# /research/publications/archive/releases/1999-05-24.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/archive/releases/1999-05-24.htm

# CORC project participants hold first meeting

DUBLIN, Ohio, May 24, 1999--Nearly 90 people representing more than 50 institutions participating in OCLC's Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) research project met in Dublin on April 26-27. Participating institutions in five countries are using a system developed by OCLC's Office of Research to extend the WorldCat collaborative cataloging model to the digital resources of the World Wide Web.

The two-day meeting, hosted by the OCLC Office of Research, was the first face-to-face meeting of the participants since the project came online Jan. 15. It provided an opportunity for representatives and OCLC staff to share experiences from the first few months of the project. Participants provided feedback on the current state of the project and discussed its future directions.

"What we learned from the formal presentations and from just talking with each other was invaluable," said Jacqueline Byrd, head, Area Studies Cataloging Section, Indiana University Libraries. "The CORC system facilitates the cataloging of electronic resources today and eventually will facilitate the access as well. I particularly enjoy the pathfinders, and I believe they will be extremely useful for patrons and public service librarians."

Among the topics covered in relation to the project were: authority control; the Dublin Core; managing digital collections; MARC use; pathfinders; cartography and images; the CORC system and interface; the Dewey Decimal Classification, Text Encoding Initiative, Encoded Archival Description and various other thesauri, classification and metadata schemes; uses of the CORC database in public services; government documents and serials; and the use of CORC outside of North America.

"The CORC project represents the most ambitious project yet undertaken by the OCLC Office of Research," said Terry Noreault, vice president, OCLC Office of Research. "We strongly believe that libraries must serve as the portal of choice for their users' access to the digital information environment. This is a vital mission for libraries so they can fulfill their societal role in enhancing access to information, but it is also important because libraries can do this better than any other institution."

OCLC, in cooperation with libraries around the world, launched the CORC project in January 1999. The research project is exploring the cooperative creation and sharing of metadata by libraries. Libraries use prototype software to contribute to a new database of electronic resource descriptions. Automated tools speed subject assignment, provide authority control, extract descriptors, and translate metadata from Dublin Core format to MARC and other formats.

"Working at one of the largest public libraries in the United States during the last year of the 20th century brings enormous challenges as well as possibilities for services unheard of even a few years ago," said Mary Frances Melnik, chief, Processing Division, Free Library of Philadelphia. "We view CORC as such an opportunity, not only to enrich our collections via our Web pages, but also as an opportunity to share resources with the library community at large. Since public access to information and materials is primary to our mission, ease of access to electronic resources follows as the next logical step. The CORC project, based on the principles of librarianship, provides an automated environment in which to identify, select, catalog and classify important electronic resources, helping us to expand our resources and access to them, and thereby meet our service goals."

"CORC has the potential to be one of the most significant developments in modern librarianship this century-perhaps second only to the development of OCLC itself," said Duncan T.D. Irvine, head, Bibliographic Control, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom.

Institutions participating in the CORC project currently include:

Amigos Bibliographic Council, Texas Arlington County Public Library, Virginia Auburn University, Alabama Austin Peay State University, Tennessee Brown University, Rhode Island Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries Colorado School of Mines Colorado State Library Colorado State University Columbia University, New York Cornell University, New York Dartmouth College, New Hampshire Denver Public Library, Colorado Dickinson College, Pennsylvania Dominican University, Illinois Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah Energy and Environmental Information Resource Center, Louisiana Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. Federal Library and Information Center Committee, Washington, D.C. Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Grand Valley State University, Michigan Illinois State Library Indiana University Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico James Madison University, Virginia Le Moyne College, New York Lehigh University, Pennsylvania Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michigan Library Consortium Michigan State University Missouri Library Network Corporation NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C. National Library of Australia National Library of Wales, United Kingdom National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Maryland National Taiwan University, Republic of China Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. | Nebraska Library Commission NELINET, Massachusetts Niedersächsische Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, Germany North Carolina State University North Suburban Library System, Illinois Northwestern University, Illinois Nylink, New York PALINET, Pennsylvania Penn State University, Pennsylvania Plymouth State College, New Hampshire Princeton University, New Jersey Purdue University, Indiana Queens Borough Public Library, New York St. Joseph County Public Library, Indiana Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. Southeastern Library Network, Georgia State University of New York at Buffalo State University of New York at Stony Brook Texas State Library and Archives Commission United States Geological Survey, National Center, Virginia United States Department of the Interior, Natural Resource Library, Washington, D.C. University of Chicago, Illinois University of Colorado at Denver University of Denver University of Illinois-Chicago University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University of Iowa University of Kentucky University of Michigan University of Minnesota University of Minnesota, Bio-Medical Library University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of North Dakota University of North Texas University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom University of Texas, Austin University of Virginia University of Washington University of Wisconsin-Madison Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Washtenaw Community College, Michigan Yale University, Connecticut

Participant institutions agree to provide staff time to the project over the next 12-18 months. OCLC expects CORC to grow to over 100 institutions by the end of 1999.