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Arabic script cataloguing at Georgetown University in Qatar

Arabic script cataloguing at Georgetown University in Qatar. Stefan Seeger MENA-IUG 5 th Annual Conference, Dubai 2010. Outline. Georgetown University in Qatar Cataloguing of Arabic material at GU Experiences with the III Arabic Indexing add-on

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Arabic script cataloguing at Georgetown University in Qatar

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  1. Arabic script cataloguing at Georgetown Universityin Qatar Stefan SeegerMENA-IUG 5th Annual Conference, Dubai 2010

  2. Outline • Georgetown University in Qatar • Cataloguing of Arabic material at GU • Experiences with the III Arabic Indexing add-on • Four projects, including excursion into Encore • Questions and contact

  3. Georgetown University (in Qatar) • Established in1789, GU is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit University in the US • School of Foreign Service founded in 1919 by Rev. Edmund A. Walsh • Since 2005 SFS branch campus in Qatar in Qatar Foundations’ Education City • 4 years Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service program • About 178 students from 46 countries, and additional 568 public patrons.

  4. GUQ Library • at date 60.000 items • in addition: ½ Mio eBooks and 350 databases • Acquisition of material in Arabic started in Summer 2009 • 1.000 volumes catalogued • Kotobarabia, … AskZad.

  5. GUQ … transition into a new building • Completing move in early January 2011 • Library space times 4: 32.000 Sq Ft • Target collection: 140.000 volumes • … of which ca 10% will be in Arabic.

  6. Cataloguing of Arabic material at GU • Shared database with GU Main Campus in DC • … but separate OPACs and Discovery Platforms • Vice versa access via internal “ILL” • Marc21, AACR2, LCSH records with Romanized Arabic.

  7. Old vs New record • 40.000 records containing Romanized Arabic only • ca 9.000 Original script records • 99% of all Qatar records

  8. Record with 880 linking field Romanized Original script

  9. Experiences with III Arabic Indexing Benefits: • Internal & External search with Arabic script • Linking field (880) indexed with its linked Main field (eg 245) • Hyperlinks of Arabic entries in the OPAC Problems: • Not all fields with Arabic script are indexed (eg 505) • Automatic changes of characters (Comma) • Cut off search strings • Dead end hyperlinks (eg series).

  10. Problem: Automatic changes Arabic colons get converted into commas ; Arabic commas into Latin commas ; Characters (1&|) get added into subject fields.

  11. Problem: Dead end hyperlinks The link with Romanized leads to the correct short list … whereas the link with Original script … into the void.

  12. Project I: Authority record linkage

  13. Project II: Arabic subject headings • Library of Congress Subject Heading • Arab Union Catalogue Subject Headings • 600 & 61x Fields (Personal & Corporate Name) linked through 880.

  14. Results from Project I & II • RED: 400 (Tracing references) from the Authority Files • BLUE: 650 (Topical Term) entry in the Bib record.

  15. Project III: Reverse order records THE RULES • Appendix D (Multiscript Records), Model A of Marc21 Bibliographic allows the reverse order if “cataloging agency prefers to use Arabic in the regular fields” • A catalogue should describe its material true to the original • First objective for any catalogue should be user-friendliness.

  16. Reverse Record display Even though the initial search was entered in Romanized Arabic, the reversed Marc record displays the original script of the item for the ease of user Since OCLC Connexion displays original script in a duplicated Main field (eg 100), an respective alteration of the III loader table could simply reverse records.

  17. Excursion: Arabic Record display in Encore The Arabic script Subject & Authority entries feed into the related searches and facets Problem with Encore: no advanced search as yet & search terms seem to be retrieved as strings and are not searched for in all bibliographical fields.

  18. IV: Retro-conversion project in DC • Automatic conversion of transliterated text (LC) to Arabic script in Bibliographic records • 40.000 old records • Sept 2010 testing of 100 records, eg • Perl script • export of records coded ‘ara’ & no 066 • in the display of hex20 for "space" in III • Quality of the records.

  19. Possible project for the future • Proposal to test a relational database • … containing authority records with duplicated field in different languages • … and coded user interfaces that trigger the respective language from the record for display • see: Virtual International Authority File.

  20. Thank you !! شكراً جزيلاً لكم … any questions ? • GUQ Library url: http://www.library.georgetown.edu/qatar/ • Contact: • in Doha, Qatar: Stefan Seeger – email: ss982@georgetown.edu • in Washington, DC: Mark Muehlhaeusler – email: mpm97@georgetown.edu

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