Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER
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Computer-based British Library map records
Sarah Tyacke, British Library Map Library
© LIBER and author
Published from: Bulletin Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, 28(1986)
In the United Kingdom the map librarian, curator, and archivist community have enhanced the UKMARC format and are contributing data to the catalogue automation system (LOCAS) of the British Library. They are still active in the field of improving automated access to maps, both at the operational and research level.
establishment of a national committee
The British Library sponsored a national committee, now known as BRICMICS (British Committee for Map Information and Catalogue Systems). It included the map librarians of the other legal deposit libraries -the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, and Cambridge University Library- and of government departments such as the Ministry of Defence Map Library. The Committee also represented in this field the various national professional bodies such as the Library Association, the Society of Archivists, and the Map Curators Group of the British Cartographic Society.
The Committee collaborated, through representatives and a working group, in the compilation of the manual Cartographic materials: a manual of interpretation for AACR2, which was produced in 1982 by the Anglo-American Committee for Cataloguing Cartographic Materials (AACCCM) under the general editorship of Hugo Stibbe of the Public Archives of Canada. This is the cataloguing manual for the British Library's development of computer-based records for cartographic materials.
The British Committee then enhanced the UK Machine Readable Records format, known as UKMARC (which was designed for bibliographic records) to enable records of cartographic materials to be added to the British Library national database.
The UKMARC format for maps
A working party was set up by the Committee in 1980 to create the UKMARC format for maps. Its immediate programme was as follows:
- to confirm that all necessary descriptive rules defined by AACR2 were included in the existing UKMARC format;
- to study other MARC maps formats to see whether any existing fields were required in the UKMARC format;
- to propose elements new to the MARC format in general and required to meet the special needs of cartographic materials.
Proposals were then put to the British Library Bibliographic Services Division defining the elements which should be included in the national format. These would enable a UKMARC record for cartographic items to be retrieved both in catalogue form and in an information retrieval system, i.e., on-line.
The additional fields and enhancements proposed appeared in Change 3 of the UKMARC Manual Edition 2, published in 1983.
The fields added are as follows:
| TAG | DESCRIPTION
|
| Coded fields | |
| 026 | ISCN (reserved for future use) |
| 031 | Relief, projection and prime meridian |
| 032 | Geodetic grid and vertical measurement |
| 034 | Scale and coordinate |
| 036 | Dates |
| 037 | Physical description codes |
| 038 | Aerial photography and remote sensing imagery |
| 062 | (MOD) Manual of Map Library Classification and Cataloguing GSGS 5307,1978 |
| Other fields | |
| 557 | Graphic index and characteristic sheet note |
| 653 | British Library Map Library Subject Heading |
If we look at the coded data fields (tags 031 to 038 and 062) some indication here of what they comprise and their structure will be helpful. The full listing of possible codes for each field is given in the UKMARC manual 031-038 in Appendix M.
031 Relief, projection and prime meridian
Relief codes enable the cataloguer to record such cartographic elements as the presence of 'form lines', 'spot heights' and, for earlier maps, 'pictorial' features.
Projections are in three families, viz: azimuthal or zenithal projections; conics; cylindricals; and includes a series of codes for the other properties of these projections, namely whether they are conformal, equal-area, equidistant, etc. Projections not included in the main families are coded under other projections. The prime meridian may also be recorded here. The structure of the field is a string of 9-11 numeric characters identified by their positions in the string, e.g. the relief codes occupy positions 1-4 and up to 4 may be input. As you will probably appreciate, the codes represent those relief features and projections the working group thought most useful to distinguish in an ideal operational world. In practice most libraries including the British Library Map Library cannot afford the staff time to record all the reliefs and projections of maps. The codes are used selectively for the more unusual features and projections. This selectivity is true of the other coded data fields with the exception of scale, which is always included.
