An Electronic Library Communications Format: A Definition and Development Proposal for MARC III
| Pages | 21-26 |
| Date | 01 March 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047794 |
| Published date | 01 March 1990 |
| Author | Edwin Brownrigg,Brett Butler |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
An Electronic Library
Communications Format:
A Definition and Development Proposal for MARC III
Edwin Brownrigg and Brett Butler
The Memex Research Institute has proposed a
research project to describe in machine-readable
form all the information needed to create
electronic "books" in a standard communications
format. Two kinds of extended computer file
formats employing the MARC structure will be
defined: Access Formats that take into
consideration the many existing index and
abstract system formats and their associated
databases; and Document Formats that provide
for storage, representation, transmission,
and display of machine-readable works in text or
image form. The formats that emerge can be
employed by libraries, publishers, information
utilities, and computer users worldwide
to convert printed works to electronic
forms or to create original works in electric
format, and thus foment the creation of
networked electronic library collections.
Brownrigg
is director of research and Butler is
director of development, Memex Research Institute,
California State University, Chico, California.
INTRODUCTION
Many trends in information technology, publish-
ing, and library automation are converging to make
possible true electronic libraries: electronic stores not
only of catalogs and indexes, but of publications
ranging from journals to newspapers, and including
new media not commonly organized by traditional
libraries.
In 1945, Vannevar Bush described a personal
information resource, coining the term "memex" to
represent it, in language so visionary as to be descrip-
tive today of a future yet beyond us:
There is
a
growing mountain of research. But
there is increased evidence that
we
are being
bogged down today as specialization extends.
The investigator
is
staggered
by the
findings
and conclusions of thousands of other work-
ers—conclusions which he cannot find time
to grasp, much less to remember, as they
appear. Yet specialization becomes increas-
ingly necessary for progress, and the effort
to bridge between disciplines is correspond-
ingly superficial....The real heart of the
matter of selection, however, goes deeper
than a lag in the adoption of mechanisms by
libraries,
or
a
lack of development of devices
for their
use.
Our ineptitude
in
getting at the
record is largely caused by artificiality in
—
AN ELECTRONIC LIBRARY
COMMUNICATIONS
FORMAT
—
ISSUE
31 —
(1990, NO.3) 21
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