32
33
Fig 4. shows that only 6 (16.6%) of respondents are applying Dublin Core for cataloguing digital and electronic theses, whereas another 30 (83.4%) respondents do not apply it.There is an assumption that those might use MARC21 instead. 17 % Ye s
No
83 %
Fig. 4 Applying of DC for Cataloguing The problems encountered by respondents in applying MARC21 and DC to describe resources are summarised in tables 2 and 3.The findings presented in table 2 show that 9 (32 %) respondents have encountered problems in describing resources with MARC21, whereas another 19 (68 %) have no problems. According to one respondent who is a researcher, MARC 21 is not suitable to describe e-resources. Another respondent who is a cataloguer also stated that MARC21 is poor at showing the relationship between fields and data; its subfield structure can also be restrictive. Table.2 Categories
Table. 3 Categorises
Difficulties Yes Cataloguer 3 Information Specialist 1 Researcher 2 Other 4 Total 9
in describing resources with Dublin Core No Total 13 1 0 1 1 3 1 5 15 24
Although 62.5% of respondents mentioned that they have problems with Dublin Core to describe resources, in a separate question 24(60%) respondents expressed their view on advantages the advantage of using Dublin Core compared to MARC21 for resource description, see fig 5. According to their responses 14(58.5%) Dublin Core is easy to create records, 6 (25%) Dublin Core is retrieved by internal and external meta-search engines, 1 (4%) Dublin Core is improved access to electronic materials and 3 (12.5%) others. See fig.5
60 50 40
Difficulties in describing resources with MARC21 30
Cataloguer Information Specialist Reseearcher Other Total
Yes 5 1 0 3 9
No 15 0 1 3 19
Total 15 1 1 6 28
Regarding difficulties in describing resources with Dublin Core, only 9 (37.5 %) respondents have problems with Dublin Core, whereas 15 (62.5 %) respondents have no problems in applying DC for resource description. One respondent said that DC has been easy to use for describing sets of digitized documents for internal. ALISS Quarterly 4 (2) January 2009 _____________________________________________________
58.5%
20 25%
12.5 %
10 4% 0 Easy t o c r e raet ec o r d s
Retrieve d by s earc h engin e
Impro ving acc ess
Other s
Fig.5 Advantage of using Dublin Core
_____________________________________________________ ALISS Quarterly 4 (2) January 2009