Access to E-Serials and Other Continuing Electronic Resources at Kansas City Public Library

Access to E-Serialsand Other Continuing Electronic Resources

at Kansas City Public LibraryDavid King

SUMMARY. This article discusses e-serials and other continuingelectronic resources at Kansas City Public Library. An overview ofelectronic resources available at the library is given, and includes a dis-cussion of magazines and newspapers, reference materials, periodicaldatabases, government documents, and Web site links. Access methodsfor each type of resource are given. Problems with using the 856 field ina consortium setting is discussed. Future growth of e-serials at KansasCity Public Library is also mentioned. [Article copies available for a feefrom The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail ad-dress: <[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>© 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Electronic serials, continuing resources, 856 field, Web-based access, subject Web links, consortium, Kansas City Public Library

INTRODUCTION

E-serials and access to them at public libraries are many things. Accessmay, for instance, be through a simpleWeb link on a reference page or through

David King is Information Technology Librarian, Kansas City Public Library, 311E. 12th Street, Kansas City, MO 64106 (E-mail: [email protected]).

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: �Access to E-Serials and Other Continuing Electronic Resources atKansas City Public Library.� King, David. Co-published simultaneously in The Serials Librarian (TheHaworth Information Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 41, No. 3/4, 2002, pp. 271-279; and:E-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web (ed: JimCole, and Wayne Jones) The Haworth Information Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2002, pp.271-279. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document DeliveryService [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 271

a MARC 856 field in a bibliographic record in the library�s Web-accessiblecatalog. This article will focus on e-serials and other continuing electronic re-sources at Kansas City Public Library. A description of the electronic re-sources available at the library will be given, as well as a discussion of accessto them, and future plans regarding e-serials at the library.The Kansas City Public Library, established in 1873, consists of a main li-

brary and nine branch libraries. The library serves over a million and a halfpeople in Kansas City, Missouri, and the surrounding metropolitan area. Thelibrary�s collection consists of over 2,500,000 items, including more than2,000 serials. Kansas City Public Library also administers the Kansas City Li-brary Consortium (KCLC) comprising of 24 area libraries. Together, KCLClibraries share a 3.5 million-item collection.

CONTINUING ELECTRONIC RESOURCES AT KCPL

E-serials are but one type of a broader category that today has come to becalled �continuing resources.� Examples of continuing resources include �se-rials, monographic series, electronic journals, loose-leaf for updating publica-tions, databases, and Web sites.� 1 When one looks at this list, one sees thatKansas City Public Library subscribes to and provides access to a large bodyof continuing electronic resources, all accessible through the library�s publicWeb site.This section will discuss each type of electronic resource found at Kansas

City Public Library:

� Magazines and Newspapers� Reference Materials� Periodical Databases� Government Documents� Web Sites

Magazines and Newspapers

Onlinemagazine and newspaper access is primarily provided through the li-brary�sMagazines andNewspapers page (located at http://kclibrary.org/docdel/). Alink to this page is found on the library�s home page. TheMagazine and News-papers page has five main links: Search for Articles (links to the periodical da-tabase list);Document Delivery Services (interlibrary loan forms can be foundhere); Library Holdings (search for periodicals using title and/or ISSN num-

272 E-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources

ber); Newspaper and News Web Sites; and Magazine Web Sites. The bulk ofthis area of the Web site is accessed through these last two links.The Newspaper and News Web Sites page includes five sections: Local and

Regional Newspapers; United States Newspapers; International Newspapers;News Web Sites, and Directories of News Web Sites. Altogether, there are 63links to news sites, both the online versions of �traditional� paper-based newssources and the newer electronic-only news sites. For example, in the NewsWeb Sites section, CNN and ABC are linked with the Drudge Report.TheMagazineWeb Sites page is arranged in 12 broad categories such as Lo-

cal and Regional, Art and Literature, and Health and Fitness. Under each ofthese headings are four to eight links leading to online magazines related toeach category. There are a total of 71 links to magazines. Also found on theMagazine Web Sites page is a listing of 16 magazine directories, with summa-ries included after the link.Kansas City Public Library also subscribes to some newspapers online,

through ProQuest and throughNewsBank. In this way, the library provides ac-cess to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Kansas City Star, and the St. LouisPost-Dispatch. The Document Delivery department at KCPL updates thesepages regularly.

