RedLightGreen Accelerates Research: RLG’s Union Catalog on the Web

Merrilee Proffitt
Program Officer, Member Initiatives
RLG

With generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, RLG began work in late 2001 looking at ways in which it could make the rich information held in the RLG Union Catalog available to a wider audience in a freely available Web environment. During the intervening time, we have learned volumes about what undergraduate users want from online information resources; how data mining software can uncover valuable new information hidden in the RLG Union Catalog; how to provide access to a wealth of complex information through a simple, easy-to-use interface; new opportunities for using bibliographic data to help end users find authoritative sources of research information; what is involved in the complicated process of transforming MARC records to XML; and incorporating concepts outlined in the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), an emerging standard for distinguishing between various editions.

This presentation will feature an explanation of the history, motivations, “lessons learned,” and future directions of the project, a live demo of the pilot system, and outtakes of use studies.