IFLA Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC Core Programme (UBCIM)

Medium Term Programme 1998-2001

Scope

The UBCIM Programme is primarily concerned with the coordination of activities aimed at the development of systems and standards for bibliographic control at the national level and the international exchange of bibliographic data. To achieve Universal Bibliographic Control each national bibliographic agency should be responsible for recording its national imprint in a form which is in accordance with international bibliographic standards and thus interchangeable with those of other national bibliographic agencies. The Programme aims to create and maintain standards for machine--readable data exchange and will include, when appropriate, developments in the electronic and networked environment. It provides a focus for all IFLA activities related to these aims and through its publication programme disseminates relevant information. The Programme is especially involved with the work of the Division of Bibliographic Control and its component Sections as well as that of the Section on Information Technology. It is also concerned with those relevant activities of other Divisions and Sections and other organisations such as ISO TC46, ISBN and ISSN.

Programme Goals, 1998-2001 - Action Plans, 1998-1999

Goal 1
Develop and promote bibliographic standards and guidelines with particular attention to new technologies

Actions:

1.1 Make a concise version of UNIMARC available on the Web in cooperation with the Permanent UNIMARC Committee.
1.2 Actively participate in the International Conference on National Bibliographic Services (ICNBS), Copenhagen, 1998, and its preparation, with the Division of Bibliographic Control and other IFLA groups.
1.3 Organize and hold with the Division of Bibliographic Control in cooperation with the ALP Programme and the National Library of Malaysia, a UBC/UNIMARC seminar in Kuala Lumpur, March 1998.

1.4 Consider standards for electronic publications with the Division of Bibliographic Control, the Section on Information Technology and the UDT Programme.

Goal 2
Promote the development of authority control at the international level

Actions:

2.1 Work with the IFLA UBCIM Working Group on the Minimal Level Authority Record and the ISADN in cooperation with the Division of Bibliographic Control on a system to facilitate the international exchange of authority data.

2.2 Organize, according to needs, relevant workshops on authority control, including a workshop during the IFLA Conference in Amsterdam, on the results of the WG on MLAR.

Goal 3
Maintain and promote the UNIMARC format through a group of experts, the Permanent UNIMARC Committee

Actions:

3.1 Continue to act as Secretariat for the Permanent UNIMARC Committee, organizing in cooperation with the Russian National Library for Science and Technology the 9th meeting to be held in Moscow, organize the 10th meeting in 1999, take minutes of meetings.
3.2 Distribute or ask Saur to publish UNIMARC updates and guidelines on special materials (UNIMARC Update 3 scheduled to be published in 1998, update 4 in 1999).
3.3 Coordinate the work of a new Working Group in charge of the preparation of a UNIMARC classification format.
3.4 Organize a UNIMARC workshop during the German Librarians' Conference to be held in Frankfurt in June 1998.

3.5 Help the Permanent UNIMARC Committee in preparing a revision of UNIMARC/Authorities.

Goal 4
Continue its publication programme (a professional quarterly and monographs) to disseminate information on its standards and publish proceedings of relevant meetings

Actions:

4.1 International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control (ICBC), IFLA reports, commissioned and unsolicited articles, news and events, book reviews.
4.2 Monographs in UBCIM Publications - New Series (K.G. Saur)

Proceedings of the Workshop on Multiscript, Multilingual, Multi-character Issues for the Online Environment Held in Istanbul, August 1995

Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records

Annotated Guide to Current National Bibliographies (2nd edition)

UNIMARC/Authorities (2nd edition)

Principles Underlying Subject Heading Languages

Anonymous Classics

Goal 5
Act as clearing house for information on all IFLA endeavours in the field of bibliographic control.