The Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service distributes the weekly tapes of U.S. MARC records for books, films, maps, serials and music that are used by the bibliographic utilities, large mainframe systems and a number of commercial distributors. It also provides three services specifically tailored to the needs of libraries undertaking retrospective conversion.
In the Select MARC Record service a library provides a tape of the LCCNs for which it requires machine-readable records. (In some circumstances the service can handle LCCNs submitted in typed rather than machine-readable form.) The LCCNs are then run against the LC files with matching records output on tape. A processing charge of $20.00 is levied for each file--books, maps, serials, etc.--searched. The charge per record retrieved is $.07.
The MARC Abbreviated Searching Records service offers libraries undertaking conversion the three retrospective files for monographs--Books All, Books English or Books U.S.--in an abbreviated format. The intent is that a library can mount the file and use it to identify the LCCNs of the full MARC records needed for conversion. The abbreviated records contain ISBN, main entry, title, edition, imprint, and series fields. The average length of the abbreviated records is 240 characters as compared with full length records which average 700 characters in length. As of mid-1984, LC was charging $3,000.00 per file for this service, but the pricing is expected to be changed, probably to equate with one-third of the price for the retrospective files of full MARC records. [The price of the retrospective file for Books All is currently $4,025, Books English $2,725, and Books U.S. $1,825.]
The third option is that of Custom Selected MARC Files. This service uses the fact that most of the MARC data bases maintained by the Cataloging Distribution Service can be divided into subsets other than those offered as standard services. Selections can be based on criteria such as language, date, subject, classification, etc., as required by a particular library. Records obtained through the custom select option are priced at $.07 each plus a charge for programming the required algorithm.
[Contact: Cataloging Distribution Service, Customer Services Section, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 20541 (202) 287-6171.]
