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National Library News |
by Louise Tousignant,
Head, Electronic Publications Acquisitions Unit,
Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services
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| Geneviève Laramée, Karen Krzyzewski, Johanne Émard, Louise Tousignant. |
Last July, the Electronic Publications Acquisitions Unit passed the 1,000 mark in archiving Canadian document titles. We reached this stage while finishing the archiving of Evidence, Minutes and Committee Reports of the House of Commons.
What do 1 000 electronic publications represent? Very little compared to the 16 million items available on the shelves of the National Library of Canada (NLC). It is also very little compared to the 14 million Web pages of Canadian content compiled on the AltaVista Canada site (http://www.altavista.ca) last July. However, 1 000 titles means a lot in terms of a new type of information support that was unknown not so long ago. It also means a lot in terms of contacts, advertising and awareness.
Surprise is usually the initial reaction when we contact publishers or government departments with the aim of archiving their online documents. However, conscious of the volatility and the sometimes short-lived nature of a publication or even a server, most publishers and departments contacted are pleased to have their publications archived. We offer them several ways to send their files: file transfer protocol (ftp), e-mail, diskette or tape. In some cases, the NLC downloads publications from the publisher’s Web site.
For the past 12 months, our priority has been to acquire federal government publications. Among the 20 federal government departments or agencies archiving electronic publications at the NLC are the Translation Bureau, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Receiver General of Canada and Statistics Canada.
Close-up on a selection of titles
The electronic collection has some titles that merit particular attention in terms of both their content and their archiving method. The titles below illustrate this.
The unique characteristic of Weekly Financial Statistics, available in pdf format (portable document format), is that only the NLC offers access to both current and back issues. In fact, its publisher, the Bank of Canada, makes only the current issue available to the public. 1 As new financial data are published weekly, the bank replaces the previously available data in the same pdf file, which always bears the same name, i.e., wsf.pdf. Therefore, in archiving the issues, we make sure to change the pdf file name so that all the Bulletin issues are retained. The January 1998 ice storm was a particular challenge for us, however, since the Library’s acquisitions service offices were closed for seven days, during which time two issues of the Bulletin were published. Fortunately, an employee was able to download the published issues from home during this unforgettable period. When the offices were reopened, these issues were archived.
Specializing in children’s literature, Concertina Books publishes works in both print and electronic formats. The NLC currently has four titles from this publishing house, including Waking in Jerusalem and My Blue Suitcase. According to Concertina’s 1995-1996 publications list, Waking in Jerusalem was the first illustrated book to appear on the Internet. My Blue Suitcase is a book for two-to-four-year-olds. The electronic version can be read page by page or in animated format with the help of Quicktime software. In comparison, the printed version is an 8.75 cm x 8.75 cm miniature book. These two versions offer their own unique qualities. Both are precious to us since the print version is no longer available and the electronic version is available only on the NLC server.
Although the publication entitled The André Prévost fonds: numerical list is also available in print, the electronic version has the added value of including sound. We can listen to such items as an extract of Fantasmes performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Pierre Hétu, in 1964. This publication is a felicitous combination of pdf and ra (Real Audio) files. However, access to Adobe Acrobat and RealAudio/RealPlayer plug-in software is required to read the text and hear the sounds.
It is appropriate to highlight the following publication in this January’s issue of National Library News, since it was at exactly this time last year that a major ice storm struck several regions in eastern Canada. The St. Lawrence River Valley 1998 Ice Storm: maps and facts provides further information on this event. We learn, among other things, that 2.6 million people were prevented from working or had difficulty in getting to work.
It is probably unnecessary to point out that all electronic publications acquired receive a cataloguing record. The 856 area of the MARC format provides the place of the publication by indicating the URL address of the publisher and that of the publication on the NLC server on which it is archived. Consequently, resAnet 2 users may access the contents of the electronic publication directly by clicking on one of the hypertext links on the cataloguing record. However, since publishers move their publications around on their servers or change servers, it is possible that certain publishers’ links are no longer functional. Access to the contents of an electronic publication is always guaranteed by using the Library’s hypertext link.
A few figures
Currently, there are over 1 200 Canadian document titles in the electronic collection, two thirds of which are monographs. The electronic collection also takes up over 6.9 gigabytes of memory.
Conclusion
Although the NLC does not have all the answers to questions raised by the arrival of new technologies in the electronic publications area, it is anxious to acquire and archive Canadian documents online. In this way, tomorrow’s citizens will have access to Canada’s electronically published heritage.
Example of a resAnet record AMICUS No. 14134225 COPIES: NLC Electronic - TITLE(S): *CTHEORY [computer file] E-LOCATIONS: http://www.ctheory.com/ NOTES: Monthly. SUBJECTS: Technology—Social aspects—Periodicals |
1 The same applies for the printed version. Former issues of the Bulletin are not available.
2 resAnet (http://www.amicus.nlc-bnc.ca/wapp/resanet/introe.htm) is a Web-based interface that provides access to the National Library catalogue. A subset of the AMICUS database, resAnet allows free access to abridged records on the National Library’s rich collections.