Increasing the information coverage of the online catalog of the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw by retrospective development of catalog descriptions of medical journals from 1870-2012

Science Dissemination Activity (DUN)

"Increasing the information coverage of the online catalog of the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw by retrospective development of catalog descriptions of medical journals from 1870-2012." - task financed under Agreement 559/P-DUN/2018 from the funds of the Minister of Science and Higher Education allocated for science dissemination activity ”.

The aim of the work planned for implementation in the proposed task is to extend the online catalog information about the resources of the journals of the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw (BG WUM).

It is planned to prepare bibliographic descriptions for 2,100 volumes of journals, from the years 1870-2012, not yet registered in the library system of BG WUM. Catalog work will be carried out in the Aleph integrated library system. Compiled records, with information about library resources, will be made available through the online catalog at a generally accessible address BG WUM: http://aleph.wum.edu.pl. The implementation of the task is part of the systematic process of increasing the range of online catalog information through the retrospective study of the library resources of BG WUM. The requested task is an extension of the scope of catalog information developed under Application No. 351268, co-financed by the DUN, for 2017.

The Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw, as one of 11 libraries of medical universities in the country, plays an important role in the nationwide medical library and information network. It is the largest library in its group in terms of the number of collections and the second largest library with a medical profile in the Mazowieckie region. This makes it one of the most important institutions for people associated with the health service, interested in access to professional medical literature. In 2017, the libraries of the Medical University of Warsaw recorded over 188,100 user visits, over 327,000 visits to the website, over 62,000 library information was provided, including over 20,000 catalog information.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Libraries of June 27, 1997 (as amended) in Chapter 6 Article 21 point 2, the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw, as a unit organized by the university, belongs to the group of scientific libraries. Performing a scientific and didactic function, it provides access to resources that are necessary to conduct scientific and research work. An important element of the ongoing process of sharing scientific sources is providing information about the resources held. The basic tool used for this purpose is the online catalog. Maintained in the integrated Aleph system, the electronic catalog is available at the generally available address: http://aleph.wum.edu.pl from the website of the Main Library, as well as from the level of the National Universal Central Catalog (NUKAT). This makes our catalog a tool with nationwide meta-information about scientific resources, as well as by indexing information from NUKAT in the WorldCat OCLC database, a global search tool. The presence of the MUW library catalog in the above-mentioned Internet locations, will allow the extensive use of descriptive metadata, prepared as part of the implementation of the requested task. This will ensure increased access to information about the collections of BG MUUM, which should translate directly into better use of our book collection, greater popularization of scientific achievements and the intensification of the creation of new publications.

The works will be performed in the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw, by a qualified team with many years of experience in the field of developing library collections. Catalog descriptions will be created using Polish standards and recommendations for bibliographic description, based on internationally standardized ISBD (CR) cataloging rules, as well as the MARC 21 data input format.