BIBCO at the University of Florida
Oct. 1999-Sept. 2000

This was our first full year of participation in the BIBCO program. We had already been working with the PCC as CONSER and NACO participants for many years and as SACO participants since about 1995. It had long been our policy to follow LC practice in most aspects of our original monograph cataloging, so it was not difficult to adapt to the BIBCO requirements and contribute a significant part of our work in that manner. Kate Harcourt and Iris Wolley had provided an excellent introduction for us the year before.

The greatest impact on our workflow associated with contributing to the BIBCO program has been the increase in NACO contributions, as before we did not always contribute name and series authorities for nonBIBCO or nonCONSER work. We have a team of 2 librarians, Betsy Simpson and Priscilla Williams, who review and finalize each of our NACO contributions (except for personal names from stellar BIBCO contributor Peter Bushnell), and they have indicated a marked rise in contributions related to BIBCO. In our fiscal year July 1999-June 2000 they report that, “1126 new and revised authorities were created for UF BIBCO records equaling 48% of the total.”

Subsequent to each original cataloging activity or upgrade to BIBCO a copy of the workform is placed in a basket for review. After sufficient time has passed to ensure completion of contributing the name authority records to our utility a student is assigned to call up each record in our online catalog and run the CLARR BAM button to compare all authority-controlled headings with authority records and sort them into a pile that are definitely all OK and another pile to be reviewed by the BIBCO coordinator. This is a great time-saver and helps in identifying any authority printouts that might have been mislaid, etc. This quality-control practice is in addition to our long-standing practice of another staff member briefly scanning each original record for obvious typos, etc.

There are 3 very productive catalogers who have been responsible for most of our BIBCO records, and there are a slowly increasing number from the other 15 members of the Contributed Cataloging Section. Of our 1913 total BIBCO contributions in our July 1999-June 2000 fiscal year 268 were CORE, indicating that while we do not rely heavily on it we do utilize this option. In relation to our total original and utility upgrade cataloging of 6,948 records during this period we contributed about 28 percent of them as BIBCO. Our BIBCO participation has been a morale-booster for our catalogers and has inspired them to improve the quality of their cataloging, especially in regard to name authority contributions.

Our Copy Cataloging Unit Head/Agriculture Cataloger/SACO Coordinator Daniel Cromwell and Authorities Librarian Nancy Williams report that although they have not kept statistics they have observed a noticeable increase in BIBCO records used in copy cataloging and that those with LC class numbers are treated as “Quick” cataloging along with DLC records with only automated authority checking (CLARR BAM).

We feel proud to be part of these cooperative efforts to provide quality bibliographic control through the BIBCO program.

Jimmie Lundgren
UF BIBCO Coordinator

Return to UF and BIBCO homepage

---

Prepared by: Jimmie Lundgren

Last updated: October 4, 2003