Database created by CORC project continues to grow

The database for the CORC project was created on Jan. 15, 1999, with 175,341 records from the OCLC NetFirst and OCLC InterCat databases.

Both NetFirst and InterCat were originally developed with the same goal--to improve access to electronic information. However, the compositions of the two databases are dissimilar because they were predicated on different resource description philosophies. Bringing these two resources together into a single catalog has several positive advantages. First, the catalog has been populated with a large number of quality records in a short period of time. This jump-start is helpful in trying to describe a collection as vast as the World Wide Web. By using these records, the duplication of effort on the part of libraries to describe many electronic resources is minimized. Another advantage is the enhanced access to items that overlapped in the two databases. By merging these records together, the access points are increased and the resource becomes easier to locate. This happens because indexers created the NetFirst records by following abstracting and indexing principles, while catalogers created the InterCat records by adhering to the USMARC and AACR2 standards for their bibliographic description.

Nearly 1,200 records have been added to the database by CORC participant libraries since the database was created with the OCLC NetFirst and OCLC InterCat records.

More information about NetFirst and InterCat in the context of the CORC project is available from Cooperative Online Resource Catalog Frequently Asked Questions.--Pat McClain is senior systems analyst, OCLC Office of Research.