Cataloging E-journals

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

I'm interested in when and why or if folks do or do not catalog (ie. in
their OPAC's) e-Journals. And how and what they link to, what content they
note.

I've been threatening to ask these questions for quite awhile, and well..
some of this will display my ignorance, and some my confusion. I'm not too
upset about appearing an ignoramus, so here goes..

We are currently cataloging e-journals as separate titles from the paper,
in part to get researchers TO the hotlinks quicker (at least that's what
we hope, that they will be easier to identify) and to differentiate some
other aspects that we might choose to emphasize

However, do all e-journals attempting to be full analogs (or more)  of
paper subscriptions or that are titles only available to your institutions
as e-journals get cataloged??--Ann Okerson's question of almost a year
ago.

or do you differentiate by access mode/problem?-complexity levels.

For example, would you catalog an IP filtered title but not an password
and Id required title, preferring (since it needs hand holding) to notify
of the password/id title through another means?(;your website??)

Where do you put textual information about the title in the record? (are
you using 500 fields, notes fields to record restrictions, peculiarities,
number of concurrent users, publisher's vagaries in their contracts--,What
about access to help files you've created separetly for a title--on a web
page they are just a "help" note and a click. Are you adding access to
them to the OPAC record. If not why not??

How are you handling multi-modal access ??

For example--ERIC which can be accessed through a standard OCLC/First
Search account, ie. pay per search or through EBSCOHOST, or as a
standalone, or through a consortial or one flate rate account on OCLC (and
probably a couple of other ways too), or a local silverplatter version
that you may have decided to only add the last 20 years' content on your
LAN. Is that 1, 2 3 or 4 records, since content of the standalone is
different from the OCLC or EBSCOHOST versions-- and the local version and
OCLC could be two very different access modes.

Anyway, I'm trying to work through some of these issues-as we all are. I
realize the purists out there who don't believe any "access" titles need
to go in the OPAC, (you don't own them) and others who believe you add on
a couple of 856's or holdings statement, and. well lots of variety...but

Since I'm asking, what about something like Annual Reviews, which you have
in paper and electronically.  The Electronic version has links to PubMed
(abstracts of most articles in the BioMed titles and further links to
citing papers) AND full text /abstract links out to other High Wire Press
titles (a REALLY nice feature) in which case an 856 to the paper version
record substantiallly understates the significantly different content of
what you get if you log onto the AR site.

What about the TOC standalone database for AR titles?? Does it warrant an
entry, a web page note?? or full linking from the paper or electronic
record, or a separate version-- The ENTIRE Index for Annual Reviews Jan
1984 - May 1997 (that's what its called) at:
http://www-lmmb.ncifcrf.gov/annRev.html 

And what kind of note do you use to indicate that although the source of
that index is AR (and you can download it for your own use if you want)
but the URL is for a NON-AR site. Although the SAME content (and a bit
more) is available to search--i.e. TOCs for 1984+ on the AR site. (I'm not
complaining, just wondering how much thought we've put in to all these
vagaries-- For key titles, the more access the better, is my thought--What
IF you decide that the file is so important that you want it indexed and
results presented when searches are done in your local OPAC-since the
Annual Review title doesn't provide clear detail as to what's inside?? 

So the file is available and searched in your own OPAC AND available for a
click on the net as a separate file and available to those who use the AR
site (where you can search TOC's /citations and all available full text
content...even if you don't have access to the AR text)or the author's
file 1984-1995, You add the 856 to your paper records (each one separately
for each AR title...) don't describe much about Annual Reviews's unique
features, call it quits.?

Or link the TOC of each title through a separately accessible file, off the
paper and electronic record? or just link to the title on the AR site (deep
linking--) rather than the site itself. What is the "title page": for the
titles--if you link deep link to the title only you lose a lot of the other
features of the site, so do you put one two or three URL's in each catalog
record in the OPAC for the different levels of access?? i.e the possiblites
are:

o Search the whole site.  
o Search by each of the three separate general subject areas
o Search  individual title. 

Do you have three URLs in each title record with a brief description?? And
how do you want those to display in your OPAC.  Or do you just catalog the
site by itself, describe content and search capabilites and maybe link
each catalog record to your cataloged site description as well as a single
link off the bib record to the site??

What about journals where the electronic is months, even years, ahead of
the paper in terms of accessing accepted papers. Isn't it SIAM that has
formally announced that??? Since the content is different, would that
influence whether you cataloged the two versions separately??--we catalog
the readers digest abridged version diffently than the first edition, and
the first edition separately from the second in paper books. What
constitutes a different edition electronically, enough to warrant a second
record??

Or APJ (Astrophysical Journal) which clearly has an electronic or WEB
analog that veres away from the traditional content because of the
features realized in the web version.  Is it different enough to require a
separate record in your OPAC???

Chuck Hamaker
Head, Technical Services
UnC Charlotte