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This paper gives suggestions for how remote access electronic resources could be described in bibliographic records and provides examples of such descriptive practices. These practices are developed from principles expressed in the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources and promote a broadening of the concept of physical description as expressed in Chapter 9 of the Anglo‐American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition. The paper encourages catalogers to reach beyond their comfort zone to create timely and patron‐friendly bibliographic records for electronic resources.

The purpose of this paper is to make a systematic review of the library metadata development history listing out the most significant landmarks and influencing events from Thomas Bodley's rules to the latest BIBFRAME architecture, compare their significance and suitability in the modern-day Web environment.

Four time divisions were identified, namely pre-1900 era, 1900–1950, post-1950 to pre-Web era and post-Web era based on pre-set information available to the authors regarding catalogue rules. Under these four divisions, relevant information sources regarding the purpose of the study were identified; various metadata standards released at different times were consulted.

Library catalogue standards have undergone transitive changes from one form to another primarily influenced by the changing work environment and different forms of resource availability in libraries. Modern-day metadata standards are influenced by the opportunities provided by the World Wide Web towards libraries and work as a suitable base for data organisation at par with Semantic Web standards.

Information organisation processes have gone towards a more data-centric approach than earlier document-centric nature in current Semantic Web environment. Libraries had to make a move in this process, and modern-day guidelines in this regard bring the possibility of large-scale discovery services through curated information resources.

The study discovers relationships between key events in the course of development of metadata standards and provides suggestions and predictions regarding it's future developments.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum offered in South African LIS schools and the job market requirement for cataloguers in South Africa (SA). It was instigated by the changes that have occurred in the LIS field over the past decade, especially in cataloguing and classification.

An interpretive, qualitative approach was used, and content analysis was used as a research and data analysis method. Data were obtained from 3 sources: cataloguing and classification course outlines obtained from 6 LIS schools, 18 interviews conducted with professional cataloguers and 10 job advertisements obtained through newspaper scanning and from the LIASA listserv.

The results indicate that LIS schools teach basic and advanced cataloguing and classification theory and practical topics. The main objective of the courses is to teach students knowledge organisation. The subjects are offered at bachelor’s degree and postgraduate diploma levels. Tools such as AACR2, RDA, MARC21, DDC and LCSH are mainly used to teach the courses. Professional cataloguers and job advertisements indicate that employers require the knowledge and skills to use the above-mentioned tools. Job advertisements also indicate that a national diploma and two years’ work experience are the minimum requirements for employing cataloguers.

This paper will inform academics whether they are teaching the relevant curriculum. If not, they will have to implement changes or improvements to the current curriculum. It will also help employers get a picture of what is offered in LIS schools and make judgements on whether it is relevant in the job market or not.

This paper has compared what is offered in LIS schools and what is required in the job market and found that there is match between what is offered and required, although there are areas to be improved. This is the first paper to establish that link in SA.

Archival arrangement and description establish physical and intellectual control over archives and manuscripts, enabling users to find the records they need. Description is the process of analyzing and recording information about these materials. The descriptive tools used to convey this information are called finding aids. In order to find manuscripts and archives when we need them, we must shift our orientation from single documents to groups of materials that can be described collectively. The principle of provenance likewise changes our focus from subject matter to the organic origins of documents, based on the purposes for which they were initially created and used. Archives and manuscripts are unique materials, but they can be organized and described using standards that permit data exchange and access by means of national networks, such as OCLC and RLIN, and through Web sites, using encoded archival description for archival finding aids. Descriptive practices continue to evolve, and improved systems are likely to be developed within the next decade.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £10 per year and the subscription period runs from January to December.

For a number of reasons, I have decided to begin this issue of VINE with an editorial. In the first place, as many of you will already know, at the end of June I gave up my post as Information Officer for Library Automation in order to become an Assistant Librarian in the Applied Sciences Library of University College, Cardiff. Since the Information Officer for Library Automation is ex officio editor of VINE, this means that I will also be handing over responsibility for this publication to my successor, when he or she is appointed. Unfortunately, there will be a hiatus before my successor can take over, so that for a short while, I will continue to edit VINE. However, because of my commitments in Cardiff, I will be unable to provide news of recent developments in U.K. library automation as I formerly did. Thus, in this issue of VINE and the next, I will concentrate on descriptions of automated library systems which I visited whilst on a study tour of North America in April and May of this year. Once my successor takes over, VINE will revert to being a source of up‐to‐date information about automation in specifically U.K. libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences of NIALS Library in the use of computers in the production of catalogue cards. It also seeks to find out the experiences of other libraries in Nigeria.

This paper describes the procedures for automated generation of catalogue cards in the NIALS Library. It used the questionnaire method to collect data from 24 participants at the recently held workshop on Technical Services in Law Libraries, 26‐28 June 2007.

Found that most libraries in Nigeria use typewriters to produce catalogue cards. The use of computers in the generation of card catalogues is just beginning to emerge. OPACs are also relatively new as most libraries still operate card catalogue systems.

It is expected that other libraries would benefit from the experiences of NIALS Library.

This is the first study on the automated generation of card catalogues in Nigerian libraries. The study should help libraries that face difficulties with the manual production of card catalogues in making a decision in favour of automation.

The purpose of this article is to compare Anglo‐American cataloguing codes and practices for description over the past 150 years and assess the contribution that they made to International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD).

The major international codes, and those of major British libraries, are examined point by point, using as a basis the main areas of description as outlined in AACR2. Cataloguing textbooks are also referred to when appropriate.

The article finds that general order of elements has been remarkably constant throughout the period, most variation being seen in the physical description area. Primacy of the title page as a source of information is long established. Publisher's name was often of minor importance, and in public libraries physical description was greatly reduced. It is clear from wording that codes often adopted rules from one another, and evidently some libraries made a great attempt to adopt the latest thinking. Solutions to some problems evolved gradually over a long period. Even some apparently minor aspects of punctuation have a long pedigree. ISBD clearly drew on a long‐established consensus as far as possible.

In revising AACR2 it is important to be able to see how we have reached where we are now, and in particular to avoid repetition of past mistakes. In an increasingly international publishing environment it is vital to solve the problem of multiple places of publication.

This subject has never been tackled in this way before, and the findings are timely for the ongoing revision of AACR2.

As the peaceful uses of atomic energy became an accepted part of modern life, the veils of secrecy were removed from most aspects of nuclear research. Cautiously at first, the developed countries began to exchange nuclear information at scientific meetings and through journals and other media. However, with the widening range of peaceful nuclear applications came a corresponding increase in information, and the complexity of information storage and retrieval was suddenly a concern of paramount importance. National nuclear information centres were set up to satisfy the needs of scientists in their home countries, but a gap still existed in the exchange of information on the international level.

The purpose of this paper is to survey the treatment of relationships, relationship expressions and the ways in which they manifest themselves in image descriptions.

The term “relationship” is construed in the broadest possible way to include spatial relationships (“to the right of”), temporal (“in 1936,” “at noon”), meronymic (“part of”), and attributive (“has color,” “has dimension”). The intentions of these vaguely delimited categories with image information, image creation, and description in libraries and archives is complex and in need of explanation.

The review brings into question many generally held beliefs about the relationship problem such as the belief that the semantics of relationships are somehow embedded in the relationship term itself and that image search and retrieval solutions can be found through refinement of word-matching systems.

This review has no hope of systematically examining all evidence in all disciplines pertaining to this topic. It instead focusses on a general description of a theoretical treatment in Library and Information Science.