cataloging and types of cataloging that GPO performs can be found in the GPO Cataloging Guidelines. All original cataloging records created by GPO for resources in a partnership collection will follow these guidelines.

GPO provides subject access using authorized Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for all documents cataloged with the exception of documents published by NASA. For NASA publications, GPO uses the NASA Thesaurus to create subject points of access.

GPO applies two classification schemes to documents. GPO assigns a SuDocs classification number to all documents within scope of the FDLP and C&I Programs. In addition to a SuDocs classification number assignment, GPO catalogers assign a Library of Congress classification number to Congressional publications.

PURLS and PURL Maintenance

GPO uses PURLs, (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) to link viewers to the online version of an information product.

PURLs will be used in cataloging records for the online versions of publications in a partnership collection.

1. In the case of a partnership to a digital version of information products, GPO- maintained PURLs will be directed to resources on the partnership site.
2. The initial creation of a collection-level metadata record will have one PURL pointing to the appropriate partnership Web site or portal. If relevant digital content is embedded with material not in-scope of the FDLP, a discussion between the library and GPO will take place to decide the best course of action to identify in-scope content.
3. If cataloging records are available at the piece-level from the partner library or if GPO, after discussions with the partner, creates a piece-level record for resources in a partner collection, an individual PURL will be created by GPO for each resource.
4. If a partnership terminates and materials are hosted on GPO servers, PURLs will be re-directed from the partnership servers to GPO servers.

In all cases, partner libraries are responsible for keeping GPO informed of any changes to their servers which may necessitate GPO redirecting PURLs. Routine PURL maintenance and link checking is done by GPO.

Option 1: GPO Accepts Bibliographic/Metadata Records from a Partnering Library

Acceptance Criteria:

GPO will accept cataloging/metadata records to be used for cataloging purposes if the donation of records meets the following criteria:

1. Organizations that provide the records must be a library in the Federal Depository Library Program;
2. Records must represent information products that are within scope of the Information Dissemination Programs as defined by Title 44, U.S.C.;
3. The library must be able to provide a representative sample of at least 20 records from the collection of records it wishes to give GPO for evaluation purposes to determine if records will be accepted. LTIS may determine that a larger sample is required;
4. The library providing the records must have a formal partnership agreement with GPO, or are in the processing of establishing one;
5. Records must be provided at no cost to GPO;
6. The records must be able to be brought into compliance with the cataloging standards described above with little modification by GPO;
7. The library must grant GPO permission to modify the records; and
8. The library must allow GPO to redistribute the records and must impose no access restrictions on the records.

Record Requirements:

1. Records must meet the following format conditions for successful loading into GPO’s Integrated Library System (ExLibris, Aleph 500 version 20 or higher). Preferable formats:
   
   a. MARC21 communications format,
   b. MARC XML
   
   GPO may accept bibliographic metadata in other formats based upon discussions with the potential partner library during partnership negotiations.
2. Records will be delivered to GPO via FTP or other methods depending on the file size and total number of records to be delivered. Multiple batches of records can be accepted. Record delivery methods will be discussed and decided upon during partnership negotiations.
3. Libraries providing records to GPO must provide a sample test set of at least 20 records, although LTIS may determine that a larger sample is required, representing all the types of formats (monographs, multi-parts, serials) included in the collection for GPO staff to evaluate prior to accepting the complete set of records. GPO staff will work with each partner during the evaluation/partnership negotiation process to ensure that GPO understands the cataloging practices used by the library.
4. Cataloging records provided by the partner library must follow the separate record approach.

GPO Use of Partner Records

By providing records to GPO, partner libraries authorize GPO to utilize partner provided records in the ways described below. However, as each partnership is unique record use will vary.

