Option 1: nothing electronic in the catalog

• Pros:
• makes choice of where to search locally for remote e-resources clearer--they won't be in the catalog
• patrons will look on catalog as another database that includes print and other formats, except remote access resources
• Cons:
• since all remote resources aren't in Research Port, this means access to many remote resources will not be facilitated locally
• the wealth of other resources available in USMAI collections may be lost to users who don't search the catalog
• considerable effort will need to be expended to remove all remote e-resource records and links from the catalog
• Questions to consider:
• Are URLs in records for tangible resources that link to supplemental information, such as Tables of Contents, to be removed? Or, does "nothing in the catalog" mean no records or holdings for remote access resources in the catalog?
• What about the thousands of records for remote resources that cannot currently be enabled by SFX, such as federal documents?
• Do federated search capabilities of Research Port serve the resource discovery needs of our users sufficiently to make Research Port the single place to search both remote e-resources such as e-journals and databases, as well as catalogusmai (for all other formats of materials besides remote e-resources)
• What to do about the electronic records already in the catalog; large job to take them out
• What to do about new records coming in; do you delete urls?
• What about Marcive records, which are automatically loaded with urls?

Option 2: all electronic resources in the catalog

• Pros:
• Single reliable place to search for all formats of titles in USMAI collections
• everything in one place; no question patron may miss something; no need to search multiple places
• won’t have to edit catalog records to eliminate urls makes the catalog cleaner; no question about what to include
• Cons:
• staff workload intensive; with staff shortages, may not be enough staff to manage this
• not every electronic resource is appropriate for the catalog
• Questions to consider:
• How many bibliographic records are necessary to describe a title available in multiple formats across USMAI?
• What about maintenance of persistent access to remote resource titles that the SFX KB cannot accommodate?
• How do you catalog different kinds of electronic resources? Do you catalog all e-journals or just full-text, cover-to-cover e-journals?
• What about aggregate e-journals and online databases?
• What about web pages?
• Do you catalog separate bibs for e-journals, or do you use the print record as an integrated record?
• If you decide to use the print bib as an integrated record, what if your library doesn’t have a print version – do you pull in or use a print or electronic bib? Would this be confusing to the patron, e.g. a print bib for an e-journal that the library has never owned in print?
• What about url maintenance? If urls are in the catalog, users will click on them; maintenance of these urls needs to be considered

Option 3: some electronic resources, but not all, in the catalog

• Pros:
• by each campus selecting their most important (to them) electronic resources for inclusion in the catalog, patrons will find a variety of resources (print, electronic, non-print, etc.) in one place to meet their needs (what constitutes “most important” would vary from campus to campus)
• better and more practical use of staff resources; some vs. everything more manageable
• based on survey, most USMAI institutions are already doing some version of this; consistent with present practice, and in fact, past practice; everything has never been in the catalog – choices have always been made
• Cons:
• all resources not in one place; confusing to the patron to search multiple places to find everything
• isn’t clear to patron where to search, or even to know they need to search multiple places
• inclusion of type of e-resources in catalog inconsistent from one campus to another
• Questions to consider:
• How do you decide what is the most important electronic resource? Opinions may vary from campus to campus
• What about aggregate e-journals and online databases?
• What about web pages?
• Do you catalog separate bibs for e-journals, or do you use the print record as an integrated record?
• If you decide to use the print bib as integrated record, what if you don’t have a print version – do you pull in or use a print or electronic bib? Would this be confusing to the patron, e.g. a print bib for an e-journal that the library has never owned in print?

Phased implementation scenario under Option #3

• Phase One, E-Journals
  
• Why?: Doable at this time with least effort
• Ex Libris works with e-journal publishers to maintain currency of SFX Knowledge Base;
• ability to load each campus’ holdings from SFX database into catalog
• inclusion of aggregator content
• ability to update on regular basis (monthly?)
• Question: are all the 16 libraries committed to keeping their e-journal holdings current in the SFX Knowledge Base?
• Phase One: E-Books
• NetLibrary books records available from SFX Knowledge Base
• Minimal maintenance required once they are in the catalog
  
• Question: what other sources are available: Safari?  X Refer Plus?

• Phase Two, To be determined???