Keywords
Citation
(2001), "British Library Public Catalogue", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.2001.12229cab.015
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
British Library Public Catalogue
British Library Public Catalogue
Keywords: Catalogues, Libraries
The British Library Public Catalogue (BLPC) went live at the beginning of this year. BLPC is the most recent product of the Library's drive to make its holdings more accessible and builds on the success of the OPAC 97 service, which attracted more than 2 million "hits" each month. BLPC is the most recent product of the Corporate Bibliographic Programme, the Library's commitment to rationalise its various catalogues and services and make them more accessible to its users.
BLPC contains details of over 10 million books and other material covering every aspect of human thought from 1450 to the present day. Detailed bibliographic records on any subject can be found by searching the site located at blpc.bl.uk. Articles and conference papers can be ordered direct from the Document Supply Centre.
The British Library Public Catalogue marks the following advances on OPAC 97:
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Enhanced searching and ordering functions. For example, an advanced search facility now allows users to search across the whole catalogue, individual files or any combination of files.
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Documents can be ordered and method of delivery chosen from a range of options. Also, the new service allows users to request an item they think might be in the Document Supply collection but is not accessible via the online catalogue, e.g. a book published before 1980.
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The new layout includes a banner displaying help or guidance, appropriate to the activity of the user.
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Information displayed now includes non-Roman characters, for example, Cyrillic.
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An additional catalogue of pre-1980 music scores from the Reference Collection.
BLPC will continue to provide free access to the following British Library files formerly available on OPAC 97: British Library Catalogue; Humanities and Social Sciences; SRIS (now Science Technology and Business); DSC Monographs; DSC Serials; DSC Conferences; Music (Current).
Source: Press release