REQUIREMENTS FOR AN INTEGRATED NATIONAL
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NETWORK
G. Wakuraya Wanjohi
Introduction: An excerpt from a magazine of the University of Toronto
The Internet revolution comes knocking
U of T has … developed a portal to make university libraries more accessible.
Administered by U of T for the entire province, the Ontario Scholars portal
enables students and faculty from across Ontario to find any of the 30 million
books in Ontario’s university libraries or seven million articles from the nearly
5,000 journals available electronically. By way of an online search, students can
have a journal article sent to their desktop or request a book through an
interlibrary loan.
Since 2002, the Ontario Scholars Portal has delivered more than nine
million articles to 400,000 users. It has revolutionized both the temporal and
spatial use of libraries – with students “using” the libraries from home, often after
“closing”. The Portal has also enabled smaller universities to plug into U of T
Libraries - the fourth largest university library system in North America – and has
put U of T on the leading edge of the delivery of digital information.i
This information is five years old. No doubt the Ontario Scholars Portal has continued to
improve on its record since then.
Underlying this accomplishment are two prerequisites: One: Cooperation. Two:
Adherence to standards.
Let us now make a comparison with Kenya as it was found seven years ago. What
should concern us is that (in this respect) nothing much has changed since that time.
Kenya does not have an integrated national bibliographic network (as compared e.g. to
SABINET in South Africa). This has led to a number of disadvantages:
There is no body to set standards for cataloguing in the country. (The Kenya National
Bibliography cannot be an authority since it does not adhere to international
cataloguing standards;)
1. There is no system for checking if an item published in Kenya (and not found in
the Library of Congress database) has already been catalogued by another Kenyan
library. Even if one should find it having been catalogued by another Kenyan
library, one cannot be sure that international standards of cataloguing have been
adhered to. For this reason there is much duplication in cataloguing;
2. It is difficult to consult with other Kenyans about cataloguing, classification and
subject indexing problems;
There is no uniformity in classification of Kenyan materials;
3. There is no national system of authority for Kenyan names (personal and
corporate).
4. Complete coverage of all Kenyan materials cannot be assured in the absence of a
national bibliographic network;
5. Integration of data is impossible without agreement on standards.
For the reasons named above Kenya does not input directly into the Library of Congress: Kenyan
material in the Library of Congress has been input by an LC office in Kenya since 1966.
What needs to happen before we can set up a National Bibliographic Network?
Training of cataloguers to the highest international standards;
Agreement on lead organizations for cataloguing Kenyan material in the various subject areas;
Agreement on depth of cataloguing for various categories of materials (pamphlets, electronic
files, audiovisual and graphic materials, etc.)
Agreement on broad subject descriptors;
Agreement on software for the system. (In the absence of a uniform software, a system for
conversion of data needs to be put in place).
Objectives of a National Bibliographic Network (with respect to cataloguing).
1. To catalogue an item (book, serial, audiovisual or electronic file) only once, using
internationally accepted bibliographic standards;
2. To make this cataloguing record widely available;
3. To indicate the location of the catalogued item.
Conclusion
How can we make a change in this situation? Our main problems are not lack of
technology and people skilled in ICT. They are the lack of the two prerequisites
mentioned earlier: cooperation and adherence to international standards. Unless these two
prerequisites are met, an integrated national bibliographic network cannot become a
reality in our country.
i
Source: University of Toronto Magazine, Vol. 32 Nr. 3 (Spring 2005).- The population of
Canada: in 2010 is appr. 35 million, of Ontario, appr. 13 million]