Other organizations recommend the use of SGML (standard generalized markup language) as a common format for the bibliographic records and the corresponding hypertextual and multimedia documents.
As most of the publishers use the SGML format to store their documents, a convergence between MARC and SGML is expected to occur. The Library of Congress set up the DTD (definition of type of document, which defines its logical structure) for the USMARC format, because it will probably sell more and more data both in SGML and in USMARC. A DTD for the UNIMARC format has also been developed within the European Union. In his study L'accès aux catalogues des bibliothèques par Internet (The Access to Library Catalogs through the Internet), Thierry Samain specifies that some libraries choose the SGML format to encode their bibliographic data. In the Belgian Union Catalog, for example, the use of SGML allows one first to add descriptive elements stemming from the MARC format and other formats, and second to facilitate the production of the annual CD-ROM.
The libraries also have to adapt their thesauri and their key-word lists. In international bibliographic databases like the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the absence of a universal thesaurus is a real problem when you try to find documents using the search by subjects. In Europe, each country uses thesauri or key-word lists in its own language, whereas multilingual thesauri would be essential.
Another problem is the harmonization of software. From January to December 1997, ONE (OPAC Network in Europe) was a collaborative project involving 15 organizations in eight European countries. This project provided library users with better ways to access library OPACs (online public access catalogs) and national catalogs, and stimulated and facilitated interworking between libraries in Europe.
Because of international rules, catalog records are often much more difficult to establish today than in the past. That is why nowadays libraries often hire full-time catalogers. Because of the knowledge and the training it requires, cataloging has become a specialty in librarianship.
In a few years, catalogs on the Web will no longer be "only" a collection of records, which is often a prelude to a difficult time finding the document itself - because of the forms to fill out and the difficulties of interlibrary loans. Catalogs on the Web will give instant access to the documents on the screen. This is already true in an experimental way for a few thousands documents, but has to be progressively widened to all catalogs.
9. PERSPECTIVES
[In this chapter:]
[9.1. Print Media and the Internet / 9.2. Intellectual Property / 9.3. Multimedia Convergence / 9.4. The Information Society]
9.1. Print Media and the Internet