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National Library News |
Trudy Bodak, Map Librarian, York University, and
Grace Welch, Map Librarian, University of Ottawa
The creation of a National Union Catalogue of Maps has been a goal of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) since its inception in 1967. There was never any doubt that such a project would be valuable in promoting and making accessible Canadian maps. However, making the National Union Catalogue of Maps a reality was a much longer process than anyone originally envisioned.
At the outset, there were no standard cataloguing rules for maps, nor was there a MARC coding format. During the mid-’70s, the National Union Catalogue Committee of the Association worked with the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada to propose standardized cataloguing rules for maps. These rules were incorporated into AACR2 when it was published in 1978. The publication of Cartographic Materials: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2, in 1982, was another milestone on the road to creating a union catalogue of cartographic materials.
Even with the availability of standardized rules, there were other challenges to be faced: selecting the most appropriate national database to house the catalogue records; promoting the cataloguing of maps in libraries; resolving the issue of various cataloguing systems and standards; and encouraging institutions to contribute their records. With the cooperation and support of staff from both the National Archives and the National Library, the Association addressed each of these issues.
Their efforts finally paid off in 1997 when, following a proposal by the National Library of Canada, Canadian map libraries began contributing their map records to AMICUS, the National Library’s database. By the end of that year, 9 600 records from the National Archives were loaded into AMICUS. This was followed soon afterwards by records from other Canadian map libraries. The database has now grown to include over 60 000 catalogue records for cartographic materials, representing the map records of more than 15 Canadian map collections. Plans to include additional map records are also in progress. Although some problems have been identified in matching records, such as the General Material Designation (GMD) and coding in Fixed Field 007, the actual rate of rejection has been small, and the Bibliographic Control Committee of ACMLA is working with the National Library to solve these problems.
It is satisfying to see the plans for this valuable resource for cataloguing, reference and interlibrary loans of cartographic materials come to fruition. With the new Web version of AMICUS, searching and locating cartographic materials in Canada is easier and more convenient than ever. A special thanks goes to all those people who made this happen, in particular Hugo Stibbe and Velma Parker of the National Archives, Joan Winearls (former chair of the Bibliographic Control Committee), David Balatti of the National Library and the National Library’s Union Catalogue staff.
For information about how to contribute map records to AMICUS, contact
Emilie Lowenberg
Chief, Union Catalogue Division
National Library of Canada
Telephone: (819) 997-7990
Fax: (819) 953-0291
E-mail: emilie.lowenberg@nlc-bnc.ca
If you would like more information about cataloguing your map collection, contact Trudy Bodak, chair, Bibliographic Control Committee, ACMLA, by e-mail at tbodak@yorku.ca.