Extending online access to the metadata of scientific information resources of the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw by retrospective preparation of catalog descriptions of medical journals published in the years 1881-2012

"Extending online access to the metadata of scientific information resources of the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw by retrospective preparation of catalog descriptions of medical journals published in the years 1881-2012 - a task financed under Contract 778 / P-DUN / 2019 from the funds of the Minister of Science and Higher Education allocated for activities promoting science"

The aim of the work planned for implementation in the proposed task is to extend the online catalog information about the resources of the magazines of BG MUW. It is planned to make bibliographic records for 2,400 volumes of journals, published in the congress languages ​​- German and English, in the years 1881-2012, which constitute a valuable collection of information in the field of medicine and related sciences. Catalog work will be carried out in the Aleph integrated library system. Compiled records, with information on library resources, will be made available through the online catalog at the publicly available address: 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 development of the library resources of the MUW Main Library and is a continuation of the work carried out under the applications financed from the Science Promoting Activity (DUN) funds in 2017-2018.

The MUW Main Library, 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, over 188,000 user visits were recorded, nearly 328,000 visits to the website, over 38,000 library information was provided, including over 19,000 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. By supporting the research and teaching activities of the Medical University of Warsaw, it provides access to resources that are necessary to conduct scientific and research work and carry out tasks as part of academic education.

An important element of the process of making scientific and didactic materials available 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 in two web locations from the MUW Main Library's website, as well as from the NUKAT level, with which MUW Main Library has been cooperating since 2011. The MUW Main Library's website gives the possibility of using catalog information in two ways: directly from the online catalog, located at the public address: http://aleph.wum.edu.pl and through the PRIMO multi-search engine, available at the public address:: http://primo.wum.edu.pl. The applied solution aims to obtain the greatest possible number of recipients of online catalog information. It takes into account various preferences of searching for information, and thus, providing users with access to various information and search tools: in the form of an online catalog, as well as multi-search engines whose functionality is similar to the functions of the most popular Internet search engines, e.g. Google. Thanks to the cooperation of MUW Main Library with NUKAT, catalog information is also available from the level of the largest central catalog in Poland. Indexing the information from NUKAT in the WorldCat OCLC database makes the MUW Main Library online catalog a global search tool. As part of the planned work, registration of the cataloged resource in the Central Catalog of Foreign Journals of the Central Medical Library is also planned. This catalog is a unique source of information on the availability of foreign scientific periodicals in the field of medical sciences in Polish medical libraries. The database is supplied with data from 53 medical libraries and is available to the public at: http://opac.gbl.waw.pl/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi_ckcz.sh/wc_opac.p

The presence of the MUW Main Library's catalog in the above-mentioned Internet locations, will allow the extensive use of descriptive metadata, prepared as part of the requested task, both nationally and globally. This will ensure greater access to information about the collections of MUW Main Library, which should translate directly into better use of the developed book collection, greater popularization of scientific achievements and the intensification of the creation of new publications. Extending the online catalog information about the resources of MUW Main Library journals will also contribute to an increase in the number of orders carried out under interlibrary loans, as well as an increase in the number of inquiries submitted via online forms available from the Library's website and by traditional means.

The works will be performed at MUW Main Library, 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.