UnityUK data improvement programme to be rolled out
UnityUK data improvement programme to be rolled out
[UKPRwire, Fri Jul 06 2007] OCLC PICA, in partnership with The Combined Regions (TCR), has completed the roll-out of phase one of a series of enhancements that improve the quality and the breadth of data available through the UnityUK national resource sharing service. The first phase of data enhancements has been carried out by OCLC PICA in response to feedback from users and the next phase is due to begin in summer 2007.
Katie Birch, Portfolio Manager with OCLC PICA explains why this project was needed, “When UnityUK was launched we were aware that there were many outstanding requests to improve the data held in the former UnityWeb service. We understand that high quality, consistently catalogued data is vital to the smooth operation and efficient usage of the service. Having got to grips with the detail of what was needed, we put together a data improvement programme that is delivering a step change improvement to the data within the service.”
The data enhancement programme consists of three key strands. First, the data that was imported from the former UnityWeb service has been cleaned. Records have been de-duplicated, in one case, a single ISBN was present no less than 40 times. Furthermore, non-existing items were removed and (where necessary) data within each record has been moved to the appropriate MARC field. As a result of this project, in excess of 3,300,000 records have had their data made more consistent with MARC rules.
The second development strand integrates the catalogues and holdings information from the four main locations providing resources for the visually impaired. Inclusion of these catalogues brings a unique aspect to the UnityUK union catalogue. Data from the catalogues of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, National Library for the Blind, CALIBRE and The Torch Trust will be loaded into UnityUK.
Pat Beech, Manager RNIB National Library Service explains the significance of the move, “Adding collection information from Revealweb to the Unity UK service is a real step forward for blind and partially sighted people as it will make it easier for them to use mainstream libraries. This project is an excellent example of what can be achieved when public libraries and the voluntary sector work together."
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For the first time, UnityUK will bring together nationally held and locally held materials for the visually impaired and make them available to users with a single search.
Finally, the development programme addresses the quality and depth of holdings records within the service. Complete database loads have been carried out for around 70 UnityUK member libraries and 8 million high quality BL records, with holdings, will be loaded over the summer 2007.
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Notes to editors:
About UnityUK
UnityUK is the upgraded web-based resource sharing and interlibrary loan service provided by The Combined Regions (TCR). UnityUK, launched in May 2006, delivers leading edge functionality for union catalogue, cross database searching, holdings and item location, interlibrary loan and resource sharing services. UnityUK uses the latest international resource sharing standards and integrates with all major library management systems in use in the UK today. UnityUK also links together the union catalogues of the TCR member libraries and LinkUK library resources, to provide the first national resource sharing service for the UK.
www.unity-uk.com
About The Combined Regions (TCR)
The Combined Regions (TCR) is the organisation behind the Unity resource sharing service. For more than 10 years, TCR has provided interlending services to its 140 member library organisations across the South West, North East, East Midlands, North East and Scotland. Under the Unity name, TCR’s resource sharing services began with a CD union catalogue, and in 2001 moved to become web-based. In February 2006, The Combined Regions announced the launch of a new and upgraded Unity service to be provided by OCLC PICA.
www.combinedregions.com
About OCLC PICA
OCLC PICA is a leading supplier of software solutions, content and services to libraries. Professionals and end users in academic and public libraries, the health sector, as well as government and cultural institutions worldwide benefit from its services. These include its own union catalogue and resource sharing solutions, integrated library systems and portal products. In Europe and southern Africa, OCLC PICA also offers the full range of OCLC products and services for cataloguing, eBooks, collection and digital content management and virtual reference services.
OCLC PICA B.V. is jointly owned by OCLC Inc. and Stichting Pica. OCLC is a not-for-profit organization and offers its services to 54,000 libraries worldwide. Stichting Pica (est. 1969) is a foundation that promotes and encourages the scientific and public information service in the Netherlands. OCLC PICA has its headquarters in Leiden, the Netherlands, with offices in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Australia. More information about OCLC PICA can be found at www.oclcpica.org .
OCLC PICA incorporates OCLC Europe, PICA (a key service-provider in the library infrastructure of the Netherlands), SISIS (the leading library-automation company in Germany) and Fretwell-Downing Informatics (a leading international provider of library automation and resource-sharing solutions).
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