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Government Documents Retrospective Conversion Projects:
A Survey, June 1998

GODORT LogoCarolyn Kohler, University of Iowa Libraries
Elizabeth B. Richmond, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire McIntyre Library
Timothy Byrne, University of Colorado, Government Publications Library

Background 

The American Library Association, Government Documents Round Table Cataloging Committee and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC)1, Government Publications Task Force developed and Co-sponsored a Government Documents Retrospective Conversion Projects Survey in the spring of 1998. The survey was mounted at the University of Iowa website (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/govpubs/survey.htm) in June 1998. The survey also was sent to listservs (govdoc-l, autocat, intercat, serialist) and was distributed to depository libraries by the Government Printing Office.

Survey Intent

The survey was intended to collect information on cataloging projects for pre-1976 US Government publications. The GODORT Cataloging Committee, at its 1998 Midwinter meeting, reviewed projects and issues involved in completing pre-1976 retrospective cataloging projects. (See for information about the January 1998 Cataloging Committee meeting and program.) The survey also was intended as a needs assessment to determine progress made in retrospective conversion projects and did not obligate participating institutions to engage in any future projects. The survey also was intended to gather information regarding interest in future institutional and cooperative retrospective conversion projects. Respondents were to complete the survey via the web by July 15, 1998.

Interest in Future Projects

58% of the 299 respondents to the survey indicated that they would be interested in cataloging "selected documents in [their] collection which have been identified as needing original cataloging" (Question 12), while 36% indicated an interest in "a multi-library project for retrospective cataloging" (Question 10). Only 7% of the respondents to Question 11 were interested in volunteering staff time to catalog documents owned by other institutions; 93% were not interested in such a project.

The Survey and Responses

For Questionnaire, click here
See Full Responses by Institution A-F, G-M, N-T, U-Z
For Summary Results, click here
For Projects Cited, click here
For information on GovRetro-L, click here

1 Project developers included the American Library Association, Government Documents Round Table Cataloging Committee, Survey Work Group: Elizabeth Richmond, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (richmoeb@uwec.edu), Tim Byrne, University of Colorado (byrnet@spot.colorado.edu), Jill Vassilakos-Long, Claremont Colleges (jvlong@rocky.claremont.edu), Arlene Weible, Cataloging Committee Chair, Willamette University (aweible@willamette.edu) and a representative of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Government Publications Task Force: Carolyn Kohler, University of Iowa Libraries (carolyn-kohler@uiowa.edu).