032 Geodetic, grid and vertical measurement field
This coded data field covers horizontal datum codes and also grid and referencing systems codes i.e. the National Grid System for the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, or the Universal Transverse Mercator Grid. It is completed by the vertical datum codes, e.g. Ordnance Datum (Newlyn). This type of coding is essential in some specialist map libraries but not in a general Map Library like that of the British Library. The structure is as described for 031.
034 Scale and coordinated field Scale
This is used to enable the searching of maps at a certain scale and is designed to be searchable by ranging in the online system, e.g. maps between 50,000 and 10,000 or less than 100,000. The scale is expressed as type of scale e.g. linear , angular.
Geographical coordinates:
These are expressed as W. E. N. S., (West, East, North, South) in degrees, minutes and seconds. In the case of the Map Library we have decided not to use coordinates as we are retrospectively converting our printed catalogue from 1965 onwards and cannot supply coordinates for the earlier records. It is perhaps debatable how far in a standard MARC environment the use of coordinates rather than other types of area access is possible. Other systems utilize coordinate retrieval for searching; they might also use geographic area codes for rapid textual searching, or use geographic area subject headings. It is probably most helpful to decide what you want your automated system to do and to assess what
staff resources you actually have, before opting to put in geographic coordinates. The field for them is however available for use in the national UKMARC standard - 034.
036 Dates (cartographic materials) field
This field was devised to assist in distinguishing between the date of situation portrayed on a map and its date of production (either in manuscript or printed).
The field can thus provide coded information about topographic base dates (i.e. surveyed when) construction dates (i.e. compiled when), information dates (i.e. road information) and, in a separate subfjelds, coded information about the map's production that is information about its drawing, engraving, printing etc.
In the normal course of events the Library will only use this field for manuscript or very rare earlier material. Otherwise the 008 field suffices.
038 Aerial photography and remotely-sensed imagery
Some map libraries, including our own, now hold hardcopy remotely-sensed imagery. Where records are constructed 038 is designed to record those features appropriate for remote sensing, e.g. type of satellite, type of recording technique, e.g. MSS, spectral band information etc.
062 MOD Classification number (GSGS 5307, 1978) field
There are a number of classification schemes available for use with cartographic materials. In the UK some libraries use the MOD area system which consists of an area classification code and a classification area.
$a C17:40 $b England & Wales: prov. Greater London.
As this is the case the field was included for their benefit.
653 British Library Map Library Subject Readings field
This was devised as a national catalogue heading for cartographic materials in the UK. The structure enables the Library to use the old headings in the printed catalogue in a modified way for the new catalogue, thus avoiding in some respects the problems of a 'split' catalogue in terms of its headings. If we look at the 653 field - geographic area heading, element by element, you will see how it is constructed.
| Definition |
| First indicator | 0 |
| Second indicator | 0 |
| Subfield marks | Sa Entry element |
| Sb Inverted part of entry element |
| Sc Additional element distinguishing two or more places of same name (printing) |
| Sd Additional element distinguishing two or more places of the same name (non-printing) |
| Se Addition to name defining ad- ministrative, politicalor historical jurisdiction. |
| Sf Addition to name more narrowly defining area covered |
| Sj Subject name |
| Sk Form name |
| Sl Supplementary subject name |
| Sx Appendix |
| Sy First date (non-printing) |
| Sz Second date (non-printing) |
Subfield Se contains a closed list of terms relating to jurisdictions in use in the Map Library which can be added to on review.
With selected headings, such as the Netherlands and Germany, the historic jurisdiction has had to be retained in the new catalogue to reflect the historic material in the collections. In order to preserve this historical, chronological, order it has been necessary to use a filing weight in a local field (659) for each record in these areas:
Example
| Netherlands | | Filing weight |
| Netherlands | Se Seventeen Provinces | 659 Saa |
| Se Seven United Provinces | b |
| Se Austrian Netherlands | c |
| Se Eatavian Republic | d |
| Se Kingdom | e |
| Sf Coasts | f |
| Sx Appendix | h |
| Se Colonies | 9 |
The geographical subject headings (653 field) appear as shown on Fig. I, entries from the BL map catalogue (1986).
