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Federal Depository Library Conference

April 2-5, 2006

New Catalog of Government Publications (CGP)

The new CGP is available at catalog.gpo.gov. There are links to it from the GPO Access main page (a search box in the middle of the page and a link in Federal Resources A-Z). I will give a brief demonstration at our meeting of some of the features of the catalog that I learned about at the conference, but here is a summary of the major points, as well as some background information about the system, and a look at coming attractions:

Background and statistics:

• CGP is the public face of GPO's ILS, which is an ExLibris Aleph 500 system. This system was chosen largely because of the flexibility GPO needed in order to accomodate some functions that are unique to their status (that is, they aren't really a library). The CGP is part of GPO's Future Digital System (FDSys), about which you can learn more here.
• It includes records back to July 1976 (same as Marcive); over 500,000 records
• Over 400,000 records are for monographs which were printed, some of which have PURLs; almost 12,000 are online only
• Over 42,000 are serials records for printed items, some with PURLs; almost 5,000 are online only serials (GPO uses "serials" to include annuals)
• Over 50,000 maps
• Authorities: there are over 150,000 LC authorities and over 17,000 NASA authorities. These are authorities added by GPO (NLM authorities are not included because GPO does not work with these)

NOTE: the purple text represents corrections to the statistics originally reported. Thanks to Jim Noel at Marcive for bringing the errors to my attention.

Coming in next phase:

• Federated searching (multi-database searching)
• Fully integrate with FDSys
• Serials management. Holdings are beginning to be added, this will increase
• Pre-76 records will be added as items are cataloged; let them know about big projects undertaken at your libraries so that they can take advantage of this cataloging
• URL checker
• Connection with Amazon, Barnes and Noble
• Push records to libraries. This service could replace Marcive's. I spoke with Jim Noel about this and Marcive isn't too worried, since the quality of their service will insure that they retain many customers. Libraries desperately needing to cut costs, however, might want to see how the GPO system works out
• Z39.50 access—almost ready
• New titles listing (tangible and electronic) can be RSS feeds

Practical tips:

• There are 3 different search options:

  • Basic. For the public, it uses the Google model and has a very simple, clean search screen
  • Advanced (probably our option most often). More options are listed in the drop-down; you can limit; there are search hints on the main screen, as well as prominent links at the top to other search types, the browse option and a complete, detailed help page
  • Expert. Uses codes, includes url for searching for records with PURLs. Use SUD for "SuDoc begins with..."; includes top of page links
• There are sub-catalogs for specific kinds of searches
• Where you are is red
• In results lists: click on a heading to sort by a different category
• You can have up to 20 records emailed to yourself at a time
• Special hint from Julia Wallace, an Aleph librarian: use the browse function, or "begins with," often; this type of searching works better in Aleph

Other issues:

• Locate a Library function. Problems with this feature were discussed in different sessions. GPO wants to know what items we're "selecting" (although this is problematic–or maybe a superfluous concern?– in a mostly online environment) so that they can route users to us through this function. Although this issue came up frequently, I don't think its problems were ever adequately addressed.
• You can make links to specific sections of the CGP from your pages; look under "Browsers, Fonts and Links," near the bottom of the Help page
• There are links at the bottom of the Help page to specialized comment forms for:
  • CGP functionality problems
  • CGP enhancements/suggestions
  • Cataloging data errors
  • Classification errors

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