Hong Xu March 24, 2007

1. Acquiring Chinese E-Books: Where to Start and How to Get Here-- University of Pittsburgh Library System's Experience Hong Xu March 24, 2007

2. Where to start • Talking with the senior administrator • Talking with e-book producers • Having trials • Evaluating e-books

3. Decision-making in purchasing Chinese e-books • Perpetual access vs. subscription • Quantity to purchase • Database hosting • MARC records requirements • Whether or not loading the records to OCLC

4. The minimal level MARC records we required include the following fields: • 001, 005 ,006, 007, 008, 020, 040 • 1xx (or 7xx if no 1xx) • 245 • 250 (if needed) • 260 • 300 (if needed) • 533 (if needed) • 856

5. Problems in sample MARC records • Both e-book producers use CN-MARC as the base and automatically convert them into MARC21. • Problems in understanding MARC21, particularly CJK records in MARC21. • Problems in converting some fields • Examples:

10. Team work • Communicating with relevant senior administrators and with EAL librarians • Coordinating with other two departments at the ULS: • Information System: install reader software, test interface, load records • Cataloging Management: review records; follow ULS and OCLC rules/policies • Communicating with e-book producers

11. Where we are and what we’ve learnt so far-- • Contracts have been signed/to be signed soon. • We are on the third run of testing sample records. • Timely communication ensures things are moving on smoothly. • Team work is essential. • It is important for the e-book producers to be consistent with the contact personnel and the test records during the data trial period. • Documentation is important • Quality control is a big on-going issue.

12. THANK YOU !