LC Web Page cataloging (fwd)

[Guenter Kroll <G.Kroll _at__ StUB.uni-frankfurt.de>]

Als Information, wie 'weit' man mal wieder in Amerika ist, ein Beitrag 
aus einer anderen Liste; in der Library of Congress wird offensichtlich 
schon das Internet katalogisiert!

A question was raised recently about someone who complained that there home
web pages were rejected for cataloging by LC, while others were accepted.
-----------------------------Original message----------------------------
For those interested in following this thread.  DHD

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Susan Morris" <smor _at__ loc.gov>
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 95 14:58:34 EDT
To: web4lib _at__ library.berkeley.edu
Subject: Response to Bill Tazewell on LC Web Page cataloging

Bill Tazewell states that he was told that LC was assigning Library of
Congress Catalog Numbers to "Thomas Publications Pages" on the
Internet, before he requested cataloging of his personal Web page,
the Virtual Library at the Buzzard's Nest. The big distinction is between a
Web page maintained by an institution to provide access to its own
collections, and an individual's page. LC is cataloging pages for its own
collections first, and also developing policy to handle other
institutions' pages.  At present we do not foresee a time when we will be
able to expend expensive cataloging resources on personal home
pages.

Col. Tazewll continues: "The Library of Congress will have to do
something to organize and catalog the information and material on the
Internet." We're in complete agreement. In fact, the Library is very
active in organizing and cataloging the Internet.  It sponsors
research, including a major seminar last fall on Cataloging of Digital
Documents, and contributes to the OCLC project on Building a Catalog
of Internet-Accessible Resources. Within the Cataloging Directorate there
is an entire team devoted to cataloging computer files from external
sources.  In addition, the materials which are digitized within LC for the
National Digital Library Program, which will amount to five million items
within five years, receive very detailed cataloging. For all these
materials, a great deal of effort is required for cataloging: we provide
access through subject headings and authors as well as describing the item
or document and its electronic location. That's more than enough to keep
our computer file catalogers very, very busy.  We don't cover every home
page, any more than we provide full bibliographic cataloging for every
paper publication, but we do strive to fill a leadership role in cataloging
of the Internet.

Thanks again for the chance to speak up.
*******************************************************
*  Susan Morris                                       *
*  Assistant to the Director for Cataloging           *
*  Collections Services, LM 642                       *
*  Library of Congress, COLL/CAT  (4300)              *
*  Washington, DC  20540-4300                         *
*  Voice - 202-707-5333,  FAX - 202-707-6269          *
*  smor _at__ loc.gov                                       *
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