History

Updated Nov. 2021

Brief history of e-serial cataloging at Princeton

prior to 1998:

• Access to e-journals was primarily through a Library web page (A-Z list) maintained by selectors.  A very small handful of e-journals had catalog records as well.

1998:

• Catalog Division (serials team) took over responsibility for maintaining the e-journals A-Z web page.

late 1998-early 1999:

• More e-journal records began to be added to the catalog.  Retrospectively scanned journals (e.g. JSTOR) had fields added to the print version records.  Currently published journals (e.g. Project Muse) received full separate cataloging.

mid-1999:

• The single-record approach for e-journal cataloging — adding information about an e-version to the print version record — was adopted.  A project was begun, and continued into 2000, to get all e-journals from the A-Z list into the catalog as well.

spring 2001:

• Holdings were added to all e-journal records.  At this time, any remaining separate records that could now be done via the single-record approach were deleted/suppressed and replaced according to the later practice.

summer 2002:

• The Library adopted the Ex Libris SFX link resolver service, to enable direct linking from online reference databases to full-text articles. Catalog Division (serials team) assumed responsibility for maintenance of titles and packages in SFX. At this time SFX was an addition to, not a replacement of, other access routes to e-journals; the catalog & A-Z list were still maintained in parallel.

summer 2009:

• The Library began to receive MARCit! records from Ex Libris for all e-journals activated in SFX. This marked a reversal of the earlier choice of a single-record approach, but Voyager profiles were established in order to bib-link print and electronic versions in the OPAC display. For the first time titles from our large aggregator databases (e.g. EBSCO, ProQuest) were represented in the catalog. From this point on, local e-journal cataloging was continued only for titles not available in the SFX KnowledgeBase. A long-term cleanup project was begun to delete/suppress the previous 10 years’ worth of bib and holdings records that were rendered redundant.

fall 2009:

• The locally maintained A-Z list was replaced by one generated from SFX.

2010-winter 2019:

• Through various upgrades, SFX became more inclusive. Titles without ISSN were added to the KB, and we gained the ability to add titles and even packages locally. Cataloging of e-serials in Voyager was almost completely replaced by adding/activating them in SFX. MARCit! records for new and updated titles were loaded into the catalog monthly.

spring 2019-spring 2021:

• A locally developed system for creating catalog records for e-serials replaced the MARCit! service. Active titles were still identified based on SFX, but we gained greater control over the process, opening up new possibilities for improving the records.

summer 2021-present:

• SFX was among the systems entirely replaced by Ex Libris's Alma library services system. The bulk of e-serial records now come from the Alma Community Zone, though we have the ability to de-link them from the CZ in cases where they need improvement or replacement.