Reference Materials

Kansas City Public Library subscribes to and provides online access to anumber of �traditional� reference resources. The Library Databases page pro-vides links to five encyclopedias, including the Encyclopaedia Britannica andFunk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. That page also has a link to theWorld Almanac and the Information Please Almanac, and to xrefer, whichprovides access to over 50 continuing reference resources, including titles likeWho�s Who in the Twentieth Century and The Concise Dictionary of Linguis-tics.Some of these reference resources, like xrefer and the Encyclopaedia Bri-

tannica, are free Web resources, while others, like theWorld Almanac, are re-sources the library subscribes to through FirstSearch.

Periodical Databases

As mentioned above, the Library Databases page links to 56 periodical da-tabases, encyclopedias, almanacs, and business databases. One of the largerdatabases to which the library subscribes is ProQuest. Through ProQuest, thelibrary provides access to almost 3,000 periodicals and over 34 newspapers,most of which are in full-text format. The library also provides access to

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EBSCOHost, which allows access to over 2,000 periodicals, pamphlets andreference books, many of which are full-text. The library also provides accessto a number of non-periodical online databases, including Books in Print,FactSearch, and Standard and Poor�s NetAdvantage databases.Access to each of these online databases is provided primarily through the

Library DatabasesWeb page, linked to from themain libraryWeb page. Linkscan also be found on the Magazines and Newspapers page and some of thesubject-specific reference link pages. Most of these can be accessed bothwithin the library system and remotely, using a valid library card number andPIN.Sources in the Reference Materials and the Periodical Databases sections

are selected through a collection development task force subcommittee that fo-cuses on electronic material. This task force makes sure that each database/ref-erence work selected for online access is Web accessible and can be accessedremotely using the library�s proxy server.

Government Documents

Many traditional government documents are considered serials, and thesame is true in the electronic world. Kansas City Public Library has two waysto access online government serials�through online databases and through thelibrary�s government documents Web site.KCPL subscribes and provides access to three online government data-

bases. CenStats provides access to familiar government document statisticssuch as county business patterns, ZIP-code business patterns, and internationaltrade data. Stat-USA provides access to theNational Trade Data Bank (NTDB).GPOMonthly Catalog, through FirstSearch, provides access to GPO publica-tions.The government documents Web site is a subsection of the reference and

Internet subject links section of the library�s Web site. It provides access tofederal, state, local, and international government information. Links on thesepages include a wide variety of subjects, including a link to the British RoyalFamily, access to Missouri�s state government Web page, and a link to currentjob openings in the Kansas City, Missouri, city government.

Web Sites

Reference subject links can also be considered a type of continuing elec-tronic resource. Kansas City Public Library has an extensive subject links sec-tion (located at http://kclibrary.org/ref/). The links area has nine broad subject


areas, with 48 subcategory links. Each of these subcategories links to a pagedevoted to a specific subject. Summaries of most links are included.The library�s reference department manages this section of the Web site.

Subject specialists in the reference department continually explore and cri-tique possible Web links for inclusion in the reference linksWeb pages. Thesespecialists also update the pages on a monthly basis, removing dead links andadding new ones.