Identification of Partner Records in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)

Records for official partnership collections signed after the implementation of these guidelines will be identified in a 955 MARC field. If MARC 040 data is provided, this would be retained in the MARC record. To increase searchability, the 955 MARC field will include the name of the partnership collection and the name of the partner library. This information will then be followed by a GPO cataloger code if any modifications were made to the record by GPO. For example,

955 GPO Historic Collection; University of XXX; BC7000.

Serial Holdings

GPO will accept serial records in a partnership agreement. However, individual partner holdings at the issue level cannot, at present, be reflected in the CGP.

PURL Maintenance of Partner Records

If PURLs are added to partner records, GPO will perform routine PURL maintenance and all links will be checked. Partner libraries must notify GPO of server migrations that affect links to partner content, so that PURL links can be redirected.

Authority Control for Partner Records

GPO will perform automated authority control processing on the records to validate name, series and subject headings. Unauthorized name headings will be established and submitted to the Name Authority Cooperative Project (NACO) as described in the GPO Cataloging Guidelines. Subject headings proposals may be submitted to Subject Authority Cooperative (SACO) for evaluation and potential inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Authority records created for partner records will be added to GPO local authority control file and will be available to the partner library if this was included in the partnership agreement.

Distribution of Partner Records

GPO may distribute or make available modified records from cataloging partners through the following distribution outlets:

1. GPO Publication and Information Sales. Monthly GPO cataloging records are sold to customers by subscription;
2. OCLC. GPO may use records in the OCLC database as a source for copy cataloging or may provide partner records to OCLC via batch load;
3. Z39.50 access to search, retrieve, and download records in the CGP;
4. GPO/MARCIVE record distribution project with selected libraries in the FDLP and
5. GPO will provide copies of modified cataloging records to the partner, if requested.

Option 2: GPO Creation of Cataloging Records for Partnership Agreements

In situations where partner libraries cannot provide bibliographic metadata or cataloging records for partnership content, GPO may create cataloging records in the CGP as part of the partnership agreement. If the library would like for GPO to perform this task, this requirement should be noted in the partnership application.

When reviewing the partnership proposal, GPO will evaluate the metadata requirements of each potential partnership and make a determination as to the feasibility for GPO to provide cataloging. GPO will consult with the partnership applicant to discuss possible cataloging options and scenarios. If cataloging and metadata creation is a key component of the partnership proposal, this analysis and discussion will be a determining factor in making a final determination in the partnership application process.

GPO will assess the type and amount of metadata that will be required based on each individual partnership proposal. Among the factors that will be considered are:

• number of information products requiring cataloging;
• amount of time required to take on this potential cataloging workload;
• GPO staffing resources that are available to perform this task;
• overall goals of the partnership; and the
• type of partnership proposal.

In most cases, if considerable GPO staff time is required to create cataloging records for the partnership collection, GPO will initially create a single cataloging record to identify the resource or collection as a whole (a collection-level record) in order to provide immediate access to the partnership collection through the CGP.

In the case of some partnerships, GPO may only create this collection-level record and point only to the partnership Web site.This has occurred in some instances where the partnership is providing access to a finding aid or a database. If GPO expects that cataloging can be created at the piece-level for each information product, a timeline for these tasks will be developed internally and shared with the partner library if appropriate. A discussion with the partner prior to undertaking the piece-level cataloging of a partner collection is required to identify the parameters of the cataloging project. All cataloging requirements will be outlined in the formal partnership agreement.

GPO will provide copies of cataloging records created for partner content to the partner, if requested.

Option 3: Other Methods of User Access to Partner Collections

GPO may recommend other methods to a potential partner to enhance and provide access to a partner collection through the CGP. For example, GPO can create a “logical collection” of information products, or a subset of the CGP database, for increased visibility of a partner’s collection. Alternatively, GPO may be able to set up the partner’s collection as MetaLib targets to enable federated searching of the collection(s). To determine if these options are feasible, a discussion about the structure and set-up of the collection will need to take place. In the near future, additional opportunities may be available to use SFX to provide access to partnership collections. Note: MetaLib is scheduled for FY10 release; SFX for FY11.