The enhancements indicated above do not constitute all the fields added to UKMARC but they are those relevant to geographic area access by codes and text and to cartographic information about the maps e.g. scale. They are in use at main entry level, that is entries for single sheet maps, map series at series level, atlases, and other collections of groups of maps treated as a single entry.
Map series at sheet and edition level
For various reasons UKMARC as used in automated cataloguing (LOCAS) and in the information system (ELAISE) is not able to cope with large map series with which we are all familiar. I am aware of course that DUMARC, as developed at the Utrecht Geographical Institute, has modified the system to enable this to be achieved by means of all automated record copy/edit process. In the British Library this is not the case at present, and various automated alternatives are being pursued in the U.K. Two systems, for example, MAPLIB and the system used at Edinburgh University Geography Department have made strides in sheet map catalogue/information systems.
The Edinburgh development, funded by BL Research & Development, attempts to combine a simplified version of the cataloguing standards laid down in AACR2 with all online graphic index of the map series. This development is based on ORACLE/GIMMS software and is being developed by Tom Waugh (GIMMS), Barbara Morris (Map Librarian), and Richard Healey (Database Manager). ORACLE is a relational database system, and GIMMS is probably kmown to you as a mapping and graphics system. The development being undertaken includes all interface (GEOLINK) between the Catalogue (ORACLE) and the Graphic indexes (GIMMS). There are, of course, other Geographic Information Systems available, for example ARC-INFO, but they are designed to handle geographic information on maps rather than information about maps. The features of the Edinburgh system are: the use of sheet-map coordinates to produce either lists or graphic indexes showing coverage in response to a reader's enquiry, and the production of graphic indexes to map series by digitising sheet corners into a world outline database. For map libraries the digitising of index maps to map series, (often over 50% of map collection), and their automatic generation in response to queries, should alleviate the time-consuming updating of indexes. Where a Library uses index maps as a means of control and information retrieval, this development may prove all economic as well as a more informative way of recording the series maps, i.e. index + short bibliographic record. The system is at a development stage with a test file available for demonstration, but there are a number of further developments necessary: not least the problems of remote use of graphics across telecommunications systems will require resolution.
The other system available to map libraries in universities as elsewhere is MAPLIB, developed at Middlesex Polytechnic. This is a co-ordinate information retrieval system and is operational. The geographical window is expressed as W. E. N. S. and it can provide information about 19 characteristics of maps. It is however a coded/fixed field system and its cataloguing application is limited, although, as it is operational and an retrieve on coordinates very successfully, it has been used in some medium-sized map libraries. Recently a graphics Interface has been coupled to MAPFIL (the listing part of the system) which enables map coverage to be plotted in response to enquiries. This is still at development stage.
Conclusions
On a more general note it is worth bearing in mind that as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) develop and maps in non-graphic form as databases become more common, the map librarian's role may well have to change. The information on maps, that is the spatially distributed data, and the map itself as a container of that information, about which we map librarians keep and generate records, will tend to merge. This is probably inevitable in those libraries where digital map and remotely-sensed imagery is or will be stored in digital form. Where this happens, new views of what constitutes a map and how to describe the map dataset will be required. As a first step in the U.K., the BL has initiated a report on the digital and remotely-sensed databases already existing and available in the U.K. The information is held on the BL Cartographic Materials file. Thus the context of our discussions has changed considerably from that of even five years ago, and map librarians, in considering cataloguing/information systems, have to consider how far they and their institutions can afford to take account of these developments. The map librarian has always provided information about maps and the spatial information on them. The appearance of automated spatial information systems, e.g. census mapping, in current cartography/geography will require a reappraisal of the map librarian's role and the tools which he uses to provide a service to the enquirer. The alternative will be confinement to an historic paper/hard copy role, while other take on part of the traditional role of map librarians.
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