ACCESS TO E-SERIALSAND CONTINUING ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

All access to Kansas City Public Library�s electronic resource collection isaccomplished through the library�sWeb site, in a number of ways. One can ac-cess the resources through the Web site�clicking, surfing, and searching untilan item of interest is found.Access to many full-text newspapers and journals is provided through the

library�s Library Databases page (http://kclibrary.org/databases/). Using aproxy server with EZProxy software, the library is able to provide access bothwithin the library and remotely, by use of a valid library card number and PIN.The library also uses the 856 field in bibliographic records in its OPAC to

link to some items�primarily for netLibrary, a collection of e-books. The linkto the e-book is accomplished by using the 856 field to house the electronicpointer to the e-book, which is on a server at netLibrary.Members of the Kansas City Library Consortium, administered by Kansas

City Public Library, have experimented with direct linking to online journalsthrough the catalog record. For example, the Japanese Journal of ReligiousStudies has a record in the library catalog (shown in Figure 1). The general ma-terial designation �[computer file]� is added after the title proper. The notessection mentions that the title was taken from the journal�s home page, lastviewed on April 27, 2000. The 856 field�shown in the OPAC as �RelatedURL��provides a clickable URL that leads to the journal.A second example comes from another consortium site. Baker University

(Baldwin City, Kansas) adds online access points to its library�s governmentdocument records. For example, the record for Compilation, Privacy Act Issu-ances (shown in Figure 2) includes the GMD �[computer file]� following thetitle proper and the Related URL field points users to theWeb site of the docu-ment (in this case at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS4279).


PROBLEMS WITH THE 856 FIELD

We have encountered a few problems when using the 856 field to link to theactual journal and/or book through the library catalog, most relating to sharingthe catalog in a consortium setting. The biggest problem is: Who may view theelectronic version of the item? In a traditional setting, a serial�s MARC record isincluded in the library�s catalog for the entire consortium to see�but to use thematerial, one needs to actually visit the library that physically owns the item.


FIGURE 1. Record for the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies


FIGURE 2. Record for Compilation, Privacy Act Issuances

Now, with electronic resources, one doesn�t need to travel anymore. Con-sortiummembers can simply click the URL in the 856 field and instantly get tothe item, right? Wrong! Since an individual library is paying for the item,rather than the whole consortium, only the paying institution has the legal rightto access it. The problem arises when a user from one consortium library clickson the URL of an item purchased by another consortiummember, and can�t ac-cess the item. How does one word the 856 field link so everyone knows thatone institution�s users/students can access an item, but others can�t?Also, it has yet to be determined who can claim ownership of an item in the

catalog, and how that ownership will be displayed, both to the library user andthrough the catalog�s back-end database. For example, the catalog record forthe Journal of Religion and Society shows that only one of the consortium sitesowns the item (shown in Figure 3). However, anyone in the world with Internetaccess can get to the journal and read the articles, because the publisher is cur-rently providing free access to everyone. It makes sense that the consortiummember would claim ownership, since it is providing access. However, the on-line journal isn�t a physical item in anyone�s collection�possibly confusing tosomeone searching from another consortium site.


FIGURE 3. Record for the Journal of Religion and Society

FUTURE GROWTH OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCESAT KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY

There are a number of impending projects planned in regard to electronicresources at Kansas City Public Library. For instance, the library�s DocumentDelivery department now has a line for e-serial purchases in the library�syearly budget. This will cover the more �traditional� types of electronic jour-nal and magazine subscriptions. Purchasing will probably be done throughsome type of electronic journal access and management software, like theEBSCO Online service.Another project in our long-term development plan is to investigate the fea-

sibility of linking to online journals directly through the library�s catalog. Thisproject would include purchased electronic journals and possibly journals thatare accessed through periodical databases. Another possibility is to create aMicrosoft Access database that lists all serials holdings information for elec-tronic serials, separate from the library catalog. If this route was taken, the re-sulting Access database would be accessible through the library�s Web site.Kansas City Public Library has been quick to begin implementing access to

electronic resources. With ongoing development, both within the library sys-tem and in the consortium, Kansas City Public Library will continue tostrengthen its e-resource presence, providing simpler, quicker access to thesepublications.

NOTE

1. Jean Hirons, Revising AACR2 to Accommodate Seriality: Report to the JointSteering Committee for Revision of AACR, April 1999, http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/jsc/ser-rep4.html (14 February 2001).
